Greetings, mortal fools! It is I, the Eldritch Namer, and I have done which none have before me! I! Uploaded! A third chapter! Of a MHA x Kaleid Shirou fic! Quiver before my might!

Alright, enough with the chuuni stuff.

I was trying to get this out by the end of November, because I want to upload at least semi-often. Unfortunately, I didn't make it, I had school to deal with. I did get the last chapter out early though, so I guess this balances out…?

Yeah… no. Two days does not compare to one month.

I'll make sure a fourth chapter comes out by the end of the year. I also rewrote the first and second chapters. Not making any openings here!

Happy late Thanksgiving, and happy early Christmas!

And since I'm probably gonna get a few reviews bringing it up (I already had a few), I'll just explain it here: Reinforcement can be used to re-shape an object. In the Fate Route, Shirou makes a bow similar to Archer's out of a tree branch. He does not know Alteration, so he has to have used Structural Grasp and Reinforcement. And according to the wiki page on Reinforcement: "By putting this in application, Shirou Emiya is able to create a bow out of the branch of a tree, repair a soccer ball, or change the shape of an object."

Now, that raises another question: What does Alteration do? Simple, it applies properties and effects to an object, being the intermediate step between Projection and Reinforcement. For example, you could apply a property to an object that causes it to return to your hand like Thor's hammer, or an effect where it starts glowing when filled with Od. Shirou still doesn't know it, though. All he learned was Projection (Which evolved into Tracing in some routes), Reinforcement, and good old Structural Analysis (Also goes by Structural Grasp).

EMIYA used Reinforcement to make Caladbolg II, which is literally just a version of Caladbolg that works better at being turned into and fired like an arrow.

Me and a few guys in Discord laid it out in simple terms. This isn't exactly what we agreed on, but here's my interpretation of it using swords as an example:

Structural Grasp: This is a sword. It is made of steel, and the blade is slightly chipped in a few places.

Reinforcement: Either A: This is a sharper, harder sword. It's just better. Or B: This sword is an arrow now. I can fire it from a bow.

Alteration: Either A: This sword is made of fire too. Or B: It turns invisible when held with both hands. Either could apply here.

Regular Projection: This is a copy of a sword, though weak and hollow. It breaks easily.

Projection Deluxe (AKA Tracing): This is a near-perfect copy of a sword, with all of its history and experience recreated. Of a very similar quality to the original.

Chapter 2: Problems Arise

I stood upon a hill of swords. The same hill of swords he had stood upon many, many times before. Technically speaking, this is just his world but remodeled to match the state of my mind.

The bone-chilling wind howled around me, blowing off to the ends of my world without any obstacles. Seeing through the storm was nearly impossible, but I could see differences between how it was before and how it was now. Almost as if in response to my wishes, the storm began to lessen.

My steely gaze peered out through the blizzard, still barely able to see through it despite the slowing winds. To my left, I saw neither mere hills nor the thick border of this reality, rather I saw the outlines of jagged mountains and swords buried into their sides. I could even spot a few standing at the top. To my right, flat plains covered in snow, hilts of swords pointed up to the moon as if they were reaching out towards it. I could even see the shapes of Ig-Alima and Sul-sugana not far off.

I closed my eyes and exhaled a frosted breath.

A feeling gnawed at me the more I tried to find reason to this world. With each passing moment, I understood more and more about my predicament. And with each passing moment, the howling winds grew quieter as they continued to slow down. Eventually, the winds completely stopped, and snow fell at a slow pace.

I looked up to the crescent moon far above, that bathed the snowy wasteland in its chilling, lunar light. The only source of light in my life, both literally as it was the only lightsource here, and figuratively as I had lost everything else. The moon… it represented Miyu, didn't it? Or at least my connection to her.

I couldn't see the stars, not even with the sky clear. I don't think they were there before, either. I couldn't tell, I wasn't paying much attention to the appearance of my world while I fought off Angelica. But I could tell that this wasn't the same.

A perplexed expression etched itself onto my face as I tried to comprehend this impossible situation I was in. A tiny whisper in the back of my head told me I belonged here, but I knew it was a lie.

My reality wasn't quite like this. Things were in places they didn't belong, and weapons had been misplaced. Normally, some of EMIYA's most important would be closest to the main hill, the one he stood upon. Things like Hrunting's arrow form and Caladbolg II, which he created, as well as weapons he treasured, like The Married Blades and Excalibur. This was not the case, however. I knew where they all were, I could just feel it, and not all of them were in their proper places.

Excalibur sat at the peak of the tallest mountain, one of the new additions to my Reality Marble. Hrunting and Caladbolg were closer, this time sitting on hills a bit further. Kanshou and Bakuya were even closer, with the Yin-Yang blades sitting only a few meters away from me. They were some of the closest weapons to me, as well as the weapons closest to their original positions. In my hand was Archer's bow, the one he wielded during his time as a Counter Guardian and the years leading up to his deal with Alaya. Maybe I could finally give it a name… No, I don't deserve that right. This was his bow, he's the only one who gets to properly name it. But still, I pitied it. Every good weapon deserved a worthy name, and this bow could fire off Noble Phantasms. I shook my head, I didn't need to worry about that right now.

A sudden gust of wind hit my back, and I stumbled forward. I could see a large amount of snow being blown away, as if displaced by something massive. I turned around, looking for the source of the disturbance…

"I like watching you shoot, senpai. It's like…

…

…

…

…you're the bow itself."

…And I opened my eyes, finding myself staring at the plain ceiling of my bedroom with an outstretched arm. The disembodied voice vanished like dust caught up in the wind.

I blinked in disbelief, asking myself why I had that dream, if it even was a dream, for that matter. It wasn't me just dreaming of weapons or experiencing the memories of other servants. It didn't seem to be one of EMIYA's dream cycles, either. I hadn't had many of those, surprisingly. What I saw just now was real. Unlike EMIYA's memories, or anyone else's for that matter, what I just dreamt of was my reality marble.

And what I saw just before the dream ended… I couldn't picture it anymore. I couldn't remember the colors, the shape, what was in it, all that I remembered was that it was different from the rest of my inner world, and that it seemed… safer. And I swore that someone was talking to me… no, it was more like they commented on something. When I tried to remember what they said, I only drew blanks. Only a single word came to mind when I thought about it. I shook my head, I could think about that later. Pushing the dream to the back of my mind, I recalled Hakuno's antics from last Friday.

When Hakuno brought me to her house, her parents congratulated her for getting a boyfriend, which led to a whole slew of complications, she had me try on a lot of different cosplays, and she might've posted some of them online.

'Note to self: Never let Hakuno take pictures of me ever again.' I internally jolted down. It was one thing to publicly cosplay in a convention, where nearly everyone else is cosplaying too, or in private, where it was just me and a few others, but another thing entirely to post pictures online. Granted, I was only assuming, but it was a reasonable assumption. She was so drastically different from the version of her that EMIYA came across in that weird summoning where everyone on Earth had a Servant. His master was a lot more dense and introverted, so why was she so damn expressive here?

The ringing of my phone immediately interrupted those thoughts. I would get back to that train of thought later.

…I've been pushing a lot off to think about later this morning, haven't I?

I reached to my nightstand and picked up my flip-phone, and realized that the call was from my school's resident Shinto-priest in-training. I sat down on my bed and flipped the phone open. I pressed 'Answer', and Issei immediately started talking. "Sakatsuki-kun, are you alright? I've been trying to get into contact with you, but I had a lot on my plate."

"Yeah, I'm fine, Issei. There might be a picture of me cosplaying as a butler floating around the internet right now, but it's been a pretty good week for me otherwise." I replied, downplaying what Hakuno did to me yesterday. I didn't even want to think about what would happen if she found out about the class cards. Not about their origins or their true nature, but their ability to transform my appearance. Especially Atalanta, Suzuka, Tamamo, or any other servant with animal appendages. Above all else, that girl loves animal traits, or as she calls it, 'kemonomimi'.

Dangerously so.

"Ah, that's good. You never know what… Wait there's a what of you on the internet!?" He replied, his voice sounding relieved before he fully processed what I just told him, which then became loud and confused. I dropped the phone on my bed and plugged my ears, and after a few seconds of him screaming into the phone, Issei calmed down. "Sorry about that, Sakatsuki-kun. I just didn't think you'd let her post pictures of you online."

"I didn't. And there's the chance she didn't post any online, it's just a suspicion of mine." I replied, picking the phone back up. "If they were anyone else, I'd ask you to have a word with them. But since this is Hakuno we're talking about…"

"She likely wouldn't listen to me." Issei finished, another sigh escaping his lips. "Quite frankly, the only person she listens to is you, and that's only because you're willing to put up with her shenanigans. I'm just glad she hasn't had you cross dress."

"Now now, let's not give her any ideas. Last thing I want is to end up wearing a gothic lolita dress, and you're gonna end up jinxing me." I laughed, picturing myself in a dress. Initially it was amusing, but it quickly turned disturbing. I visibly cringed at the thought, before shaking my head. "So, am I gonna be marked for skipping school on Friday?"

"No, actually. I'll just say I let you leave early to pick up your sister. The teachers aren't going to care anyways, they're always focused on nurturing the 'Heroic Potential' students. Why do you think the Student Council has to deal with any broken appliances and manage clubs?" Issei explained as I let out a sigh of relief. The teachers weren't the best when it came to anything that wasn't teaching. And they were particularly invested in getting one of their students to Hero Academies, focusing on the ones with good Quirks while ignoring the rest of us. "That being said, I'd prefer it if you didn't skip school twice in a row, I can only hide so much from them, assuming they'd care. So make sure you're ready today."

"Ah, sure thing. See you in a bit, Issei." I replied, pressing the red button to hang up and shutting the phone. I stuck it in my pocket, and lay down to rest my back on the mattress. I put my hands behind my head, using them as a pillow. There was an actual pillow right next to me, but I would get back up in a few minutes anyways. Even if I lie down longer than I intended, I'd still be able to make it with just some light jogging. And since I had the speed of an actual servant without any reinforcement, I could still go several hundred miles per hour. Not that I'd do that, since I'd get lectured by the Police or Pro-heroes to not use my 'Quirk' in public.

While it is clearly within the written laws I could do so if I'm not disturbing anyone, not everyone read that deep into it and most people just claimed that Quirk-usage in public was forbidden. It really makes you question the reliability of Pro-heroes if they're not willing to read up on what they're enforcing. And 'enforcing' was used loosely, since he had seen dozens of people using their quirks in public. Especially that explosive kid from Aldera High. "Eh, just another reason they're not real heroes." I muttered to myself, a sharp breath exiting my nostrils.

'Pro-heroes' my ass, most of them were no different than office workers, working for a paycheck. That was not what a hero was, if anyone knew that it was me. I knew what a real hero was like, I've seen thousands of them in action through their weapons. Sure, there were a few who truly wanted to save others just because it was the right thing to do, but unfortunately they were the minority.

I looked at the clock in my bedroom, and saw that I woke up at the usual time, i.e. really early in the morning. Looks like Issei did, too. I had a couple hours until Miyu woke up for school, so I might as well get some early morning training in.

…

I tossed aside another failed construct, my face contorting into a frustrated grimace. "How many failures does that make it? I think… 29 so far." I sighed, scratching the back of my head in confusion. "What am I missing? I've tried metal, glass, rock, sand, I've thrown in runes, I've even used some alchemy. And none of it worked." I tried to figure out the problem as sorted through some of the beach's junk I used as materials. After I thoroughly cleaned them, of course. I wasn't a clean freak or a germaphobe, but cleaner materials were easier to work with. And less disgusting. "Then again, because of my new Origin of 'Sword', I can't use a lot of things unrelated to blades. It's technically part of Material Transmutation, so I can at least use all of the spells related to that. Low-level Alchemy, Runes, Bounded Fields, and even low level Memory Manipulation still work, too. But why not Familiars?"

At the moment, I was practicing what Magecraft I could still use, even after my Origin became the same as my counterparts. As I said, I could still use Structural Analysis and the three basic spells for Material Transmutation; Projection, Alteration, and Reinforcement. Runes were pretty easy to use, Bounded Fields were relatively simple, Alchemy was possible, but Familiars? So far, impossible. Even though my familiars hadn't been anything special, I could still make them. Not anymore, it would seem. "Well, might as well give that another shot." I sighed, standing up.

I picked up a long pipe laying next to a few metal plates, and the familiar sound of a gun hammer firing rang out in my head as my circuits came to life. Two blue-ish lines appeared on the left side of my face, one under the eye and moving straight up and the other slightly higher and closer to the ear. I didn't need anymore than two circuits to accomplish this, so two was all I used at the moment. "Trace on." I intoned, focusing my Od into the metal rod.

The energy flowed through the pipe, a 3D grid entering my mind as I confirmed its shape. There were no dents or cracks in it. A few minor scratches, though. I allowed more Od to flow into it from my flaring circuits, strengthening the materials within. The pipe became stronger and harder, way beyond industrial standard.

After carefully reinforcing the steel rod in my hand, I began reshaping it, altering its structure to match a visualized image in my mind. I was careful during the process, taking my time and not forcing it. I needed precision right now, not speed.

Shutting my circuits off, I admired my handiwork. In my hands was no longer a normal metal pipe, rather it was a type of axe called a Tomahawk.

I stood up, analyzing the weapon with my eyes instead of my Magecraft. The entire weapon was made from pure metal, the handle included. It was one of the more obvious distinctions between the mental blueprint and the axe in my hands, but it was a reshaped pipe, not a projected replica.

Turning it in my hand as I observed it, I tested its weight. It wasn't as balanced as the real thing, but it was good practice for the most common spells. I turned to a faceless dummy I set up, recycled from some of my failed attempts at creating a Familiar. I had quite a few lying around. I tossed the blade into the air, spinning once then landing back in my hand. I took a throwing stance, one hand pointed to the target and the other reared back.

Wind speed, Wind direction, Elevation relative to target, Distance to target, Humidity, you have to take everything into account if you want to hit your target. That's what Kiritsugu taught me during our training, and what I learned again through EMIYA's memories. When inside a shooting range or an Archery dojo, you don't have to worry about wind or elevation since it's indoors and the targets are all at the same level as you. But outside next to a beach? Expect the wind to have at least some influence, and sand isn't usually even.

My back hand shot forward as my fingers released the handle. It spun wildly as it flew through the air, rotating at least a dozen times before hitting the dummy where its left eye would be. Its head jolted back unnaturally, before slacking lifelessly.

After staring at the damage I caused to the dummy, I projected another axe using the same blueprint as before, and threw it. Again, it spun through the air, though noticeably faster and in a straighter line, and hit the dummy's head. "Not bad… but it could be better." I decided, eyeing the first axe I threw. "The weight is too unbalanced, the center of mass wasn't in the axe head. It was below it because I didn't distribute the weight properly…" I sighed, crossing my arms and shaking my head.

It was technically a viable weapon, but because I didn't use any wood in the creation, its weight was skewed. With swords it was slightly better since the hilt was built around the blade's tang, and there were spears made entirely from metal, but even they weren't perfect. As I thought, Projection was the most viable method for making copies of weapons. That doesn't mean I can't use weapons made from Reinforcement, but if Projection's unavailable, I can just include or install. Maybe if I don't have the Cards with me and I can't Project, I'd use this.

If I had literally nothing, not even materials to make a weapon from… I could only put faith in my hand to hand skills. Even though EMIYA incorporated various kicks and throws into his style, I still felt more confident with a weapon in my hand. But even hand to hand can be reliable when the chips are down.

I shook my head, and let the second axe turn to nothing. I walked up to the dummy, took the axe out of the head with a bit of effort, and tossed it into a second pile I made. The last one was a pile of failed attempts of familiars, this was a pile of failed weapons I made. With time the quality was getting better, but it was slow. By the time I could make a decent weapon with just plain metal and Reinforcement at the same speed I could project them, I'd be finished recovering from EMIYA's influence. "Back to square one, then. I think I understand how frustrated the other me's get when they try anything that isn't Basic Material Transmutation." I sighed, packing up a few materials I would practice with some more later.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. I turned to it, and found myself staring at a skinny teenager with emerald green hair and a skinnier man with sunken eyes and blonde hair. It looked like the man was training the teenager, instructing him to carry pieces of junk while running around or push some of the heavier stuff. Were they cleaning the beach? I might have to set up a bounded field around my mockery of a workshop. Maybe add something to it that kept out bad smells.

A glance at my phone's clock told me that I had a bit under an hour until Miyu woke up. Might as well use that time to shower and get started on breakfast. With that decided, I began walking back home.

-lll-

Miyu was not the kind of student that took notes. But not for the same reasons as other children her age. Most don't need to because it's elementary school, and the work is easy enough to remember since they don't have as much knowledge crammed into their heads. But Miyu didn't take notes for a different reason. She already knew everything the teacher was putting on the board, her brother already taught her or she read about it in his textbooks. Quite simply, this was nothing but a review session for her. So why was she going to school in the first place?

Legal reasons aside, it was for socialization. Her brother wanted her to make friends her age. And she wanted it too, but… it was a bit awkward for her. She liked reading, she was reading right now in fact, but not many of her classmates did. They were always talking about 'Quirks this' and 'Quirks that', and she wasn't the most talkative of people. Especially on that topic. Her mother aside, she's only ever spoken to her brother and her captors, as well as a few teachers and classmates that engaged the conversation. Onii-chan not included, she was never the one to start the conversation.

She was reading War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. An advanced read for someone her age, something even most adults wouldn't read. Perhaps that's why she has trouble socializing, she never had a proper childhood and was raised off of things no other child would bother with. But that's not Onii-chan's fault, he was only doing it to protect her. She knew that now. And it wasn't like there were a lot of kids in Fuyuki, anyways. Actually, were there any kids aside from her and that other girl with the Ainsworth family? What did that Julian guy call her… Erika? She'd have to ask Onii-chan after school, probably when he came to pick her up.

But that wouldn't be for a few hours, so she would spend that time reading. If she was anyone else, the teachers would probably take the book away from her and scold her. But since she was the student who got perfect grades and several recommendations to skip several years, the teachers gave her a lot of leeway. Well, except Fujimura-sensei. But she was… odd. Miyu was tempted to skip several grade levels so she could go to her brother's school, but Onii-chan convinced her otherwise. Again, he wanted her to have friends her age, and she agreed. Her brother spent enough time looking out for her at home, she didn't want to make him do it at school, too.

But still, school hours got lonely for her. She was usually nose deep in a book during class, and at lunch she usually sat by herself. So her social skills were… lacking… to say the least. She told Onii-chan that she made a couple friends already, but that was just a lie. He probably saw through it, he was the one who taught her how to tell convincing lies after all, but he didn't say anything about it.

Miyu continued reading, mostly ignoring her surroundings, until the bell rang for lunch. The majority of the class left for the cafeteria, though a few stayed behind as they had their own lunch. Miyu was in the latter group, no school food could surpass Onii-chan's cooking. Her own cooking skills weren't anything to scoff at, but her brother was in another league compared to her. She would surpass him one day, she had been practicing, but that wouldn't be anytime soon.

She turned around and grabbed her bag, pulling her lunch box out of it. While she was doing so, she felt something collide with her desk. Turning around with her lunch in hand, she realized someone scooted their desk next to hers. She turned to look at the owner of said desk, and Amber eyes met Green ones. Standing next to her was a girl with short blonde hair tied in a ponytail with a black ribbon, and large green eyes that were filled to the brim with purity and innocence. Though Miyu could tell she was slightly anxious. "H-Hello! Would you like to have lunch together?" She asked, raising her own packed lunch.

"…Why?" Miyu couldn't help but ask. She didn't recognize the girl as her classmate, having identified her entire class, the Einzbern twins included. Speaking of, those two went to the cafeteria to eat with their friends, despite the fact that they had their own lunches. It must be nice, having so many friends you could all leave in a group.

"Well, you looked lonely sitting here all by yourself. And also…" The new girl trailed off, looking off to the side awkwardly. "…I don't know anyone here. Due to a few… family circumstances… I had to miss out on a few weeks of school. Everyone's started making their friend groups, and I'd hate to intrude on them…" Ah, that explained why the desk next to her had been empty since the year started. "O-Of course, if you don't want to, I can move my desk back…" Her expression wilted, she looked like she was about to cry.

Miyu shook her head, smiling slightly. "No, it's fine. You can stay here. My name is Miyu." She said, the new girl mildly surprised before her expression brightened up again.

"Okay, call me Lily! Ne, Miyu-chan, who's your favorite hero?" She asked excitedly, putting her lunch on her desk. Miyu thought about it for a second, ignoring the fact Lily just called her by her first name immediately. After a moment of thinking, she only drew a blank.

"I don't really have a favorite Pro-Hero. But I do like the ones from legends and mythology. Like King Arthur, or Hercules." She replied, expecting an upset or at least strained smile on her new companion's face. What she got was a look of shock then an excited nod.

"You too!? Everyone I've met is always so gung-ho about Pro-Heroes and Quirks, they're always forgetting about the ones in the past! Sure, All Might's strong and cool, but he doesn't seem like the type of person who could run a kingdom or lead an army into battle." Lily replied, excited that someone in her class shared the same opinion. "Nii-sama and Nee-sama always told me stories when I was younger, so I know a lot! Have you ever heard of Robin Hood?"

Miyu smiled, nodding. "I have. He stole from the rich and gave to the poor. There were actually a lot of people who took on the name, and the original legend was based on the chivalrous thief lurking in the Sherwood forest."

"Oh wow, I didn't know that! Okay, now you name a hero from legend."

"Nn. How about Theseus?"

"Oh, getting tricky are we? Yeah, he escaped the labyrinth and killed a minotaur with the help of a princess, Aria… Arian… Ariandel?" Lily fumbled on the name.

"Ariadne. She gave him a thread that he lay down while going through, and he followed it back after defeating the Minotaur."

"Ah, that's right! Okay, how about…"

-lll-

"Ne, senpai, what'cha reading there?" The brown haired girl asked, trying to look over his shoulder. Shirou was once again in the student council room for lunch, though he scarfed it down so he could focus on something else. There weren't any broken ACs today, so he put his attention into some documents he needed to take care of.

"I'm just finishing up some paperwork. They need this so they can have Miyu's and my Quirks properly registered. Due to a few family circumstances, our records are outdated, so I need to update them." Shirou replied, lying in the second half of his statement. Truth is, their Quirks never got registered, but Hakuno didn't need to know that. He looked back down at Miyu's documents, and frowned.

Quirk: Magical Girl

Quirk Owner: Miyu Sakatsuki

Quirk Classification: Transformation/Second-Entity

Quirk Description: User is capable of a transformation not unlike the media's representations of 'Magical Girls'. During this transformation, user can fly, project barriers, regenerate, increase their physical capabilities, and fire blasts of energy.

The wand, named Sapphire, is capable of acting independently from the user, flying on her own when not in use. Sapphire has her own personality, being formal, mature, serious, and straightforward. Shown to be kind towards the user and those they care for, and rude to those who she considers 'unworthy', while still being formal about it.

Shirou finished skimming through, narrowing his eyes at the document. Miyu's 'Quirk' was extremely broad, basically having multiple Quirks mish-mashed into one. Most Quirks weren't as wide and varied as Magecraft, so this made sense. And obviously, it made it a desirable power. Shirou's eyes scrolled down to the comments at the bottom of the page.

"Miyu Sakatsuki's Quirk is both varied and powerful, with the owner herself showing great skill in its use. With permission from Miyu Sakatsuki's legal guardians, we would like to train her to become a Professional Hero personally. We have left our number on the back, should they wish to discuss this with us." -Hero Public Safety Commission.

Shirou all but glared at the last sentence, his eyes containing nothing but scathing, bitter anger. He did his best to hide it, though. 'They want to put Miyu in a government facility and train her to be a hero, all because she has power? It's not as bad as what dad wanted to do with her, but still pretty bad.' He argued in his head, crumpling the edges of the page in his hands. After taking a deep breath and repeating the steps of Kyudo in his head, he mostly calmed down. He then looked at his own documents, his expression growing irate yet again.

Name: Shirou Sakatsuki

Quirk: Weapon Creation

Quirk Classification: Transformation/Emitter

Quirk Description: Shirou can create melee weapons, armor, shields, and simple ranged weapons such as bows or crossbows. Doing so expends some sort of energy he generates, which raises his body temperature. Possibly even enough to cause his blood to boil. Also seems to provide with some degree of super strength to wield his larger weapons.

However, to access his powers, he needs to transform into a red and black outfit.

"It is recommended that he takes the entrance exams to a Hero Academy and receives training with his Quirk." -HPSC.

'So they're completely content with me going to a Hero Academy, but insist on training Miyu personally? Either they think my 'Quirk' isn't enough to meet their qualifications, or they think I'm too old to indoctrinate into being their tool.' Shirou glowered, noticing how pushy they were about Miyu becoming a hero in her document compared to his own. They didn't know he was the one reading these, did they? Otherwise they wouldn't send both of these at once. Or maybe they did know, and assumed he would be fine with it. Heroism in this world was heavily advertised so maybe they assumed he would be proud to hand Miyu over to them.

Unfortunately for the HPSC, neither Shirou nor Miyu had any plans in becoming a hero. Of course, if Miyu wanted to go into the profession, he would support her. Keep an eye on her and make sure the government isn't using her. But as for himself, there was no way he pictured himself being a hero. He gave up those ideals completely, no amount of inter-universal travel would change that. He would collect the cards, and move on with his life.

"Are you alright, senpai? You're glaring at those papers like they crushed a dog under a stone cross while sad music played in the background." Hakuno asked, tapping his shoulder. He flinched at the sudden contact, but nodded. For a second, he wondered what she meant by the stone cross part, but assumed it was an anime reference. She's been acting extra bizarre as of recently.

"If you don't mind me asking, how would you rate your Quirk, Hakuno?" Shirou suddenly asked, looking up from his papers. There was a bit of an unofficial Quirk Rating system, using similar figures to a Servant's Parameters. Useless Quirks were rated at E, and powerful Quirks like Endeavor's or Hawks' were at A+. As a side note, the Quirkless were rated at N/A. Hakuno's smile suddenly turned smug. Oh, that couldn't be good.

"My Quirk has a rank of A-, senpai! Pretty impressive, right? How about yours?" She bragged, clearly proud of her Quirk's high ranking. She didn't seem to be inflating her score much either, maybe closer to a B+. A- was pretty good, so she must've been able to do a lot with that 'Program Quirk' of hers. Then again, this was the 22nd century. Technology dominated the world. The Mage's Association would probably have an aneurism if they somehow came here.

"B." Shirou replied, looking back down and finishing up the paperwork.

"Really? That's lower than I expected… Say, what is your Quirk, senpai? I don't think you've ever brought it up."

"That's because I don't want people to evaluate me based on how well I did in the genetic lottery." Shirou replied, setting down the papers with a sigh. That was his excuse for not bringing up his Quirk the moment he met someone, like how everyone else did. 'What's your Quirk' was basically the modern version of 'Hello', since basically everyone jumped straight into that topic. "Basically, I can make simple weapons and armor. There's a bit more to it than that, but that's the focal point."

"Wait, really? That sounds like A rank to me, maybe even an A+! Hero-tier stuff! Definitely not a B!" Hakuno shouted, getting up in his face accusingly.

'It probably would be if I actually cared.' He thought. While Miyu was very forthcoming with her abilities, Shirou was more secretive when they demonstrated their 'Quirks'. All the government knew about him was that he could make weapons and armor, and he had a somewhat superhuman physique, being able to lift things like Berserker's axe-sword. He completely hid the rest of his Magecraft, abilities, the cards, everything but Tracing. They didn't even know he could make his sword float or explode. Compared to a massive fireball, would could a few ancient weapons do? He was probably just being paranoid, but years of living with and training under the Magus Killer could do that to a person.

Shirou leaned back in the chair, his head resting against the window, and looked at his hands… His right hand was that natural white, the color of skin he was born with. The other had been tainted, his hand a tanned brown. Looking at his reflection in the window, he saw much of the same. Red-brown skin in a rough line from above his left eye to below his collarbone, crawling down his neck in the process.

Rather than the burn-like appearance it had when he first arrived, it looked more like someone cut into his eye with a red hot blade and roughly dragged it down to his chest. Why it had changed, he didn't know. Maybe his look from before was just where EMIYA's 'influence' was occupying at the time, and the current look was how it chose to settle. Maybe it was for another reason. Eventually, he gave up on trying to figure it out and moved on. Hakuno said it looked cool and Issei gave him his condolences. No one else commented on it, for some reason. Were scars like this more common here? Or did he just lack presence? Perhaps a bit of both?

He knew his body had been changing for a while. He just wanted to know the exact extent, and if the card was working. He had no more tanned skin today than he had since the fight with Angelica, even if its exact placement was off. And he had used his power quite a bit in that time, dealing with the class cards. Not once had his appearance changed, if you're excluding the increasing number of scars.

Though that was only the physical changes, there were more than a few changes to his personality and attitude. He was more snarky, pessimistic, sometimes even cynical. He commented on things he wouldn't have otherwise, calling this world's heroism a joke or saying the 'celebrity heroes' were even more of a fake than he was. He even found it difficult to empathize with others at times.

It was worse when it came to his actions, especially in battle. Becoming cold, practical, serious, and efficient. Using any technique to last even a minute longer, to get even one more attack in on his opponent. He'd leave his guard open and dodge attacks by mere centimeters, before going in brutally with his weapons. To be fair though, that was EMIYA's style. Even outside of battle, Shirou found himself weaving through crowds while avoiding contact as much as possible. He couldn't be at ease on crowded trains and busses, and grew to avoid sleep, preferring to use the time for something productive. Their existences had been getting closer and closer, and fast enough it would be a problem. And why wouldn't they?

The Class Cards contained the powers of a Heroic Spirit, even if it was just a portion. Installing a card would allow the portion of the spirit into their body so they could use their powers. Normally, it would be assumed that the Heroic Spirit would completely overwrite the user of the card, even a portion of a Legend would overpower a normal human. But there were special measures taken by the Ainsworths so they didn't have to worry about that.

His situation was a bit abnormal, though. Because the power he used didn't belong to just anyone. The soul he borrowed power from, the soul he used to fight battle after battle, that soul was none other than his own. A possible path he could've taken, a possible end he could have reached, an alternate version of himself, that was the identity of the soul within his body.

Every time his power was used, every time his soul invaded his body, their existences continued to become closer and merge into one. Using a class card was a safe, temporary way to have a Heroic Spirit overwrite the user's existence. No one would've expected their own existence to be overwritten by their own existence, so the Ainsworth obviously didn't plan for that. Not everyone had a direct link with a Heroic Spirit like he did. If he continued using EMIYA's power without the Class Card embedded within his body by Zelretch, he would eventually disappear and only he would remain.

Fortunately, Zelretch gave him EMIYA's card so he wouldn't have to worry about becoming a mini-version of the Counter Guardian. Unfortunately, recovery was an extremely slow process, and pushing himself to the limit was a painful endeavor. And now the government was trying to indoctrinate Miyu into becoming a hero. He just couldn't catch a break, could he?

Alright, I'm gonna call it a chapter. Not a lot of action here. Expect the next chapter to start engaging directly with the original story, as well as introduce a few new characters that will be important later in the story. Maybe throw in another Class Card battle.

As I said before, I rewrote the last two chapters, the first more than the second. Just some fine tuning and all that. Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna write a long term outline. Don't expect any of the chapters in the near future to be as long as the first one.

*I modified the 'Quirk Ranking' part, that was basically digging myself into a hole. Now it's 'unofficial', just a general idea of what a person thinks of their Quirk.

Until then, this is the Namer, signing out!

Edit 1: I fixed a few inconsistencies and a few typos.

Edit 2: I removed the part that involved Nameless, and just replaced it with Fate/Requiem.