Fate/Reach Out
Chapter 11: Backside of the TV
April 14th, Yasogami High School
By this point, Shirou was finding out that the small town of Inaba was far stranger than his hometown. Even if you took out the obviously supernatural aspects, the people here were much different than the citizens of Fuyuki. He doubted he would go a single day without being surprised by something.
Case in point, his history teacher, Ms. Sofue insisted on carrying a shortened shepherd's crook and wearing an Egyptian headdress throughout the lesson.
That said; he wasn't surprised by the discussion that happened the moment students started gossiping. Rumor had it that the person who had found Ms. Yamano's body was none other than Saki Konishi.
So much for the media protecting her privacy… he mentally snorted.
He spent more time thinking about the Midnight Channel than the lectures at times, and when Satonaka and Hanamura joined him at his desk when school got out, Shirou dreaded the inevitable conversation.
"Yo, Emiya," Hanamura greeted with a half-grin.
"Did you both remember to watch it?" Satonaka asked immediately, though a tinge of nervousness was in her voice.
"Yeah, of course! Still can't believe it works… freaky stuff. What did you see, Emiya?"
Shirou nearly gulped audibly in front of the others, but fought it down. "N-nothing," he said. "Nothing at all."
Both students looked surprised yet unconvinced. "Nothing?" Satonaka prodded while quirking an eyebrow.
"I… can't quite remember," he admitted. Truthfully, who he saw in the TV took a backseat to the fact that the screen tried to drag him into it.
"Can't remember…" Hanamura started coyly, "Or don't want to?"
Shirou blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You tell us, Emiya," Satonaka shrugged, a cat-like smirk working its way onto her face. "We can't be too sure if you really did it or not if you don't fess up."
"Maybe he saw a hot girl and is too shy to admit who?" Hanamura guessed as he threw the transfer student a cheeky grin.
"Or maybe it was a teacher!" Satonaka added. "Why, that would put the Ms. Yamano scandal to shame in comparison!"
"Guys," Shirou sighed, not liking being teased over something like this.
"Or even worse," Hanamura grinned. "He saw an ugly old dude and is ashamed of it!"
"Oh the horror!"
Remembering Nami, Shirou suddenly had an idea, and he narrowed his eyes in a glare. "That's a bit presumptuous, don't you think?"
Both Hanamura and Satonaka blinked at him. "H-huh? What you mean?" Truthfully, the intensity Shirou could put behind his eyes was rather unnerving.
"Who's to say the 'ugly old dude' was you, Hanamura, and I was merely keeping my peace to spare my humiliation… and yours?"
The two of them were silent. Satonaka stared blankly between both bright-haired students while Hanamura paled as if walking through death's door.
Shirou's glare held for all of fifteen seconds before the façade cracked. "…Pfft-! Hahahahaha!" Watching his classmates all but shut down at his implications, Shirou couldn't help but laugh, knowing the relief would make them all but forget about interrogating him further.
They both caught on right away and Satonaka quickly joined in with a full belly laugh. "Ahahahaha! Good one Emiya! Oh man, Hanamura's face. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
For his part, Hanamura tried to let out a chuckle, but ultimately the headphone-wearing student couldn't get out more than a stilted wheeze. "Heheheh… heh… you guys suck."
For Shirou, his thoughts sped along even as he tried to keep his classmates distracted. What did it mean that he could place his hand into the TV? It was shocking enough for him that the Midnight Channel even existed; adding another aspect to the story would only make matters worse for anyone following the rumor. Truthfully, the magus-in-training still wasn't even sure the last bit really happened. It could have all been a dream.
It didn't look like the other two heard any strange voices or were pulled into their TV sets, either. He kind of doubted that the rumor mill would miss something like that. Perhaps these two heard voices as well and were questioning the reality of it like he was. No one wanted to come off as going insane, and Shirou hadn't felt like himself when it was happening.
When Hanamura finally got around to describing his experience with the rumored Channel, both Shirou and Satonaka gaped. His description of the girl jogged Shirou's memory, and Satonaka gawked as her own memories confirmed the image.
"Wait, that sounds familiar. That was the same girl I saw… I think," Shirou said, dropping into deep thought.
"But if we all saw the same person, does that mean we all have the same soulmate?" Satonaka sounded scandalized by the notion.
Shirou couldn't blame her; he would have been uneasy if his supposed soulmate was a guy, let alone shared by multiple people. "I don't think so. Just because there's truth behind the rumor doesn't make the whole rumor true," he speculated out loud.
Hanamura dropped himself lazily into his chair. "Emiya's got a point. Maybe we're not seeing our soulmate, just someone random?"
"That's no fun!" Satonaka pouted slightly at that. Despite her assertion, it was more likely than the Midnight Channel being anything like a modern mystic matchmaker. She suddenly perked, remembering something. "Speaking of TVs, our family's been looking at upgrading."
Just as suddenly, Shirou perked, his interest piqued. If her family's TV was broken, perhaps he could take it off their hands for cheap. His shed back home was filled with random junk along those lines, and trying to repair them with the aid of magic was good practice for both his mundane and magical skills.
Admittedly, the lack of space for a proper Workshop at the Dojima home would make things more difficult, but Shirou hoped to gather one or two appliances to tinker with all the same. Truthfully, Shirou was starting to realize that he had been a little spoiled for space and storage on his father's estate.
Now back in tune with the conversation, Shirou focused on Hanamura's reply. "That right? We just got some of the new flatscreen models. Want to take a look on the way back?"
"Yeah! My family doesn't know a thing about electronics, and I just gotta see my kung-fu movies on the big screen!" Satonaka's enthusiasm for her movies would be cute if it weren't for the fact that she apparently practiced what she watched. She even struck a stance in her excitement. "You want to come, Emiya?"
"To Junes, right? Sure. I can do some shopping for dinner while I'm there." If nothing else it would give him the chance to snag any specialty items and widen his options in the kitchen. Cooking was one of the skills he was proud to have, and having people appreciate it always brought him joy.
Junes, Electronics Department - After School
Junes was an increasingly common department store throughout Japan, famed for selling at least average products and usually good quality ones at reasonable prices. Their penchant for making massive stores and having a little bit of just about everything in them from fresh produce and meats to clothes and toys made them popular one-stop shops, even if their variety in the departments was rather limited compared to specialty stores. Electronics were no exception.
But…
"Whoa, this is huge!"
…why would anyone need a TV this big? Stand it up on some legs and it could be used a replacement for the Dojima family's dinner table. If you laid this monster flat on the floor, I'm pretty sure Nanako could sleep on it with room to spare!
Staring at the monstrous TV serving as the centerpiece for the TV section, Shirou couldn't help but gape. He and Satonaka both nearly choked on air after they read the price tag, too. The redhead honestly didn't think anyone in Inaba could reasonably afford the behemoth. As it stood, it was going to just sit there forever as a pretty display piece.
"Not exactly in my family's budget." Shirou all but gagged. "If by some miracle we could afford it, I don't think we'd ever use it for fear of breaking it."
"Yeah, that's way too many zeroes, Hanamura." Satonaka added. "Got anything cheaper?"
Hanamura just laughed and led her to another, notably smaller TV. He cleared his throat and started to talk like a stereotypical salesman, grinning all the while. "Well, Miss, might I interest you in this one here? It's our newest model, just released this spring…"
While Hanamura attempted his sales pitch, Shirou mindlessly tuned him out and turned back to the giant screen before him. Last night's events were still hazy to him, and part of him desperately hoped that his experience with the TV was just a dream.
He took one last glance at his classmates and scanned for passing clerks. For the moment, they were alone in the department.
Maybe it was the uncertainty getting to him, perhaps he was under the influence of extremely potent but subtle magecraft, or maybe he was just feeling a little crazy, but Shirou found himself reaching out to the screen.
As a magus, he knew he should have waited to try something like this from the safety and seclusion of his Workshop, but he didn't have one. Even if he did, he lacked the skill to set up the numerous standard defenses associated with such a sanctuary. The only thing that Shirou was certain of was that he had this gnawing need to know the truth of what happened last night.
Just a tap. Timidly, he poked the screen.
His finger only met cool, solid glass. Encouraged, he pushed the screen very lightly with all of his fingers, and found the piece solid and unyielding.
Releasing the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, Shirou felt the tension that had been gnawing at him melt from his shoulders…
"!?"
His mind froze. The moment he had relaxed, the solid barrier between him and whatever space beyond the screen seemingly vanished and his hand passed clear through.
Just like last night, the glass had faint ripples of light emanating from where his hand disappeared through what had been a solid barrier a second ago. Unlike the powerful pull from before though, there was instead a gentle tug, just enough to keep him from pulling his arm out without a fight.
"By the way Emiya, what kind… of… T…" Hanamura's voice trailed off, and Shirou turned to find both of his classmates staring at him speechless.
Shit.
Hanamura was the first to regain his voice. "Is- is his arm… in the TV?"
Both jogged over to him even as Shirou tried to pull his arm out. The gentle tug from within turned out to be quite deceptive: while it wasn't trying to pull him in all that strongly, it was doing a fine job of keeping him from pulling his arm out. He wasn't about to try using his other hand as leverage or pull too hard lest he might unbalance the whole set on top of his head.
Now Shirou was starting to sweat. Magecraft of any kind was never supposed to be seen by anyone who wasn't a magus or a part of their world, and now two ordinary people were witnessing unknown magic with no one around who could make them forget it. Shirou, not for the first time, wished his father had taught him more or that he had more talent in hypnotism.
"Whoa… You gotta be kidding me! How did you do that?" Satonaka gaped as she tried to peek behind the TV, gawking that Shirou's hand wasn't behind the giant TV.
"You mean this isn't a standard feature?" the trapped teen tried hopelessly.
"No way, man. That is some magic trick! What's your secret, Emiya?" Hanamura almost stuttered as he quickly scanned the department.
Shirou started to panic. The last thing they needed was for him to rush off looking for help. "How should I know? I'm not even using my magic circuits!" he blurted out.
He immediately felt like punching himself for that. There was pretty much no way to salvage the situation as it stood now. The best he could hope for was that his words would be taken as a lighthearted joke.
Both of his classmates looked even more confused; an impressive feat. "Wh-what?"
The redhead released a calming breath, for what little good it did. "Forget it. Help me out here, I'm a little stuck."
"How can you be stuck?" Satonaka asked, doing an admirable job of keeping her voice down in spite of her frantic energy making her twitchy. "And what's this about circuits?"
Hanamura then began to dance around in a telling manner that any human could easily recognize. "Aw man, this is too much for my bladder!"
"You can't be serious," Shirou deadpanned. "Didn't we pass a restroom on the way here?" More importantly to him, he was still stuck doing something impossible by normal humans and needed them to stay focused if he planned to get out of this.
"Hey, I didn't exactly expect to see you- Shit! Customers!"
Damn, damn, damn, damn!
"Hurry up and pull me out!" Shirou hissed urgently, fighting to keep his panic in check and losing. On the other side of the TV, his fingers clenched and unclenched, finding nothing to leverage his hand against.
His two classmates were too panicked to think straight and ran about the area for a few seconds like headless chickens. Then, without warning, both slammed into Shirou hard enough to make them all tumble-
"W-Whoooooa!"
-right into the TV screen.
The moment the magus-in-training lost his balance, the TV seemed to eagerly grab a hold of them and pulled, taking all three of them through an oddly spacious white zone.
There was no way to tell where they were going; there was no difference in any direction aside from a pull towards what was assumed was down. Black rectangles framed as they fell like they were tumbling through a tunnel.
They could not have fallen for more than a few seconds before the sea of white parted, dropping them all into a sea of fog.
?
The three students found the ground beneath them too suddenly to do more than grunt in pain and flop onto their backs when they hit. Shirou shrugged off the rough landing easily enough. Compared to making a Magic Circuit, a little impact like that wasn't even worth addressing. "Is everyone alright?" he called, sweeping his eyes around cautiously.
He couldn't see much. The air was cool and slightly clammy, but not outright uncomfortable. It reminded the magus of the brisk fall mornings back home when he thought about it. No, the strangeness came from the blanket of fog that smothered everything. Shirou couldn't see more than half a dozen meters in any direction. In spite of the golden light trying to pierce the fog from what looked like spotlights hanging overhead, everything was covered in a dull gray haze.
After scanning the space for threats briefly, Shirou paused, his eyes darting from side to side. He wondered if he had hit his head; the edges of his vision were colored a little strangely and fuzzy in a way that looked vaguely familiar.
…Static?
"We're alive… I think…" Satonaka replied.
"I think my butt's cracked," Hanamura groaned. Neither Satonaka nor Shirou were amused by the attempt at levity.
The three stayed close and tried to get a look around. More details slowly came into view as their vision adjusted to the strange half-light. The spotlights overhead were all attached to complex scaffolding, wires twining in bundles through the metal framework. Between the lights and the color of the paint on the walls, the stage they were standing on was surrounded by an eerie yellow glow through the fog.
"Where are we? Is there a studio like this in Inaba that you two know of?" Shirou asked. He honestly doubted this was anything mundane, but he had to be sure.
"Hell no… But look at this place… it's huge." Hanamura muttered.
"Yeah… and what's with this fog? Or is it smoke?" Satonaka added.
"It's fog." Shirou confirmed with absolute certainty. Fire and smoke were Shirou's earliest memories and filled his nightmares. He knew smoke when he smelled it. "Come on, we need to find an exit. Stay close."
Despite his sure tone and the way his classmates followed his advice, Shirou never saw himself as a leader. If anything, his penchant for helping people meant he was far more used to following directions than giving them. However, as the only one with any experience with magecraft among them, Shirou felt it was necessary for him to put what experience he had to use. He would bet the Emiya estate that magic was behind this.
More importantly, I need to take the lead for their protection. I can't abandon my classmates to their own devices here.
Shirou glanced back at his classmates, confirming that he was the most level-headed one present. Satonaka was on the verge of breaking down, the disorientation and impossibility of what was happening was already getting to her, and Hanamura, though showing less outward signs was still undoubtedly close to a panic attack.
"Is there really a way out of here?" the kung-fu fan murmured as she caught up to the magus.
"There has to be. If there's a way in, there's a way out. Let's just cross our fingers." Hanamura affirmed.
Shirou bit back the urge to correct him. If they really were inside a Bounded Field like he feared, escape may genuinely be impossible without outside interference. Regardless, the place was enormous: if this was a bounded field, it was far and away the largest example he had ever seen or heard about.
Though, what he had seen and heard on the subject didn't amount to much. His father had told him about the possible scales Bounded Fields could work at, but the only one Shirou had any exposure to was the alarm array that surrounded the estate.
They trio walked cautiously for a long time, their steps slow and careful. So far, the only thing of note they found was that Shirou could see the furthest through the fog, though that wasn't saying much. Twice Shirou had to pause and let them catch up when he drifted a few meters ahead and they lost sight of him completely. Shirou silently guessed that his innate magical abilities were the cause of that.
Now that they were moving, Shirou noticed that the air was absolutely brimming with mana. It was almost dizzying how much magical power seethed through the air, creating a sensation not unlike extremely strong spice in his nose. Any magus with real skill would thrive in this place. Unfortunately, the teen's lacking magical education meant he had little to no idea how to take advantage of this energy, let alone have any ways to use it that could help them escape.
Somewhere along the way, they realized that they had left the studio at some point. Now it looked like they were walking across a raised walkway. "Anything here ring any bells?" Shirou asked.
Hanamura leaned over the side of the railing next to them and clucked his tongue. "Not really. We're in some kind of building but… I can't see a thing out there. This damn fog's too thick."
"Are you sure we're not just wandering farther away?" Satonaka asked, her voice uncharacteristically shaky, not that anyone could blame her. Hanamura's knees were practically knocking together.
"We can try doubling back, but there's no guarantee we'll be any better off," Shirou explained. "As long as we keep track of which direction we're moving at all times we should be alright. Why don't we go this way for a little longer before trying another direction?"
Hanamura nodded. "Alright, lead on."
None of them could tell how long they continued through the fog before they entered a new room that suddenly seemed to form around them, thankfully filled with less fog. Briefly, hope flared in Shirou's chest before he realized the room had no exit; they were no closer to escaping than before.
The room actually looked… vaguely familiar to Shirou. Unlike the studio, this place looked ordinary. Then it hit him.
It looked like a room from his house, a traditional Japanese room with the addition of a low bed. There was a bookshelf on the far side of the room, magazines and books mixed together. The potted plant looked jarringly out of place, the hazy atmosphere tainting whatever color it might have added to the room with a sickly pall.
"No reception. What a surprise," Hanamura groaned as he flipped his phone shut. Shirou and Satonaka checked theirs and found the same thing.
"What's with this room?" the tomboy finally asked as she circled the room's perimeter. She was looking pale, her normally outgoing posture hunched inward timidly as she focused on something behind the boys.
Shirou turned quickly, half expecting an attacker, but what greeted him was disturbing enough. Hanamura was fidgeting as he looked up at the light fixture overhead. Or more accurately, what was hanging from it: a noose made of a length of rope and a scarf. A chair sat beneath it.
Wait, was that even there a second ago?!
"This arrangement is never a good sign." Hanamura asserted shakily.
Two of the walls were covered in posters and colored splotches of what looked pink and red paint.
"Check out these posters… they're all missing their faces…" Satonaka pointed out, inching towards the door.
"You're right… who do you think this is?" the magus wondered. The posters were all over the place. Some were obscured by paint; others had simply been cut out, while others…
…others looked like they were slashed by large claws.
"Who cares?!" Satonaka finally snapped, stomping her foot to drive her point home. The hollow thump from that nearly gave her classmates heart attacks. "Let's just go back; I'm sick of this place!"
"No arguments here. I'm all for turning around, Emiya. I still need to find a bathroom!"
With a roll of his eyes, Shirou nodded and peeked out of the room, dubbing it clear before stepping out. Despite his classmates desperately wanting to go, Shirou refused to rush into the fog, keeping himself on point as they backtracked their way to the studio where they started.
When they finally made it back to that bizarre studio, Shirou took a good look at his classmates. "Are you two alright? You're both looking pale." He himself had a slight headache. The disorientation from the fog, the persistent static at the edges of his vision and the mana-heavy air were all to blame, but Shirou ignored them all in favor of his companions. The best he could do for himself right now was take note of his condition and watch for if his symptoms got any worse.
"Now that you mention it, I'm not feeling too hot," Hanamura admitted.
"My body does feel heavy…" Satonaka mumbled. However, she saw something out of the corner of her eye and pointed to Shirou's left. "Wait, what's that?"
"Oh, what now?" Hanamura whined.
Considering his upbringing as a magus, Shirou thought he was prepared for whatever monstrous denizens inhabited this foggy place. He recalled his father's stories of the paranormal and the horrors that hid themselves in the shadows, magus bedtime stories, really. He was expecting animated corpses or animalistic familiars to rush forth and attack. If they were really, REALLY unlucky, a vampire would walk right up to them and kill them all at its leisure, but Shirou was at least aware of those possibilities. What trotted out of the fog never even crossed his mind as an outcome.
It was an oversized bear mascot.
Its eyes were absolutely huge, staring at them with a crease like a scowl on its brow. Its nose was tiny and mouth crunched up in a comically small frown beneath it. Blue fur covered its dome-shaped head except for its white face. It was "dressed" in a red and white suit, and a zipper ringed its neck like a collar. Its stubby limbs were covered in blue mittens and tiny blue shoes.
"What the heck?" was the extent of the three students' thought processes for a few seconds.
Then it opened its mouth and talked, and their brains needed a few more seconds to catch up.
"T-that's what I wanna know! Who are you guys?" it demanded with as much bluster as it could muster. In a strange way, Shirou felt cheated. He was expecting whatever appeared in this place to be either dangerous or powerful, but this… creature… didn't give either impression. If anything it was even more afraid of them than they were of it. This was a bizarre twist compared to Kiritsugu's stories of the inhuman.
"What are you? You wanna fight?" Satonaka snapped back.
Shirou almost lunged in front of the shorter girl, half-expecting the bear to turn into a monster and dispense with the pleasantries and then their lives, but again his expectations were shot down. The bear brought its hands over its head and visibly cowered. "D-don't yell at me like that…"
Now feeling almost like a jerk for his assumptions, the redhead stepped forward and held a hand in front of Satonaka. "Relax, we're not here looking for a fight. I'm Shirou Emiya. Who are you? What is this place?"
To Shirou's pleasant surprise, his good manners did the trick and the bear visibly relaxed. "This place is what it is. It doesn't have a name. It's where I live."
Shirou couldn't help but give the bear a flat stare for that one. How delightfully vague.
"If I were you, I'd hurry back to the other side. Someone's been throwing people in here," the bear elaborated without preamble. For a moment, all three students were again stunned into silence, this time by the cryptic statement rather than the fact that the bear was still talking.
"Say what? Throwing people in here? Why?" Hanamura demanded when he fully processed the concept.
"I don't know who's doing it! That's why I asked you! Whoever they are, they should really think before doing that!" The bear fired back.
"Argh! You're not making any sense! Quit yelling at us and tell us what's going on!" Satonaka joined in, causing the bear to run behind the more civil-minded Shirou and cower away from the increasingly furious pair.
The magus's headache now had nothing to do with the air. No one was going to get anywhere pointing fingers like children. "Alright look, we can all agree that we want to leave, and you want us to leave, right?" Shirou tried to remain calm, but his teeth were grinding halfway through. "Do you know how we can get out?" he asked the bear directly.
"I was trying to say I can let you out!"
Shirou blinked. Huh. That wasn't what I expected. Again.
"Wha- really?" Hanamura was in the same boat as Shirou, apparently.
The bear tapped its foot against the floor twice, and with a puff of smoke and a popping sound, a stack of old-style TVs appeared between them all, an antenna crowning the stack.
"What the…? Where did these TVs come from?" Satonaka yelped in surprise.
With one problem handily solved by the surly but helpful mascot, Shirou decided it was time to address the others before they left. "Okay, now what was this about peop-HEY!"
"Okay, go on, get outta here, I'm a busy bear!" The bear shoved them rather suddenly, causing the teens to tumble into the screens and once more being pulled through by that unseen force.
Shirou tried to resist, to ask for more about the idea of people being tossed into this oppressive realm, but was too off-balance. "Wait, hang on a second!"
"Stop pushing!"
"Watch it!"
And then we were flying through that white and black tunnel again. And again, the trip ended with a sudden "thump" on a hard floor.
The next thing they knew, Shirou, Satonaka and Hanamura were all back inside Junes' electronics department in a heap. The sounds of people walking and pushing carts just outside was a strange thing to take comfort in, but none of them were about to complain about it.
On the plus side, the sheer strangeness of the events had taken his classmates' minds off of Shirou's slip about magecraft. If either of them asked about that world, he was just in the dark about it as they were. It was like dodging a bullet.
"Did-did we really make it out?" Satonaka breathed out disbelievingly.
"I think so. Is everyone alright?" Shirou replied, hauling himself to his feet. He felt dizzy, but his classmates looked outright queasy.
"I feel like hell," Hanamura admitted, his face pale and his movements more sluggish than Shirou. Satonaka was not much better off.
Shirou glanced at his watch and blanched. They had been stuck in the foggy TV-world for well over two hours. He was hoping to have been home by now and cooking dinner. As it was, he didn't even have time to shop for ingredients before he normally had dinner. "Crap, it's getting late. Do you guys want me to call for a ride?"
The tomboy shook her head. "Thanks, but I'll be alright. I just want to go home, lie down and forget the whole thing happened."
"Same here. That was too much for me," Hanamura agreed with a weak smile. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. Right now I just want to sleep this off." The shaggy-haired teen shambled off to finally find a bathroom and head home.
The magus turned his attention to the girl next to him. "I think you both have the right idea. See you tomorrow, then?"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow," the short-haired girl murmured before parting.
For Shirou, the worst part of the mess was that they had spent so much time trapped in the TV that he didn't have time to get much shopping done. Just like his first day here, he felt ill enough to decide to just go straight home. He figured that prolonged exposure to the other world must have caused it.
Nothing of note really happened that night other than eating ramen with the Dojimas when he finally got home. His sluggishness was obvious enough that Dojima had all but sent him to bed to recover.
In the interest of being social, Shirou opted to stay at least for a little while despite the headache pounding his temples. He mostly tuned out from the news playing in the background when it went off about the murder case again. He thought he heard Saki Konishi's name again, but he didn't hear anything specific when he focused on the story.
His mind was still reeling from today's events. Focusing on anything else was almost impossible. I haven't asked them to keep quiet about my magecraft… chances are they've forgotten all about it in the panic of being in there. I somehow doubt that'll be the case for long; I was the one that got us stranded there in the first place after all. Even if they don't blame me for it, it doesn't change the fact that it was my fault. At least that bear was friendly enough to let us out. But… what did he mean about throwing people in? Another magus experimenting? What is that world supposed to be?
…Well, no point in worrying about this now. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
A/N: Heh, did you guys really think Shirou would end up all on his lonesome here? Maybe in another story or in canon, but not this fic. Though I did have fun coming up with an excuse to hide the hand-in-TV incident the other night, inspired by a certain MOEL colleague. There will probably be more cases of that.
So Shirou accidentally let slip his secret, but perhaps this is a blessing in disguise? Perhaps not, but things definitely won't be the same by next chapter. There's a small clue here foreshadowing why.