A knife hand performed while wearing a thick, marshmallowy mitten might get blunted.Gloves don't affect ability to cut.
Fate/Sealed Within
- Thread starter IKnowNothing
- Start date
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
Type of glove with steel on.
IKnowNothing
....What?
- Location
- I got lost so.....Where are we?
Update:
Percentage of Chapter done: 70%, expected to be finished by next week.
(Mostly because I have nothing to do over Spring Break)
Percentage of Chapter done: 70%, expected to be finished by next week.
(Mostly because I have nothing to do over Spring Break)
Chapter 1: The Mechanic
IKnowNothing
....What?
- Location
- I got lost so.....Where are we?
Fuyuki City (38 hours before the first battle of the Grail War)
In a small storage building beside an average house in the middle of Fuyuki city, a common sound silently made its way through the small open space. Shirou Emyia, average student of the local Homurahara Academy, was busy at work on his most prized possession.
His journal.
He wrote down everything in this journal. What he thought, what he felt, what happened at school. Everything Shirou noticed, down to the smallest noticeable detail, he put in this small leather bound book.
No one other than Shirou and his late father had ever seen what was written in the book. Shirou stopped his pen and smiled at the memory.
It was a starry night, not a cloud in the sky, and Shirou was watching his father read through his journal. Kiritsugu Emiya eyes slowly gazed back and forth as he read through each line of writing. The old man had the same kind smile with the same hint of sadness that he always did, but today it felt different.
In his smile, there was no happiness, there was only fear for what he was reading. He set the book down and sighed.
"Shirou," He said looking out over the courtyard "Do you really believe a dream like this is possible?"
The young Shirou nodded "Yes! I saw it myself."
Kiritsugu nodded "Yes, you wrote about it. A field of pure green grass, a clear blue sky and a shining sun illuminating everything in sight. It sounds like a wonderful dream, but that's all it's going to be Shirou, a dream."
"Why can't it be real?"
Kiritsugu sighed at his son's innocence "Because Shirou, the world isn't a kind place. Dreams like this, never come true."
Shirou frowned at that, but he smiled soon after "Ok then, how about we make a deal?"
Kiritsugu frowned "A deal?"
Shirou gave a huge grin "Yeah! How about this: If I make my dream a reality, you have to be the first person to step inside!"
Shirou of the present had to smile at the reaction his old man had given him after he had said that. It was one of the few times he had ever seen him truly smile.
But he was getting lost in thought, he needed to finish this entry. Shirou picked up his pen and began writing once again.
"I dreamed about the field again today, but this time it had more detail than ever. The huge black shapes that I thought were rocks were actually giant mounds of metal. Building material, just waiting to be used. There were also flowers. Hundreds of golden lilies dotted the landscape. Part of me just wanted to run through those flowers, feel the sensation of life around me, but I stopped myself because I saw something. In the center of the field, there was a silhouette. Someone besides me was in the field. I wanted to run to them, ask who they were and how they got there, but I awoke before I could.
So here I am, sitting at my desk yet again. It's getting a little late in the morning, but the good news is that I finally finished the blueprints. They need a few more adjustments, but it should be the perfect starting point.
Hopefully I can still help Sakura with breakfast before a certain tiger comes by. Here's hoping she hasn'-
"~SHIROU!!!"
Shirou winced at the intensity of the voice. He gave the door behind him an annoyed glance before returning to finish his last sentence. But his surprised had caused him to scribble a line down the entire page, effectively ruining the entire paragraph. Shirou set down his pen and entered a state where he would become a man capable of walking out of this shed without hitting himself in frustration. He tore the now useless page out of the notebook and threw it in a overflowing trash bin. Getting up from his seat, Shirou had to tiptoe around the floor of his shop to avoid the hundreds of unfinished ideas and other such projects that people from school had asked him to look at. He reached the door and stopped himself to open it at the last second. He looked down at himself and sighed in relief when he saw that he was in his school uniform.
If he wasn't, and he talked to the "Tiger" that was outside, he probably would leave his house without losing an ear. Shirou steeled himself and opened the door "Mornin-."
Shirou wasn't even halfway through the greeting before he saw something coming at him. It forced him to slam the door shut in an effort to protect himself. Shirou heard something shatter on the other end of the door. He waited a second, before opening a small slit in the door frame. In the small crack that allowed Shirou to see the morning sun, a single figure blocked most of the view. She was a young, brown haired woman with pearls in her ears and a quirky smile on her face. Her heels were clinking against one another, an audible signal that she couldn't go two seconds without moving. Shirou raised an eyebrow "Can I help you?"
Taiga frowned "Shirou, do you know what time it is?"
"I don't keep a clock in the shed, so no I don't." Shirou answered, with no small hint of regret layering his words.
He had been meaning to get a clock in the shed for a while now. Sakura was always bugging him about being on time and actually remembering to get some sleep. Shirou absentmindedly looked behind him. He did get some sleep last night, right? He shook his head and looked back out at the sky.
"It's ah, morning. Yeah it's morning."
Taiga didn't look very impressed but she nodded "Yes it is morning, and do you know what usually happens in the morning?"
Shirou's face feel and he took a moment to sigh in exasperation before guessing "Breakfa-."
"BREAKFAST YES!" Taiga interrupts with a twirl "I haven't eaten anything since last night and my entire day would be so much better if you could make one of your omelets for me!"
Shirou felt his eye twitch, but he managed to keep his frustration contained "Well if it's so early in the morning, just ask Sakura to make you something." Shirou said before adding a whispered "You freeloader."
Taiga purses her lips and frowns "Well normally I would, but someone clearly made a mistake!"
"Can you go two minutes without screaming?" Shirou asked as he stepped out of the shed. Once he was out, the rest of Taiga's sentence registered "Wait, why are you implying that I made a mistake?"
Taiga put her hands on her hips "Well firstly, Sakura isn't here this morning and we both know the only reason she wouldn't be here is because you did something."
"Or Shinji." Shirou interjected, anger seeping into his voice.
The human tiger rolled her eyes "A possibility, but not the one that will guilt trip you into feeding me."
Shirou felt his sweat drop "You have no filter do you?"
Taiga smiled "Nope!"
Shirou let out a sigh "I'll get to work."
Taiga pumped her fist in the air, signaling yet another victory. Shirou ignored her and walked the short distance from his shed to the main house. It wasn't a huge house by any means, but it wasn't a small one either. Three separate buildings consisting of the main house, the shed and a training dojo. Of the three buildings, the shed and the house itself had the most time put into them. While Shirou did like to keep himself fit, it basically consisted of a morning run and a few pushups, nothing too outrageous. Anything extra and his production would slow and he couldn't have that.
As a result, the training dojo had started the slow decline into desolation. The only reason that it hadn't already is that Sakura and Taiga had pestered Shirou about keeping it in top condition. If not for him, a sign of respect to his late father. But even with that incentive, Shirou had only done basic cleaning and repair. There was still the odd floor board that needed polishing, but as a whole it was as good as it could get.
Shirou entered the main house and quickly made his way to the kitchen with Taiga spinning in victory behind him. The teacher spun in place before kneeling at the table in the center of the room. Shirou shot her an irritated look before putting on an apron and preparing a pan for omelettes. As Shirou worked he hummed a short song to tune out the sounds of Teiga flipping through the channels on the TV. As he flipped the first omelette, Taiga called out "Hey Shirou! Take a look at this."
Shirou looked up from the stove and saw what Taiga was talking about. It was a news report, and the reporter was talking in front of what seemed to be a destroyed house. Probably a gas fire, Shirou mused.
"While the situation behind me is under control, this is the seventh unexpected gas leak to happen in the past two days alone."
Well would you look at that, I was close. Shirou thought.
"Shirou, do you think you can help with that?" Taiga asked.
Shirou shrugged "I don't think anyone would let me. I'm sure the professionals can handle it."
Taiga pouted "Oh come on Shirou! Where's that drive you had when you were a kid? There isn't a machine in the world that you can't fix! Didn't you completely remake the school's heating and air conditioning?"
"I only finished the cooling," Shirou said as he flipped an omelette "I'm still working on the heating."
Taiga pointed a finger at the redhead "See! That's what I'm talking about! You're a mechanical genius Shirou.If you got out of that shed of yours and applied yourself more you would probably be in Tokyo University by now."
Shirou rolled his eyes. He had heard a different variation on this speech every single day. He should be applying himself more, he should be doing more. But he couldn't apply himself to anything more. He was already working on something far more important than everyday gas leaks. Now, with that said, if they asked him to help he probably would. Shirou probably would do the job good enough that the only reason the pipes got destroyed again was they needed to be replaced completely. It would take time out of his main project, but it would still make the people around town grateful of his work. And if they knew how good he was at fixing and building, they would be more willing to help him in return.
"I've already applied," Shirou said putting a large helping of cheese onto the fried egg "and don't worry about that. I'm still just a third year, I still have another year to get their attention. And if I can't find anything, I'll just have to show them what I've been working on."
Taiga rolled her eyes and fell backwards to the ground "You can't seriously expect you to take your ideas seriously."
Shirou shrugged "It doesn't matter if they take it seriously or not. It's going to be for everyone, no matter what they think. But it's not finished yet, I have to keep going."
Taiga let out a soft smile "Honestly Shirou, take a break already. I've known you since even before Kiritsugu passed away. And even before then you were still working, have you ever considered taking a break?"
Shirou's hand nearly slipped as he slid the omelette onto a plate. He took a second to send a wayward glance at Taiga. Shirou looked at the omelette, then Taiga, then a bottle of oyster sauce. He stood there for a second, weighing the pros and cons of that kind of choice.
"Your omelette's ready." Shirou said putting the breakfast meal on the kitchen counter, completely untouched.
Taiga bounced up with her usual enthusiasm and snatched the omelette off the counter with the speed of a hungry school teacher. Shirou turned around just as she sat down at the table and started to eat. Barely a second later, the front door to the house bursts open. Both Taiga and Shirou lean in their respective positions to see who was coming in. You'd think that the door being thrown open would garner a more surprised reaction from the two, but this was the house of Shirou Emyia, where opening the door before running straight in was only an afterthought for an unnamed teacher.
The one that stood in the hallway, was what many of the boys at Homurahara Academy called the purest flower. She wore the same brown coat and black skirt at the other girls of the school but her purple hair and her almost mirror like eyes set her apart from everyone else. It wasn't strange for her to come into the house unannounced, she did it almost every day and Shirou didn't mind it one bit. Today however, she looked tired. There were bags under her eyes and a layer of sweat on her brow. Shirou put on kind smile and waved with his free hand "Morning Sakura."
Sakura Matou took a deep breath before bowing "I'm sorry Senpai."
Shirou waved off her apology "No worries Sakura, you know you can come in whenever you like. Showning up a little later than usual is no problem."
Shirou cracked an egg and prepared a second omelette "Take a seat, I'll make you something."
Sakura's widened and she nervously waved her hands "No I couldn't possibly-."
"Sakura." Shirou said, his tone getting far sterner then either Sakura or Taiga expected. Sakura's nervous waving stopped instantly "You've done so much for Taiga and I over the years," Shirou continued "You come into the house and put yourself to work. Not today. Today, Sakura Matou, you are my guest and I won't have my guest working in the kitchen when she should be sitting at the table eating a nice breakfast before school."
Sakura stood there with a dumbfounded expression on her face, but, much to Shirou's delight, it quickly changed into a smile. She bowed to Shirou before taking a seat at the table next to Taiga "Morning Ms. Fujimoru."
Taiga's hand slammed down on the table, causing Sakura to jump slightly and Shirou to glance up from his work. The teacher was pointing an accusing finger at Shirou, to which the teen responded by asking "What?"
Taiga's finger snapped around, nearly hitting Sakura and forcing said lavender haired girl to go cross eyed as Taiga's finger came millimeters away from her face.
"That right there! You see!?" Taiga screamed "That is how you greet a teacher!"
"It's morning, school hasn't started and you're my legal guardian." Shirou pointed out "I think I get to call you by your first name."
"I agree!"
Shirou's sweat dropped "Then why are you complaining?"
"Because you do it all the time!" Taiga screamed in despair "Even in class you always say 'Taiga, I have a question' instead of 'Mrs.Fujimura, I'm completely lost, can you guide me to the right answer with your fantastic teaching method?"
Sakura felt a nervous bead of sweat roll down her face, like every other time Taiga said or did something completely out of the ordinary. Which was to say, most of the time she did anything. Shirou looked at Taiga and shared a glance with Sakura before letting out a huge sigh "And you wonder why I don't call you Ms. Fujimura."
Shirou's hand stopped in the middle of handing Sakura her omelette when he realized what just happened. He slowly looked out at Taiga, who had her tongue sticking out at him along with a victory smirk. Shirou's eyes narrowed slightly "That doesn't count."
Taiga waved his comment off before glancing at a her watch "Oh my god would you look at the time! I'm going to be late!"
What happened next could only be described as a human vacuum as Taiga inhaled all of the available food in front of her. Sakura even picked up her plate in fear of Taiga taking her meal as well. Taiga set her now empty plate down before running out of the house with the speed of a runaway freight train. She managed to scream "ThanksforthefoodShirouI'llbelookingforwardtosupper!" before Shirou heard the sound of an engine revving up and tires screeching as they burn out on the street.
Shirou just stood there for a second, but he just shook his head and starting putting the dirty dishes in the sink. Sakura got up to help, but Shirou only had to glance at her to keep her from helping. He didn't however, object to her clearing out the table and handing him the dishes over the counter. Shirou glanced at the overhead clock while he allowed the sink to fill up with water, still early, still plenty of time before he and Sakura had to go to school.
Shirou grabbed a rag and started washing the dishes. While he was doing this, he glanced behind him at Sakura "If you don't mind me asking Sakura, why are you so tired? Has Archery practice gone late and you made you stay up late to catch up on homework?"
Sakura shakes her head "No, its nothing like that. Ayako always makes sure that we can get home at a reasonable time."
Shirou nodded "That's good to here," as he goes to put a cleaned plate away, a thought strikes Shirou. The thought causes him to clench his free hand so hard his knuckles went white "It's not Shinji again, is it?"
Sakura's eyes went wide and she shot to her feet "No! Shinji had nothing to do with it!"
Shirou looked behind him, the sight of Sakura nearly at tears to defend her 'Brother' made Shirou want to put a knife in his chest and twist. It would probably hurt less too.
"I'm sorry Sakura," Shirou said returning to his work "That was over the line, I'm sorry."
Sakura slowly sits down "No, it's fine."
The two waited in silence for a moment. Thankfully, Shirou managed to ask "So who is the reason?"
"Its nothing bad Senpai," Sakura said quickly "it's just that a..." she pauses for a moment, and Shirou noticed that she was refusing to look at him.
"A business associate of my grandfather's has come over to stay with us." Sakura finished "She's not from around here and we ended talking to one another really really late last night."
Shirou lets out a sigh of relief "Ok, sounds like it was a fun time."
Sakura noded "Oh yes, we both had a very nice evening together."
The two students entered another silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. They knew the other was there, but they were content just doing their thing. Shirou washing his dishes and Sakura drinking her tea. As soon as Shirou was done with the dishes, he put his jacket on and head out the door with Sakura and his boxed lunch. The walk to school was as silent as it normally was, with cars driving down the street as fast as they could and students rushing out of their homes to get to classes on time.
Homurahara Academy wasn't a huge school, but it was by no means a small establishment. Three main school buildings connected by a single courtyard with an archery house out back with a few storage houses. Shirou and Sakura walked through the main gates just as the first bell of the day rang. Shirou waved to Sakura as they left for their respective classes. Sakura went to the east building while Shirou went to the west. But he wasn't going to a class, instead heading to the student council room. He passed group after group of students who waved at him or thanked him for whatever odd job he did in the last week. Shirou climbed the single flight of stairs it took to get up to the second floor and took a sharp turn to the student council room. When he got to the door it opened without him even having to knock or put in a key. Standing in the doorway was the student council president Issei Ryuudou. Looking at him you would almost instantly expect him to be the leader of something important. Combed blue hair, studious glasses and an almost military style commanding gaze.
He bowed to Shirou before putting on a grateful smile "I appreciate you coming in Emiya."
"No problem." Shirou said.
Issei step aside to let him into the student council room. It was a little smaller than the average classroom with most of the room being taken up by a long table. Shirou swung his bag off his shoulder and onto the table. A sound not dissimilar to two rocks clashing against one another camp with the crash of Shirou's bag hitting the table.
Issei glanced at Shirou's bag "I see you brought everything today."
Shirou shook his head "Nope, I just never take anything out."
He unzipped his bag and pulled out several bags of various wires and a metal tool box whose latch was replaced by a series of desperate duct tape pieces. Issei gestured behind him, where a tarp had been laid out to keep the floor from being scratched from the broken heater.
Shirou didn't waste any time. He took out a few wires and a screwdriver and set to work. His hand breezed over the broken machine and in less than a minute all of the broken parts were laid out perfectly organized. Issei took a seat at the table, drinking a cup of tea while Shirou worked in silence. Neither boy talked, they never did when Shirou was working. It would be too distracting.
Shirou let out a sigh when he found the problem "Issei, how old is this thing?"
The student council president took a second to think that question over "About fifteen years, give or take. Why?"
"Because there are so many burnt out wires you might as well buy a new one."
Issei shook his head "You know why I can't do that Emyia."
"I know I know," Shirou said "The budget is so unbalanced that you might as well not even bother."
Issei nodded "Yeah, the sports get the lion's share of everything and everyone else has to get by with the scraps."
"So you settle with my repair jobs." Shirou finished.
"It's not really settle as much as it is the best around." Issei said "It would take too long to call an actual mechanic, and honestly, this school is only running as well as it is because you're doing the grunt work."
Shirou nodded at that, every time something broke he was always the one to fix it. Honestly, Shirou had no clue how many things he had fixed for this school. But then again, you don't get the nickname "The mechanic" if you don't spend a lot of time fixing things.
Issei put a hand to his wrist "Time's running by the way."
Shirou nodded again and his concentration hardened until everything else around Shirou didn't matter. He bit his lip in frustration as he pulled a little to hard on the side of the heater, stripping a series of bolts in the process. He keeps down a growl of anger as he reached into his bag, searching for a replacement while Issei kept an eye on his watch.
A few minutes later Shirou set down his tools and glanced at Issei. Said class president clicked the stopper on his watch and quickly read the time "Five minutes and thirty four seconds, you're getting faster Emiya."
Shirou grinned "Well I have been practicing this sort of thing recently."
The answer caused a sigh to escape Issei. Shirou was in the middle of putting away his tools when Issei sighed so he stopped himself mid motion. The red head gives his friend a quick glance "What?"
"Practicing," Issei almost hit his head against the table when he said the word "How often have you been working Emiya?"
Shirou furrowed his brow at the question "What kind of question is that? You, the school and all my friends give me enough work that I've never stopped working."
"And that's the problem."
"Excuse me?"
Issei pinched the bridge of his nose. He contemplated something for a few moments before he looked Shirou straight in the eye "Shirou, you're constantly working, it's like it's all you can do. You move from one job to the next, always fixing, maintaining, building, doing everything other than relaxing."
Shirou almost laughed as he continued putting his tools away "You make it sound like working is a bad thing."
"Emiya," Issei said, the edge in his voice caused Shirou to instantly stop what he was doing and look back at his friend "Please, take this seriously for a second." Issei pleaded "As good as fixing them as you are, you aren't a machine. You can't just keep working, you might be fine now but you'll run yourself into the ground."
Shirou raised an eyebrow and folded his arms "Then what would you have me do? Just sit around and do nothing?"
Issei shook his head "No, nothing like that. Look you're missing the point. Just...I don't know, take a day off every week where you don't do any work for anyone. Just sit back, rest, sleep, read a book, go on a run I don't know but just find someway to relax."
Shirou's eyes narrowed without his permission but the anger that caused the action quickly transformed into a sigh.
"Fine," Shirou said "I'll take tomorrow off."
Issei bowed his head slightly "That's all I'm asking,"
"You're welcome." Shirou said, somewhat bitterly.
Issei held up his hands in surrender "I'm just trying to help you take care of yourself, since you clearly can't be bothered. Unless of course Matou is yelling at you."
Shirou rolled his eyes "Seriously? I'd sooner punch Shinji in the face again before listening to another one of his womanizing rants."
"I was talking about Sakura." Issei said getting up from his seat.
It took all of Shirou's self control to stop himself from rolling his eyes at that. Instead of sending anything he didn't mean at Issei, Shirou focused solely on cleaning up his work. He heard Issei opening the door but he stopped right in the doorframe before glancing back around "Speaking of Shinji," Issei said getting Shirou's attention "apparently you don't need to worry about him for a while."
Shirou raised an eyebrow "Why?"
Issei shrugged "I don't really know much of the details but apparently he got really sick. Apparently it had something to do with food poisoning or something. Either way, he had to go to the hospital to stop himself from barfing out half of his intestines."
Internally, Shirou blinked in confusion at the news. Sakura hadn't said anything about Shinji getting sick. She knew the two of them didn't really get along with most things, but despite what Shirou wanted to show the world he didn't want Shinji to end up too badly. Honestly, he didn't know what surprised him more: The fact that the heir to the Matous, probably the richest family in town, got food poisoning of all things, or the fact that Sakura didn't even mention it that morning. Was that why she was so defensive of Shinji this morning? Because she didn't want anyone making fun of or threatening him while he was in this weak state? But, in the end, neither of those reasons overshadowed the one simple fact. Shirou wouldn't have to deal with angry girls running around the halls for a while.
Despite himself, Shirou couldn't stop a smile from forming on his face, much to Issei's disappointment. The student council present looked down at the Heater then back to Shirou "Do you need any help with that?"
Shirou barely gave the Heater a passing glance before shaking his head "No I'm fine."
Issei nodded "Room 213," he said before heading out the door, leaving Shirou alone with his work.
He dropped his toolbag atop the small heater without any grace whatsoever. A few grunts later, he had the heater in his hands with the toolbag atop it. As he walked across the small room, it occurred to him that he probably should've had Issei stay so that he could keep the door open. Shirou set the Heater down before opening the door and dragging the hunk of metal through the now open doorway.
Someone nearly hit the door she was walking so close. Shirou couldn't see her face, but there wasn't a boy in Homurahara Academy who didn't recognise that red jacket and black skirt. He kept his gaze on the Heater, but he said out loud "Morning Tohsaka! Fancy seeing you here."
Shirou didn't know if she even turned to look back at him, but he couldn't really do much in return either. He hefted up the heater and slowly made his way through the packed halls and stairways leading to the classroom Issei had indicated. The starting bell rang just as Shirou put the heater in front of room 213.
He quickly stretched his back and looked down the hall at the groups of students struggling to make it to class fast enough for their respective teachers to look over the fact that they were late. But Shirou had no such motivation to go any speed faster than a slow walking pace. His first class was taught by Fujimura, and the day that she arrived on time for her class was talked about in the book of revelations.
So Shirou took his time walking down the halls to his classroom, even allowing his mind to wander as he took a few glances outside. From what he could see, the courtyard was empty, as it should be at a time like this. Shirou blinked and something appeared in the corner of his vision. He stopped walking and did a double take looking out the window. He was sure he didn't see anyone before, but there was definitely someone out there now. In the middle of the courtyard, stood someone in a simple white skirt. Shirou couldn't pick out any fine details from the distance he was at, but he was sure of one thing. Whoever was standing out there, was looking straight at him.
But Shirou made the mistake of blinking again, and suddenly whoever was out there was gone again. Shirou stood there, running through the memory over and over again in his head. He was sure he had seen someone, but looking out now there wasn't anyone out there. Eventually, Shirou just shook his head and went on his way to class.
Sure enough, as soon as he got to class, Taiga was bounding down the hallway towards him. Fearing for his life, Shirou quickly got out of the way as Mrs. Fujimura ran straight past him fast enough to set the tiles on fire. Shirou quickly frowned at that metaphor. If Taiga really did set the floor on fire, he was probably going to be the one who was going to fix it.
Taiga spun in a circle as she started her morning spiel that Shirou had probably heard a hundred times at this point. So he barely paid any attention to her talk. Actually, Shirou barely listened to any of the teachers for the rest of the day. His mind was permanently fixated on the person he saw in the courtyard. He wanted to pay attention to everything else, but he just couldn't get it out of his head.
So when the final bell sounded, Shirou nearly jumped out of his seat in realization that it was sunset. He picked up his bag, threw it over his shoulder and started on his way home, but for some reason he felt like taking the long way home. It was rude of him, normally he walked home with Sakura but for today he felt like being alone for a few minutes. So as the sun slowly set itself behind the horizon, Shirou walked down the street that formed the unofficial barrier between the districts of Fuyuki city.
He kept running through the conversation he had with Issei over and over in his head. Was he really working that hard? He didn't feel tapped out, if anything, he was as rested and productive as he always was. Issei had told him to take a break, but what would he do with that free time? He would feel like he had wasted away a perfectly good day if he didn't do anything. Maybe Issei was trying to tell him to stop working on his 'Bigger' projects. Yeah, that was probably it.
The sound of something falling over drew Shirou's attention. Just at the intersection of the road, someone had fallen over. Shirou couldn't see their face, but he was close enough to see the familiar white skirt and feminine body. Shirou found himself running to help the girl before he could stop himself. Whoever she was, Shirou had to admit she was very pretty. She was young, about Shirou's age with soft blue hair and chocolate brown skin. Her shoulderless skirt almost made Shirou blush at how much skin it showed. Thankfully for him, it was large enough that it left almost everything to the imagination.
Quickly glancing around, Shirou found no one that could call for help. He looked down at the girl again and considered his options. It was a short list between either leaving her here or bringing her home with him so that Sakura and Taiga could help her until she woke up. Shirou thought about those options before just settling on a third option.
Gently shaking her awake. Shirou was honestly a little nervous, if this didn't work he would have to resort to one of the other two options. So steeling himself, Shirou gently shook the girl's side "Hey, it's not safe for you to just fall asleep in the middle of the street."
Shirou repeated shaking her and just when he thought that his action were resulting in absolutely nothing, the girl did something completely unexpected.
Her body shot up at unnatural speeds, and she kissed him.
Shirou didn't really know what was going on until he tasted the faint essence of strawberry. The rest of his mind had no clue what was going on however, it just found itself being kissed by probably the cutest girl Shirou had ever seen. Two things went through Shirou's mind.
Firstly, this kind of feels pretty nice.
Secondly, who was this girl and what did he do to deserve a kisssssssss.
Shirou's eyes dropped down as the world spun around him. He felt his arms go numb, fall to his side and the rest of him fell over soon after him. He felt like he was going to sleep, but a part of him knew it wasn't that. This was far too peaceful, to relaxing to be any normal sleep. It was probably something far more sinister, but Shirou didn't have the strength to close his eyes much less do anything to save himself.
The girl in the skirt slowly stood up, and when she did, she gazed down at him with grey, emotionless eyes. As Shirou's vision faded, he faintly saw as the girl's head snap around to look at something. Something akin to fear was in those eyes. She looked around, then back down at Shirou before running away.
Part of Shirou didn't want her to leave.
He didn't want to die alone.
Shirou's eyes closed themselves, and the last thing he heard was the could of hooves clopping along the pavement.
Shirou's eyes snapped open and his body instantly shot up into a sitting position. His head shifted back and forth so fast any sensible person would be afraid he might break something in his neck. But through his quick look around, Shirou found nothing. The girl was gone, and his bag was sitting right next to him like he had just set it down so he could enjoy a quick nap. The only thing different about his situation that he could see, was that a small red scarf was wrapped around his neck. Shirou stood up and examined the scarf. It was hand made, extremely well handmade with silk so smooth that it almost made Shirou want to press it against his head and fall into a happy sleep. Instead, he picked up his bag and ran the short distance home. Thankfully, it wasn't to late and the lights were still on in his home meaning that Sakura and Taiga were still there.
Shirou quickly made his way to the door and sighed in relief when the door was open.
"I'm home," he said as he opened the door.
"SHIROU!!!"
Shirou winced as Taiga wrapped him in a tight embrace "I was so worried! Sakura and I were watching the news and apparently there has been some kidnappings happening around town. I joked about it at the time, but then you came home late, forcing Sakura to cook for you by the way, so we feared the worst!"
Shirou slowly pushed Taiga away from him "Well you don't have to worry. Something came up, that's why I was late."
Taiga gives Shirou a look before awkwardly glancing behind her "You ah, might want to clean up before you head into the kitchen."
"Why?" Shirou asked as he walked right past her.
"Well it's becaus-."
"Senpai!" Sakura called from the kitchen.
Shirou looked down the hall, and the worried form of Sakura appeared in the hallway. She looked like she had been worried sick, with her hair in an almost ragged state. She looked upon Shirou with the most fearful expression he had ever seen her wear. But that worry quickly morphed into something akin to anger as Sakura looked over Shirou's face.
"Did you have a good time, Senpai?" Sakura asked coldly.
Shirou raised an eyebrow "Uh, what are you talking about Sakura? I'm sorry I'm late but I have a good reason. Something came up after school and I wanted to be alone for a few minutes, that's why I didn't walk home with you."
Sakura nearly rolled her eyes as she turned around and made her way to the table. She sat down at her normal spot and began serving herself a serving of rice. Shirou glanced behind him at Taiga, but the teacher was just shaking her head. Not knowing what to do, Shirou took off his new red scarf and sat down at the table. Taiga joined him by sitting on the other side and the two served themselves from the bountiful feast that Sakura had made for them. Shirou went straight for the rice, but for some reason it didn't taste as good as it normally did.
The dinner table was reduced to tense silence as the three of them dug into their respective meals. While he was eating, Taiga kept giving him disappointed looks and Sakura refused to meet his gaze. He gave both women a questioning look.
What was wrong with them? Did he do something wrong?
"Senpai," Sakura said in the same cold tone "Your rice would taste far better if you wiped off the lipstick that was left over."
In a small storage building beside an average house in the middle of Fuyuki city, a common sound silently made its way through the small open space. Shirou Emyia, average student of the local Homurahara Academy, was busy at work on his most prized possession.
His journal.
He wrote down everything in this journal. What he thought, what he felt, what happened at school. Everything Shirou noticed, down to the smallest noticeable detail, he put in this small leather bound book.
No one other than Shirou and his late father had ever seen what was written in the book. Shirou stopped his pen and smiled at the memory.
It was a starry night, not a cloud in the sky, and Shirou was watching his father read through his journal. Kiritsugu Emiya eyes slowly gazed back and forth as he read through each line of writing. The old man had the same kind smile with the same hint of sadness that he always did, but today it felt different.
In his smile, there was no happiness, there was only fear for what he was reading. He set the book down and sighed.
"Shirou," He said looking out over the courtyard "Do you really believe a dream like this is possible?"
The young Shirou nodded "Yes! I saw it myself."
Kiritsugu nodded "Yes, you wrote about it. A field of pure green grass, a clear blue sky and a shining sun illuminating everything in sight. It sounds like a wonderful dream, but that's all it's going to be Shirou, a dream."
"Why can't it be real?"
Kiritsugu sighed at his son's innocence "Because Shirou, the world isn't a kind place. Dreams like this, never come true."
Shirou frowned at that, but he smiled soon after "Ok then, how about we make a deal?"
Kiritsugu frowned "A deal?"
Shirou gave a huge grin "Yeah! How about this: If I make my dream a reality, you have to be the first person to step inside!"
Shirou of the present had to smile at the reaction his old man had given him after he had said that. It was one of the few times he had ever seen him truly smile.
But he was getting lost in thought, he needed to finish this entry. Shirou picked up his pen and began writing once again.
"I dreamed about the field again today, but this time it had more detail than ever. The huge black shapes that I thought were rocks were actually giant mounds of metal. Building material, just waiting to be used. There were also flowers. Hundreds of golden lilies dotted the landscape. Part of me just wanted to run through those flowers, feel the sensation of life around me, but I stopped myself because I saw something. In the center of the field, there was a silhouette. Someone besides me was in the field. I wanted to run to them, ask who they were and how they got there, but I awoke before I could.
So here I am, sitting at my desk yet again. It's getting a little late in the morning, but the good news is that I finally finished the blueprints. They need a few more adjustments, but it should be the perfect starting point.
Hopefully I can still help Sakura with breakfast before a certain tiger comes by. Here's hoping she hasn'-
"~SHIROU!!!"
Shirou winced at the intensity of the voice. He gave the door behind him an annoyed glance before returning to finish his last sentence. But his surprised had caused him to scribble a line down the entire page, effectively ruining the entire paragraph. Shirou set down his pen and entered a state where he would become a man capable of walking out of this shed without hitting himself in frustration. He tore the now useless page out of the notebook and threw it in a overflowing trash bin. Getting up from his seat, Shirou had to tiptoe around the floor of his shop to avoid the hundreds of unfinished ideas and other such projects that people from school had asked him to look at. He reached the door and stopped himself to open it at the last second. He looked down at himself and sighed in relief when he saw that he was in his school uniform.
If he wasn't, and he talked to the "Tiger" that was outside, he probably would leave his house without losing an ear. Shirou steeled himself and opened the door "Mornin-."
Shirou wasn't even halfway through the greeting before he saw something coming at him. It forced him to slam the door shut in an effort to protect himself. Shirou heard something shatter on the other end of the door. He waited a second, before opening a small slit in the door frame. In the small crack that allowed Shirou to see the morning sun, a single figure blocked most of the view. She was a young, brown haired woman with pearls in her ears and a quirky smile on her face. Her heels were clinking against one another, an audible signal that she couldn't go two seconds without moving. Shirou raised an eyebrow "Can I help you?"
Taiga frowned "Shirou, do you know what time it is?"
"I don't keep a clock in the shed, so no I don't." Shirou answered, with no small hint of regret layering his words.
He had been meaning to get a clock in the shed for a while now. Sakura was always bugging him about being on time and actually remembering to get some sleep. Shirou absentmindedly looked behind him. He did get some sleep last night, right? He shook his head and looked back out at the sky.
"It's ah, morning. Yeah it's morning."
Taiga didn't look very impressed but she nodded "Yes it is morning, and do you know what usually happens in the morning?"
Shirou's face feel and he took a moment to sigh in exasperation before guessing "Breakfa-."
"BREAKFAST YES!" Taiga interrupts with a twirl "I haven't eaten anything since last night and my entire day would be so much better if you could make one of your omelets for me!"
Shirou felt his eye twitch, but he managed to keep his frustration contained "Well if it's so early in the morning, just ask Sakura to make you something." Shirou said before adding a whispered "You freeloader."
Taiga purses her lips and frowns "Well normally I would, but someone clearly made a mistake!"
"Can you go two minutes without screaming?" Shirou asked as he stepped out of the shed. Once he was out, the rest of Taiga's sentence registered "Wait, why are you implying that I made a mistake?"
Taiga put her hands on her hips "Well firstly, Sakura isn't here this morning and we both know the only reason she wouldn't be here is because you did something."
"Or Shinji." Shirou interjected, anger seeping into his voice.
The human tiger rolled her eyes "A possibility, but not the one that will guilt trip you into feeding me."
Shirou felt his sweat drop "You have no filter do you?"
Taiga smiled "Nope!"
Shirou let out a sigh "I'll get to work."
Taiga pumped her fist in the air, signaling yet another victory. Shirou ignored her and walked the short distance from his shed to the main house. It wasn't a huge house by any means, but it wasn't a small one either. Three separate buildings consisting of the main house, the shed and a training dojo. Of the three buildings, the shed and the house itself had the most time put into them. While Shirou did like to keep himself fit, it basically consisted of a morning run and a few pushups, nothing too outrageous. Anything extra and his production would slow and he couldn't have that.
As a result, the training dojo had started the slow decline into desolation. The only reason that it hadn't already is that Sakura and Taiga had pestered Shirou about keeping it in top condition. If not for him, a sign of respect to his late father. But even with that incentive, Shirou had only done basic cleaning and repair. There was still the odd floor board that needed polishing, but as a whole it was as good as it could get.
Shirou entered the main house and quickly made his way to the kitchen with Taiga spinning in victory behind him. The teacher spun in place before kneeling at the table in the center of the room. Shirou shot her an irritated look before putting on an apron and preparing a pan for omelettes. As Shirou worked he hummed a short song to tune out the sounds of Teiga flipping through the channels on the TV. As he flipped the first omelette, Taiga called out "Hey Shirou! Take a look at this."
Shirou looked up from the stove and saw what Taiga was talking about. It was a news report, and the reporter was talking in front of what seemed to be a destroyed house. Probably a gas fire, Shirou mused.
"While the situation behind me is under control, this is the seventh unexpected gas leak to happen in the past two days alone."
Well would you look at that, I was close. Shirou thought.
"Shirou, do you think you can help with that?" Taiga asked.
Shirou shrugged "I don't think anyone would let me. I'm sure the professionals can handle it."
Taiga pouted "Oh come on Shirou! Where's that drive you had when you were a kid? There isn't a machine in the world that you can't fix! Didn't you completely remake the school's heating and air conditioning?"
"I only finished the cooling," Shirou said as he flipped an omelette "I'm still working on the heating."
Taiga pointed a finger at the redhead "See! That's what I'm talking about! You're a mechanical genius Shirou.If you got out of that shed of yours and applied yourself more you would probably be in Tokyo University by now."
Shirou rolled his eyes. He had heard a different variation on this speech every single day. He should be applying himself more, he should be doing more. But he couldn't apply himself to anything more. He was already working on something far more important than everyday gas leaks. Now, with that said, if they asked him to help he probably would. Shirou probably would do the job good enough that the only reason the pipes got destroyed again was they needed to be replaced completely. It would take time out of his main project, but it would still make the people around town grateful of his work. And if they knew how good he was at fixing and building, they would be more willing to help him in return.
"I've already applied," Shirou said putting a large helping of cheese onto the fried egg "and don't worry about that. I'm still just a third year, I still have another year to get their attention. And if I can't find anything, I'll just have to show them what I've been working on."
Taiga rolled her eyes and fell backwards to the ground "You can't seriously expect you to take your ideas seriously."
Shirou shrugged "It doesn't matter if they take it seriously or not. It's going to be for everyone, no matter what they think. But it's not finished yet, I have to keep going."
Taiga let out a soft smile "Honestly Shirou, take a break already. I've known you since even before Kiritsugu passed away. And even before then you were still working, have you ever considered taking a break?"
Shirou's hand nearly slipped as he slid the omelette onto a plate. He took a second to send a wayward glance at Taiga. Shirou looked at the omelette, then Taiga, then a bottle of oyster sauce. He stood there for a second, weighing the pros and cons of that kind of choice.
"Your omelette's ready." Shirou said putting the breakfast meal on the kitchen counter, completely untouched.
Taiga bounced up with her usual enthusiasm and snatched the omelette off the counter with the speed of a hungry school teacher. Shirou turned around just as she sat down at the table and started to eat. Barely a second later, the front door to the house bursts open. Both Taiga and Shirou lean in their respective positions to see who was coming in. You'd think that the door being thrown open would garner a more surprised reaction from the two, but this was the house of Shirou Emyia, where opening the door before running straight in was only an afterthought for an unnamed teacher.
The one that stood in the hallway, was what many of the boys at Homurahara Academy called the purest flower. She wore the same brown coat and black skirt at the other girls of the school but her purple hair and her almost mirror like eyes set her apart from everyone else. It wasn't strange for her to come into the house unannounced, she did it almost every day and Shirou didn't mind it one bit. Today however, she looked tired. There were bags under her eyes and a layer of sweat on her brow. Shirou put on kind smile and waved with his free hand "Morning Sakura."
Sakura Matou took a deep breath before bowing "I'm sorry Senpai."
Shirou waved off her apology "No worries Sakura, you know you can come in whenever you like. Showning up a little later than usual is no problem."
Shirou cracked an egg and prepared a second omelette "Take a seat, I'll make you something."
Sakura's widened and she nervously waved her hands "No I couldn't possibly-."
"Sakura." Shirou said, his tone getting far sterner then either Sakura or Taiga expected. Sakura's nervous waving stopped instantly "You've done so much for Taiga and I over the years," Shirou continued "You come into the house and put yourself to work. Not today. Today, Sakura Matou, you are my guest and I won't have my guest working in the kitchen when she should be sitting at the table eating a nice breakfast before school."
Sakura stood there with a dumbfounded expression on her face, but, much to Shirou's delight, it quickly changed into a smile. She bowed to Shirou before taking a seat at the table next to Taiga "Morning Ms. Fujimoru."
Taiga's hand slammed down on the table, causing Sakura to jump slightly and Shirou to glance up from his work. The teacher was pointing an accusing finger at Shirou, to which the teen responded by asking "What?"
Taiga's finger snapped around, nearly hitting Sakura and forcing said lavender haired girl to go cross eyed as Taiga's finger came millimeters away from her face.
"That right there! You see!?" Taiga screamed "That is how you greet a teacher!"
"It's morning, school hasn't started and you're my legal guardian." Shirou pointed out "I think I get to call you by your first name."
"I agree!"
Shirou's sweat dropped "Then why are you complaining?"
"Because you do it all the time!" Taiga screamed in despair "Even in class you always say 'Taiga, I have a question' instead of 'Mrs.Fujimura, I'm completely lost, can you guide me to the right answer with your fantastic teaching method?"
Sakura felt a nervous bead of sweat roll down her face, like every other time Taiga said or did something completely out of the ordinary. Which was to say, most of the time she did anything. Shirou looked at Taiga and shared a glance with Sakura before letting out a huge sigh "And you wonder why I don't call you Ms. Fujimura."
Shirou's hand stopped in the middle of handing Sakura her omelette when he realized what just happened. He slowly looked out at Taiga, who had her tongue sticking out at him along with a victory smirk. Shirou's eyes narrowed slightly "That doesn't count."
Taiga waved his comment off before glancing at a her watch "Oh my god would you look at the time! I'm going to be late!"
What happened next could only be described as a human vacuum as Taiga inhaled all of the available food in front of her. Sakura even picked up her plate in fear of Taiga taking her meal as well. Taiga set her now empty plate down before running out of the house with the speed of a runaway freight train. She managed to scream "ThanksforthefoodShirouI'llbelookingforwardtosupper!" before Shirou heard the sound of an engine revving up and tires screeching as they burn out on the street.
Shirou just stood there for a second, but he just shook his head and starting putting the dirty dishes in the sink. Sakura got up to help, but Shirou only had to glance at her to keep her from helping. He didn't however, object to her clearing out the table and handing him the dishes over the counter. Shirou glanced at the overhead clock while he allowed the sink to fill up with water, still early, still plenty of time before he and Sakura had to go to school.
Shirou grabbed a rag and started washing the dishes. While he was doing this, he glanced behind him at Sakura "If you don't mind me asking Sakura, why are you so tired? Has Archery practice gone late and you made you stay up late to catch up on homework?"
Sakura shakes her head "No, its nothing like that. Ayako always makes sure that we can get home at a reasonable time."
Shirou nodded "That's good to here," as he goes to put a cleaned plate away, a thought strikes Shirou. The thought causes him to clench his free hand so hard his knuckles went white "It's not Shinji again, is it?"
Sakura's eyes went wide and she shot to her feet "No! Shinji had nothing to do with it!"
Shirou looked behind him, the sight of Sakura nearly at tears to defend her 'Brother' made Shirou want to put a knife in his chest and twist. It would probably hurt less too.
"I'm sorry Sakura," Shirou said returning to his work "That was over the line, I'm sorry."
Sakura slowly sits down "No, it's fine."
The two waited in silence for a moment. Thankfully, Shirou managed to ask "So who is the reason?"
"Its nothing bad Senpai," Sakura said quickly "it's just that a..." she pauses for a moment, and Shirou noticed that she was refusing to look at him.
"A business associate of my grandfather's has come over to stay with us." Sakura finished "She's not from around here and we ended talking to one another really really late last night."
Shirou lets out a sigh of relief "Ok, sounds like it was a fun time."
Sakura noded "Oh yes, we both had a very nice evening together."
The two students entered another silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. They knew the other was there, but they were content just doing their thing. Shirou washing his dishes and Sakura drinking her tea. As soon as Shirou was done with the dishes, he put his jacket on and head out the door with Sakura and his boxed lunch. The walk to school was as silent as it normally was, with cars driving down the street as fast as they could and students rushing out of their homes to get to classes on time.
Homurahara Academy wasn't a huge school, but it was by no means a small establishment. Three main school buildings connected by a single courtyard with an archery house out back with a few storage houses. Shirou and Sakura walked through the main gates just as the first bell of the day rang. Shirou waved to Sakura as they left for their respective classes. Sakura went to the east building while Shirou went to the west. But he wasn't going to a class, instead heading to the student council room. He passed group after group of students who waved at him or thanked him for whatever odd job he did in the last week. Shirou climbed the single flight of stairs it took to get up to the second floor and took a sharp turn to the student council room. When he got to the door it opened without him even having to knock or put in a key. Standing in the doorway was the student council president Issei Ryuudou. Looking at him you would almost instantly expect him to be the leader of something important. Combed blue hair, studious glasses and an almost military style commanding gaze.
He bowed to Shirou before putting on a grateful smile "I appreciate you coming in Emiya."
"No problem." Shirou said.
Issei step aside to let him into the student council room. It was a little smaller than the average classroom with most of the room being taken up by a long table. Shirou swung his bag off his shoulder and onto the table. A sound not dissimilar to two rocks clashing against one another camp with the crash of Shirou's bag hitting the table.
Issei glanced at Shirou's bag "I see you brought everything today."
Shirou shook his head "Nope, I just never take anything out."
He unzipped his bag and pulled out several bags of various wires and a metal tool box whose latch was replaced by a series of desperate duct tape pieces. Issei gestured behind him, where a tarp had been laid out to keep the floor from being scratched from the broken heater.
Shirou didn't waste any time. He took out a few wires and a screwdriver and set to work. His hand breezed over the broken machine and in less than a minute all of the broken parts were laid out perfectly organized. Issei took a seat at the table, drinking a cup of tea while Shirou worked in silence. Neither boy talked, they never did when Shirou was working. It would be too distracting.
Shirou let out a sigh when he found the problem "Issei, how old is this thing?"
The student council president took a second to think that question over "About fifteen years, give or take. Why?"
"Because there are so many burnt out wires you might as well buy a new one."
Issei shook his head "You know why I can't do that Emyia."
"I know I know," Shirou said "The budget is so unbalanced that you might as well not even bother."
Issei nodded "Yeah, the sports get the lion's share of everything and everyone else has to get by with the scraps."
"So you settle with my repair jobs." Shirou finished.
"It's not really settle as much as it is the best around." Issei said "It would take too long to call an actual mechanic, and honestly, this school is only running as well as it is because you're doing the grunt work."
Shirou nodded at that, every time something broke he was always the one to fix it. Honestly, Shirou had no clue how many things he had fixed for this school. But then again, you don't get the nickname "The mechanic" if you don't spend a lot of time fixing things.
Issei put a hand to his wrist "Time's running by the way."
Shirou nodded again and his concentration hardened until everything else around Shirou didn't matter. He bit his lip in frustration as he pulled a little to hard on the side of the heater, stripping a series of bolts in the process. He keeps down a growl of anger as he reached into his bag, searching for a replacement while Issei kept an eye on his watch.
A few minutes later Shirou set down his tools and glanced at Issei. Said class president clicked the stopper on his watch and quickly read the time "Five minutes and thirty four seconds, you're getting faster Emiya."
Shirou grinned "Well I have been practicing this sort of thing recently."
The answer caused a sigh to escape Issei. Shirou was in the middle of putting away his tools when Issei sighed so he stopped himself mid motion. The red head gives his friend a quick glance "What?"
"Practicing," Issei almost hit his head against the table when he said the word "How often have you been working Emiya?"
Shirou furrowed his brow at the question "What kind of question is that? You, the school and all my friends give me enough work that I've never stopped working."
"And that's the problem."
"Excuse me?"
Issei pinched the bridge of his nose. He contemplated something for a few moments before he looked Shirou straight in the eye "Shirou, you're constantly working, it's like it's all you can do. You move from one job to the next, always fixing, maintaining, building, doing everything other than relaxing."
Shirou almost laughed as he continued putting his tools away "You make it sound like working is a bad thing."
"Emiya," Issei said, the edge in his voice caused Shirou to instantly stop what he was doing and look back at his friend "Please, take this seriously for a second." Issei pleaded "As good as fixing them as you are, you aren't a machine. You can't just keep working, you might be fine now but you'll run yourself into the ground."
Shirou raised an eyebrow and folded his arms "Then what would you have me do? Just sit around and do nothing?"
Issei shook his head "No, nothing like that. Look you're missing the point. Just...I don't know, take a day off every week where you don't do any work for anyone. Just sit back, rest, sleep, read a book, go on a run I don't know but just find someway to relax."
Shirou's eyes narrowed without his permission but the anger that caused the action quickly transformed into a sigh.
"Fine," Shirou said "I'll take tomorrow off."
Issei bowed his head slightly "That's all I'm asking,"
"You're welcome." Shirou said, somewhat bitterly.
Issei held up his hands in surrender "I'm just trying to help you take care of yourself, since you clearly can't be bothered. Unless of course Matou is yelling at you."
Shirou rolled his eyes "Seriously? I'd sooner punch Shinji in the face again before listening to another one of his womanizing rants."
"I was talking about Sakura." Issei said getting up from his seat.
It took all of Shirou's self control to stop himself from rolling his eyes at that. Instead of sending anything he didn't mean at Issei, Shirou focused solely on cleaning up his work. He heard Issei opening the door but he stopped right in the doorframe before glancing back around "Speaking of Shinji," Issei said getting Shirou's attention "apparently you don't need to worry about him for a while."
Shirou raised an eyebrow "Why?"
Issei shrugged "I don't really know much of the details but apparently he got really sick. Apparently it had something to do with food poisoning or something. Either way, he had to go to the hospital to stop himself from barfing out half of his intestines."
Internally, Shirou blinked in confusion at the news. Sakura hadn't said anything about Shinji getting sick. She knew the two of them didn't really get along with most things, but despite what Shirou wanted to show the world he didn't want Shinji to end up too badly. Honestly, he didn't know what surprised him more: The fact that the heir to the Matous, probably the richest family in town, got food poisoning of all things, or the fact that Sakura didn't even mention it that morning. Was that why she was so defensive of Shinji this morning? Because she didn't want anyone making fun of or threatening him while he was in this weak state? But, in the end, neither of those reasons overshadowed the one simple fact. Shirou wouldn't have to deal with angry girls running around the halls for a while.
Despite himself, Shirou couldn't stop a smile from forming on his face, much to Issei's disappointment. The student council present looked down at the Heater then back to Shirou "Do you need any help with that?"
Shirou barely gave the Heater a passing glance before shaking his head "No I'm fine."
Issei nodded "Room 213," he said before heading out the door, leaving Shirou alone with his work.
He dropped his toolbag atop the small heater without any grace whatsoever. A few grunts later, he had the heater in his hands with the toolbag atop it. As he walked across the small room, it occurred to him that he probably should've had Issei stay so that he could keep the door open. Shirou set the Heater down before opening the door and dragging the hunk of metal through the now open doorway.
Someone nearly hit the door she was walking so close. Shirou couldn't see her face, but there wasn't a boy in Homurahara Academy who didn't recognise that red jacket and black skirt. He kept his gaze on the Heater, but he said out loud "Morning Tohsaka! Fancy seeing you here."
Shirou didn't know if she even turned to look back at him, but he couldn't really do much in return either. He hefted up the heater and slowly made his way through the packed halls and stairways leading to the classroom Issei had indicated. The starting bell rang just as Shirou put the heater in front of room 213.
He quickly stretched his back and looked down the hall at the groups of students struggling to make it to class fast enough for their respective teachers to look over the fact that they were late. But Shirou had no such motivation to go any speed faster than a slow walking pace. His first class was taught by Fujimura, and the day that she arrived on time for her class was talked about in the book of revelations.
So Shirou took his time walking down the halls to his classroom, even allowing his mind to wander as he took a few glances outside. From what he could see, the courtyard was empty, as it should be at a time like this. Shirou blinked and something appeared in the corner of his vision. He stopped walking and did a double take looking out the window. He was sure he didn't see anyone before, but there was definitely someone out there now. In the middle of the courtyard, stood someone in a simple white skirt. Shirou couldn't pick out any fine details from the distance he was at, but he was sure of one thing. Whoever was standing out there, was looking straight at him.
But Shirou made the mistake of blinking again, and suddenly whoever was out there was gone again. Shirou stood there, running through the memory over and over again in his head. He was sure he had seen someone, but looking out now there wasn't anyone out there. Eventually, Shirou just shook his head and went on his way to class.
Sure enough, as soon as he got to class, Taiga was bounding down the hallway towards him. Fearing for his life, Shirou quickly got out of the way as Mrs. Fujimura ran straight past him fast enough to set the tiles on fire. Shirou quickly frowned at that metaphor. If Taiga really did set the floor on fire, he was probably going to be the one who was going to fix it.
Taiga spun in a circle as she started her morning spiel that Shirou had probably heard a hundred times at this point. So he barely paid any attention to her talk. Actually, Shirou barely listened to any of the teachers for the rest of the day. His mind was permanently fixated on the person he saw in the courtyard. He wanted to pay attention to everything else, but he just couldn't get it out of his head.
So when the final bell sounded, Shirou nearly jumped out of his seat in realization that it was sunset. He picked up his bag, threw it over his shoulder and started on his way home, but for some reason he felt like taking the long way home. It was rude of him, normally he walked home with Sakura but for today he felt like being alone for a few minutes. So as the sun slowly set itself behind the horizon, Shirou walked down the street that formed the unofficial barrier between the districts of Fuyuki city.
He kept running through the conversation he had with Issei over and over in his head. Was he really working that hard? He didn't feel tapped out, if anything, he was as rested and productive as he always was. Issei had told him to take a break, but what would he do with that free time? He would feel like he had wasted away a perfectly good day if he didn't do anything. Maybe Issei was trying to tell him to stop working on his 'Bigger' projects. Yeah, that was probably it.
The sound of something falling over drew Shirou's attention. Just at the intersection of the road, someone had fallen over. Shirou couldn't see their face, but he was close enough to see the familiar white skirt and feminine body. Shirou found himself running to help the girl before he could stop himself. Whoever she was, Shirou had to admit she was very pretty. She was young, about Shirou's age with soft blue hair and chocolate brown skin. Her shoulderless skirt almost made Shirou blush at how much skin it showed. Thankfully for him, it was large enough that it left almost everything to the imagination.
Quickly glancing around, Shirou found no one that could call for help. He looked down at the girl again and considered his options. It was a short list between either leaving her here or bringing her home with him so that Sakura and Taiga could help her until she woke up. Shirou thought about those options before just settling on a third option.
Gently shaking her awake. Shirou was honestly a little nervous, if this didn't work he would have to resort to one of the other two options. So steeling himself, Shirou gently shook the girl's side "Hey, it's not safe for you to just fall asleep in the middle of the street."
Shirou repeated shaking her and just when he thought that his action were resulting in absolutely nothing, the girl did something completely unexpected.
Her body shot up at unnatural speeds, and she kissed him.
Shirou didn't really know what was going on until he tasted the faint essence of strawberry. The rest of his mind had no clue what was going on however, it just found itself being kissed by probably the cutest girl Shirou had ever seen. Two things went through Shirou's mind.
Firstly, this kind of feels pretty nice.
Secondly, who was this girl and what did he do to deserve a kisssssssss.
Shirou's eyes dropped down as the world spun around him. He felt his arms go numb, fall to his side and the rest of him fell over soon after him. He felt like he was going to sleep, but a part of him knew it wasn't that. This was far too peaceful, to relaxing to be any normal sleep. It was probably something far more sinister, but Shirou didn't have the strength to close his eyes much less do anything to save himself.
The girl in the skirt slowly stood up, and when she did, she gazed down at him with grey, emotionless eyes. As Shirou's vision faded, he faintly saw as the girl's head snap around to look at something. Something akin to fear was in those eyes. She looked around, then back down at Shirou before running away.
Part of Shirou didn't want her to leave.
He didn't want to die alone.
Shirou's eyes closed themselves, and the last thing he heard was the could of hooves clopping along the pavement.
Shirou's eyes snapped open and his body instantly shot up into a sitting position. His head shifted back and forth so fast any sensible person would be afraid he might break something in his neck. But through his quick look around, Shirou found nothing. The girl was gone, and his bag was sitting right next to him like he had just set it down so he could enjoy a quick nap. The only thing different about his situation that he could see, was that a small red scarf was wrapped around his neck. Shirou stood up and examined the scarf. It was hand made, extremely well handmade with silk so smooth that it almost made Shirou want to press it against his head and fall into a happy sleep. Instead, he picked up his bag and ran the short distance home. Thankfully, it wasn't to late and the lights were still on in his home meaning that Sakura and Taiga were still there.
Shirou quickly made his way to the door and sighed in relief when the door was open.
"I'm home," he said as he opened the door.
"SHIROU!!!"
Shirou winced as Taiga wrapped him in a tight embrace "I was so worried! Sakura and I were watching the news and apparently there has been some kidnappings happening around town. I joked about it at the time, but then you came home late, forcing Sakura to cook for you by the way, so we feared the worst!"
Shirou slowly pushed Taiga away from him "Well you don't have to worry. Something came up, that's why I was late."
Taiga gives Shirou a look before awkwardly glancing behind her "You ah, might want to clean up before you head into the kitchen."
"Why?" Shirou asked as he walked right past her.
"Well it's becaus-."
"Senpai!" Sakura called from the kitchen.
Shirou looked down the hall, and the worried form of Sakura appeared in the hallway. She looked like she had been worried sick, with her hair in an almost ragged state. She looked upon Shirou with the most fearful expression he had ever seen her wear. But that worry quickly morphed into something akin to anger as Sakura looked over Shirou's face.
"Did you have a good time, Senpai?" Sakura asked coldly.
Shirou raised an eyebrow "Uh, what are you talking about Sakura? I'm sorry I'm late but I have a good reason. Something came up after school and I wanted to be alone for a few minutes, that's why I didn't walk home with you."
Sakura nearly rolled her eyes as she turned around and made her way to the table. She sat down at her normal spot and began serving herself a serving of rice. Shirou glanced behind him at Taiga, but the teacher was just shaking her head. Not knowing what to do, Shirou took off his new red scarf and sat down at the table. Taiga joined him by sitting on the other side and the two served themselves from the bountiful feast that Sakura had made for them. Shirou went straight for the rice, but for some reason it didn't taste as good as it normally did.
The dinner table was reduced to tense silence as the three of them dug into their respective meals. While he was eating, Taiga kept giving him disappointed looks and Sakura refused to meet his gaze. He gave both women a questioning look.
What was wrong with them? Did he do something wrong?
"Senpai," Sakura said in the same cold tone "Your rice would taste far better if you wiped off the lipstick that was left over."
Illusion
Behold the power of the Ultimate Idol!
IKnowNothing
....What?
- Location
- I got lost so.....Where are we?
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
...Hassan of Serenity?
IKnowNothing
....What?
- Location
- I got lost so.....Where are we?
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
Look all I know is white skirt, Shirou's age, dark skin, blue hair, and her kiss knocked him unconscious. The only other candidate I can think of is the Infiltrator fragment of 100-face. She would be approximately the right age...
IKnowNothing
....What?
- Location
- I got lost so.....Where are we?