Sheets ruffled softly within the room. It's occupant shifted around in bed a couple of times before they finally woke up.
Silvery-white hair moved as she groggily straightened herself up.
2B looked over at the clock, it was early by human standards, exactly 6:00 AM. Her toes made a rubbing sound against the wooden floor as she made her way to the nearby mirror.
Once again sleeping had left her with disheveled hair, requiring her to fix it once more. Her hand moved to pick up a nearby brush to start untangling her ends and straighten them out.
This sequence has become more or less a morning ritual for the android by this point.
Wake up, fix her hair, get dressed, wait approximately ninety minutes until Shirou also wakes up and finishes preparing breakfast, then join him and the rest of their day commences.
However, 2B had moments when she contemplated on how efficient it is that she keeps putting herself to sleep in the first place. She didn't require sleep the same way humans did, so from a certain perspective, it was a waste of hours she could use for something more constructive.
Then again, it wasn't like she actually had anything else to occupy her time with. Without any orders given to her, she would spend most of her time on standby and Shirou had made no effort to give her any directives.
Yet that was the logical side of her, and in spite of how unproductive she found it, strangely enough sleeping seemed to have an unusual effect on her mental functions. As if the act helped clear her head and allowed her to concentrate with more precision.
She didn't quite notice this fact before, most likely because she never had the chance to perform research in the way she had done the past few days.
The hairbrush made a clicking sound as she put it back on the counter. Her blue eyes stared at the reflection in the mirror, and while she was satisfied with her present appearance, she didn't spend any more time looking at herself than necessary.
She picked up her visor and equipped it.
It was still fairly early so she sat back on the bed, staring at the ceiling as she reviewed the information she was currently in possession of.
While she did go over most of them, there were still files on the laptop that 2B did not understand the meaning of.
One of the files for instance contained precise coordinates to a location in Germany, and what appeared to be the blueprints to a structure designated as a castle. What was more strange was the location itself since it was in the middle of a mountain district near a river.
This got 2B curious and she temporarily accessed a satellite that was orbiting above that area. In spite of following the coordinates she found, there was no structure to be found in that area, only an seemingly empty wilderness.
There was however something strange in the images she was receiving. As such she overlaid the images from the satellite with the ones from Kiritsugu's laptop, and a most interesting result came forth.
The castle fit perfectly in the vacant space that the satellite pictures displayed.
Several theories began forming in 2B's mind in response to this. Among them, the most logical one being a cloaking device preventing the satellite from observing the area. Set up by the owner of the castle so as not to let people notice.
However, that idea did have some flaws to it, the biggest one being that 2B couldn't be certain if cloaking technology was possible in this day and age. While it was a standard enough commodity in her time period, she did not know if mankind had developed this kind of technology yet.
Then again, the satellite technology itself was rather primitive to her eyes, so perhaps even a rudimentary cloaking field would be enough to block this era's generation of surveillance.
The next most plausible explanation that 2B hoped wasn't the case was the involvement of 'magecraft'.
As it stood the android did not know the full extent of what the so-called mystic arts of this time were capable of achieving, there were far too many variables she was not aware of preventing her from making an accurate assessment.
After all, who is to say that magecraft cannot be used to mask a location?
Due to that, 2B had recently begun taking into account the things she knew of and re-analyzed them. Looking over them she found there were too many gaps in the many developments that happened by the time she came into creation.
Project Gestalt was the first thing that caught her attention on which she began to be somewhat uncertain of.
In spite of technology advancing leagues beyond what was available when the project was first implemented, the YoRHa android couldn't begin to fathom how technology could affect such an abstract notion as the human 'soul'.
A concept she herself had a hard time believing was real in the first place.
She may not have researched the matter, but there was never any instance that would logically explain how technology alone can affect 'souls'.
This made 2B think and speculate. Perhaps magecraft was a key factor when Project Gestalt was underway.
Still, as interesting as that may have been to consider, she had other more pressing matters to attend to.
Such as finding information about Shirou's father.
The research on Emiya Kiritsugu had been... less productive than 2B expected and confused the gynoid.
When 2B first hacked into the national archives to forge herself the new identity of 'Iris Nines', she also used that opportunity to look for any information about Emiya Kiritsugu. However, what she found was inconclusive.
There were a couple of men registered under that name, but they were not the one she was looking for. It should have been something she expected, unlike her kind that possesses unique designation numbers, humans in this day and age often were given names that others already possessed, and it wasn't surprising to find more people with the same first and last name.
Despite her efforts, she could not find the Emiya Kiritsugu she was looking for.
It was honestly quite annoying.
Perhaps a second opinion was required. "Pod, what is your input on this matter?"
The small box-like android floated in front of its partner. "[Speculation. There is a high probability that the identity of 'Emiya Kiritsugu' is a fabricated one. A fake identity the human had assumed for himself, similar to the one you had been assigned.]"
"... That is a possibility." 2B muttered to herself, if that was indeed the case it could explain the lack of progress, still, there were still other problems present. "Then again, when you searched for the information you also performed a facial recognition did you not?"
"[Affirmative.]"
"Then a name should have appeared regardless, even if the name we were given was a false one, the facial recognition should have offered results that were close to the image we used as reference."
"[Processing.]" Pod stated, going through this new information. "[Unit 2B is correct, the results that were obtained were all inconclusive, a positive result should have appeared.]
"Then why didn't it?" 2B asked herself out loud.
When her pod ran a facial recognition in the national archives a name should have eventually been revealed. As long as there was a facial profile of the man within it, then a name should have appeared.
The futuristic beauty paused on this.
That would have been the logical outcome, but she has been looking at this while under the assumption that the man she was researching was registered like any other civilian.
That way of thinking was a mistake on her part.
Shirou designated himself as a magus and explained how revealing information about the 'Moonlit world' as he called it was forbidden.
The one who taught Shirou what knew was his father, a fellow magus.
Perhaps he just didn't exist in the 'mundane world'.
"Pod, what if the information we are looking for isn't where we looked for?"
Her diminutive companion did not register her point. "[Requiring context.]"
"The comparison that you made, how he could have used a fake name, similar to my designation." 2B elaborated calmly. "The information regarding my true identity was classified information. No one within the YoRHa troops had the clearance to access those files with the exception of Commander White."
She knew personally what discovering classified information could lead to. 9S often learned of what he was not supposed to and would earn himself an execution order.
One that was always carried out by 2B herself.
The white-haired android shook her head, pushing those thoughts aside. "What if Emiya Kiritsugu is a similar case?"
"[You speculate that information on the search target isn't within public records?] Pod 042 further inquired and 2B nodded. [The probability while low, does offer reason to why we were unable to find information of him to date.]"
"If that's the case, we have to search deeper. Access the Japanese government's mainframe and look for any classified materials they possess." 2B elaborated dryly. "If the results are inconclusive once again, we will have to rethink our methods and then restart our search."
[Affirmative.] the Pod acknowledged. [Search time may vary. This unit proposes that YoRHa 2B occupies herself until the conclusion.]
That was a result the android already expected to say the least. While the hacking process was an easy feat for them, they still had to go over the individual files and check the contents.
If last night was to be used as a reference. Pod 042 could check about one thousand profiles in under a minute.
Given that they do not know how many people would be under classified restrictions, it was hard to estimate the exact time it would take to finish. However, 2B was certain that there were far fewer people with classified identities in comparison to the current number of citizens Japan has.
That being said, just sitting around and waiting would be a waste.
2B stood in place for a minute before she got up and left the room. Might as well see what Shirou was doing.
Her crutch made a rather noticeable thumb sound as the android made her way through the estate's halls. Truth be told she hardly had any more usage for it, but it was more for insurance sake than anything. Given how Shirou's legal guardian had a habit of dropping in unannounced, it would be a problem if she spotted her walking already when she was under the knowledge that she was confined to a wheelchair.
Her advantage however was the fact that Taiga was never informed of what kind of medical issue she was suffering from. If it came down to it, she and Shirou agreed to tell her that her issues stemmed from only one of her legs.
Which in hindsight was actually true considering only one of her limbs got ripped off and suffered extensive damage.
The android slid the door to the kitchen open and saw that Shirou was already there, though what she found unusual from the norm were the papers he was going through over at the countertop.
The boy stopped when he heard the door. A small smile formed on his face when he saw who it was. "Morning 2B."
2B simply nodded in response, returning the greeting. "Good morning Shirou. "
The beauty slowly made her way to the table and took a seat, placing her crutch at the side. Shirou put aside his papers and joined her. "Sleep well? "
"As usual." She stated succinctly.
A nervous laugh left the boy's mouth, mentally kicking himself since he was aware she still had the occasional bad dream. "Right… well everything is ready, just wait for the rice to finish cooking then we can eat."
His guest nodded. "Understood."
Her head tilted slightly to where Shirou was previously seated, mild curiosity present on her stoic face. "What are those papers?"
"Oh, those, admission forms for high school. We need to decide where we want to go after finishing middle school."
Truth be told Shirou was glad 2B dropped by since he was getting annoyed by all the paperwork he had to complete in those forms.
It would have been so much easier if he only had to put down two or three choices but after Taiga heard what he planned to do she made sure to tell Shirou that he had to add more options, just in case. The 'or else' implications likely involving Tora-shinai were of course left implied.
Shirou for one didn't see the need to go this far since he was an above-average student. Sure, he wasn't the top of his class or anything but he was pretty sure his grades were decent enough to let him into most any school he wanted in the city.
2B on her part kept staring at the papers feeling somewhat baffled that humans used to write information down like this. She may have encountered books before, but this whole notion of paperwork was strange to her. Writing on paper seemed time consuming, inefficient, and a waste of resources in her opinion.
Then again, 2B had to once more remind herself that she is in a time period where digital tech was still in its infant stages.
"Something wrong?" The golden-eyed youth asked.
The former YoRHa agent blinked behind her visor and shook her head. "Nothing, I'm just not accustomed to this way humans go about to procure knowledge. By… 'going to school' as you put it."
Shirou was a bit confused at first, but then recalled the 'hacking' thing 2B told her about and how easily she can gain access to information as long as it is connected to the worldwide internet network.
It must be nice being able to find any information you need online. The boy did recall some of his classmates mentioning something about a 'Googleing' or something like that.
"Well, I guess I can understand how it might seem weird to you. You didn't go to school, I take it? "
"YoRHa Androids have no need for such an institution." 2B stated clinically. "We can simply download the relevant information we desire from a database. It's then registered in our internal memory and we can always access it whenever needed."
In all honesty, Shirou was amazed by what 2B said ."That sounds pretty useful. It definitely would save a lot of time."
Shirou did have to admit to himself that he was a tad jealous of 2B. While he didn't have anything against going to school and wasn't a bad student, there were some classes he could honestly do without. Like chemistry or physics. The ability to instantly know the right formulas, applications, and calculations sounded really convenient.
An awkward laugh left the boy's mouth, it sure felt strange about explaining this kind of stuff to 2B. "Anyway, we humans have to do it the old fashioned way, so that means going to school. Or high school like in my case next spring. "
"… I still find it odd." 2B muttered silently.
A distinct click echoed in the room, 2B recognizing it as the rice cooker's timer, after having breakfast so many times, she learned most of the utensils and devices idiosyncrasies that Shirou utilizes to prepare food.
Though for some strange reason, she found the microwave device unpleasant to be around while it was turned on.
A goofy smile was present on Shirou's face as he served the now ready as well as the other side dishes. "Hope you're hungry, Fuji-nee won't drop by this morning so that means more food for us."
2B nodded and performed the procedure that Shirou taught her, clapping her hands together and saying 'Itadakimasu'.
No matter how many times this situation was repeated, 2B would always find it quite surreal.
Never did 2B imagine that she would one day enjoy human food like this, let alone get to experience it together with an actual human.
If she would have been told this while she was still in her era, the android would've written it off as mere nonsense.
Breakfast however was a quiet activity between the two of them, unless Taiga was also present then it was more rambunctious and chaotic. Outside of that, there was hardly any communication between the two of them.
While Shirou did tell 2B that talking while eating was frowned upon as bad manners, it was rather stale at times. The youth would occasionally ask her if the food was okay, but not much outside of that.
The breakfast was soon done and 2B found herself sitting at the table, watching over as Shirou picked up all the dishes and washed them. The gynoid did ask the boy if there was any way for her to help him, but Shirou would always refuse and say he can handle it.
… She did not enjoy that.
Seeing Shirou choose to do all activities around the house while she stood around and did nothing. She could see the logic at first since she was unable to properly move without assistance.
Now however she was fully capable of moving around by herself, so she could offer assistance to Shirou, but he still refused.
It was quite frustrating at times.
The door slid with Shirou exiting the room, his expression panicked as he looked at his wristwatch. "Sorry for leaving you again like this 2B but I got to get to school. "
2B opened her mouth to reply, but Shirou had already closed the door, hearing him rush down the hall as he called out to her. "See you later! "
Her mouth slowly closed as she just stared at the door for a while. A single thought pervaded her mind as she sat in silence.
I'm Alone.
It wasn't anything new, ever since she began living with Shirou, he would often leave for school during the week and would leave her by herself in the house for several hours.
Such a strange experience. Whenever he would leave the estate, the house would seemingly feel much emptier than it actually was, and the silence within it became almost deafening.
Without anything else to do 2B would lounge around until Shirou returned. Trying to find ways to pass the time.
Most of the time she would spend it watching television. Going through the various programs trying to decipher humanity's entertainment culture through it. The things she would see were interesting at times while questionable at others, to say the least.
Like those commercial things that Shirou told her about. She doubted those cleaning products she saw can actually clean surfaces with a single swipe. Or that energy drink she saw, she doubted drinking it can give the one who drinks it wings.
If anything, at least the news bulletin was informative.
All in all, it was an effective way to pass time. However, it becomes rather repetitive after a while.
Such is the case currently. 2B tried to watch a show on the TV but she hardly lasted a minute viewing it, before analyzing it was a rerun.
She turned the TV off and sighed, the show wasn't that good to begin with. In fact, it made her question at times what humans perceived as entertainment. Why humans would want to participate in an activity where the risks outweigh the rewards left her confused. How did the idea of a man eating spaghetti in a functioning dryer ever come to pass in the first place? Sadly, there were no answers to be had for the maiden from the future.
An hour must have passed as 2B stood under the kotatsu in the living room. It was quite the intriguing piece of furniture, so cozy that she had moments when she did not want to get out of it.
However, that didn't mean much when she found herself alone. At times it was almost overwhelming. During which the desire to go outside and explore the city would come to her.
That idea plagued her mind frequently, yet she never gave in to that desire as she knew it may cause complications along the line.
Another sigh escaped her lips and 2B went back to her room.
She sat on her bed and looked over at the corner. "Any progress Pod? "
"[Affirmative.]" The box-like android responded, levitating in front of her. "[Match found!]
The features of the YoRHa hardened, she wouldn't rush to conclusions. "Are you certain this is the man that adopted Shirou?"
"[Affirmative. Facial recognition is positive.]
"Finally." She mused and straightened herself. "Transfer the files to me."
The Pod did as it was ordered and transferred the files, watching in fascination as the expression of 2B quickly changed when the action was finalized. "... This has to be some mistake."
"[Negative.]" Pod stated, unaware of what the issue present was. "[The person in the files is the one you were searching for.]"
2B sat unresponsive for several seconds, crashing on her bed lifelessly.
A chuckle escaped her lips, a hollow and bitter one, the irony of the situation was simply incredible, but not in a good way.
Perhaps this is what 9S experienced when he learned the cold bitter truth about humanity and the YoRHa.
Such an excruciating turn of events.
All she wanted to do was learn more about Shirou's father in an attempt that may help her benefactor in some way.
What she discovered was anything but that.
"... If that is really the case, the situation has just become far more… difficult. "
After all, how was she supposed to tell Shirou that his father, the man he admired and felt indebted to, was one of the most wanted criminals in the world?
"Achoo!" Shirou sneezed loudly, rubbing his itching nose.
His friend glanced over at him, a half-surprised stare present. "Well, this is new, since when do you catch a cold? "
"Don't think that's it, probably someone is just talking about me or something." Shirou mused.
"I doubt it. Whoever would talk about your sorry ass. " The other boy scoffed.
The red-haired boy gave his friend a half-lidded glare. "That's kind of mean Shinji. "
Shinji for his part just rolled his eyes. "Oh wow, since the world is all sunshine and rainbows, I must be quite the vile thing."
Both boys eventually shrugged, this discussion not really going anywhere.
It was break time and the duo went for a stroll around the halls and eventually stopped to hang around one of the open windows, just hanging around and looking outside at the students going back and forth.
Boring as it was, the boys did enjoy the moments of peace and quiet.
While their school lives were not particularly stressful, they did have to deal with a lot of things now that they are graduating and aiming for high school.
Sometimes just hanging around like this was a welcomed change.
Shinji yawned rather loudly, wiping the small tears in his eyes. "So what have you been up to recently?"
"Oh, you know, same old, same old." his workaholic friend replied casually.
"Lame." he snarked, wondering why he even bothered asking since he knew that Shirou had zero social life.
Minutes passed by and the boys kept looking out over the courtyard in silence. While they were friends to an extent, both could agree that they hardly had much in common, so more often than naught the two didn't have much stuff to bring up for small talk.
Shirou leaned over the window, letting the warm breeze ruffle his hair. "I wonder if we'll get to spend time like this in high school."
"What makes you think we're going to the same school?" His seaweed-like-haired friend remarked.
The young Emiya chuckled at this. "Pretty sure we'll both get admitted to Homurahara without a problem."
His classmate eventually sighed and rested his chin on his palm. "Oh, who am I kidding, with my luck I'll end up with you in the same class for another three years. "
"Yay for that." Shirou deadpanned.
In spite of being obviously bored, Shinji suddenly jolted forward and stared down, a goofy grin present on his face. "Hey is that Tohsaka?"
Shirou followed suit and leaned forward to look, his reaction however was much tamer in comparison to his friend. "It sure is."
Tohsaka Rin was arguably the most popular girl at their school, excelling both at academics and sports in addition to being a beautiful girl. Many considered her an unofficial idol of their school.
Whenever she passes by there will always be one or two students that would stop what they are doing just to look at her.
So it wasn't a surprise that Shinji was smitten with her. Something Shirou was painfully aware of.
A stink eye was immediately directed at him, Shinji was clearly unamused. "You don't sound too excited."
Shirou on his end wasn't sure why he got such a reaction. "Should I?"
"Weird, I recall you turning your head whenever she passed you."
A faint blush was present on the boy's face, feeling a tad embarrassed that he got caught. "Did I really do that?"
"Yeah, you weren't too discreet about it either. Like you'd have to be stupid not to notice." Shinji deadpanned.
The red-head grimaced at that brutal comment while the young Matou smirked at his reaction. Seriously, Shirou was so easy to read that it was painful. As such it is quite strange that he had such little reaction moments ago to Tohsaka's presence.
A blue eyebrow rose in confusion.
"Wait, now that I think about it, the past few months you hardly looked at her whenever you passed each other by."
At first, he wanted to comment, but now that Shinji pointed it out, these past months, he hardly 'saw' Tohsaka the same way as he did before. He wasn't quite sure why though.
For now, he just deadpanned at his friend. "Didn't you like her, shouldn't you be glad if there are fewer guys that like her?"
"Well, yeah, but I still find it odd as hell." The young Matou grumbled showing that he felt somewhat conflicted by this. "So what gives?"
Truth be told Shirou wasn't too sure himself about it. He wouldn't want to assume much, but it sort of feels like he didn't quite see Tohsaka the same way he did before. Actually, it kind of felt like that for all the girls around him.
Sure, he never really gave it much thought before, but he was still a boy and would find girls pretty, beautiful, or even sexy.
In the past months, however… it sort of went down a notch. While he still can see girls like that, it just doesn't have the same impact anymore. He doesn't get all warm and flustered on the inside with any of them anymore.
The only one that he does that now with is 2B and-
…
Oh.
Oh...
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.
The realization made Shirou's face go deep crimson. It was so simple, yet it took him this long to figure it out.
Frankly, he felt quite stupid that he didn't realize it earlier.
The youth shook his head while rubbing the back of it, speaking without realizing the hole he was currently digging for himself. "I guess… I'm into a different kind of girl now."
As expected Shinji's jaw dropped at this small revelation, his eyes almost popping out of his head. "You? Emiya 'White knight' Shirou actually has a type now? "
"... Sort of." He muttered bashfully, glancing to the side to avoid eye contact.
If at first a sense of boredom was all that was present previously, now his blue-haired friend was completely riled up. "Okay this I gotta hear, who is it, does she go to our school, is it someone I know? "
"No to all." He stated flatly.
That only seemed to make him even more curious. "Come on, don't leave a bro hanging here, give me something to work with her. "
Shirou paused for a moment, trying to figure out what he could tell Shinji. The last thing he wanted was to give out any crucial information about 2B.
Just her looks alone were enough to gather unwanted attention. He saw that first hand that one time when he took her out shopping, how countless people were checking her out, especially the men.
After a few long moments of contemplating he decided to give something a bit vague. "I guess I like… older girls."
He expected some form of strong reaction from Shinji, but surprisingly he just stared unimpressed at him. "That's it?"
"You don't sound that surprised."
"Cuz it's nothing that special. " The other youth scoffed in mild annoyance, feeling like he got all hyped out for nothing. "Nine out of ten guys around our age dream of sexy older girls to take us and show us the ropes of adult life."
"I see…" he muttered a bit unsure, doubting most guys ended up in a situation like his own, where the girl in question is a beautiful android from the future.
No matter how many times Shirou repeated that notion in his mind, it still sounded ridiculous.
"Anyhow, I gotta meet her." Shinji stated, sounding entirely too eager.
Shirou's head slowly turned around, his jaw slightly slacked. "...What? "
"Well duh, I need to see for myself what sort of girl it took to get mister dense prude over here to show some interest in women finally."
"Hey, I did have an interest in girls previously!"
"Could have fooled me."
"… Is it really that bad?" asked the young Emiya awkwardly.
"You tell me. " Cobalt blue eyes looked directly into his own.
"Anyhow, I just gotta meet this girl." Shinji declared resolutely.
Shirou on his end was feeling on the edge, there's no way he could let Shinji meet 2B. Something in his gut was screaming at him that it was a very bad idea. As such he was wracking his brain for some excuse. "That would be a bit difficult."
"Why?"
Shirou took a quick breath and was making sure he was formulating the right explanation without raising too many questions.
"Let's just say she has some difficulties around other people and doesn't get out of the house much."
A tilt followed from Shinji's head. "What, is she a hikikomori or something?"
There was a moment of irritation in Shirou when Shinji drew that conclusion. Not that he had anything against hikikomori people in general, he just didn't enjoy the fact that it was sort of inaccurate but at the same time strangely accurate.
Also, he didn't enjoy the prospect of labeling 2B as such.
In the end, he had to resign himself. "Sure, let's go with that."
That admission sort of took the winds out of Shinji's sails, making him scowl and feel like he wasted his time for nothing. "There's no way she can be a beauty. What kind of beauty would lock herself in the house all day?"
Within the throne of heroes, a certain Japanese servant with glasses sneezed.
Shirou felt the urge to rebut him, but held his tongue, ending the discussion at that.
Luckily for him, he was saved by the bell, and the two of them made their way back to the classroom.
In spite of nearly dodging a bullet with that conversation, Shirou couldn't help but keep reflecting on what they talked about.
As unproductive as the talk may have seemed at first, Shinji in his own weird way did raise a good point.
2B never leaves the house.
Sure, he went for a couple of strolls around the city with her while she was wheelchair-bound, and there was that one time they went clothes shopping together, but besides those instances, she never went outside by herself.
Now that he thought about it, as far as he knew she doesn't really do anything while he is away at school. Having days go by like that must be quite boring, if not frankly torturous. Shirou would probably go mad if he were in her shoes.
Perhaps he could think of something.
Help her find an occupation while he is at school. Or at the very least think of some more entertaining ways to spend time with her on the weekends.
Maybe take her somewhere nice. Yeah, that would be nice, kinda like a date-
Shirou instantly shook his head and got rid of that thought. He was thinking strictly for the sake of 2Bs emotional state, and that alone, nothing indecent involved.
… it wasn't like something like that could happen in the first place.
From what Shirou observed in his interactions with 2B, she did not see people, or more specifically humans, the same way a normal person did.
He wasn't even sure if androids, in general, practiced dating and such. If most androids were like 2B he could hardly picture it.
Shirou sighed and rested his head weakly against the desk. It's so much easier when people would tell him how they want him to help them.
He really had to think this through.
Days would go by and 2B would keep pondering over whether or not she should tell Shirou the information she discovered.
Whatever the case was, she deduced that now was not a good time for it at the very least, as Shirou has been acting quite differently these past few days.
Plus despite having a vague understanding of humanity and their way of thinking, she was certain that the revelation would affect Shirou in a negative way.
As such she would let the days go by and contemplate on the matter further. Try to come up with a method of revealing the facts that would not hurt Shirou or at least soften the blow somehow.
Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. No matter the scenario she would compute in her mind, given what she currently knew about Shirou, she would not succeed.
The former YoRHa agent was currently laying in her bed, her gaze fixated on the ceiling, but she was hardly focusing on anything in particular.
Quite frankly the former YoRHa soldier wasn't in the mood for sleeping, yet she didn't find anything else to occupy her mind.
Perhaps she could try reading books from this era. While inefficient, it could at least occupy her time.
She needed books for that though, something she may need to ask Shirou about in the morning.
A wistful sigh escaped 2Bs lips and she stood up from her bed, leaving the room shortly after. Choosing to go for a walk around the estate.
A gentle breeze caressed her skin as she slid open the porch door, pausing at the frame to stare at the night sky.
No matter how many times she saw it, the moon-filled sky was such an entrancing sight. It was such a stark difference viewing it from the planet's surface compared to seeing from its orbit.
The android tilted her head as she spotted a light in the corner of her eye.
It was coming from the shed, and she knew what was the cause.
And she did not like that information one bit.
Slowly she made her way to it, walking around it towards its side window. There she carefully peeked inside and a deep frown etched on her face.
Shirou was once more practicing his supposed 'magecraft' and it was not successful.
There were fragments of the materials he experimented on scattered all over the place and the boy himself was on the floor with them, clutching onto his arm as his face was contorted in pain.
Nothing new.
2B had bared witness to this sight many times, Shirou practicing and failing, resulting in him experiencing severe pain.
Her face may have been stoic, yet her hands were balled into fists.
It frustrated her.
Shirou had helped her, he still helped her, and yet she was unable to help him in return.
As much as she desired to help him, the magecraft that Shirou wss practicing was just too foreign to her and it was impossible to make him learn some of the battle model abilities she possessed.
It was such a shame humans couldn't utilize plug-in chips the way androids were capable of. That would have been such an easy solution.
The more she reviewed what she knew, the more she would develop a negative opinion on Emiya Kiritsugu.
The information she discovered about the man was very concerning and it was clear that Shirou was unaware of any of it.
It was quite obvious by the way he would reminisce on the man.
In addition to hiding his past, the man was unable to guide Shirou in utilizing magecraft. If only there was someone else that could correct and help her benefactor.
The white-haired android paused, a sudden realization dawning on her.
What if all of this may be the result of improper instruction made by Shirou's supposed father?
If that were the case, the most logical solution would be to receive the opinion of another person of such occupation, to deny or confirm whether or not what Shirou was doing was correct or not.
Yes…
Perhaps she had been looking at this the wrong way the whole time.
Instead of struggling to help him when she knows she cannot, why not find someone else that can help him.
2B straightened herself and sent Pod his next directive.
It was time to see if her hacking skills can track her down a magus.
Omake: An android at Chaldea
2B was strolling down the halls of Chaldea, enjoying the peace and quiet surrounding her.
An animalistic shriek echoed through the halls and the android came to a halt, her features hardening as she realized where the sound originated from.
It was Ritsuka's room.
2B didn't waste any time and dashed her way to her possibly in danger master.
When she arrived at the source she froze, unsure of what she was witnessing.
Ritsuka was rolling on her bed back and forth with a deranged expression on her face, spouting words she couldn't quite discern.
The former YoRHa soldier was a bit at a loss.
Not only by her erratic behavior but also by the apparent change in her appearance. She looked rather 'chibi' as humans would put it.
Baffling as this situation was, she was still duty-bound to step in and help her master in whatever way she can.
"Are you okay master?"
Her questions got a jolt from the master, her extra large eyes glaring up at her. "Okay? You think I could be okay!?"
She rolled on her bed and threw her phone at the wall, no concern was necessary about it breaking since it was upgraded by DaVinci. The phone possessed super tough polymer casing that even made the item bulletproof and impact resistant. Being hit with a sledge hammer would do nothing let alone being damaged by being thrown against a wall.
"This game just likes crushing all my hopes and dreams! I grind and grind, do all the interludes and strengthening quests, make sure I always get my login bonuses, wait for rate ups, prepare catalysts, do some rolling ritual and I still can't get what's on rate up!'
2B tilted her head, confusion ever-present on her face. "I'm sorry, what? "
"This damn game!" Ritsuka roared and pointed an accusing finger at her phone. "It makes you invest so much time and effort into it but the damn rate up is all kinds of crap!"
Her fingers began clawing on her scalp. "And then there's the damn whales! They just like to rub it in everyone's faces how they get all the limited SSR's. Well, excuse me if this game has bullshit prices for the currency!"
She shuddered as the prices flashed over and over in her mind. The price for the biggest pack would have been way too expensive even if it were half the price that it currently was, and people were buying it many times over on a single banner.
Either she was too poor or other people had too much money in their accounts.
"And the whole USO system is the middle finger for people like me. Rolling the same SSR more than five times to get one, are you kidding me?! And you need ten USOs to exchange for one SSR! That's literally the developers laughing at the free-to-play players! "
She only saw the fabled USO only on the wiki and the videos of whales. They do not exist for her, they cannot be obtained by people who play casually or on a budget.
And the developers would likely let themselves go bankrupt before they gave any free USO to players.
Ritsuka eventually deflated and sank on her bed, all steam gone, only broken despair. "I swear, it's so damn hard to get SQ, but most of the time it's all for nothing."
Pity system?
Ha! What even is that?
You won't find something remotely close to that in this game.
Maybe she should just throw in the towel and move on to something, perhaps something less salty.
Like that Ark-something or that something-impact.
Can't be worse than this now, can it?
As Ristuka was contemplating the meaning of Gatcha and how she walked into this hell, 2B decided to interfere. "May I have your phone for a moment."
A tired scoff was her first reaction, not really caring anymore. "Help yourself, but if you wanna do a yolo shot, don't bother, I'm all out of SQ and tickets."
2B ignored those foreign terms and picked up the phone. With a mental command, she hacked into it, and by extension the game, altering the data of it.
About ten or so seconds later 2B returned the device back to its owner. "Here you go, enjoy yourself. "
There was no real reaction from Ritsuka at first, just staring at her phone, nothing being really different about it. The moment she entered the summon section her face froze. She blinked once, then twice, she then slapped herself to make sure she was seeing this right.
Once she had confirmation that she was in fact seeing this correctly, her jaw dropped and her eyes almost popped out of her head. "Over a million SQ?! "
What kind of Zelretch level bullshit was this?!
The complete shock of it all was physically present, her body recoiling backwards until she ended up slipping on the floor.
In spite of how loud the thud was when she crashed, the master paid no attention to the pain and immediately crawled her way towards the robotic messiah in front of her, desperately seeking answers as she tugged on her gothic dress. "When?! How?! Why?!"
2B for the most part remained her usually stoic self. "I just hacked the game and reversed your SQ currency with your friend point one. Even if the probability of obtaining the exact target is set up to be rather low, with this amount of funds you will most likely acquire the SSR you desire."
Sure, 2B could have just as easily modified her number of USOs and given her an impossibly large number of those, but she felt that doing so would make the game lose its meaning.
Ritsuka sat motionless as she slowly digested the information. Tears began pouring down her face as she hugged her tightly, her face buried in the skirt of her dress while rubbing her cheek against her leg.
No longer was she in her chibi mode and instead back to her regular self. "2B! I love you!"
The android could only stare and give her master slow pats on the back. Did she really do something that amazing to warrant such a display of emotion?
Once more the former YoRHa soldier is reminded that humans can be very strange at times.
2B from henceforth would end up gathering the attention of all contracted servants of Chaldea, for she did what they all failed, pacifying the Gudako state that Ritsuka tended to fall into whenever she failed the Gatcha.
Author notes:
Looking at the last update.
Crap… I knew I was having a bit of a writer's block with this, but didn't think it was this bad. Really need to step up my game, especially since this story is WAY more popular than I ever expected it to be. (pun intended there)
Life has changed for me since my last update. I moved to the UK, got a job here, one that is a bit taxing physically, but the pay is more than twice what I used to make back home so that's a plus, I can actually save money for the long run.
Not much going on in this chapter all things considered, so many may feel a bit disappointed especially considering the wait, but i digress.
Now I wonder which magus 2B can find online?
The omake as you figured was me venting my FGO stress, i'm sure you could figure that. If only I could actually do what 2B did and get 1 mil SQ…
In any case, see you guys later, this time much sooner I hope.
Special thanks to my p(a)treons: Eric, No, Zelretch, Blacklight007, PostScriptum, CJ, EgomaniacalHero, Maxime Chouinard-Hould, GameCrusher55, Pietya, Derek, Steel35, Roflarius, and Lastmanstanding
Don't forget to review... no seriously review; I could use some constructive criticism.