Chapter 6 - "A Brief Silence (Rider)"

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The time had finally come for the Holy Grail War, and for the summoning of a Servant.

It had been something had been something her brother looking forward to his whole life.

"I shall obtain all the virtues of Heaven."

Even now, she could hear the visible, trembling excitement in his voice in the middle of their summoning ceremony.

"I shall have dominion over all the Evils of Hell."

Personally, Sakura just hoped that her kind Senpai wouldn't get caught up in this war, a war which had nothing to do with him.

"From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by the Three Great Words of Power!"

And she Sakura hoped that she would end up summoning a kind servant.

"Come forth from the Ring of Restraint, Guardian of the Balance!"

Sakura could feel the connection to the Servant being made.

And in a sudden flash of bright light, the Servant manifested.

...

"...Eh?" Sakura was shocked, and had to blink a few time to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her.

"What...?" Shinji, standing behind her was also confused and appalled. This was the powerful servant they were supposed to call? Wasn't this just...?

"Sen-senpai...?"

Rider looked at them, and blinked.

"Sorry, I don't think I recognize you."

Sakura looked confused, and a little hurt.

"I would surely remember having such a pretty kouhai, if I did."

Sakura blushed and looked down. 'Senpai thinks I'm pretty...?'

"Anyways, uh, I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, but I'm Servant Rider. I think? ...Would either you happen to be my master?"

Rider just looked genuinely confused though, not even realizing he had unintentionally complimented the girl.

Shinji, however, was pissed, and was approaching Sakura rapidly, "You damn Emiya-obsessed wench! You've even messed up the summoning ceremony by obsessing over him!"

Shinji was about to slap Sakura, and Sakura flinched in anticipation, but the slap never came.

Or rather,

It had been intercepted by Rider.

"Whoa! I don't exactly know what's going on here, but that's no way to talk to or treat to your sister, is it?"

Rider had grabbed Shinji's wrists with his hand, but wasn't holding on to it with any real force.

He looked even at Shinji kindly, "Well, let's all just calm down here and talk things out peacefully, okay?"

He gave Shinji a smile.

"Tch!" Shinji clicked his tongue and drew back his hand.

But he threw his Book of the False Attendant at Sakura, turned his back, and walked away, shouting "There's nothing to talk about!" as he stormed away.

Rider looked towards Sakura, expression a bit guilty, "...Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, no!" Sakura looked up at him, "Brother's just like that sometimes. He can be a bit temperamental..."

Sakura got up, and started asking Rider some questions, the ones she wanted the answer to. "Would, would you happen to be Emiya-Senpai, or, um, Emiya Shirou, by any chance...?"

Rider scratched his cheek with his finger awkwardly, looking a bit sheepish. "Well, I am Shirou. But I'm not exactly Emiya Shirou, per say."

Rider introduced himself, "I'm Senji. Senji Shirou."

Sakura breath a sigh of relief. So he wasn't her Senpai. Even though he looked incredibly similar (almost identical), even down to their clothing style. Though Rider was wearing a purely white shirt, as opposed to the white with blue sleeves shirt that Senpai usually wore.

"Senji...? So you don't go to Homurahara Academy?"

"No," Senji explained, "I was a graduate at Shinto Metropolitan High School."

Sakura paused at that. That...couldn't be right...?

"...But, ...weren't the schools of Shinto burned down by the Fuyuki Fire 10 years ago? I don't think they ever got around to rebuilding the schools..."

"...Fire...?" Rider looked confused, "As far as I know, there were no major fires in Fuyuki City, or in Shinto, where I lived. I mean, how would a city even be set on fire in the first place?"

"...I see."

The pieces were falling into place in Sakura's mind. Heroes summoned by the Holy Grail weren't necessarily bound by the rules of time or space, as they had been summoned from the Throne of Heroes, outside of Spacetime.

...But if she had summoned a version of Emiya-senpai from a world where the Fuyuki fore never happen, then didn't that confirm the existence of parallel timelines? She had heard of it vaguely as a theory of how the Second Magic worked, but this was the first time she had actually seen any proof of it.

So that meant that this version of Senpai, or rather Senji-san, wasn't the same one that Sakura knew. But he shared many of the same mannerisms and habits of the Senpai that Sakura knew, despite that.

Still, to think that some version of Senpai had become a Heroic Spirit...

Sakura always knew her Senpai was amazing, but to this degree...

Sakura blushed.

Senpai really was amazing, after all.

Curiosity welling, she used her Master's sight to check out Rider's Parameters.

"...Eh? Wait...this is...?"

His parameters were terrible! For a Servant, at least. All his parameters were naturally at F, except mana (which was at E), and his luck, which was at A. Most of his parameters were being raised by the base parameters of the class container itself, even, which only spoke to how weak Rider really was.

He didn't have any outstanding skills, either, besides an E-rank Riding Class Skill and and E-rank Magecraft Personal Skill. He had no Noble Phantasms, either.

Sakura was stunned. "What...? How, how did you become a Heroic Spirit like this? How did you get summoned as a Servant?"

Rider laughed nervously. "To be honest, I'm not really sure myself. I just remember laying in the rain, dying with my friend by my side, and then...Somehow, I think I was called by the Grail, and then a bunch of information started filling my head, and now I'm here with a new body, I guess...?"

"..." That didn't quite make sense to Sakura. Weren't heroic spirts supposed to have some memory of after they reached the Throne of Heroes? Or at least memories of copies summoned into different situations? Well, maybe this was his first and only summoning, that might explain things...?

"Still, I'd like to see Kirei-san and Ciel-senpai again, if I get the chance to..." Rider murmured to himself.

Wait, what did he just say...?

"Kirei-san, as in the priest?"

Rider's face brightened, "Yeah! Is he still here, in Fuyuki city?"

Sakura paused, "...I believe so."

She personally didn't know the priest very well, but she knew that the priest had been acting as her sister's caretaker after the Death of their, no, of Rin's father. Grandfather also talked about the priest, on occasion, though only very briefly in passing.

"That's great! I didn't know if I get to see him again, since he gets sent on Executor mission pretty often." Shirou smiled, "But if he's here, I would definitely want to go see him!"

Rider paused, "...Oh, um, I mean, if that's okay with you, Master." He asked, hesitantly.

Sakura smiled and giggled lightly. "Sure."

"We'd have to go see him anyways, since he's the advisor of this war," Sakura explained, "But I'd be happy to accompany you there, Senpai."

"Oh!" Sakura caught herself, putting a hand over her mouth, "I mean, Senji-san."

Rider laughed cheerfully, "Well, Senpai is fine, too. You can call me "Senji-Senpai", if you want. I'd be happy to have such an adorable kouhai by my side."

'He said it again!' Sakura blushed, but smiled.

"Alright then, Senji-Senpai, let's go see the priest together."

Senji smiled, "Yeah!"

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From, the shadow, Matou Zouken observed.

"Hmmmm, hmmm..." He pondered to himself, "What a strange servant..."

It was although there was something wrong with the Grail, or perhaps not the grail, but with the summoning mechanism? Or perhaps even an abnormality with the World itself...?

Zouken smirked.

"Hm, this might not be such a boring Grail War after all. Perhaps I, too, should take part for once..."

Zouken cackled, and began making his own preparations.

Author's Notes:

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Sakura pieces it together, just like Rin, because she's also smart. Though to be fair to Rin, she didn't exactly have the most obvious Servant to spot similarities with, as Sakura did.

Just fyi, Rider doesn't exactly look like Shirou from the Heaven's Feel Epilogue (despite what the Shirou LILY story picture might lead you to believe lol). That's what he'd look like in a few years naturally (lol), but at the moment, he just looks like Emiya Shirou during the events of the 5th Holy Grail War, only wearing a completely white shirt.

That's it, that's literally it.

Lily (white) indeed.

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Rider = Shirou Lily

A version of Shirou that never suffered from the Fuyuki Fire, and was never influenced by Kiritsugu's foolish yet beautiful ideals.

I actually came up with the idea of "Shirou Lily" when Saber Lily was first announced, and I tried to imagine what a "Shirou Lily" would be like.

I mean, in some senses, Emiya Shirou himself is already like an "EMIYA Lily", so what would an even more "Lily" version even be like? Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that the only way Shirou could be even more "Lily" than he already, is if he isn't traumatized by the Fuyuki Fire or influenced by the Fuyuki Fire in the first place, since those are the things that really start off his road into the darkness (i.e. going down Archer's path).

Actually came up with idea long before Muramasa came out as a Pseudo-Servant, but originally was just going to call him something like Kennoyama (剣野山 lit. Sword Field Mountain) Shirou, but I guess that relates more to Emiya Shirou and EMIYA, huh? Well, then again, given that Muramasa is also themed around forging blades and mountains, I guess this could still work as a last name for his descendent, if the last name changed over time, for whatever reason. Just imagine Shirou going up and spelling out his name in his introduction for all his Japanese classmates, though. They'd all be like "woah, that's such a cool last name!" And Shirou would be like, "Yeah. Thanks. I know."

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Rider is my own concept, my idea of what a Shirou Lily (a more pure, more innocent version of Shirou) would be like. I imagined then, a Shirou that still wanted to be a hero, but one that was uncorrupted and unscarred by the Fuyuki Fire, and without the burden of Emiya Kiritsugu's burdens weighing on him.

Just like Artoria Lily is as a knight-princess unburdened by the weight of her country and the expectations of her people, Shirou Lily is a hero that is unburdened by his own survivor's guilt and the weight of Kiritsugu's twisted ideals.

Actually not intended to have a last name, but would be kind of awkward to address Shirou Lily always as "Shirou" in this fanfic, so gave him one. Actually written before Muramasa, but not published until recently, so decided to give Shirou Lily Muramasa's last name, as a sort of nod to FGO's continuity.

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Next up is the Assassin summoning, so look forward to that!

OMAKE:

Rider unintentionally seducing Sakura, as expected from someone who carries the legendary skill of "Harem Protagonist EX".

Rider's most powerful skill (hidden) is actually a skill that verges on the border of being a true magic, touching upon the boundaries of the second and fifth magic.

Personal Skill

Taiga Dojo EX

(Type: Anti-Reality, Anti-Spacetime, Anti-Self)

A Rank EX Noble Phantasm (Skill LOCKED, unusable as a non-Protagonist)

Nobody knows what this ability does.

Whispers from the very edges of the far reaches of the outer realm (imaginary number space) say that it has something to do with denying reality and being able to redo a crucial decision point in your life, reshaping your fate into a more favorable one.

Those same whispers also say something about receiving advice from a certain shinai wielding tiger ("DON'T CALL ME TIGER!") and a certain spunky bloomer wearing magic girl, though those sayings are unverifiable and considered to be complete nonsense by the Professional Scholarly Association of Trans-Dimensional Magicians (a counsel whose sum total of members consist of two magicians, the illustrious and widely beloved Lord Zelritch and his fellow magician, Aoko Aozuki).

Some whispers even seem to say that the spunky bloomer girl comes in 40 different costume varieties (unverified). The Ultimate One of the Moon fervently denies this, for some reason. When asked for a comment, they had this to say: "No, no, that concept was scrapped in development. (*laughs*)"

(END OMAKE)

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Servant profile coming tomorrow, so look forward to that!

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