AN: An interesting story I had in my head for a long time.
Disclaimer: I do not own the To Aru Majutsu No Index series nor the Fate series. I also do not own the picture for the cover.
[Judgment 177 Branches Offices] - [July 11]
Within the small kitchen, a certain red-headed boy could be seen preparing breakfast. This is Shirou Emiya, a member of Judgment and one of the Level 5 Gemstone within Academy City. As simple as he appeared, Shirou is considered to be one of the rarest existence in Academy City, if not the whole world.
Dressed in a simple apron, Shirou rolled the blue sleeves of his white shirt and began washing his hand. His blue jean lightly rustled as he opened the fridge, grabbing the remaining eggs, milk, and butter.
As his simple task of cracking eggs began, a level of mastery and skills unmistakably for that of a professional chef was seen. Never once making a single mistake, egg after egg was cracked. Completing his task in a matter of seconds, he quickly discarded the dozens of eggshells in the trash bin. With the use of a measuring cup and spoon, countless dry ingredients entered into the large metal bowl in rapid succession.
"Trace On," Shirou muttered. Akin to magic, a frying pan materialized in his hand in a flash of blue light. He set it on the stove top and began melting the butter.
Within a few seconds, it was done. After letting it cools, Shirou added every drop of melted butter from the frying pan into the large metal bowl, along with the milk.
"Trace On," he muttered once again. This time, a whisk appeared. With great dexterity and speed, his surprisingly muscular arm whisk the ingredient together to form a smooth texture on the batter. Upon finishing, Shirou dropped the whisk into the sink, where it disappeared in motes of light, leaving only the bits of batter to remain.
Reusing the frying pan he had projected before, Shirou reheated it, and skillfully poured a cup of batter into the frying pan, making a perfect circle. After one side of the pancake was done, he masterfully maneuvered his dexterous and strong hand to casually flipped it into the air and catching in quick succession.
After a while, the aroma of his crafts reached his bloodhound-like nose. "Trace On," he muttered, and a ceramic plate appeared in his right hand in another flash of blue light. Placing the completed pancakes on top of it, he set it aside on the counter.
Shirou glanced at the clock, he knew it was time to step up his paces and projected two more frying pan.
As time moves, Shirou finished making two plates of pancake. They were dressed in a healthy amount of syrup, berries and a small bit of butter on top. It was a strange choice to make pancake during this time of the year, but a chef makes do with what he has on hands.
Shirou works were not done yet, and readied himself for another batch, as he does, a click from the door could be heard from the distances. Two familiar figures approach from the corner of his view.
The first was Mii Konori, the 177th Branch of Judgment Captain. Dressed in a blue high school uniform, her blue eyes shined with intelligent as her short black hair shimmer under the morning sunlight. As she looked at him, a warm smile radiate from her.
The second was Aomi Yanagisako, another fellow member of the 177th Branch, and a close friend of both Shirou and Konori. She rarely comes due to personal reasons, but her presence was a welcome one nonetheless. Similar to Konori, Yanagisako was also wearing a blue high school uniform. Her brown hair lightly fluttered as a light gust from the open window brushed it. As her, similarly colored eyes stared at the pancakes sitting on the countertop, a warm smile radiate from her.
As a member of Judgment, it's their responsibility to enforce a degree of peace within Academy City. It was a tiresome job, but a worthwhile one. They were not Anti-Skill, the official police force of the city, but the volunteer for the same reason.
It was up to the three of them, -mostly Shirou and Konori- the senior members of the 177th Branch to guide the younger members of Judgment to performing to their greatest capacities. As such, Shirou cooked pancakes for everyone. It was the least he was able to do, given what has been happening lately.
"Good morning Shirou", "Morning Shirou," Konori and Yanagisako greeted.
"Good morning you two," Shirou replied as he continued his works in the kitchen.
Noticing the superb aroma drafting from the small kitchen, their eyes wandered to the plates of pancake on the counter. In their visions, the plates of pancake were mysteriously sparkling, divine light shining upon it as a divine hymn play in the background. Shirou, upon noticing their hungered looks, lightly smiled at the two.
"Trace On," he whispered. A table cloth materialized followed by a set of forks, knives, and napkins. The ordinary wooden table was transformed into a fine dining experience. This scene alone was enough to make anyone feel special, especially Konori, a girl who had fallen for Shirou's Universal Harem Protagonist EX skill.
"Enjoy," he said, placing two plates of pancake in front of them as they grabbed a seat, before returning to his domain of cooking.
As Yanagisako began digging into the fluffy pancake, Konori couldn't help it but noticed Shirou's hand. His left hand was wrapped in multiple layers of white bandage, akin to that of a chuni 'sealing his demonic arm'. It wasn't there yesterday, this sudden insight causes butterflies to flutters wildly in her stomach.
"Shirou, what happen to your hand?" Konori asked. Yanagisako, drawn into their conversations, also looked at Shirou hand and noticed the white bandage.
"Just a small injury, it's nothing, really," Shirou said dismissively, waving his left hand into the air akin to saying: 'it's fine, see.'
Considering the majority of Academy City was made out of Esper and Judgment was tasked to maintain peace. Injuries were a common occurrence. Yet, this "small" injury of Shirou had given rise to a feeling of unease within Konori. The 'how' of his injury was the most worrying factor. Shirou was known to be extremely selfless, willingly allow others to exploit him if it means he could help them. 'What trouble had he gotten himself into?' Konori asked herself before taking a large bite of her pancake.
Unnoticed by Konori, Yanagisako had a small grin of her face as she took another bite of the pancake, and turned to Shirou with a serious stare.
Upon noticing the concerned look of her best friend, Yanagisako could only grow more frustrated at her love life. It was obvious to all the female members of Judgment Branch 177 -if not the entirety of Judgment itself- that Konori has feelings for Shirou. Although, Shirou is ungodly dense, his ability to attract females is akin to a moth to a flame. Just this month alone, there have been over 200 female students who have joined Judgment after being "inspired" by Shirou. Not mentioning his cooking skill, definitely husband material right there. For once Yanagisako had to put her foot down and forcefully give Konori the much-needed push.
"Shirou, are you currently seeing anyone?" Yanagisako asked.
Konori was surprised by her friend's words. Why did she ask that question so suddenly? Unable to say anything, she only looked at Shirou in nervousness.
"Seeing anyone? Not right now I guess," Shirou seemingly oblivious to the context of the question, replied sheepishly as he prepared more pancakes.
At that moment, Konori exhales in a breath of relief.
'No, that not what I meant!' Yanagisako internally cried in anguish over Shirou's stupidness. "Shirou. I mean do you have a girl-," she started to say.
"Pancake!" Saten Ruiko suddenly burst through the door, interrupting Yanagisako attempts at questioning the sack of brick that was Shirou Emiya. Her blue eyes glimmered as she sniffed in the air. Her long black hair with a small, white flower hairpin on the left side of her hair, fluttered freely as she skipped toward the kitchen. Normally, Saten Ruiko wouldn't be as excited over mere pancake, this, however, wasn't your ordinary pancakes, but one made by "Food God Shirou" instead.
Saten swiftly arrived at the kitchen and watched Shirou repeating his feat of casually flipping multiple pancakes at the same time, she couldn't help it but be amazed. To her, Shirou's food itself is an Urban Legend, something that transcends the realm of mortal. Saten was glad to be friend with Uiharu, -not that she wasn't happy before- but with the existence of Shirou-senpai's food, that friendship was set in stone.
Kazari Uiharu petite figure stood by the door unwilling to enter, but slowly dragged herself inside the room anyway. Her signature headband made out of artificial flower looks wilted as it sat on top of her short black hair. Her golden-brown eyes dimmed in color, as the bags under her eyes showed her tiredness. Unlike Saten, Uihari is an official member of Judgment 177th Branch and the resident hacker among them. Due to this Saten often visits Judgment Branch 177th Office to meet with her, much to Konori's irritation.
Next to her was Kuroko Shirai. In an attempt to look her best in front of her onee-sama, she willed herself together in an attempt to look normal. Her orange-brown hair was slightly messy as the red ribbon used to form her two curly pigtails was mismatched in colors. The bags under her eyes were covered with makeup, but it was still obvious.
The expression of tiredness was visible on both Uiharu and Kuroko faces, due to the sudden and mysterious rise in crimes this past week, extra works were needed to maintain peace in Academy City, namely paperwork of course.
The last to enter through the door was Mikoto Misaka, a girl with chestnut colored hair and eyes, with a small hair clip on her hair. Dressed in a Tokiwadai Uniform similar to Kuroko. Similar Shirou, Misaka was also a Level 5 Esper. Impressively ranking 3rd among the 8 other Level 5, especially given her young age. Similar to Saten, Misaka wasn't a member of Judgment and visited because of Kuroko.
Yanagisako inwardly sighs to herself. Despite being interrupted, Shirou obliviousness spokes louder than his words. It was clear that he was still single. If only Konori would just muster up the courage to confess her feeling and for Shirou to stop being so ungodly dense. Both of which are an impossibility.
'Ah! This is so irritating,' she inwardly complains as she took a large bite of her pancake, instantly filling her with shivering joys.
Relax, it was the last thing Shirou-senpai had said before leaving them with a plate of freshly baked cookies.
How was it possible to be relaxed? For Uiharu and Kuroko, paperwork that flooded their field of visions was a waking nightmare. Despite their Shirou-senpai's workaholic nature reducing their workload, the amount of paper they have to do was a mountain that towered at twice their height. Not only that, this pile was only one-tenth of the total works. How was it humanly possible for their senpai to burn through them in a single day?
As the two Judgment members were dying in the sea of papers, both Misaka and Saten relaxed as they search through the web. The latter was scrolling through the Academy City's Urban Legend site. Once again, every time Saten visited this site, more and more evidence of a certain myth resurfaces.
"The boy who can cancel out other power," Saten suddenly said out loud. A flame was set ablaze in her eyes as her determination to finding this mysterious legend renewed.
"Not this thing again Saten, there is no way someone like that exists," Kuroko, a scientific-realist among the Rail-gang rebutted her friend. Living in Academy City for all of her life, the world as she sees it was revolved around logic and common sense of science. The ideas of someone with the capabilities of negating other's power while being completely unnoticed by the Board of Directors and the general masses is logically impossible.
"That where you are wrong my dear Kuroko, as I present to you! Video evidence. Ha!" Saten thrust phone toward the direction of Kuroko and played for the rest to see.
"A fellow Urban Legend Hunter had an encounter with this myth in action, luckily they recorded it," Saten said, puffing up her modest chest.
"I'll destroy that screwed up illusion of yours!" A loud voice roared. It was nighttime, thus the figure was obscured by darkness. A sudden torrent of flame erupted from the hand of another unknown figure. As the scene is illuminated by the flame, a spiky-haired figure could be seen running, fist raised, readied to punch the fireball. As his hand touches the fires, a bizarre sound of shattering glass rang throughout the air as the flame magically disappeared into non-existence, and engulfed the video in darkness once again. Another roar echoed in the air as the spiky-haired figure landed an uppercut to pyrokinesis's jaw, launching him 3 feet into the air, followed by the sound of said pyrokinesis landing on the ground. A short and silent pause hum in the air as the myth slowly turned to the camera.
"Are you alright?" the blurry boy asked, holding out his hand to helps her up. "Y-yes, thank you," a soft voice of a young girl replied as she accepted his hand. It was a beautiful moment, one that warmed the girl's heart, all except for Misaka.
'Stop trying to look cool, you idiot!' she bitterly thought.
The lovely moment between a boy and a girl for abruptly interrupted by the distant sound of an Anti-Skill siren. Immediately the figure said his goodbye and dashed away. The words 'Such Misfortune' could be heard in the distance as the figure disappeared under the cover of night. The video ended as it cut to black.
Saten's eyes were beaming. Her breaths quicken in excitement, any more and she would collapse from pure joy.
"We live in Academy City, this video could easily be and obviously is faked," Kuroko said, not amused in the slightest.
Uiharu meanwhile took a looks into the Judgment database to searched for a Level 3 or 4 Pyrokinesis that could have been arrested the last few days, at around night time.
"I'm not so sure about that Kuroko, there might be evidence to this Urban Legend," said Uiharu as she showed her computer screen to the other.
A single Level 4 Esper with Pyrokinesis was arrested around the time of the video, in an alleyway, unconscious with a dislocated jaw. This was all too good to be a coincidence.
"I still don't believe it," Kuroko said, before returning to her paperwork.
"Suure!" said Saten with a wide grin. "Now I just need to find for him. I have so many questions I want to asks. Maybe I can get his autograph."
Meanwhile, Misaka was mumbling something about idiot and fight.
As Shirou walked toward the front door for his regular patrol, he smiled at those familiar catchphrases before disappearing outside, the door close behind him in a click.
To be continued.