A/N: I'm kind of surprised that I even finished this chapter quickly, and even added two short omakes while making it. Anywho here's the next chapter!
Chapter 5: A Familiar Face
The night sky was covered with clouds, the ground was littered with remains of gravestones and old trees, but a small crater was at the center of it all. What stood in the center was a titan of immeasurable strength behind him. Shirou ran away, pulling a blonde girl beside him, another girl dressed in red hiding in cover on a high hill. The clouds suddenly glowed a bright blue as a speeding object illuminated the sky heading straight for the titan. A sword. A sword that looked more like an arrow at that moment; it may have been heavily altered, but the name was clear to Shirou.
The Rainbow Sword, Caladbolg.
Shirou took a silent deep breath as he blinked a few times. He was back at the IS Academy once more. A bit of sweat was present on his face as he looked down at his desk, steading his breathing as the redhead felt like he had run a mile.
"W-what was that?" the boy thought, unsure of what he saw just now. The pain of his headache fading to a mere itch at the back of his mind. He was taken out of his musing when he felt a soft tap on his left shoulder. His eyes moved towards the left, seeing Houki's concerned expression.
"Emiya, are you alright?" she asked again quietly. Shirou simply nodded; however, Houki noticed the boy's face starting to pale slightly, making the girl not believe him at all.
"So she's the transfer student in Class 2, the representative from China?" a girl's voice diverted the attention of both Shirou and Houki to the girl standing at the doorway.
Out of the corner of his vision, Shirou noticed one girl looking in his direction, concern on her face as well. It seemed Houki wasn't the only one who saw his 'episode.' Pushing the look the girl was giving him, the boy once again focused on the other girl in the doorway, still feeling confused about the uncanny resemblance to the girl in red.
"W-who is this new girl? She seems much too friendly with Ichika dear?" Shirou heard Cecelia ask, worry laced in her voice.
"Why are you trying to show off? That's not like you at all, Rin." Ichika simply commented with feelings of both joy and confusion.
"Eh?! Why would you say something like that?" the girl, 'Rin,' according to Ichika, seemed adamant to continue before someone knocked her on the back of the head. Shirou saw who it was, and if he wasn't pale before, he was now.
"Ow…" the girl clutched her head in pain before turning to the perpetrator, "Why did you do that for, you…!", her bravado instantly evaporated, seeing who the perpetrator was. Chifuyu Orimura.
"Consider that your homeroom bell being rung," Chifuyu said evenly, her voice strict and neutral as ever.
"Chi-chifuyu-san…"
"That's Orimura-sensei to you. Now get back to class. You're in my way."
"S-sorry, Orimura-sensei…" 'Rin' stepped to the side, allowing for the teacher to pass through the door. The girl then focused her attention on Ichika once more, "I'll be back, so don't go anywhere, Ichika!" She turned around and walked away, leaving the classroom in silence.
Shirou let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in before shakingly reached for his pencil.
"Emiya." Chifuyu's voice startled the boy, the teacher standing in front of the latter's desk, "You look pale, are you alright?" The woman's tone still held a predominantly stern manner, but it had a hint of concern.
Shirou's senses flared up. All eyes were on him again, and he noticed Houki's, Ichika's, and the girl's concerned gazes on him. The remainder of the class looked at him in confusion.
"I-I'm fine Orimura-sensei, just a little tired," the redhead tried to reassure, but the teacher was having none of it.
"Someone as to take Emiya to the infirmary, any volunteers?" Shirou saw that while both Ichika and Houki were about to volunteer themselves, someone beat them to it.
"I'll do it, Orimura-sensei!" Shirou looked and saw that it was the girl from earlier. Taking a glance at her, the redhead saw the girl had dark brown hair, twin ponytails tied with green ribbons, and burgundy colored eyes.
"Tanimoto, you will take Emiya to the infirmary. As for you, Emiya, you are excused for the time being. You can come back once you are feeling better." Shirou could only nod at Chifuyu's stern tone she used and quickly packed what he had. The girl then gilded Shirou out of the classroom, but not before the boy sent small looks of reassurance to Houki and Ichika before the door closed behind the two students.
The two walked in silence as Shirou tailed the girl from behind. The male kept note of where he was going if he needed to go and locate the infirmary again. The silence persisted until the girl broke it first.
"Er, Emiya, how are you feeling?" the girl asked, looking back at him slightly.
Since he was out of the classroom now, he may as well be truthful, "I only have a slight headache, but I should be okay… uh…." Shirou didn't remember the name of the girl, which she caught on immediately.
"Yoko, Tanimoto, Yoko."
"Ah, Tanimoto-san, thanks for asking." Shirou only gave a small smile, to which the girl responded in kind. It was then Yoko decided to make a small conversation.
"So, Emiya, how do you like the academy so far?"
"It's okay, though all the stares I keep getting haven't exactly stopped since I got here," Shirou mumbled towards the end.
"Ah, well, I guess let me be the first to apologize for making you feel uncomfortable. With you being the second male to be compatible with an IS, it was surprising for all of us."
"It's okay; you were only curious. I just hope everyone will stop staring at me eventually." Yoko could only offer a small apologetic smile in response. There was some more silence between the two before the girl asked another question.
"Were you able to pilot the IS you activated?"
"Erm, no, I wasn't able to, the staff at that event were more surprised an IS responded to me, and I was forced to come here when I did." Shirou could only frown as he said this. Thinking about it, he only activated the IS due to his magecraft. While the redhead didn't move it, he made it respond, which the staff was primarily focused on. Shirou wasn't sure that if he didn't use Structural Analysis, would he even be here, or would he have been able to stay at his current residence still without drawing too much attention to himself.
"I see… uhm," Yoko tried to think of a new topic before she thought of one, "Have you decided on what clubs you were going to try?"
Not really seeing anything wrong, Shirou simply replied, "Well, I narrowed it down to two clubs. I haven't fully finished the forms yet, but I'll turn them in once I'm done." The boy kept it vague for a reason. Call it a hunch, but Shirou felt if he said what clubs he was pinning, others would follow for anything but the club itself.
"Oh, well, I hope you have fun with them," Yoko gave the redhead a genuine smile before the two continued to walk in silence, but it was a comfortable one. In a few minutes, the two students walked up to a sliding double door, the cross sign above indicating it was indeed the infirmary. "Well, I guess this is it. I hope you feel better, Emiya." Shirou gave the girl a nod before he slid open the door and walked inside.
"May as well get this over with…."
The trip to the infirmary was not too bad as Shirou initially dreaded. However, while he was given a bed to at least take a nap, she also insisted on giving the boy a minor check-up in case anything else was wrong. The nurse also pointed out the sling the redhead was wearing and insisted he at least would come in tomorrow for her to check on it, much to his slight annoyance.
The nap he took in the infirmary dulled the rest of his headache, and he felt much better than this morning. Currently, the redhead was walking towards the cafeteria. As he entered, Shirou saw a few tables already packed with people. At one table, he recognized Houki, Cecelia, and Yuko were sitting at one booth, and three other girls were filling up the remaining space. The redhead also noticed the occupants were primarily focused on the next booth over. Looking over, he knew why Ichika was sitting with the class 2 representative, 'Rin'.
Sighing inwardly, Shirou quickly lined up and ordered a simple bowl of Yakisoba noodles with a cup of tea. However, after a minute, he couldn't help but frown a bit when he got his meal served to him.
"The meat is slightly undercooked."
Shoving his thoughts to the side, Shirou balanced the tray in his right hand and looked for an empty table. When he saw one, though, Ichika noticed the redhead immediately.
"Oh Shirou, over here!" the dark-haired boy waved him over.
Since he was spotted, Shirou couldn't ignore it, so the male walked over to the booth of the two students, ignoring the stares he was getting from the other tables around him.
"Hey, Ichika."
"Hey Shirou, you doing alright? You were looking pale this morning?" concern was in the male pilot's voice.
"I'll be fine, I took a nap, and I'm alright, see?" Shirouplaced his tray down next to Ichika's and pointed at his face, and indeed, his face wasn't pale like it was earlier that morning. The redhead then decided to sit down next to the fellow male. "Who's your friend?"
"Oh, this is-"
"I'm Huang Rinin," the girl, now Rinin, introduced herself before following up with a question, "You're the other male pilot, right?"
Shirou mentally frowned. He still didn't know if he actually was an actual IS pilot or if his magecraft caused a fluke. However, he decided to roll with it and give a slight nod. "I am. My name is Emiya Shirou. It's nice to meet you, Huang-san."
"Likewise."
Shirou then began to eat his lunch, still frowning at the meat being undercooked. It wasn't a bad lunch; it was that the magus knew it could've been better. Though the name the girl introduced herself gave Shirou a bit of relief, "At least she isn't… her," referring to the girl dressed in red, he remembered, "Who exactly are you, Tohsaka…?" The redhead knew the girl was important, but he couldn't seem to figure out why she was.
"So, Ichika, how did you get an IS to respond? I heard on the news it was during the entrance exam." When Shirou heard Rinin's statement, he too got curious how his fellow male pilot could get the IS to respond to him.
"Honestly, I'm just as confused as to how it happened," Ichika started. "On the day of the school entrance exams, I got lost at the large building they were being held at. Any of the staff I asked weren't helpful either. Eventually, I walked into a big room where the IS was sitting there, and curiosity got the better of me." Ichika's face then scrunched up in confusion. "When I went up to touch it, that's when it responded. A lot happened after that, and before you know it here, I am." Ichika ended his story with a small smile and a shrug.
Shirou could only frown a bit at his roommate's story. While it was definitely believable, but one line stood out to him, 'Any of the staff I asked weren't helpful either…' that statement seemed odd to the redhead. Considering typical entrance exams, staff should know where to direct students. Shirou then realized something; while it didn't merit much, the probability was there nonetheless.
"It was a setup…" he thought, his eyes widened from the connection.
"Something wrong, Shirou?" the redhead blinked and noticed the two pairs of eyes staring at him. Ichika raised an eyebrow in confusion; the question came from him.
Not wanting to damper the mood, Shirou offered a smile, "It's nothing. I just find it ironic."
"What is?"
"The fact that both of us got lost when we interacted with the IS." Shirou offered a joking smirk, another connection he noted while lost in his thoughts.
Ichika simply blinked a few times before he let out a chuckle. "Oh, you're right, that is kind of funny."
"Though mine was more of dumb bad luck…." the redhead thought idly. In all honesty, Shirou felt like some person just wanted to mess with him for their own amusement, like some bad joke.
"W-w-wait, you got lost too?!" Rinin asked the redhead, surprised. Shirou simply nodded, making the girl giggle, "You two must have the worst luck or something."
Both boys could only offer a shrug; they couldn't really offer a rebuttal for it. Shirou's senses blared, the feeling coming from behind him. "Uh oh…"
Two pairs of hands slammed down on the table, the culprits being none other than Houki and Cecelia.
"Ichika, I think it's time you explain yourself!" Houki snarled.
"That's right, Ichika dear! Don't tell me, this new transfer student is your girlfriend?!" Cecelia demanded.
Shirou chose to continue eating his Yakisoba.
"W-w-wait a minute. It's not like that at all!" Rinin denied quickly, a little too quickly.
"We're only childhood friends. There's nothing else to it." Ichika said plainly.
Shirou felt a strange sense of foreboding but chose to continue to eat his lunch. Seeing Rinin glare at the other male, the redhead knew keeping quiet seemed the best action at the moment.
"Uh, something wrong?" Ichika noticed the glare the Chinese girl was making at him.
"Ugh, nothing's wrong!" Rinin simply turned away and huffed.
Shirou continued to eat the remains of his lunch.
"Uh, childhood friend?" Houki asked uncertainly.
"Oh, yea. I forgot Rin transferred right after you moved away." Ichika realized an error he made. Turning to Rinin, he continued, "This is Shinonono Houki. The girl I told you about, she was my first childhood friend, and you're my second childhood friend."
"I don't think that made anything better, Ichika." Shirou could only mentally sigh at his roommate, finishing the last of his lunch.
"I'm first…." Shirou heard the faint joy his housemate made; Ichika seemed to satisfy at least one person.
"So that her huh, well it's nice to meet you finally." Rinin smiled at the dark-haired girl.
"Indeed, nice to meet you." Houki smiled back.
"Huh, I stand corrected," Shirou thought idly, moving onto the tea taking small sips. "That leaves one…."
Cecilia let out a cough to garner the attention to herself now. However, after introducing herself, Shirou tuned out the blonde, Rinin, and Ichika to think idly about what happened earlier this morning. Shirou wondered about his apparent memory loss. While it didn't hinder him too much, it felt like he was missing a part of himself, like something important, but what…?
"If you want, I can help you with IS training." Shirou overheard Rinin say.
"Really? I'd appreciate the help," Ichika responded.
"HEY! Are you two even listening to me?!" Cecelia exclaimed in anger, slamming her hands on the table.
Shirou calmly continued to sip and finish his tea.
"Sorry, I'm not exactly interested…."
"Oh... now you're asking for it…." Shirou felt the anger from the blonde come in waves.
"In any case, it's my job to teach Ichika about the IS, not yours!" Houki's anger and annoyance also matched the blondes.
"Okay, this is getting out of hand." Using his leg, Shirou tapped Ichika's foot under the table, garnering the male's attention. The redhead simply motioned to the door of the cafeteria with a tilt of his head. Ichika understood but shown a look of confusion as his eyes quickly looked at the three girls. Shirou gave a look that said, 'Trust me.'
Making sure no one else was looking beside his fellow peer, Shirou simply leaned forward and hid his arms under the table. Thinking about a particular dagger he saw on the hill of swords when he slept the night before, he ushered the phrase very softly.
"Trace on."
He was quickly looking in his good hand, and it held an ornate handheld dagger with a sleek white handle, a curved handguard that meets the bottom of the pommel, and a black noir blade that wasn't too long but decently thin.
The Elusive Penumbra Dagger, Carnwennan.
Feeling the effects of the noble phantasm already at work, Shirou quickly placed the dagger in his bad hand, blade hidden in his sling, before grabbing Ichika's wrist and slowly pulling him along. Careful not to disturb the three girls in their argument, the two boys exited the booth, Ichika making sure to grab both his and Shirou's trays. Much to the dark-haired boy's confusion, none of the girls noticed him quickly leaving the trays at the trashcan and leaving the cafeteria with the other male. Going as far to the end of the hallway, Shirou discreetly dispelled the dagger and let go of Ichika's wrist.
"How did you do that?" Ichika asked.
"Don't worry about it, now c'mon, let's head back before-"
"HEY, WHERE DID THOSE TWO GO?!" Cecelia's voice was heard from the cafeteria door.
The two boys simply ran back to the classroom as the bell rang, signifying the end of lunch.
The remainder of the classes was a blur for Shirou. When he and Ichika made it back to class, they were ironically the first people to return. When both Cecelia and Houki came in, they looked absolutely livid at the two boys, mainly at Ichika, but the two didn't say anything, and classes continued as usual. When the day ended, however, the two dragged the poor dark-haired boy away, and from what Shirou heard from Houki, it was extra IS training.
Leaving the classroom shortly after the three students left, Shirou walked to the cafeteria and had asked if he could take a few raw ingredients to his dorm room, and surprisingly, they did. So with two plastic bags in hand, Shirou simply walked back to the dorm room and placed a good portion of them in the mini-fridge when he arrived. Looking through the drawers of the small kitchenette, he found a few cooking utensils, not a lot of them, but having the essential knives, two pots, and two pans was fine. Quickly prepping the ingredients he left out, he started to work on a dish in mind.
While it took about an hour and some searching on his computer for a particular recipe variation, he finally finished what would be his dinner for the next few days. Sitting at his computer desk, he was about to dig in when he heard voices coming up to the door.
"Rin wait, Houki isn't-"
The door to his dorm suddenly opened, and Shirou saw a familiar twin-tailed girl burst in. Rinin looked like she was about to talk to someone but stopped as her eyes laid on Shirou sitting at his desk, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Eh, E-Emiya?"
"I knew I forgot something, didn't realize it was locking the door…." Shirou thought as he frowned inwardly at his small mistake. Putting the thought to the side, he looked at the girl who barged in. "Yea, is something wrong, Huang?"
"Since when were you rooming here?!"
"Um… since last night?" Shirou could only offer a shrug. He was still getting used to the fact that he would be in a dorm for most of the week. He was slowly adapting, especially thinking of when and where he could practice his, well, magecraft. "And why did you just burst through here?"
"W-w-well I-I thought…."
Ichika finally walked through the door out of breath, and Shirou noticed the other male was wearing his pilot uniform as he was trying to steady his breathing.
"R-Rin, Houki isn't my roommate anymore," Ichika took a deep breath before continuing, "S-she moved out last night," the boy took another breath, "a-and Shirou has been my roommate since." Ichika continued to take a few more deep breaths before his heart rate started to steady itself out.
"It sounded like she still WAS your roommate Ichika!" the girl turned around her anger towards the dark-haired boy now apparent.
"What does Houki needing to be my roommate require talking to her for?"
"N-n-nevermind, it's not important anymore!" Rinin yelled back, her face flushing in embarrassment. Shirou swore her voice sounded both annoyed and had a bit of sadness to it though. Her attention was then drawn to the pot and pan sitting on the stove, and her eyes widened in realization upon seeing the latter's contents. "That's sweet and sour pork."
Shirou simply confirmed with a positive hum and nodded. With some of the ingredients the redhead had gotten from the cafeteria, he made a dish outside of traditional Japanese cuisine as he wanted to test out the capabilities of his apparent culinary skills. While the food smelled good, Shirou still needed to taste it.
"It's going to be my dinner and-" Shirou didn't get to finish as he heard two rumbling stomachs. Mentally sighing and possibly saying goodbye to his home-cooked dinner for the next few days, he spoke after a few seconds, "Do you both want some?"
About an hour passed for the three students as they had eaten all of Shirou's cooking in silence. Before they ate, Shirou insisted his roommate take a bath and change for two reasons. One, Ichika was still slightly sweaty from training, and he ran after Rinin about a misunderstanding. Two, no way in hell Shirou would allow Ichika to wear that training uniform while eating unless absolutely necessary. The redhead wouldn't even wish his worst enemy to wear something that uncomfortable unless they wanted or had to. Ichika obliged and took a quick shower, and changed into his usual sleepwear. In that time, Shirou grabbed a chair from the balcony and stuck it in between the two desk chairs for Rinin to eat as well and had taken out two more sets of utensils and plates.
The redhead smiled at his handiwork and saw the two students' content expressions. It seems like his cooking skills extended to other dishes as well, as long as he looked at recipes anyway.
"Uh, Emiya, who taught you how to cook exactly?" Rinin asked curiously.
"I'm self-taught… I think…" Shirou said. The redhead crossed his arms as he tried to figure out where exactly he learned cooking, though self-taught seemed the best and most truthful answer. As to why he taught himself how to cook, he couldn't figure it out besides involuntary shudder like he tasted something terrible.
"You think?!" Rinin asked disbelievingly. There was no way her fellow student was self-taught. He had to have gotten training from someone, and why was he so uncertain about it?!
"Well, I don't exactly remember per say…."
"Wait, what?! Why?"
Ichika then decided to step in, "Shirou has amnesia Rin. He doesn't remember much of his past right now." The two boys decided to get to know one another the night before heading off to bed. Ichika learned of his new roommate's amnesia from some accident, as he ended up at the hospital, and that some old man gave him living arrangements for free out of pity. Shirou didn't tell Ichika that Houki paid for the property and that she was his housemate, but true to his word, he didn't say it and only told half-truths about his situation.
"R-really? I'm sorry." Rinin quickly apologized to the redhead.
"It's fine. You didn't know, and while my memories are slowly coming back, it's not a whole lot to go off of," Shirou replied honestly, "You kinda also made me remember someone when you came into the classroom today, actually."
"I did?"
Shirou nodded before going into deep thought once more, "While you look similar to her, there are a few differences between the two of you now that I think about it."
Rinin became curious, "Oh, what differences?"
"Primarily height, to be honest," Shirou pointed out only one trait and not the other. That was a mine the male didn't want to step on.
Rinin grumbled a bit as she looked down at her empty plate. The girl knew she was short but didn't have to be reminded about it. As she continued to stare down the white disk, she remembered something and turned to the other male, a bit of uncertainty in her voice. "Hey, Ichika, do you remember our promise?"
Ichika was slightly taken aback as the focus went back on him, "Er… what promise?"
"Y'know… the promise from school…?" Rinin began to fidget a bit in her chair as she absentmindedly started twirling a bit of her hair in one of her hands. Shirou chose to stay silent; it could end good or bad depending on what his roommate said next.
Ichika took a few tense seconds as he looked at his empty plate before he remembered, "Wait, is it the one where I would eat your sweet and sour pork every day if you became a better cook?"
Rinin's mood improved significantly, "Yea! That's the one!"
"It would be your treat, right?" Shirou felt the room become a few degrees lower when he heard Ichika's question.
"Ichika, that's not the meaning of it at all…." Shirou thought as he mentally winced at his roommate. Ichika was definitely sheltered if he didn't know the implications of a promise like that.
"You said you'd promise to treat me to a meal every day, yea?" Ichika continued. Shirou discreetly shook his head behind Rinin, trying to get his roommate to stop digging the hole the dark-haired boy put himself into. Unfortunately for Ichika, he was already too deep into that hole. "Honestly, getting treated to a meal for a single guy like me would be a treat."
If the temperature couldn't get any lower from the mood change, it did now.
"Ichika, you're the worst! How can you not remember a promise like that?! You're despicable!"
"H-hold on Rin, I remembered the words-"
"But you didn't understand the meaning behind it!" At this point, Shirou thought the dark sky from the balcony was much more enjoyable to look at, still hearing the two students banter.
"Then explain to me what it means, Rinin."
"Explain it? The fact you haven't figured it out yet is beyond me!" Shirou felt really uncomfortable hearing the two banter. Honestly, he felt like Rinin should just explain it, and it would save both Ichika and her the headache.
"Tell you what. We'll settle this in the class tournament next week, and the loser will do what the winner wants!" Rinin challenged.
"Fine by me. If I win, you'll have to explain the meaning of the promise," Ichika said seriously.
"And if I win…." Rinin hesitated. Her confidence instantly evaporated as she almost blurted out without thinking. Quickly looking at the plate beside her, then at Shirou, her bravado coming back once more, "t-t-then Emiya will have to cook us dinner!"
Shirou's eyes widened as he turned back to the two when he heard his name, "Excuse me?"
"Why is Shirou involved with you winning?" Ichika asked.
"W-well, I'll need his help, for… set up, y-yeah that's it!" Shirou noticed the shaking in Rinin's voice, and he couldn't help but mentally sigh. He already made the connection as to why he would be involved. He wanted to say no, but the pull for him to help outweighed it.
"I'm not sure if Shirou would-"
"I'm fine with it," Shirou interrupted his roommate, crossing his arms as he did so, "It's only one dinner for two. It shouldn't be that bad."
"Then it's settled! Prepare yourself, Ichika!" Rinin pointed at the dark-haired boy in a challenging manner before calming down. She started to walk out of the room before she stopped right at the door; her back still turned towards the two boys, "Thank you for the meal Emiya." Rinin then walked out of the dorm, closing the door behind her.
The room was silent for a few seconds before Ichika decided to break it. "Sorry for getting you involved Shirou, I'll make sure to win."
"You better. Your pride is basically on the line," Shirou stated as he started to grab the plates off of the desk.
"Still, I don't know what hidden meaning Rin meant about the promise we made though," the redhead heard his roommate mumble out.
"He really doesn't know," taking pity on Ichika, Shirou decided to leave a tiny hint, "Think about it, Ichika. A friend wouldn't just cook for you every day for the rest of their lives; there's a much more deeper meaning than a friend wanting to do that for you."
Ichika could only stare at his roommate, thinking long and hard about it, "Deeper meaning…." The dark-haired boy thought about a segment of the words his roommate said, 'A friend wouldn't just cook for you every day for the rest of their lives.' "More than a friend…" It lasted for a few seconds to the outside world, but to Ichika, it felt longer. The tense atmosphere was quickly dispelled as his eyes widened considerably.
Final Word Count: 4936
Carnival Stratos 1: Why Shirou Doesn't Like to Be Served Raw Meat
Sighing inwardly, Shirou quickly lined up and ordered a simple bowl of Yakisoba noodles with a cup of tea. However, after a minute, he noticed the staff's glaring mistake on the meat as he got his meal served to him.
"IT'S FUCKING RAW!" the redhead screamed as he showed his bowl to the cafeteria lady that served him. Indeed the meat was served raw, not even cooked. The magus proceeded to speed walk into the kitchen and gave the entire cafeteria a tongue lashing that scared the daylights out of them and made sure the cafeteria didn't make any more mistakes.
Carnival Stratos 2: Why Ichika REALLY Needs to Remember His Promises
"Hey, Ichika, do you remember our promise?"
Ichika was slightly taken aback as the focus went back on him, "Er… what promise?"
"Y'know… the promise from school…?" Rinin began to fidget a bit in her chair as she absentmindedly started twirling a bit of her hair in one of her hands. Shirou chose to stay silent; it could end good or bad depending on what his roommate said next.
Ichika took a few tense seconds as he looked at his empty plate before he remembered, "Wait, is it the one where I would eat your sweet and sour pork every day if you became a better cook?"
Rinin's mood improved significantly, "Yea! That's the one!"
"It would be your treat, right?" Shirou felt the room become a few degrees lower when he heard Ichika's question. The redhead also noticed the anger the girl was giving off to his roommate in waves.
"You said you'd promise to treat me to a meal every day, yea?" Ichika continued. Shirou discreetly shook his head behind Rinin, trying to get his roommate to stop digging the hole the dark-haired boy put himself into. Unfortunately for Ichika, he was already too deep into that hole. "Honestly, getting treated to a meal for a single guy like me would be a-"
BOOM!
Shirou saw the giant gaping hole where the door to his dorm once was and several more piercing the consecutive walls after. Ichika and Rinin were nowhere to be seen; however, the holes looked like some giant mech crashed through them. The redhead had thought the worst had happened.
Quickly applying reinforcement to his legs, Shirou followed the collateral damage out of the dorm. The trail ended at one of the arenas, and Shirou froze at what he saw. Rinin was in her own IS and giving Ichika a beatdown in his IS.
"Ichika, you idiot!" Rinin punched a few more times as Ichika was knocked close into unconsciousness. "How did you not know the meaning of the promise you made to me?!" Rinin then loomed over the male's body as Byakushiki dematerialized. ShenLong's arms pointed to the sides of Rinin's head as she angrily shouted, "THINK ICHIKA, THINK!"
Shirou knew that it was high time to run away from not only the angry girl but the IS Academy as a whole.
A/N: Alright that's a wrap but I feel like people are gonna ask so I'll say it now...
Yoko Tanimoto isn't an OC. That girl that sits next to Ichika in that particular episode of the anime actually has a name, and I found it through the wiki from a page from one of the novels which have her appearance and name, "Tanimoto, Yoko," in a picture. She doesn't have a prominent role in the anime, and only in the novels does she make her name known WAY later down the line. So you might be wondering, "Keg, why did you make an unimportant side character that isn't named in the anime be known?" First, it is my story so this is a decision I made, not lightly mind you. Second, if I'm going to have Shirou involved, I want to have some differentiation from the actual canon. I don't want to write a story and make it be a blatant copy-and-paste with Shirou just being there, it's unoriginal and it's literally boring. So yea, expect Yoko to appear later down the line. He can't steal all of Ichika's girls after all... uh I mean... ah...
Now onto the second topic... back to lightsabers once again... I can't tell you how many people basically messaged me in my PMs about how Shirou can trace lightsabers... and not provide actual evidence and used some other baseless arguments. So my friend, who is basically my editor, and I have typed an argument that covers why Shirou can't trace them. I'll label where it ends if you're not interested... so here we go:
===== Argument Start =====
Shirou and Archer's magecraft, while amazing, is limited in scope to what each are capable of tracing. While both have Unlimited Blade Works, tracing other weapons are scaled based on energy cost, power, and how many powers are imbued into the sword. The reality marble allows the two to trace spears, axes, bows, and daggers. While Shirou and EMIYA can trace shields, it is beyond his nature and strains him to even trace Rho Aias. To this end, we know that the magical effects recreated by a traced object from UBW are weaker than the original when not deployed in the reality marble, and the effects are likened to that of mystic codes. The only grand feats we've seen Shirou himself trace very impressive weapons is one ending of Heaven's feel where he destroys the grail with a counterfeit Excalibur (which kills him to trace and then use), or Miyu-verse Shirou tracing a hollow divine construct in his reality marble against an archer card installed Angelica.
Now there are a few issues with Shirou's magecraft, even with himself. He usually requires more mana than he naturally has to fully unleash his reality marble, which is why Rin helps him with that by giving him a crest to supply that, or Miyuverse Shirou getting mana from Miyu, who was the grail vessel of her world. Another issue comes down to the things he recreates due to them being weaker than the original since the degradation comes from Shirou conceptualizing the weapons he sees with only his sight. This is different for Kanshou and Byakuya, and Avalon since he is more familiar with those weapons, while Avalon has been inside him since childhood and has more intimate knowledge about it to an extent. He also can't trace things that weren't forged naturally or made by inhuman materials or means. There has to be a way it was forged with materials known to man, with the concept of "sword" known since conception and has arcane abilities Shirou can recreate as a form of mystic code.
Now comes the lightsaber argument, if Shirou can truly recreate one. This is simply not possible since the farthest lengths Shirou has ever gone with tracing is making a fake Excalibur, which killed him afterward in one ending. In Unlimited Blade Works, his greatest feat is using his reality marble to adapt to Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon, recreating the proto noble phantasms and launching them back at him. Now let's consider EMIYA; we all know he has more experience and skill in his magecraft and fighting abilities than Shirou does. His limits are dependent on the universe he is placed in and which timeline we focus on. In Fate, we know he is strong enough to take on Berserker, then subsequently kill him. In Unlimited Blade Works, we see his limits since he leaves the big fights to Saber but shows his skills by fighting caster in her own base. This timeline's EMIYA even states he can trace Excalibur in his reality marble, however weaker and possibly guaranteeing his demise after using it. However, in each iteration, the only futuristic objects he has on him or in his reality marble comes in the form of his body armor and bow, which are made from a durable substance that EMIYA took advantage of. This even coming from a man from the future where he can get access to tracing far more futuristic tech if he had such an ability, but he shows no capabilities at all.
Now let me bring up in such an instance like FGO's EMIYA, who has interacted with servants who wield lightsabers (such as MHX, MHX Alter, and Tomoe Gozen Summer), and not once has he even once given any dialogue to show he can recreate them to any degree. The only EMIYA who has blended a bit of tech with magecraft is EMIYA Alter who uses alteration on Kanshou and Byakuya to make them similar to bayoneted handguns which took him a good few years to do so since the event he premiered in (Subspecies Singularity: .PH). It is implied Alter was in the singularity for a few centuries, enough to forget his purpose and meaning, honing his craft to simply kill, which for a servant to forget their purpose must've taken some time.
My final point comes down to the Infinite Stratos' lightsabers and whether Shirou can actually recreate them. Which, given the information above, is simply not possible for a slightly older Shirou whose biggest known achievement in the Clock Tower is being in a similar rank to Kiritsugu as a "mage killer." Onto the lightsabers themselves, while they are like Star Wars lightsabers in appearance, they are bigger in appearance and have no kyber crystal to act as a focus. Instead, they must have some internal power source comparable to a hadron collider to sustain the blade to be generated. At that point, Shirou shouldn't be able to recreate something like that given his abilities, and the lightsaber itself is not magical in nature but technological through and through, making it impossible for Shirou to recreate all the parts, components, and energy to make such a weapon.
===== Argument End =====
Sorry, about that but I had to put that because the number of people messaging me about the whole lightsaber thing got really overwhelming. If this isn't enough and I get more PM's about it with the same reasons why Shirou can trace a lightsaber... let it go, please. If this story doesn't satisfy your needs, go somewhere else or write your own, it's called fanfiction for a reason. Big thanks to my friend who had the patience to help me with this argument, and be my unofficial editor and beta so far.
Now a few of you in PM's also went a little overboard with how Rin Tohsaka was better than Lingyin Huang... by proceeding to go off of personality and not physical traits (There was even a guest review I removed because it harassed other readers about that as well). If you read the ending of the last chapter carefully, I did physical traits and not personality traits, which for both girls are very much similar. If you're going to point out their assets, that's literally one physical trait. If you're gonna nitpick and say something like hair color or something else, I said they had similar physical traits, didn't I?
Anywho, that's all for now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review if you did and leave any good and respectable constructive criticism if you have any. Give this story a follow if you want to keep up when it updates as well as a favorite if you want. If you like my stories consider following and favoriting me! Now that's all for now, stay safe and stay cool!