Chapter 2: A normal school day
"Ugh." Rei groaned as he woke up. "I hate Mondays." He stated as he slowly got up, he stumbled toward the door and tripped over something. "I hate being blind." Rei moaned as he picked himself up, his vision slowly came back. Just in time for him to watch Saber enter the room.
"Rei are you all right?" Saber asked. She looked at Rei, who had managed to get his school uniform on fast enough that the only thing revealed was his bare chest since his shirt was undone.
"Two things Saber. First, I'm fine. I just tripped over my bag, I use magic to see and it hadn't taken effect before I woke up." Rei explained as he buttoned up his shirt. "And second... Do I need to teach you how to knock?" He asked as he put his school blazer on and left it open.
"I apologise, I thought you may have been attacked." Saber apologised.
"You don't need to apologise, the knocking thing was a joke." Rei laughed slightly. "Thank you for being concerned though."
"I am your servant, your well being is my top priority." Saber stated matter of factly. A light blush spread across Rei's face.
"A...anyway. We should have breakfast."
Breakfast passed relatively quietly, the only noise that stood out was the TV.
"Rei, if it is not too rude of me to ask." Saber began. "How did you become blind and why do you bandage your arms?" Saber asked. Rei stayed silent for a moment.
"I made a mistake when I was younger." Rei spoke up. "I was... seven and had gotten a hold of one of Mother's Magecraft books. I tried to use one of the magics it mentioned. But it blew up in my face, literally. That's why I'm blind, the bandages on my arms are part of the same story. The magic ended up scarring my arms." Rei explained, a pained smile on his face. "It doesn't inconvenience daily life luckily, though if I use to much mana my arms get really itchy... and the magic I use to see stops working and that causes my eyes to become irritable. That's why I kept scratching my arms and rubbing my eyes last night." He let out an awkward laugh.
"I'm sorry you had to recall such terrible memories." Saber apologised.
"Please, you don't have apologise. It's not like I was traumatised by what happened." Rei said, dismissing Saber's apology.
"You are kind Rei." Saber smiled.
"Yeah, sure." Rei muttered under his breath.
"Did you say something?" Saber asked.
"No." Rei replied. "Oh, I should be getting to school." He said as he got up, he went to his room and picked his bag up then headed for the door.
"Would you like me to go with you?" Saber inquired.
"Ah, yeah. You can go into your spirit form. That'd be helpful." Rei remembered.
"Regrettably, I cannot go into spirit form." Saber informed Rei.
"...I see. In that case stay here. The Holy Grail War hasn't officially begun so it should be fine for me to go out by myself, we can figure something out for when the war starts later. Bye."
Homurahara Academy, words cannot describe how Rei feels about this school. Rei headed to his classroom and sat at his desk by the window.
"Morning Rei." An all too familiar voice greeted.
"Morning Akemi." Rei greeted his childhood friend as he turned to face her.
"How rare." Akemi jokingly gasped.
"Huh?" Rei responded.
"The most I usually get out from you on a Monday morning is a groan." Akemi laughed.
"I was speaking with someone earlier so I'm perfectly awake right now." Rei explained.
"Was this someone a girlfriend perhaps?" Akemi joked.
"Ladies and gentlemen. I present to you the genius comedian, Akemi Homura." Rei deadpanned.
"Alright I'll stop teasing you... for now." Akemi warned.
"Someone kill me." Rei sighed as he laid his head on his arms, his "eyes" staring at his desk.
The morning passed like it normally did, which meant that lunch would be hell for Rei. He started heading toward the cafeteria.
"Hello Emiya." An annoyingly familiar voice greeted. Rei's mood went sour immediately.
"Byakuya Shindo... to what do I owe the displeasure of getting to hear your sickening voice." Rei replied in a mocking tone accompanied with an equally as mocking smile, he noticed that Byakuya's usual flunkies were standing behind him as usual.
"Nothing much, I just wanted to remind you that those bandages of yours aren't as cool as you think they are." Byayuka said in his usual "better than everyone" tone.
"Newsflash moron, these aren't a fashion statement." Rei pointed out as he waved his hands near his head. "Or would you prefer to look at my burnt arms?" Rei added. His arms being burnt is what his parents had told him to say if people asked about his bandages, it was a good enough excuse.
"I barely want to look at you, let alone your arms." Byakuya emphasised the "you" in his insult, his flunkies began laughing.
"And yet you instigated the conversation, implying that you either needed to or wanted to see me." Rei retorted, he emphasised the "wanted" part of his retort. That managed to get the flunkies to shut up and annoy Byakuya.
"Whatever. If you want to delude yourself into thinking that I want to spend time with you Emiya, go right ahead." Byakuya smirked confidently.
"No thanks Shindo. I'd rather watch paint dry, that's at least somewhat enjoyable." Rei returned the confident smirk.
"Hmph, goodbye." Byakuya huffed as he began marching off, his flunkies in tow.
"Yeah, piss off." Rei muttered as continued on to the cafeteria. "Dammit, now I'm hungrier than I was earlier." He sighed. Rei reached into his pocket to take out his wallet, but found it wasn't there. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu-" he groaned, Rei concluded that he would starve himself as he headed back to the classroom.
"Ah, there you are!" Akemi exclaimed, she kept her hands behind her back.
"Yep, here I am." Rei joked, his mood always improved when Akemi was around.
"I'm guessing you haven't had lunch?" Akemi guessed.
"You don't know tha-" Rei began before the growling of his stomach cut him off, he stayed silent as a faint blush spread across his face.
"Well you're in luck." Akemi told Rei as she presented him with a homemade lunch.
"You are an angel." Rei praised as he accepted the lunch.
After eating lunch the day proceeded as normal. Rei paid some attention in each class, his mind kept wandering to the Holy Grail War and what his strategy would be going forward. He had told Saber that he was going to be on the defensive in the war and only retaliate if attacked, but was that really a good idea? He couldn't decide. Before he knew it school was over, Rei put everything back in his bag and headed home.
"I'm back." Rei called out as he closed the door.
"Welcome back." Saber replied as she appeared from around the corner, Rei jumped slightly. "Are you okay?" Saber asked.
"I'm fine, I'm just so used to saying "I'm back" as a joke that it was a bit of a surprise to get a reply." Rei explained. "A pleasant surprise that is." He added.
"I see." Saber responded. "How was your day?" Saber asked.
"..." Rei was taken aback by the question. "Oh, right. Er. Erhm. It was... normal, about as normal as a regular school day is for me." Rei finally answered.
"It is good to hear that you didn't encounter any problems." Saber noted.
"Like I said, the Holy Grail War hasn't officially started. We should be fine for little while." Rei commented. "Anyway, are you ready to have dinner?" He asked.
"Yes." Saber replied.