Year 9: Results (2002)
Random Tale
The Story-Bound
Year 9: Results
One could say that, despite the fact that Shirou was in a coma, it was a relatively good year for your family overall, until the very end.
Irisivel continued to work on her manga, promoting the JSDF in the hope that they wouldn't be overwhelmed by Iskander's slowly growing army. That was between public lessons of the Moonlit World, though: about once a week, she arranged for a public lesson in a high school gym to be taught about the Moonlit World. With that, more and more people became aware of the dangers of the Moonlit World, and are less likely to tick off something that they can't handle.
Despite that, there was the slight problem that Irisivel had managed to get a hold of the family car again... multiple times. While she never actually caused any accidents directly, she became known to the police force that she was a cause of many accidents indirectly, causing people to swerve to get out of her way. In one instance, it is suspected that her driving caused an elderly driver to have a heart attack of fear, but nothing could really be proved.
Maiya managed to get a hold of a teaching job at MBI, given to her by an increasingly paranoid Hiroto Minaka. While there were some easily understood subjects (a smattering of history, math, and Japanese language), other subjects such as common sense, home economics, and disguise were also on the itinerary. Once teaching began, however, the reasoning behind the course selection became clear.
Maiya was stuck teaching about seventy or so aliens that had, for all practical purposes, been raised in a lab. Most of them had never been outside of one, even.
Called Sekirei, these aliens possessed powers that would make typical magi drool with greed, from elemental manipulation to uncommon strength and power. They had been discovered in a crashed spaceship off a small island near Shin-Tokyo over a decade ago, and both Minaka and his then-wife Takami Sahashi had claimed them for research purposes. Using the technology of the spaceship, they built MBI up to fuel what Minaka had envisioned as a battle-royal in about seven years from now. That idea, the 'Sekirei Plan', was what drove a wedge into the marriage of the two scientists (the 'death' of the eldest child, Shirou, was the final straw to cause the divorce).
However, with the Moonlit World being exposed, lots of human aliens from another world settling on Earth, and learning his ex-wife is the Second Owner of the city he abandoned, Hiroto Minaka has decided that the original 'Sekirei Plan' would bring too much trouble on his head; it would only get as far as the opening stage before someone lost their temper and brought down everything on top of him. Instead, he was going with an 'Integration Plan', seeking to get the aliens he was keeping in the company basement into open society with no one any the wiser. They had a ways to go before he was satisfied with letting them loose; on top of getting them up to speed so that they wouldn't expose the entire race once let out, he wanted to undo a few 'modifications' that he had made (in short, return the sizes of most of the female Sekirei to something more resembling human females), and fix their genetics so that a 'winging' wouldn't occur.
Luckily, there was about a dozen or so Sekirei already in tune with the world outside the lab, so they were able to skip out on lessons. Unluckily, there was about another dozen that were simply too young for the lessons this year.
While in the middle of coming from a lessons, though, Maiya overheard from a couple of scientists that this ship that the Sekirei had come from wasn't the first of them to have landed on the Earth. After pressing for more details, a larger picture managed to appear. Apparently, some debated number of ships of Sekirei had landed on the Earth in the past, through crash landing after, in the '01's' (whoever that was) words, 'a second moon appeared from nowhere and confused the ships'. Further pressing of the scientists revealed that the Sekirei of the past had produced children with the native humans.
Confronting Minaka the next day, it was revealed that there was only one person in the family with Sekirei genetics, and he was currently comatose in the hospital.
Between lessons, Maiya continued to act as a translator for Irisivel's manga, helping it to spread to other countries, and help manage the household.
Illya continued to manage the duties of a Second Owner in Uminari, between renewing her physical education and her study of English language. She tried to make connections with the community, but her reluctant duties made her unable to fulfill that role. She appears to have an tolerance for Hayate, and while the two of them won't exactly go out and hang out together for long periods of time, they seem to get along. Maiya suspects that Illya may have her own plans for Hayate, considering how much paperwork she is shoving the younger girl's way.
Hayate continued to work on her studies as well, between math, biology (including a couple books that Maiya confiscated for reading in public), and formalcraft specialization of magecraft. Illya had high hopes for Hayate's ideal work-around for her ruined magecraft potential, but it turned out to be almost a wasted effort. True, formalcraft relied more on the skill of the user than their power, drawing Mana from the environment to make up the difference, but it turned out that most formalcraft uses needed a tiny bit of Od from the user to 'jumpstart' their use. That 'jumpstart' was something that Hayate was unable to provide, although she was able to make circles for other magi, most commonly Illya, were able to use.
The only instance of formalcraft that Hayate could use herself was a circle that was more concerned with preventing Mana from moving around than using Mana up.
Miyu and her friend Yuki managed to reach out to a girl called Sekai Saionji, expanding their small circle of friends to include someone with a more open personality that wasn't constantly demanding (unlike the 'Suzimiya Menace'). Miyu continued to work on finding a counter to the SOS Brigade marching through Bounded Fields, studied math extensively, and started helping Hayate in the kitchen.
Kuro, on the other hand, decided to reach out for another boy. After getting in trouble for giving the boy a 'Thaumaturgic Haircut', she and Makoto Itou started playing 'Duel Monsters' with a now bald Muto Yugi during recess breaks. She also worked on her magecraft, starting to favor illusions for her 'Spellcaster' deck, and started to wave around a bokken when she had the opportunity. She also tried her hand at archery, when she wasn't kicked out of the middle school for being too young to practice there.
As a side note, Taiga managed to get a job teaching English in a middle school somewhere in Tokyo. Her students are in good hands, especially since she is all-too-happy to use Ruby, Torashinai, and a card of some sort that she picked up during college, to deal with any threats to her class.
However, most of the events of note for you family this year had something to do with Mitakihara, and thus, you and Shirou.
You spent most of the year hunting demons in the city. Unlike many of the related demons you fought in the past, these ones were smart. They seemed to know exactly what was going to happen and did their best to avoid their destructions, all the while continuing to prey on civilians.
In fact, you managed to catch Miyuki Takamachi in one of their Reality Marbles before she got herself killed in a stroke of bad luck. The rest of the Takamachi family was extremely grateful for your timely appearance, as Nanoha was busy outside of town picking up Fate and Yuuno to visit Shirou at the time.
But the demons, while uncannily seeming to know your next actions, were all very 'squishy', and quickly fell to your explosives once you found them. One can't exactly dodge an explosion when it is reaching everywhere you're trying to dodge to. However, during your hunts, you started to come across some girls.
Bound together by making contracts with the Incubator Kyubey, about two dozen girls of various ages (though none older than 18) had started to gather to start to make lives around the giant 'Grief Pillar' that the great demon had dropped last year. In order to make sure no one really did anything to the Pillar, which allowed them to live without having to fight demons for survival, they had started a clan that they were calling the 'Medeis Clan'. Every single one of the girls had become capable of magecraft in some degree, even the youngest (a mere age of six). There were a half-dozen boys, boyfriends of four of the higher-ranking Pullea Magi (three for one girl), but the girls held all the power.
The only reason they were able to actually get away with going public late in the year was that Kyubey seemed to have disappeared completely from the face of the Earth... about the time you showed up in Mitakihara last year, actually.
That said, they were extremely grateful for what Shirou had done, and a few of the girls were eager to get him into the clan they had built. Some wanted to marry or court their savior, while the de-facto leader Hana Minami Medeis wanted legitimacy, which could be gained by having a boy from a legitimate magus family marry into the clan. While the Emiya name was somewhat disgraced in typical Thaumaturgic circles, no one could deny that they were magi, so Shirou was an ideal candidate, especially since he had done them a great service to allow them to live without constant battle.
And he was even friendly with them when they visited, even if he wasn't interested in marriage yet.
Which raised the question... with Shirou still comatose, how were the girls communicating with him? For that matter, how were Nanoha, Fate, and Yuuno able to get a response themselves?
It took most of the year, to November, about a month before Shirou finally woke, to finally get the complete picture.
Using either an Intelligent Device, in regards to Nanoha, Fate, and Yuuno, or one's own Soul Gem, in regards to the Medeis Clan, one could enter Shirou's mind mentally. For almost anyone else, circumstances would not line up well enough for the method to work.
Long-term unconsciousness in the subject. Technology, magecraft, or magic to make the connection. And most importantly of all, a stable, or near-stable, Reality Marble in the subject.
Shirou possesses a Reality Marble, one that reflects the burning rubble of Fuyuki that occurred at the end of the Fourth Grail War. In it, are dozens of swords and blades, from simple kitchen knives to actual Noble Phantasms. It is that Reality Marble that forms the basis of most of Shirou's Magecraft. And it shows just how deep his views of the world lie.
Yuuno had been performing research on Reality Marbles to not only understand the demons he was summoning better, but also to understand Shirou's Reality Marble better (with no intent to actually create a Reality Marble of his own, he states). His constant meetings with Shirou had been mainly research meetings in that regard, but he also helped aside Nanoha in making sure that Shirou didn't neglect all of his studies while trapped in his own head. Alongside that, he sadly admitted that Nanoha seemed to have been trying to push an emotionally crippled Fate to Shirou so that the two could lean on each other, in the hope that they could keep each other alive. The creation of the Medeis Clan seemed to irk the more determined girl, especially when they admitted that a good number of them seemed to be courting Shirou themselves.
Between visitors, Shirou was left alone in his own mind, Shirou took to trying to swing swords around, especially in his left hand. On top of that, midway through the year, he arranged a deal with various Medeis Clan representatives, in that he would teach them a little of his magecraft in exchange for passing on lessons on blacksmithing, in the hope that he would understand swords even better.
Of course, with contact becoming impossible in early November, it wasn't possible for you to see him in his mind yourself, but the inability to reach him meant one of two things, in that he was dying or starting to wake up. The later proved true when, mid-December, Shirou finally woke from his long sleep to much acclaim.
Though he still lacks a right arm (for now), there have been some debates about what to do about it. A couple of the Medeis Clan are debating on using their magic to restore the missing arm, while what's left of the TSAB and some of the JSDF are interested in simply replacing it with an Intelligent Device. At least while Shirou was unconscious, a few Mid-Chilian surgeons were able to safely remove the Jewel Seed from Shirou's body.
Meanwhile in Uminari, thanks to the giant Grief Pillar in Mitakihara, you performed 'experimental magecraft' on Hayate, slowly undoing the self-destruction of her body over the course of the year. While it doesn't deal with the root cause of the problem (meaning that she'll eventually fall back into a wheelchair, but not for a long while), and her ability to use magecraft remains neigh-impossible (with the discovery of the prana-isolation formalcraft circle giving her slight potential) the many years of her body's slow decline has mostly been dealt with. She's now walking with a walker instead of riding about in a wheelchair, much to the pleasant surprise of others in the community.
Life in Uminari continues to go on around your family. Beyond the SOS Brigade's constant explorations making many mages frustrated, there was the sudden increase in the Harlaown family numbers. In early February, Amy Limietta gave birth to twins, pushing back and shortening her wedding ceremony to Chrono Harlaown to late April, much to the amusement of several of the Mid-Childan immigrants.
Casting your gaze wider, thanks to Irisivel's manga, the JSDF were able to keep increasing recruitment slightly, but it is the Moonlit side of things that gathered your attention.
First off, there was the blatant summoning of Lancer in Misaki City. In normal circumstances, a Servant's summoning was noteworthy enough of an achievement, even if nothing of note happened afterward. However, the bloodbath afterwards of this particular summoning drew lots of attention. One of the maids of the Tohno family managed to summon her Servant in what appeared to be blind luck, and then used said Servant to slaughter almost everyone in the Tohno mansion, leaving only her sister (a fellow maid), the heiress, and a boy the head had hidden away alive (though the last was amazed that he had lived, considering that the Servant had attacked him). On her way out of the city, she had her Servant wound Nrvnqsr "Nero" Chaos, the 10th Dead Apostle Ancestor, who happened to be passing through on personal business, and then kidnap the Tohno heir.
As a side note, that's two contracts you no longer need to complete.
Of more relevance to you was the events that occurred in Fuyuki. After a falling out with her family, who were fleeing to Nix, Luviagelita Edelfelt instead fled to Fuyuki, much to the amusement and acceptance of Rin Tohsaka. After receiving Kaleidostick Sapphire, the Finnish girl joined with the Kaleido Knights in order to push back and destroy the Dead Apostle that the Bloody Page had been calling 'War'. Apparently, the 'Rider' that the Ancestor had created had lost patience in waiting for all four to appear, and decided to go on a rampage. The man halved Fuyuki's population before he was finally put down.
Sometime towards the end of the year, Tohsaka announced that evacuating Fuyuki would be a very good idea for the coming Grail War next year, and started efforts to encourage people to flee the city. She had heard from a reliable source that the next war would not only be the last in Fuyuki, but also be a Great Grail War with twice the destructive potential.
Across the world, Magi seemed to finally be on the back foot in regards to the conflicts against mundane authorities. Most notable was Nix, which lost two of its three territories back to the United States as Nix at first overreached themselves, and then withdrew to their core Kingdom to avoid too many costly losses. While the US worked to regain the use of their military bases from the many traps that the Magi of Nix had left behind, they were stopped short of working to reclaim the State that had once been one of the top economies of the world because of the largest world-shaking event this year.
Zeoticus Gremory, a Chinese Magus with demonic heritage and connections to the Chinese Government, saw that, with the collapse of the Clock Tower, there was no single organized force that united Magi against the peoples of the world which would, in some views, try to stop the righteous search to reach the Root. And after the surprise of Magi wore off, on top of a handful of Magi turning traitor to the cause, the developed world was starting to find their footing and strike back to great effect.
Taking cues from the United Nations, Gremory contacted significant Magi from countries around the world, inviting them for a conference of Thaumaturgic Countries. China, Egypt, Korea, New Babylon, Nix, Vegas, and a half-dozen other countries with strong Moonlit connections were all invited and attended (Japan was on the list of those invited, most likely a courtesy notice, but the message got lost somewhere in the paperwork...). Together, they founded the 'Mage Court of Gaia', an alliance of Moonlit Countries that stood together to maintain what magecraft they had left, deal with moonlit threats before they got out of control, make agreements that were beneficial to them, and simply stand against the tide of angry mundane governments.
One of the first things the Court did, threating with Nuclear Weapons and a Noble Phantasm, was force the United States to stop its war against Nix, much to the frustration of the larger country and the horror of many other countries. The second thing they did was sign a handful of accords of things to never do. Most of these included things that breakers got Sealing Designations for in the past (Yuuno is going to be marked as an International Thaumaturgic Criminal if he is found out, now), but you noted that one of the accords, one against combining modern weaponry, tools, and Thaumaturgy, had your name on it.
In fact, the Court labeled you International Thaumaturgic Criminal #1 for breaking the masquerade, and continuing to work for purposes to expand public knowledge of the Moonlit World. Irisiviel and Maiya were also marked, on top of Shirou, Nanoha, half the public members of the former TSAB, and lots of other names, but yours was the most notable, considering you had an Accord also named after you.
Japan is going to be grudgingly welcomed to the Court if it ever decides to make its presence known there, but considering its now full of International Thaumaturgic Criminals (in the court's eyes), it is going to be a cold reception indeed.
The Grail War is going to be starting in a little over a year. Hopefully, even with Shirou's desire to fight Ruler himself and Yuuno working to summon Merlin as his Servant. But with both the Blue and the Puppetmaster being rival Masters, on top of it going to be a Great Grail War, whatever that meant, it is going to be a long year...
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One could say that, despite the fact that Shirou was in a coma, it was a relatively good year for your family overall, until the very end.
Irisivel continued to work on her manga, promoting the JSDF in the hope that they wouldn't be overwhelmed by Iskander's slowly growing army. That was between public lessons of the Moonlit World, though: about once a week, she arranged for a public lesson in a high school gym to be taught about the Moonlit World. With that, more and more people became aware of the dangers of the Moonlit World, and are less likely to tick off something that they can't handle.
Despite that, there was the slight problem that Irisivel had managed to get a hold of the family car again... multiple times. While she never actually caused any accidents directly, she became known to the police force that she was a cause of many accidents indirectly, causing people to swerve to get out of her way. In one instance, it is suspected that her driving caused an elderly driver to have a heart attack of fear, but nothing could really be proved.
Maiya managed to get a hold of a teaching job at MBI, given to her by an increasingly paranoid Hiroto Minaka. While there were some easily understood subjects (a smattering of history, math, and Japanese language), other subjects such as common sense, home economics, and disguise were also on the itinerary. Once teaching began, however, the reasoning behind the course selection became clear.
Maiya was stuck teaching about seventy or so aliens that had, for all practical purposes, been raised in a lab. Most of them had never been outside of one, even.
Called Sekirei, these aliens possessed powers that would make typical magi drool with greed, from elemental manipulation to uncommon strength and power. They had been discovered in a crashed spaceship off a small island near Shin-Tokyo over a decade ago, and both Minaka and his then-wife Takami Sahashi had claimed them for research purposes. Using the technology of the spaceship, they built MBI up to fuel what Minaka had envisioned as a battle-royal in about seven years from now. That idea, the 'Sekirei Plan', was what drove a wedge into the marriage of the two scientists (the 'death' of the eldest child, Shirou, was the final straw to cause the divorce).
However, with the Moonlit World being exposed, lots of human aliens from another world settling on Earth, and learning his ex-wife is the Second Owner of the city he abandoned, Hiroto Minaka has decided that the original 'Sekirei Plan' would bring too much trouble on his head; it would only get as far as the opening stage before someone lost their temper and brought down everything on top of him. Instead, he was going with an 'Integration Plan', seeking to get the aliens he was keeping in the company basement into open society with no one any the wiser. They had a ways to go before he was satisfied with letting them loose; on top of getting them up to speed so that they wouldn't expose the entire race once let out, he wanted to undo a few 'modifications' that he had made (in short, return the sizes of most of the female Sekirei to something more resembling human females), and fix their genetics so that a 'winging' wouldn't occur.
Luckily, there was about a dozen or so Sekirei already in tune with the world outside the lab, so they were able to skip out on lessons. Unluckily, there was about another dozen that were simply too young for the lessons this year.
While in the middle of coming from a lessons, though, Maiya overheard from a couple of scientists that this ship that the Sekirei had come from wasn't the first of them to have landed on the Earth. After pressing for more details, a larger picture managed to appear. Apparently, some debated number of ships of Sekirei had landed on the Earth in the past, through crash landing after, in the '01's' (whoever that was) words, 'a second moon appeared from nowhere and confused the ships'. Further pressing of the scientists revealed that the Sekirei of the past had produced children with the native humans.
Confronting Minaka the next day, it was revealed that there was only one person in the family with Sekirei genetics, and he was currently comatose in the hospital.
Between lessons, Maiya continued to act as a translator for Irisivel's manga, helping it to spread to other countries, and help manage the household.
Illya continued to manage the duties of a Second Owner in Uminari, between renewing her physical education and her study of English language. She tried to make connections with the community, but her reluctant duties made her unable to fulfill that role. She appears to have an tolerance for Hayate, and while the two of them won't exactly go out and hang out together for long periods of time, they seem to get along. Maiya suspects that Illya may have her own plans for Hayate, considering how much paperwork she is shoving the younger girl's way.
Hayate continued to work on her studies as well, between math, biology (including a couple books that Maiya confiscated for reading in public), and formalcraft specialization of magecraft. Illya had high hopes for Hayate's ideal work-around for her ruined magecraft potential, but it turned out to be almost a wasted effort. True, formalcraft relied more on the skill of the user than their power, drawing Mana from the environment to make up the difference, but it turned out that most formalcraft uses needed a tiny bit of Od from the user to 'jumpstart' their use. That 'jumpstart' was something that Hayate was unable to provide, although she was able to make circles for other magi, most commonly Illya, were able to use.
The only instance of formalcraft that Hayate could use herself was a circle that was more concerned with preventing Mana from moving around than using Mana up.
Miyu and her friend Yuki managed to reach out to a girl called Sekai Saionji, expanding their small circle of friends to include someone with a more open personality that wasn't constantly demanding (unlike the 'Suzimiya Menace'). Miyu continued to work on finding a counter to the SOS Brigade marching through Bounded Fields, studied math extensively, and started helping Hayate in the kitchen.
Kuro, on the other hand, decided to reach out for another boy. After getting in trouble for giving the boy a 'Thaumaturgic Haircut', she and Makoto Itou started playing 'Duel Monsters' with a now bald Muto Yugi during recess breaks. She also worked on her magecraft, starting to favor illusions for her 'Spellcaster' deck, and started to wave around a bokken when she had the opportunity. She also tried her hand at archery, when she wasn't kicked out of the middle school for being too young to practice there.
As a side note, Taiga managed to get a job teaching English in a middle school somewhere in Tokyo. Her students are in good hands, especially since she is all-too-happy to use Ruby, Torashinai, and a card of some sort that she picked up during college, to deal with any threats to her class.
However, most of the events of note for you family this year had something to do with Mitakihara, and thus, you and Shirou.
You spent most of the year hunting demons in the city. Unlike many of the related demons you fought in the past, these ones were smart. They seemed to know exactly what was going to happen and did their best to avoid their destructions, all the while continuing to prey on civilians.
In fact, you managed to catch Miyuki Takamachi in one of their Reality Marbles before she got herself killed in a stroke of bad luck. The rest of the Takamachi family was extremely grateful for your timely appearance, as Nanoha was busy outside of town picking up Fate and Yuuno to visit Shirou at the time.
But the demons, while uncannily seeming to know your next actions, were all very 'squishy', and quickly fell to your explosives once you found them. One can't exactly dodge an explosion when it is reaching everywhere you're trying to dodge to. However, during your hunts, you started to come across some girls.
Bound together by making contracts with the Incubator Kyubey, about two dozen girls of various ages (though none older than 18) had started to gather to start to make lives around the giant 'Grief Pillar' that the great demon had dropped last year. In order to make sure no one really did anything to the Pillar, which allowed them to live without having to fight demons for survival, they had started a clan that they were calling the 'Medeis Clan'. Every single one of the girls had become capable of magecraft in some degree, even the youngest (a mere age of six). There were a half-dozen boys, boyfriends of four of the higher-ranking Pullea Magi (three for one girl), but the girls held all the power.
The only reason they were able to actually get away with going public late in the year was that Kyubey seemed to have disappeared completely from the face of the Earth... about the time you showed up in Mitakihara last year, actually.
That said, they were extremely grateful for what Shirou had done, and a few of the girls were eager to get him into the clan they had built. Some wanted to marry or court their savior, while the de-facto leader Hana Minami Medeis wanted legitimacy, which could be gained by having a boy from a legitimate magus family marry into the clan. While the Emiya name was somewhat disgraced in typical Thaumaturgic circles, no one could deny that they were magi, so Shirou was an ideal candidate, especially since he had done them a great service to allow them to live without constant battle.
And he was even friendly with them when they visited, even if he wasn't interested in marriage yet.
Which raised the question... with Shirou still comatose, how were the girls communicating with him? For that matter, how were Nanoha, Fate, and Yuuno able to get a response themselves?
It took most of the year, to November, about a month before Shirou finally woke, to finally get the complete picture.
Using either an Intelligent Device, in regards to Nanoha, Fate, and Yuuno, or one's own Soul Gem, in regards to the Medeis Clan, one could enter Shirou's mind mentally. For almost anyone else, circumstances would not line up well enough for the method to work.
Long-term unconsciousness in the subject. Technology, magecraft, or magic to make the connection. And most importantly of all, a stable, or near-stable, Reality Marble in the subject.
Shirou possesses a Reality Marble, one that reflects the burning rubble of Fuyuki that occurred at the end of the Fourth Grail War. In it, are dozens of swords and blades, from simple kitchen knives to actual Noble Phantasms. It is that Reality Marble that forms the basis of most of Shirou's Magecraft. And it shows just how deep his views of the world lie.
Yuuno had been performing research on Reality Marbles to not only understand the demons he was summoning better, but also to understand Shirou's Reality Marble better (with no intent to actually create a Reality Marble of his own, he states). His constant meetings with Shirou had been mainly research meetings in that regard, but he also helped aside Nanoha in making sure that Shirou didn't neglect all of his studies while trapped in his own head. Alongside that, he sadly admitted that Nanoha seemed to have been trying to push an emotionally crippled Fate to Shirou so that the two could lean on each other, in the hope that they could keep each other alive. The creation of the Medeis Clan seemed to irk the more determined girl, especially when they admitted that a good number of them seemed to be courting Shirou themselves.
Between visitors, Shirou was left alone in his own mind, Shirou took to trying to swing swords around, especially in his left hand. On top of that, midway through the year, he arranged a deal with various Medeis Clan representatives, in that he would teach them a little of his magecraft in exchange for passing on lessons on blacksmithing, in the hope that he would understand swords even better.
Of course, with contact becoming impossible in early November, it wasn't possible for you to see him in his mind yourself, but the inability to reach him meant one of two things, in that he was dying or starting to wake up. The later proved true when, mid-December, Shirou finally woke from his long sleep to much acclaim.
Though he still lacks a right arm (for now), there have been some debates about what to do about it. A couple of the Medeis Clan are debating on using their magic to restore the missing arm, while what's left of the TSAB and some of the JSDF are interested in simply replacing it with an Intelligent Device. At least while Shirou was unconscious, a few Mid-Chilian surgeons were able to safely remove the Jewel Seed from Shirou's body.
Meanwhile in Uminari, thanks to the giant Grief Pillar in Mitakihara, you performed 'experimental magecraft' on Hayate, slowly undoing the self-destruction of her body over the course of the year. While it doesn't deal with the root cause of the problem (meaning that she'll eventually fall back into a wheelchair, but not for a long while), and her ability to use magecraft remains neigh-impossible (with the discovery of the prana-isolation formalcraft circle giving her slight potential) the many years of her body's slow decline has mostly been dealt with. She's now walking with a walker instead of riding about in a wheelchair, much to the pleasant surprise of others in the community.
Life in Uminari continues to go on around your family. Beyond the SOS Brigade's constant explorations making many mages frustrated, there was the sudden increase in the Harlaown family numbers. In early February, Amy Limietta gave birth to twins, pushing back and shortening her wedding ceremony to Chrono Harlaown to late April, much to the amusement of several of the Mid-Childan immigrants.
Casting your gaze wider, thanks to Irisivel's manga, the JSDF were able to keep increasing recruitment slightly, but it is the Moonlit side of things that gathered your attention.
First off, there was the blatant summoning of Lancer in Misaki City. In normal circumstances, a Servant's summoning was noteworthy enough of an achievement, even if nothing of note happened afterward. However, the bloodbath afterwards of this particular summoning drew lots of attention. One of the maids of the Tohno family managed to summon her Servant in what appeared to be blind luck, and then used said Servant to slaughter almost everyone in the Tohno mansion, leaving only her sister (a fellow maid), the heiress, and a boy the head had hidden away alive (though the last was amazed that he had lived, considering that the Servant had attacked him). On her way out of the city, she had her Servant wound Nrvnqsr "Nero" Chaos, the 10th Dead Apostle Ancestor, who happened to be passing through on personal business, and then kidnap the Tohno heir.
As a side note, that's two contracts you no longer need to complete.
Of more relevance to you was the events that occurred in Fuyuki. After a falling out with her family, who were fleeing to Nix, Luviagelita Edelfelt instead fled to Fuyuki, much to the amusement and acceptance of Rin Tohsaka. After receiving Kaleidostick Sapphire, the Finnish girl joined with the Kaleido Knights in order to push back and destroy the Dead Apostle that the Bloody Page had been calling 'War'. Apparently, the 'Rider' that the Ancestor had created had lost patience in waiting for all four to appear, and decided to go on a rampage. The man halved Fuyuki's population before he was finally put down.
Sometime towards the end of the year, Tohsaka announced that evacuating Fuyuki would be a very good idea for the coming Grail War next year, and started efforts to encourage people to flee the city. She had heard from a reliable source that the next war would not only be the last in Fuyuki, but also be a Great Grail War with twice the destructive potential.
Across the world, Magi seemed to finally be on the back foot in regards to the conflicts against mundane authorities. Most notable was Nix, which lost two of its three territories back to the United States as Nix at first overreached themselves, and then withdrew to their core Kingdom to avoid too many costly losses. While the US worked to regain the use of their military bases from the many traps that the Magi of Nix had left behind, they were stopped short of working to reclaim the State that had once been one of the top economies of the world because of the largest world-shaking event this year.
Zeoticus Gremory, a Chinese Magus with demonic heritage and connections to the Chinese Government, saw that, with the collapse of the Clock Tower, there was no single organized force that united Magi against the peoples of the world which would, in some views, try to stop the righteous search to reach the Root. And after the surprise of Magi wore off, on top of a handful of Magi turning traitor to the cause, the developed world was starting to find their footing and strike back to great effect.
Taking cues from the United Nations, Gremory contacted significant Magi from countries around the world, inviting them for a conference of Thaumaturgic Countries. China, Egypt, Korea, New Babylon, Nix, Vegas, and a half-dozen other countries with strong Moonlit connections were all invited and attended (Japan was on the list of those invited, most likely a courtesy notice, but the message got lost somewhere in the paperwork...). Together, they founded the 'Mage Court of Gaia', an alliance of Moonlit Countries that stood together to maintain what magecraft they had left, deal with moonlit threats before they got out of control, make agreements that were beneficial to them, and simply stand against the tide of angry mundane governments.
One of the first things the Court did, threating with Nuclear Weapons and a Noble Phantasm, was force the United States to stop its war against Nix, much to the frustration of the larger country and the horror of many other countries. The second thing they did was sign a handful of accords of things to never do. Most of these included things that breakers got Sealing Designations for in the past (Yuuno is going to be marked as an International Thaumaturgic Criminal if he is found out, now), but you noted that one of the accords, one against combining modern weaponry, tools, and Thaumaturgy, had your name on it.
In fact, the Court labeled you International Thaumaturgic Criminal #1 for breaking the masquerade, and continuing to work for purposes to expand public knowledge of the Moonlit World. Irisiviel and Maiya were also marked, on top of Shirou, Nanoha, half the public members of the former TSAB, and lots of other names, but yours was the most notable, considering you had an Accord also named after you.
Japan is going to be grudgingly welcomed to the Court if it ever decides to make its presence known there, but considering its now full of International Thaumaturgic Criminals (in the court's eyes), it is going to be a cold reception indeed.
The Grail War is going to be starting in a little over a year. Hopefully, even with Shirou's desire to fight Ruler himself and Yuuno working to summon Merlin as his Servant. But with both the Blue and the Puppetmaster being rival Masters, on top of it going to be a Great Grail War, whatever that meant, it is going to be a long year...
Total Costs this Year: 16 Resources, 3 Time (Time Negated)
Total Results: +4 Time (Demon Hunting), +4 Resources (JSDF Manga), +2 Resources (Moonlit Classes), +7 Resources (Alien Teacher), +3 Resources (English Translator)
Shirou has been discharged from the Hospital, and is now conscious.
The Jewel Seed has been removed from Shirou.
Illya has a College Fund, and will be leaving the household at the end of the next year.
Taiga has a job teaching and protecting students in Tokyo.
Kiritsugu: +1 Guns, +1 Magecraft
Irisiviel: +1 Drawing, +2 Moonlit Knowledge, Reputation (Crazy Driver)
Maiya: +1 Influence
Shirou: +1 Blacksmithing, +1 Influence, +2 Kendo
Illyasviel: +1 English, +1 Physical Education
Hayate: +1 Arithmetic, +1 Biology, +1 Influence, +2 Magecraft (Formalcraft Theory Specialization), +1 Moonlit Knowledge, Removes Frail Body and Isolated traits, alters Handicapped trait
Kuro: +2 Archery, +1 Kendo, +2 Magecraft (Illusion Specialization)
Miyu: +2 Arithmetic, +2 Cooking, +2 Magecraft
Shirou is Close Friends with Nanoha Takamachi. (relationship decrease!)
Shirou is Loose Friends with Ai Fukui Medeis.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Aya Suzuki Medeis.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Fate Testarossa.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Hana Minami Medeis.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Miho Hamasaki Medeis.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Minoru Mori Medeis.
Shirou is Best Friends with Yuuno Scrya.
Hayate Yagami and Illyasviel von Einzbern are Loose Friends.
Kuro is Loose Friends with Yugi Muto.
Miyu is Loose Friends with Sekai Saionji.
The Takamachi Family is Friendly towards the Emiya Family.
The Medeis Clan is Helpful towards the Emiya Family.
The Mage Court of Gaia is Feuding towards the Emiya Family.
Currencies: 4 Resources, 9 Time
Expected Upkeep Next Year: 8 Resources, 1 Time
Total Results: +4 Time (Demon Hunting), +4 Resources (JSDF Manga), +2 Resources (Moonlit Classes), +7 Resources (Alien Teacher), +3 Resources (English Translator)
Shirou has been discharged from the Hospital, and is now conscious.
The Jewel Seed has been removed from Shirou.
Illya has a College Fund, and will be leaving the household at the end of the next year.
Taiga has a job teaching and protecting students in Tokyo.
Kiritsugu: +1 Guns, +1 Magecraft
Irisiviel: +1 Drawing, +2 Moonlit Knowledge, Reputation (Crazy Driver)
Maiya: +1 Influence
Shirou: +1 Blacksmithing, +1 Influence, +2 Kendo
Illyasviel: +1 English, +1 Physical Education
Hayate: +1 Arithmetic, +1 Biology, +1 Influence, +2 Magecraft (Formalcraft Theory Specialization), +1 Moonlit Knowledge, Removes Frail Body and Isolated traits, alters Handicapped trait
Kuro: +2 Archery, +1 Kendo, +2 Magecraft (Illusion Specialization)
Miyu: +2 Arithmetic, +2 Cooking, +2 Magecraft
Shirou is Close Friends with Nanoha Takamachi. (relationship decrease!)
Shirou is Loose Friends with Ai Fukui Medeis.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Aya Suzuki Medeis.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Fate Testarossa.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Hana Minami Medeis.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Miho Hamasaki Medeis.
Shirou is Loose Friends with Minoru Mori Medeis.
Shirou is Best Friends with Yuuno Scrya.
Hayate Yagami and Illyasviel von Einzbern are Loose Friends.
Kuro is Loose Friends with Yugi Muto.
Miyu is Loose Friends with Sekai Saionji.
The Takamachi Family is Friendly towards the Emiya Family.
The Medeis Clan is Helpful towards the Emiya Family.
The Mage Court of Gaia is Feuding towards the Emiya Family.
Currencies: 4 Resources, 9 Time
Expected Upkeep Next Year: 8 Resources, 1 Time
Local News:
- SOS Brigade continues to cause headaches
- Duel Monsters: Sales declining
- Rumors of lost child
National News:
- JSDF: Slightly increased recruitment
- Touho Clan: massacre with Lancer
- Medeis Clan: founded in Mitakihara
- Fuyuki:
- Dead Apostle 'War' rebelled and slain
- Heavy civilian casualties
- Luviagelita Edelfelt flees to Fuyuki
- Second Owner declares evacuation required for 6th Grail War
International News:
- Mage Court of Gaia founded in China by Zeoticus Gremory
- Japan missed invite
- Kiritsugu declared Magecraft enemy #1
- USA reclaims WA and OR before being stopped from continuing to attack Nix by Mage Court
- Rumors of an unwelcome author in US...
That took too long, but I hope you find the update welcome.
Final Taiga Stats:
Final Taiga Stats:
Taiga Fujimura:
Age: 23
Yearly Upkeep: 2
Traits: Kendo Star (Known for Kendo), Torashinai (User of the Cursed Tiger Bamboo Sword), Kendo Master (Max Kendo Skill) English Speaker (Max English Skill)
Skills: Arithmetic 1, English 10, Influence 10, Japanese History 1, Kendo 10, Magecraft 7, Moonlit Knowledge 4, Underworld Knowledge 7
Age: 23
Yearly Upkeep: 2
Traits: Kendo Star (Known for Kendo), Torashinai (User of the Cursed Tiger Bamboo Sword), Kendo Master (Max Kendo Skill) English Speaker (Max English Skill)
Skills: Arithmetic 1, English 10, Influence 10, Japanese History 1, Kendo 10, Magecraft 7, Moonlit Knowledge 4, Underworld Knowledge 7
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