Chapter 9

Right now, Yu sat silently in her living room, watching a technician clap a tracking device around Shirou's ankle.

It wasn't as bulky as the earlier models from the last century. It was light and looked less like a tracker but more like a steel band that existed in fantasy novels, except with advanced circuitry wrapped within each and every single opening possible.

The circuitry wasn't easy to break or damage, however, mostly due to the efforts of the Musutafu Police Force who had nothing better to do while the Heroes were catching Villains.

"There we go," said the nameless technician who she didn't really care to remember, "The anklet is attached. No matter where you go within Musutafu, we will be able to find you. The alarm will ring once you stray too far from the apartment complex."

Shirou nodded, "Thank you,"

"Thank you? Well, that's a first-"

"Can we get down to business?"

Yu had to frown at the person sitting in her favorite spot on the couch, "Are you always in a hurry, Aizawa?"

The man nodded, but not after taking a sip from his tea, which he still had because he rationed it and didn't drink it all down in one gulp as she did. "I'm on a tight schedule, I still have plenty of paperwork to do,"

"Then why aren't you doing them?"

"Why aren't you doing yours?" he retorted,

She had a reply… somewhere, but the look on Shirou's face told her to just let it go. Reluctantly Yu had to oblige, but not before sending a nasty glare towards the couch thief.

One might be wondering why he was here – in her home and drinking from her favorite cup and sitting in her favorite spot. The main reason given by the top dog chief was that he was to ensure that Shirou didn't use his quirk on the poor quirkless technician.

Not that anyone believed that particular line of reasoning,

Which only meant that Aizawa was here for an entirely different reason, and whatever it was Yu would find it. Even if it meant looking like an idiot – in her own home for crying out loud.

"As I was saying…" Aizawa continued as if he wasn't interrupting anyone, much to her displeasure, "… Kenji has managed to annul the orphanage papers. The matron was originally confused, but she was definitely glad that you got adopted so quickly."

Well wasn't that nice of the matron? Well actually it was expected, most matrons wanted the best for the kids that they take care of, and knowing that she hadn't ever met Shirou, meant that she was a woman of character.

That, or she didn't want to be taking care of more kids…

"So no more issues with the orphanage?" Yu asked one more time for clarity.

Aizawa nodded, watching the technician leave Yu's home, having another appointment elsewhere.

"Yes, but now onto more pressing matters…" Aizawa started trailing off, "In regards to Shirou's education, what will you two do? As of this week, the regular school terms have ended and summer break has begun."

Eh?

Yu had to take a few moments to realize what Aizawa said.

School! Shit!

Wait a minute he has an ankle tracker! How does that work!?

However it looked like Shirou noticed her mental breakdown, so with a sigh he turned his attention to Aizawa and started talking, "Aizawa-san, how am I supposed to go to school? I'm not allowed to go anywhere farther than several blocks of this apartment."

Which was true, when the ankle was installed, they programmed it to automatically alert the Musutafu station. The only places that Shirou could go to unhindered were the mall, local convenience store, and of course, there was her Hero office.

"That is true, that is why we decided to ask you two on what you wished to do." Aizawa said, "As of now, there are no normal schools in the nearby area for him to attend, so that leaves only one choice-"

Yu bounced at the chance, "What is it!?"

"… so that leaves only one choice," Aizawa continued as if he wasn't interrupted… again, "Have him homeschooled, it'll be costly however and not to mention expensive with your current salary as a rookie Hero."

Gah!

"Aizawa-san, you said normal schools, correct?" Shirou asked, dragging Yu's eye with minor worry, "So that means that there is one close by that I can attend, but it's not a normal one… is it?"

He nodded,

"So, what school is it?" Yu asked,

"… I'm surprised you don't know Mount Lady," Aizawa muttered, "The nearest school is U.A, the school with the number one Hero course in the country."

The moment those words left his mouth, Yu drifter her eyes to look at Shirou… she didn't look solely at his expression, she learned that using that to judge his emotions was like using a brick to judge the softness of her bed.

She didn't notice anything off… in fact, rather it seemed to be indifference.

Didn't he want to be a Hero?

"Shirou?" She hesitantly called out,

The boy in question sighed lightly and stared at Aizawa, unmentioned words being exchanged by their eyes alone… Which annoyed Yu enough to clap her hands, breaking whatever goo-goo eyes they were making.

"Shirou? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Yu-san…" He started, "… It's just that I don't see why Aizawa was so hesitant in mentioning U.A. to us,"

"Simple," Aizawa said, "I don't want to spend several months trying to train an altruistic brat to behave himself."

Oh so that was it, he didn't want to… Wait, what? Several months? Why would he be in a school for several months? The only ones that stay at school for that long except for the students were–

"Aizawa! You were a teacher!?" Yu screamed out, nearly breaking his eardrums.

"… Yes, I am. I have been for the past few years." He stated, rubbing his poor ears for clarity, "Next year I am to be a homeroom teacher of one of the U.A. Hero course classes. Which class however I do not know yet."

Eh… He was a teacher all along? That would explain why he seemed to be content in explaining stuff all the time to the other rookies… Wait a minute,

U.A? That was the closest school? That's… good, right?

"Why would you not want him to go to U.A, Aizawa? I'm sure that the Pro Heroes would be a positive influence," She reasoned,

This was true no matter what angle you look at it from. Not just Aizawa, but the rest of the Hero staff would no doubt help him with his suicidal behavior…

… So why was Aizawa hesitating?

It seemed that the ever tired Hero noticed the question that they held in his mind. "Fine, the main reason I didn't want to mention it was that I worried about the influence he could have on the rest of the students."

Influence? What did he mean by–

Oh… that

"You were worried that my altruistic behavior would affect them?" Shirou asked with a neutral expression on his face – like as always.

"That is not all," Aizawa continued, "There is a chance that your tendencies could drag you into trouble with Villains. We are a Hero course, after all, our students will be training to deal with them, so your behavior would inevitably influence your future classmate to think that it is okay to be reckless."

A cold hard yet neutral glare held it's view on Shirou.

"U.A. does not and will not encourage this behavior, no doubt about that. Should you enroll in U.A. then we will try drag that altruism out of you if it's the last thing we do."

Despite Yu's withheld rage at Aizawa, she could see no fault there. A school was meant to protect their students, to nurture and cultivate them until they were ready for the real world no matter what course they were attending… To let a student continue in his altruistic ways would go against every principle that modern schools are founded upon.

If Shirou joined… They would curb the behavior out of him even, otherwise, how could they call themselves a school?

"That's fine with me," Shirou said.

"What?"

Yu didn't even notice that she blurted that out until it was too late, but Shirou didn't seem to see the wrong with it. Why was he supporting the choice to go to a place that removed his altruism?

Sure, Yu wanted to remove it too, but she would use a slow and gradual approach with motherly love, something that he never had. Hell, even Aizawa wanted to see if her method would work.

"Unlike correctional facilities, U.A. won't forcefully try to remove it," Aizawa stated, "You're betting that we will still maintain the individuality of each student. If your reason for living is to save others then the least that a school would do is lessen the damage… and help you."

"Yes, that was what I was thinking."

Eh? Really?

At Shirou's nod, Aizawa sighed and Yu herself could not help sighing as well.

Damn it Shirou

As Aizawa left, Shirou had spent quite an amount of time simply just sitting, staring off into the distance from the veranda window trying to figure out what a sword like him was doing calling someone his mother?

It didn't make sense, and he himself knew that… but he knew that it was the right thing to call her during tender moments.

He was like an off-key clock, always lagging behind everyone else at a barely noticeable speed. Inevitably he was off by a second, then a minute, an hour, eventually he was so far broken that he would be a day behind.

While he reverted to a child state, that clock did not reset with him. He was still a metaphorical day behind, perhaps even several days now, but he himself had no way to speed up that clock.

However Tohsaka Rin, the woman who managed to worm her way into his heart – although in her case it would be less 'worm in' and more 'break in like a tornado spamming Gandr at anything that moves'.

She was the one with winding key to speed him up, always allowing him to keep up with others, ensuring that his sense of self-preservation still existed. She promised to do that, to do what her future self didn't do with Archer.

Now she was gone, in a separate plane of reality with no ways to contact each other. If one existed then perhaps one day he would find it.

Magic did exist in this world, the fact that he could use his Projection was proof of that, but it did not explain why they cost more Prana than usual… He would need to research on a logical reason as to why such a thing would occur.

… Then again this was magecraft, it followed its own set of logic sure, but he wasn't even sure that the logic of magecraft was the same in this world.

Regardless, he would need to accomplish two things before he was to apply for the U.A. Hero course.

First, study on the syllabus. This was a separate world, the history was different alongside the local behavior and culture. He would need to ensure he knew about the different nuances that existed in this world so that he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of the local populace.

There was also the added bonus to see if the chance to return to his world existed. Even if going back was unlikely.

He had a body of a fourteen-year-old. He would have no place even if he returned. The Mages Association would hunt him down in hopes of finding how he managed to lower his age and endanger his friends and family, not something he'd ever want.

Imagine what would happen if the Mages Association discovered this world? So many innocents would be experimented upon without the local populace knowing any better.

That was not an option.

Hence why he was in Yu's room, reading on the books she had in her bookshelves. Surprisingly she never threw out her old textbooks, always keeping them either for memories sake or due to her being lazy.

Most likely the latter.

The second thing he needed to accomplish, was to train. Physically, mentally, and magically increase his prowess.

Since he was staying in this world, he would need to ensure that he doesn't overextend, reaching somewhere that his normal body would be able to reach but in turn being over strenuous to his younger form.

It would be terrible if he went for the final blow on an enemy only to miss his mark like an idiot.

He had been extra careful with his fight against Avenger, but even he knew that he could have dealt with that far easier if he had his normal body. For crying out loud he was the weakest servant! Even compared to the assassin class, and that was saying a lot.

If he were in his main body he would have had a far easier time overall. The fact that he was small and physically weaker was only amended by Archer's experience and the quality of the Noble phantasms, but even with that he still lost.

Where Archer gained experience fighting in a younger body once, he would never know nor did he ever want to know.

His weakly traced Noble Phantasms – hollow within – was easier to trace but far weaker to use. Hence why Zarich and Tawrich could break through them…

Hang on, couldn't he trace them? Tawrich and Zarich weren't phantasms and admittedly easier to use due to the abysmal cost… No, he couldn't use them, mostly due to the suspicion he would draw from the police if he were found using a serial killer's weapons, which were most likely in an astralized state right now.

Shirou, paused as he turned the page, noticing a little makeshift bookmark that he didn't see when he picked up the book.

Well isn't that interesting…

He certainly didn't expect to find a photo of a younger Yu in her high school uniform, surrounded by her classmates each holding up a weird finger gesture.

Was this a class photo?

Judging from the straying eyes of the many males and envious looks coming from the many females in the class, she was most likely one of the more popular students.

Chuckling lightly, Shirou put the photo back where it was. Even when she wasn't anywhere near him, she dragged him out of his thoughts.

Terrific.

Throwing away excess thoughts, Shirou sent himself back into a studying stupor. After all, he couldn't do anything else with the presence back once more watching him.

"What!?"

The shriek from Yu nearly shattered Aizawa's eardrums, however, he was admittedly used to it by now, so he blatantly ignored it and just reconfirmed what he had told her earlier.

The Beast has escaped, and they had no leads as to where the serial killer actually went.

When they received word from the Hosu City Prison, they had no idea how long he had been gone. The guards that were watching him were discovered to be fakes, the chains that were holding him weren't snapped at all, but they seemed to have been utterly dismantled into several fragments.

However the Beast was not killing at the moment, there was a complete lack in murder reports and the silence of the situation only brought more worry.

The Beast was bidding his time, waiting until the heat died down. So until then, the Hosu police force would interrogate the false guards. All the rest of the Pro Heroes could do was keep an eye out for him…

But that was not the most pressing issue.

Someone broke him out

"What do we do!? He'll come after Shirou!"

Aizawa sighed, she was panicking more and more ever since she adopted the brat. "Right now we have Ragdoll watching him again."

"Won't she lose him again? She certainly did last time,"

"She says she has mentally prepared herself, by what means I do not know," Aizawa admitted, "Something about having browsed the Internet's less savory sections."

Yu had to keep herself in check at a sudden thought. What thought that was, she would never say out loud, especially considering their current location.

It wouldn't be becoming of a woman to simply scream in public after all.

"Why can't we tell Shirou about this?" Yu asked,

"If the brat knew then he'd go out again," He said, which Yu could not refute no matter how much she tried, "To keep his suicidal tendencies minimal, it's best that his escape is kept secret,"

"I see…" Yu drawled out but took a glance around the small quaint cafe they sat in, wearing civilian clothing – their Hero outfits stuffed in a bag that they brought along. "By the way, why are we in a cafe? I swear a conversation with a topic like this is better held at the police station."

"The fact that he escaped was not our main topic," He declared, "I'd rather not speak about the same thing multiple times,"

Oh yeah, he attended the meetings at the police station after all.

"We are here for something different," He declared, "I'll have to apologize in advance, you don't really have a role to play here except for introducing her to Shirou properly."

"What?"

At the ringing sound of the cafe door, Aizawa turned his head, allowing Yu to see a woman wearing a really baggy hoody and jogging jeans… Wait a minute didn't she recognize this woman?

She took a seat between adjacent to them both, grabbing the menu and–

A long sigh broke Yu's train of thought.

"Finally! You have no idea how hard it is to get away from the paparazzi!"

What?

"I have to thank you, Mount Lady," The mysterious woman claimed, "If you hadn't smashed him in time, both the kid and I would've been nothing but chopped vegetables in an alleyway."

… Hold on, Yu recognized that hoodie!

"You're the woman that Shirou saved!" Yu cried out in realization.

"Yes I am," She said, dragging off her hoodie and–

"Uwabami!?" Yu cried out once more in disbelief.

"Yes! Glad to see I don't have to introduce myself,"

Was she kidding? Of course! Yu definitely knew her! She essentially appeared in a lot of commercials, TV dramas, and even in fashion shows. She had a great face, rocking body – she totally wasn't annoyed that she had a greater pair of assets – and above all skill in acting. A quintessential celebrity!

It was truly a blessing that there was no one in the cafe. The owner was someone that Aizawa apparently knew, so he used this place frequently to converse in secret with other Pro Heroes when the usual locations were in use.

However, she was also a Pro Hero just like Yu, albeit less focused on the combat side of things and more on the tracking aspect of it.

"The pleasure is all mine," Yu greeted,

"No, it is mine," Uwabami argued, "My life was saved after all, by both you and the kid,"

"Can we get down to business?" Aizawa blurted out inelegantly, snapping the two of them from the inevitable girl talk that they would have had.

"R-right," Uwabami started, being slightly off-put by the sudden interruption, "There are a few things I want to talk about. but for starters, I've heard that the kid – what's his name again?"

"Shirou," Aizawa blurted out,

"Right, sorry I didn't really ask his name at the time," She apologized, "I've heard that Shirou is seeking to enroll in U.A.'s Hero course, right?"

"Yeah that's right," Yu said,

"Well, then I can help!" She declared happily, "You see I'm a well known Pro Hero, which means that I can send a recommendation for him to enroll! I heard Endeavor's already recommending his kid for U.A. anyway, so I could do the same right?"

Eh? You could recommend students? Shit, was that fact mentioned somewhere in her rookie's hero guide pamphlet?

"I see…" Yu said, "That would help a lot!"

"I know right!? So I'll just email U.A. my form and–"

"Unfortunately it's up to Shirou whether to accept it or not." Aizawa interrupted, a stoic frown worn.

"Oh… right," Yu muttered, admittedly having forgotten. She wasn't used to this whole mother thing okay? "I'll just call my landline then,"

"Sure go ahead," Uwabami said, relishing as the smoothie was delivered to her.

When did she order that?

Yu heard the phone pickup, "Hello Shirou? Yeah, we found a way to get you into U.A without having to take the entrance exam, kind of like a free pass… I see. Got it,"

Yu lowered her phone slightly as she frowned, "Well, Shirou doesn't seem to want the recommendation, got anything else to tell him?"

"Why?" Uwabami asked, "He wants to be a Hero right? This should be the easiest way."

Yu glanced at Aizawa as she relayed the question back to Shirou, only to let a soft smile grow as she heard his answer.

"He says that if he can't even pass the entrance exam, then he shouldn't be a Hero."

"… So that kid wants to prove himself by doing the entrance exam…? I can respect that…" Uwabami muttered with a sigh, "Well I guess I'm sorry for wasting your time then,"

"It's okay! From how long I lived with him, Shirou is just like that." Yu said. Admittedly they lived together for only a week and a half.

"Can I just tell the kid something?"

Yu nodded and handed the phone to her. Aizawa was already ordering another cup of coffee so he didn't care much.

"Hey kid, Shirou right?" Uwabami said, inwardly feeling relieved at the reply she received, "Look, I'll just keep this short and simple so you can go back to whatever it is you were doing."

A calming inhale and exhale exited her as Yu watched on.

"I wanted to thank you for saving me. While I didn't enjoy the fact that a civilian like you, put yourself in danger for the sake of a random stranger," She said, "You didn't know me, you had no reason to help me, but you still did. It's not exactly a bad thing, but try tone it down okay?"

Like he was going to listen to that

"You really don't want the recommendation?" Uwabami asked again, nodding at the repeated reply with a sigh, "You're putting me in a tight spot right now… I still need to repay the favour– I owe a life's debt to you kid! I'm not throwing that away just because you say 'It's fine'! You risked your life for mine so I'm going to repay it!"

Yu could not help but raise a palm to her face, as Shirou no doubt said that repaying a life's debt was unnecessary.

"Just call me whenever you need some help, I will repay this debt whether you like it or not." Uwabami let out a huff, nodding to herself as she got the kid to listen, "Great, I've already put my number into your mother's phone, so ask her for my number later."

She did what?– Uwabami tossed the phone back to Yu, who fumbled to catch it. She threw a slight glare at the Pro Hero, but she could see why she was frustrated at Shirou's behavior as she raised the phone back to her ear.

"Goodbye Shirou, I'll see you tonight okay?" She smiled, hearing him send his regards. She hung up the phone and turned to face Uwabami– why was she beating her head on the table?

"Crap, well I already wrote my recommendation letter and it'd be a waste to throw out…" Uwabami muttered, "I already told the gals in my office that I was recommending someone so I can't just tell them that he refused… Screw it, I'll be searching for a kid to send to U.A."

"Sorry about the trouble," Yu apologized.

Aizawa sighed at the reckless conclusion, "Make sure that whoever you recommend will be able to complete the recommendation test,"

Apparently, Yu and Uwabami didn't know that part, "There's a test for being recommended!?"

Aizawa rubbed his poor ears and nodded, "Yes, we cannot just let every recommended child in, we need to validate whether they are worthy of the recommendation or not."

"Oh…" They simultaneously muttered, giving Aizawa a minor migraine. Of course two people so similar would end up taking a liking to an altruistic kid.

Tsuragamae Kenji sighed, looking through the documents and reports he had received from Pro Heroes. Some of them were written based on the format and easy to read, however, most of them ended up as a mess of a report with hastily written thoughts based on what they remembered.

It was understandable – somewhat – they had to fight Villains on a daily basis. Dealing with them and writing reports quickly simply weren't their forte.

But could they at least choose a legible font for when they print their damned report!? What idiot uses JOKERMAN in an OFFICIAL REPORT!?

He looked at the name of the Hero and felt a twitch grow on his head. Of course, it had to be the damned cat, Ragdoll.

Even her name doesn't make any sense when she's in a cat-themed team and–

Kenji sighed and recollected himself, putting aside the infuriating piece of parchment, and walked outside his office, perhaps a change of scenery would help him relax his throbbing headache.

Upon entering the break room, Kenji saw Tsukauchi staring heavily at a piece of parchment much as he had been a few minutes ago.

Kenji decided it would be best to aid his fellow law enforcer, "Tsukauchi, you look troubled, woof."

"Oh, chief," He muttered, revealing the eye bags that he had sported. "Sorry about my unsightly appearance, I've been busy with paperwork lately."

Kenji nodded, "I can see that you chose to bring your work to the break room, woof. However it is always good to take some rest before the stress gets too much, we wouldn't want you screwing up due to fatigue."

While Tsukauchi still appeared troubled, Kenji took a look at the parchment and read through it slowly… Is this…?

"This is the report about the Beast's escape." Kenji stated, "Why are you looking this over, woof? I don't believe he would be anywhere near Musutafu."

"It was just a feeling sir," Tsukauchi admitted, "I don't feel like the Beast would be back in Hosu. They've beefed up their so much that even the Hero killer hasn't made any killings lately."

He flipped through the report and arrived on a random page, "It says here the chains holding him weren't shattered through brute force, as is the usual with the Beast's mode of attack, but instead they had been broken apart, slowly, as if it was decayed into mulch."

"You believe there to be a new player entirely in this situation, woof?" Kenji concluded, "Someone that wanted to break him out… for what reason?"

"That I still do not know," Tsukauchi admitted, "The situation needs to be handled with care, but we don't have enough information… What if the situation spirals out of our control and ends up causing even more untold deaths? What if whoever broke out the Beast is using him for some other–"

"Tsukauchi, I order you to calm down, woof."

The young detective inhaled and exhaled, calming himself down,

"Tsukauchi, please put the paper back in your desk and come with me." He said as he made to walk out of the break room, "It appears that we are both in need of a break."

Once Tsukauchi got out of the police station, he entered Kenji's car and they drove off. Where to, Tsukauchi didn't know, but since they were both on break it was probably a bar to grab a drink.

That or the firing range, he had gotten a little rusty with his shooting skills, mostly due to the lack of reasons and lethal villains to shoot– not that he would actually shoot to kill, capturing is what the Police do nowadays anyway… and grab already defeated Villains and shove them in a cell.

Thoughts died off as they parked in front of an apartment complex.

"Chief?"

"I wanted to finish something up, you can come with me if you wish."

When Kenji left the car, Tsukauchi followed. They entered the building and in barely any time they reached a door.

Kenji cleared his throat and knocked.

After a few moments of waiting, the door opened to reveal…

"Yes? What can I do for you Kenji-san, Tsukauchi-san?"

Was that Shirou?

Kenji gave a soft yet awkward smile, "Hello Shirou, we'd like to talk with you for a bit. Is Mount Lady here?"

He shook his head, "No, she went out for a meeting. You can take a seat on the couch, I'll prepare some tea."

As soon as Shirou let them in, he shut the door and made his way into the kitchen. Kenji made a motion, and Tsukauchi followed him to the couch.

Admittedly the home had a sense of loneliness, yet it was also homely. The floor had been cleaned recently based on the sheen of the varnished wood, and the windows were scrubbed to allow more light through.

From what he knew from Mount Lady, Tsukauchi knew that she could not have been the one to clean the house. That would only mean that the cleaner was Shirou.

Did Yu make him clean as chores?

Tsukauchi couldn't conclude his thoughts until he heard the clinking of a plate upon the glass center table. "Here's the tea."

"Thank you, Shirou, woof,"

"Y-yes, thank you,"

Tsukauchi merely gazed around the room, noting the lack of decor except for the very comfortable looking fluffy pink carpet– What was in this tea!?

Kenji coughed, dragging Tsukauchi out of the stupor he hadn't realized he found himself in. The embarrassed detective smiled wryly.

"Now Shirou, I understand you are eager to know why we are here, woof." Kenji said and honestly Tsukauchi was eager to know too, "The reason we are here is about... our code of actions from when we detained you."

"If you are here to apologize, then you don't need to do that," Shirou said, "Aizawa already did it ages ago,"

A moment of silence passed.

"Well… woof," Kenji said, "At least we don't need to talk about that then…"

He coughed once more to get his bearings, "The other reason we are here is to address the way we found you. We would like you to tell us if there is someone eager to dispose of you,"

Dispose of… Oh right!

Tsukauchi thought back the discussion they had with Aizawa and Yu when they first apprehended Shirou. Tensions were high and he had flunked the interrogation, granted it was one of his first times interrogating someone under twice his age but still.

They had talked about the chance that he fell in the wrong group of people. They never confirmed whether that was true or not.

"No, I don't think someone is after me…" Shirou said, but he fell silent with a contemplative expression, "… Actually, perhaps A– the Beast would want revenge, but since he's locked away that's not an issue."

Luckily the kid was busy contemplating and didn't notice Tsukauchi's awkward coughs.

"So there is no one after you at all at the moment?" Kenji asked to clarify, to which he received a nod in response, "Then that leaves a mystery as to why you were found in a dumpster."

Tsukauchi saw Shirou squirm ever so slightly despite the level head the kid had. He remembered when he asked if it was something he could not talk about, he had assumed the reason was very personal.

He was about to jump in to alleviate the worries the kid no doubt had, but he was beaten to it when he answered, "I fought against a villain in self-defense…"

Shirou let the words exit his mouth.

There was no use lying to them, he had learned from Yu that Tsukauchi had a lie-detection quirk and he did not want to trigger it now. He had gotten lucky during the earlier interrogation through misdirection and playing the sympathy card – not on purpose but still.

"... Then suddenly we were dragged in by a black portal. I woke up on a dumpster."

The silence was palpable, and Shirou knew that if he did something wrong here then he'd ruin any chance of becoming a Hero down the line. There was also ruining the very minor possibility of returning home, but the same risks apply.

"What was the appearance of the villain?" Tsukauchi asked

"He wore a jacket and leather slacks," He said,

"Clothes can change easily. What about his Quirk, facial features, or hair colors?"

Quirk? The thought of Gilgamesh having a quirk was funny in a way that the world exploding was. Actually, if Gilgamesh knew he called him a Villain, then he'd be gutted where he stood, child body or not.

"He was a tall blond with red eyes,"

Once Tsukauchi listed the features on a notepad, he threw Kenji a look, causing him to sigh, "Fine, have a nice day Shirou, we will be going now, woof."

"Good day to you Kenji-san, Tsukauchi-san," Shirou said,

Once they left, Shirou could not help but sigh and pray.

He sighed because of the fact that he gave the two officers more work to do when they were obviously after a break.

He prayed because he did not want to face Gilgamesh again when he found out he essentially called Humanity's oldest Hero a common day villain.

Oh, he'd be dead before he could blink– Gilgamesh and Archer.

He was dragged in with them, this was bad.

How could he forget!?

They were most likely in this world with him, hopefully on a different continent but the chance of that happening is near zero.

Gilgamesh should have bled out by now, but knowing that man he'd probably have some sort of ace up his sleeve, or he pulled out a Noble Phantasm out of his ass and used that. So he must have survived and was laying low…

Archer would be fine… except he had no more Prana to sustain himself, and he wouldn't drain from innocents as it would go against his ideals. There was an abundance of Prana in the air, so maybe he could sustain himself using that?

He could not leave to search for either of the two, it'd trigger the ankle tracker and drag a police force squad to apprehend him… not to mention the disappointed face Yu would make.

He sighed once more. He tried to convince himself that he shouldn't worry about Gilgamesh or Archer, the former hopefully being dead and the latter spirited away back to the throne… hopefully.

… But knowing his own E-rank luck, that's not going to happen.

A/N: I got a Beta! Yay hooray. It was a novel experience that I'd like to continue with further chapters.

Send thanks to L33t Horo for checking the chapter's quality.

Now onto other matters... The Poll. I learned that while I MADE the poll, I didn't reveal it on my profile, so the entire month it didn't show up. It's there now (I checked personally) and now you can decide on what to do with the previous chapter's cooking scene.

This marks the end of the Prologue Arc, Shirou will be going to U.A NEXT CHAPTER, if I don't deliver on that then flame me like a fool.

Although I will need some time to work on that chapter, mainly drawing drafts and checking if my storyboarding is correct. Also, I have real-life issues like studies and etc– you know the drill.

On a good note, I finished EoR4 Salem! New Foreigner class (I believe Outsider would've been a better name tbh) that resists berserkers and is weak to alter-egos. I used the Mecha Elizabeth instead of Meltlilith (because I had Merlin duh). Now I wait for the Christmas 2017 event for Fate/Grand Order.

Oh yeah, if you play Fate/Grand Order, you should really read Fragments of Chaldea by GhostXavier, I swear it should have more favorites and follows than what this story has. It's criminal that my story has the edge in that department when I know my quality is far lower than GhostXavier's work, so treat yourself and read it. I'd advise going from start to finish (reading the supplementary stories on his account when told to do so) because that's where all the novel experiences come from. He's built his world to be lively and true to the characters, it deserves attention and damns it he'll get some.

Now there were issues with an OOC Shirou last chapter, and I could see it. I don't have a good grasp on relations between characters but from what I've seen from UBW I can say that we don't really know how Shirou is with a Mother (There's Prisma Illya but that's a Shirou who can't fight for shit so meh) and I took a more mellow spin on it. Might've been TOO mellow but this isn't an action-oriented fanfic by any means, Shirou will develop and he may end up different from the character from UBW. He'll still be Shirou at his core, but I plan to pour in some human, because honestly would you read a story where the main character remains the same throughout the whole damned thing? Every single one of your favorite shows has their MC's develop in some way that changes their outlook but not their core aspects.

Sure there'll be fights, that's inevitable, but they aren't the main focus. Shirou's development is the focus that made me write this fic and will remain the focus.

I'll close of this A/N with a summary:
-Fate/GO Christmas event
-School
-New Beta [L33t Horo]
-OOC Shirou is inevitable
-Chapter 10 will come out somewhere in January, hopefully

Kappa (Btw please report errors or any pet-peeves you have about this. Even something minor like the color of Shirou's shirt)

A/N 2: I made loads of grammar edits here (Grammarly is a blessing). However, you may be wondering why it is that I chose this chapter and left the previous ones as they are. The answer is simple.

Thank you all, I know what a Ragdoll is.

Kappa.