Waver's Problem Child
Mage's Association...
It was the Masters with Zelretch facing the Courts after preparations of knowing what to and when to say this and that. Thus Juri was alone and free to wander on her own until then.
She explored, pondering her future.
After Junior High School, can she enroll here and start a career in the Moonlit World? She's rather interested in Yumina Faculty...
Why not?
She paid a visit to the association library.
She took some books out and began to read about basics of Yumina's Faculty.
'Humm...I should juggle this with Modern Magecraft two years from now.' she mused. 'This looks interesting.' she put away the books because she got hungry.
Headed for the cafeteria, she saw that it's international european cuisine.
'...Croque Madame, Chocolate Baumkuchen and Mango Shake.' she said, taking out the money to pay for the costs. Upon getting what she wanted, she went to sit down to eat. "Adult business sure is taking a while...more and more people are coming already, sheesh...but alas, such is a Kangaroo Court regarding the ritual."
The mess began in the third. Triggered in the fourth. Damn-near occurred in the fifth. Why thank you, Counter Force.
Emiya Shirou is that very counter force. He was a natural for it in mentality and a weapon he got. Then Lord El-Melloi II with his ability to 'dissect' mysteries given his track record with Policies and that ability also made him one hell of a teacher, spamming Brands and Prides in his wake in less than ten years and his students adore him to bits.
She was curious about that, so she wants to enroll herself.
xxx
It took till 5 pm.
And somehow they know she's in the library.
'You've been here the whole day huh?' Rin asked Juri who closed her book.
'Yeah. I took an interest in Yumina Faculty and Modern Magecraft for my future here.' said Juri. 'How'd it go? I don't see Zelretch.'
'Well, we managed to survive the court. It was stressful.' Shirou sighed wearily.
'Blame fell on the Einzberns for letting a curse stew for 70 years, but at least I ended it. A family's mess must be cleaned by a family member and all.' said Illya. 'So we're off the hook though at the expense of the Gate to banish that power back to Akasha and let the Counter Force deal with him from beyond. We can go home now. But still Juri...'
'I accepted long ago that he's doomed to fail as long as the Counter Force exists. Its simply inevitable.' Juri shrugged. 'He cannot get his revenge. I simply let him enjoy the pleasure of thinking and imagining doing so, unaware that you guys are nudged in the right direction. The actions you took were part of the nudging. Oh, and Adult Shirou of course.' Shirou sputtered at the reminder that one of him in all infinite parallel worlds, was doomed because of his ideals.
And became Tohsaka's Servant by the way!
'Well, let's go home. Western Food is too heavy for me my lunch made me groggy...'
'You're lucky you got lunch.' said Shirou wryly. 'That Trial didn't even have a Recess like any normal court would.' he said as Juri activated her mystic eyes and they were gone.
For one Yvette L. Lehrman...her jaws dropped. That, was a Jewel-Ranked set of Eyes!
'W-what mystic eyes is that?! I gotta have it!'
The group was clearly asian and one Einzbern Homunculus, so she's gonna scour asian countries to do so!
xxx
Mystic Eyes of Spatial Teleportation.
A Jewel-Ranked pair of Mystic Eyes and it does as it says, teleport you away! As long as Imaginary Numbers exist, you can teleport to desired locations, provided you've been there first, physically. So Juri has to physically travel, activate her eyes at the destination to commit to memory places she'd go back to time and again to appear anywhere she wants any time, eventually bypassing the need to travel with airports. You can also teleport away attacks aimed at you and redefine Killing with a Borrowed Knife. Quite, literally. The catch is she's gotta look.
She crafted this powerful eye just after studying how Mystic Eyes can be manufactured. She was totally absurd, that, Rin can agree. But its convenient.
Mostly for Juri who has technically, no family as she lost what memories she had as a toddler of her parents. And what toddler, can memorize an address, let alone parents' names as the first words they're taught is 'I'm Mama and He's Papa'?!
Her eyes were solely there, to steal money from banks, to fund her livelihood and research! Thus all banks in the world, are her personal wallet! Economical upheaval-be-damned!
And now?
Juri left for her next adventure in a 'quest to find herself' and rediscover her heart in the process as she regained what she lost, while enrolling herself in El-Melloi Classroom. Traditionally, before you go to Clock Tower, be a perfected magus first to survive that place.
Juri who has first-rate knowledge can.
And now, Juri made herself a home base in London, after crafting an identity and citizenship, and a background she's created.
She purchased a property in the countryside as it's ideal for magi to live far from people to protect secrecy. A cottage just for a young girl like herself to live in. And underground, will be her workshop.
Many magi prefer to have their Workshops either underground or at the highest possible point. It is a difference on whether you want to channel the power of the Earth or the power of the Heavens. The particular unique situation of England means that traditionally the power of Earth was strong, to the point even the Clock Tower holds a plethora of underground Workshops.
Thus she followed the same trend and fortified her home with plethora of first-rate bounded fields and barriers of her style. All of which, containing 500 units of her od that people will have trouble dismantling her fortress without exhausting themselves, and she made fifty, based on counting up to 100 circuits possessed by ancient families. And even then, they will fight her.
She who can spam spells of wanton destruction by overpowering it and instantly cast while even other magi need to budget their mana per spell and has a recovery period that having more circuits than her, really didn't matter. Irrelevant.
However, magic was all she's got. She hasn't a single Mystic Code to her name.
Upon enrolling in two departments with her wealth, she settled in. Comfortably, actually...and while the Yumina Faculty are full of girls because hey, it's Witchcraft...and she applied for its Transformation Course and Pharmaceuticals.
Like any good magus, the girls there are out for themselves only. Fine with her.
But come El-Melloi Classroom?
'Starting today, we have a new student.' said Waver Velvet, now dubbed Nidaime-sensei in her mind as he walked with a limp. 'This is Juri Sawada. Our youngest student at age 13. Take your seat anywhere you like.' he said as Juri looked around for an empty seat and settled for the back row.
Preferably, away from something.
By the time lunch came, a boy older than her happily approached her. 'Hey hey! After Svin left, it's nice to get a new kid in class!' he chimed. 'Wanna join me and Caules for lunch?' he offered as Juri looked at him and his face fell at her 'emptiness'.
Her eyes and expression were downright empty even in introduction but seeing it up close is a little unnerving!
'...is it OK?'
'It'll be OK! Don't be shy now!'
'...shy...how to feel that?'
OK, the boy thought. Magecraft don't come free, but he hasn't heard of a craft that uses one's emotions as price to pay?!
'PROFEEEESSOOOOR!' the remaining students winced at Flat's shrill outburst, carrying the new girl out of the room in his wake. Was new girl ill?
And Waver twitched as Flat the Troublemaker basically carried Juri to him before he was even twenty steps away from class.
But admittedly, Flat has concerns.
'So how did your condition come to be?' Waver asked Juri.
'Well, it began on the end of the Fourth Grail War you're in actually and I was three years old at the time...I believe you heard about that Court Trial?'
'Yeah, Zelretch had to intervene all of Clock Tower knows by now.' said Waver, shaking his head. Because he was in Hospital, Reines personally came to the trial as due to the issue being the Gate in Fuyuki closed for good and Counter Force in play, the remaining Masters who were no older than his students, prevented a global disaster: death by a billion curses!
With Fuyuki now a useless land, the Tohsaka Family lost its patents even if they still owned Fuyuki, but the surviving masters gained a reputation for handling a disaster by themselves with no back-up whatsoever, and the ruins of the caverns in Mt. Enzo are investigated.
'...but what's your kidnapping got to do with it?'
Helloooo horrid childhood tale! Which was excluded from the court as she has a connection to the Fifth Grail War Masters. She had also revealed what was actually, the cause of the fire, and her own wish enabled her to become a Magus by awakening her ability as one and gave her knowledge of first-rate masters who participated in it.
Waver, Gray, Flat and Caules were in shock.
That explained her condition now. And she was a walking Bloodline Breach of Mystics...she knows ALL the secrets of Einzbern, Matou, El-Melloi and Edelfelt when she said she has a copy of knowledge of first-rate Masters who went!
"She clearly cannot see a Psychiatrist for this!" Waver thought darkly. 'You three...it goes without saying that what you found out, stays in your minds and bodies forever.' he warned his students who gulped. 'And Juri, don't just go blabbing like this, this could get you in trouble as you're a walking Breach of Mystics of four families!'
'...I normally won't, but you guys are trustworthy.' said Juri. 'Rare for Magi these days...and El-Melloi Classroom spams out magi like that since Nidaime-sensei became a teacher, so I don't mind.' Waver sputtered, pink-faced at her comments. Hey, you can't blame him for teaching young magus kids into having a moral compass and empathy, OK? That's what a good adult should do for kids to begin with! Oh, and a big fuck you to this society of sociopaths, too...
'Yeah...rare for our folk indeed.' said Caules with a tired sigh. 'Speaking of Breach, Luviagelita Edelfelt is in our classroom, so do NOT use family arts around her. She would know.' he told Juri. 'Woman in blue gown with blonde ringlets.' he described Luvia to her.
'Ah, I saw her...OK.'
'And regarding Juri's condition, I have just the lady to teach her how to express emotions like a girl.' Waver determined. 'Gray, that's your job.'
'Yes, master.'
'You dormed in?'
'Nope. My house is on the countryside since I built my Workshop there. Normally a 4 hour commute to here by car or motorbike, plus thirty minutes with traffic, but thanks to my eyes I'll never be late.' said Juri, flashing her Mystic Eyes. 'I can go anywhere I want instantly in places I've been to before even countries across the ocean. Mystic Eyes of Spatial Teleportation.'
They went (O.O). That's a pair of Jewel-Rank Eyes!
'...you're not on Rail Zeppelin.' Gray squeaked shakily as she knows who's on that train by look, not by name. 'How'd you get that?'
'...self-operated. The previous El-Melloi has great ideas, but scattered his paperwork, and tends to get distracted by political affairs thus these ideas are forgotten...I simply refined his Mystic Eye Research and made it my own, so since I completed it with no trace of the guy's handiwork, its mine now.' said Juri. 'I was able to develop these eyes. I operated on myself while awake in my eyes and brain to perfectly use this power without drawbacks.' jaws dropped again, this time from horror. 'Hurts like hell and turned my hair paper-bag-brown from stress and slight magic rebound from the additional power. But at least its a perfect job.'
"And how is she not insane yet?! Oh yes, Yvette's a worser example!" Waver thought in vexation.
Yvette L. Lehrman was from a family who crafts artificial Mystic Eyes out of Gemstones. To accommodate that power, she modified her own brain. And dumbass has several Mystic Eye gems. She modified her brain extensively for all eight types of eyes seven times that. It was a miracle she's still sane. She's a genius in her trade, but wastes so much time her grades suck, but at least in regards to her field, she would be the first Brand-Rank in her family's history.
But while Yvette's family uses makeshift eyes out of jewels, Juri deals with actual ORGANS. Juri would become a Grand.
'...Juri, you've definitely heard of Touko Aozaki.' Waver twitched. 'She was once a Sealing Designate as her Perfect Puppet cannot be replicated and it got revoked just recently. That, is a miracle. Normally once Designated, no revoking it.' he said. 'Take. Great. Care.' he emphasized sternly. 'About your Eye Trade...what are the conditions?'
'Quality and Quantity of Magic Circuits. Complete Maturity of the Circuits in both Eye and Brain to endure the operation and acclimatization of the new power.' Juri chimed. 'So even if I get requests for Jewel-Class Eyes, I cannot grant it so easily as that depends on a client's condition. And I can make Common and Noble Colors for market easily, but for Jewel-Ranked Eyes, you have to be powerful or born with special conditions or quite the fate on your shoulders. Gold Eyes can only be on Vampires, as their bodies can withstand such power without brain, spiritual and psychological damages being undead already and that is impossible in my hands. On a living person, that will render them insane or brain-dead or worse, their brains melt inside the skull and drain out of your nose.' welp, there goes their appetite for lunch...thanks a lot for that.
'Rainbow eyes...be a god or demigod for that or a lucky human touched by a stronger fate, like being chosen by the Counter Force or something for something big in their future.'
In Japan, Ryougi Shiki having dinner at home and Tohno Shiki who was looking for Arcueid's castle in Europe sneezed hard.
'I see...by that alone, you dodged being a Sealing Designate by five steps. Very well done as it CAN be replicated.' Waver sighed in relief. 'Just really, do NOT overstep. A life on the run or hiding is no fun.' he reminded her.
'OK.'
'Yosh, we'll have to endure till Tea Time.'
xxx
Waver looked into Juri's files in the academy.
She perfected the Entrance Exams, and many exams in many fields of Jewelcraft, Healing, Summoning, Necromancy, Spiritual Evocation, and Alchemy. All of which, aced. Elements of Fire and Ether which makes for an unusual combination. 20 Magic Circuits. Her Mystic Eyes are also on file so she'll definitely get attention. Chose two Departments. His own, and Yumina, the latter simply for two fields.
She would be the dream heir any magus family would want. She has a brilliant mind. And now its up to him to sharpen a warped tool into a refined blade, while helping her regain her heart and moral compass.
Sigh, its like raising Flat all over again but compared to Flat, at least she was like Gray in being quiet and avoiding trouble due to her warped social life and homes in on people she feels she can trust.
xxx
After school...
Waver wanted to see if she has a healthy home life, at least. So they went to her home in the countryside.
But...it stands out as 'Hey! It looks like a cottage out of Disney's Snow White!' yup, Flat lampshaded it. It was also surrounded by tall trees, and a garden of edibles that gave the front yard quite the awesome practicality and color image. And befitting a self-sufficient witch, by the way!
For all stuff here to bear fruit, potions and spells are definitely involved.
She was able to teleport them inside her Bounded Fields.
Inside...yep! Disney Style! But also invokes a homey feel and its well-ventilated that gentle, cool air flows in.
'You got so many bounded fields it feels like a castle in here.' Flat remarked as he could see those fields while others can't and its very colorful in his eyes. 'Your windows have spells for air flow and ventilation, like airconditioner!'
'Yup.'
'But what about lighting?' Gray asked her. 'And water flow?'
'River nearby, plus magical treatments to make water clean, potable and free of microorganisms. As for lighting, I have glow spells designed to imitate fluorescent lighting in good lamps. I'm self-sufficient in every way.'
'...but don't you want to find your family?' Gray asked her softly.
'...I haven't a face or name. And when we did look, there was no report in Police Stations anywhere...' said Juri. 'Maybe when I was taken, my family was...silenced. Can't make reports, can they?'
Awkward silence ensued.
'Even if I do have living relatives, they would question, why show up now instead of years earlier, leading to criticism of the law, and I'll get unwanted attention to bring out incompetency of the police force and detectives that I had to find my own way home and that, would be embarrassing.' Juri explained. 'People will get demoted or worse, fired...and Japan is an expensive country to live in. And I'm a Magus. I can't be around normal people and living a life of restriction is bad just to fit in. Might as well live among my kind.'
'...you could have stayed with those kids.' Waver told her. 'At least until you graduate High School.'
'...too much issues there, byproduct of Counter Force at work to deal with Angra permanently.' said Juri. 'Too much family drama and all four of them are healing from issues. I have no room there even if Emiya Shirou has a big house and can definitely house me. He even offered.'
'Family drama?' Flat blinked.
'Yes...its a long tale beginning ten years ago.' said Juri as she began making tea.
Juri told them what Angra knows of Tohsaka, Matou and Einzbern Activity in the Fourth War. Preparations to actual war itself, how it ended and its aftermath for four kids. So now, the Tohsaka Sisters reconciled, and Shirou took in Illya, his older adoptive sister who was lied to for years that her father, the Magus Killer abandoned her and replaced her with Shirou. Shirou had no idea his 'dad' had a child to begin with before he was taken in. Thus resolved to do Illya right after Juri fixed her body so that she would age at a human pace, and stop physically aging at age thirty. As homunculi can live as long as mana exists, would Illya want eternity as an old hag?
Illya is currently back in Germany for 'personal issues' where she stewed in anger for years as 'stress relief', and intends to rebuild the Einzbern Family her own way.
No wonder Juri distanced herself. Too private and she clearly didn't want drama that she opted OUT under the excuse she's enrolling in Clock Tower.
Yup, they get her.
After being ported back to his office.
'That was quite the experience huh?' Flat laughed weakly. 'At least she was a good cook! Free dinner!'
Free dinner consisted of fluffy white rice, the tastiest curry they ever had with very tender beef shank cuts and chunky large onions and potatoes, and four soft-boiled eggs with creamy, runny yolk, and she makes herbal tea meant for relaxation so they can sleep early. Yum!
'Yeah, we got what the Courts didn't know.' said Waver. 'Fuck, I need a drink. She dropped so much bombs on us, simply because she knows we're trustworthy!'
Including she is capable of Heaven's Feel after refining Justeaze's 'careful knitting' way into a more efficient and complete approach, which she taught to Illya. As of now, Juri is the true Master and Illya the heir. Because Illya is potentially immortal and Juri will die in a few decades or killed on a job, they can keep magic Magic. Three or more people knowing the technique, will make it Magecraft. And when Juri dies, Illya will then pick a worthy successor.
Juri intends to keep her case secret from the rest of Magi, and its up to Illya to go public anyhow...once she has PROTECTION and a fortress of a defense.
'Master, you have exams to grade.' Gray reminded him. 'You can't get drunk now.'
'Ugghhh...right, almost forgot.' Waver sighed helplessly.
Juri became a part of a circle to teach her humanity since hers was stolen and recently got it back, but no clue about it. And she was the 'class baby' so its a given that the whole class will act, if anyone dares to get Juri as Clock Tower is a dangerous place for those without backing and she has a psychological condition that needs looking after so there's stuff she fails to understand or are clueless in, until she's 'trained' in how to feel by her assigned companions.
'I heard that since Flat and Svin, you got a youngest student again.' Reines remarked as she visited Waver's messy apartment for breakfast.
'And she's a mess of epic proportions who needs Humanities 101 after her ability to express emotions and her moral compass was stolen from her by a malevolent entity and regained it back when said entity was killed. That was all she said about it.' Waver sighed. 'She was effectively a doll who thinks with pragmatic logic. Rehabilitation is a must and she has improvement from days spent with the people who saved her prior to coming here.' he said. 'So now she is under class watch. And is teacher's corpse still preserved last I checked?'
'Yeah, so?'
'...Juri can possibly assemble the minuscule pieces of the rest of the crest in teacher's body thanks to her magical attribute. Then Melvin can work on it to restore the whole thing.' said Waver as Reines' jovial attitude vanished and shared his grim determination. 'She's at home now for breakfast before coming to class and her house has no phone nor electricity, so we'll get her to fix the whole thing with Melvin's help after school today.'
'I'll sit in today.'
And so...
In Reines' suite in London...
'Here it is.' said Reines as Trimmau opened the preserving coffin containing a well-preserved corpse. Naked except for a pair of boxers on it and has noticeable bullet holes on his torso.
'Melvin, support Juri so she can extract the whole thing before we fork the whole thing over.' Waver instructed Melvin.
'Alright little lady, get ready.' said Melvin, taking out his violin and began to play his magecraft song to enhance her circuits and Juri raised her hands ala arms forward. The music began its work on Juri's circuits and it glowed, showing its patterns on her body. Revealing its abnormal composition as well.
'...I feel like I'm weightless in a pool of fluffy cotton warmed up under the sun...this is nice.' Juri who had a poker face seconds prior, now has a blissful dopey look on her face.
'That's evident of first-rate Tuning Juri.' said Waver, sweatdropping at her expression. 'Any less than that is second-rate.'
'Heee...well, this makes my job easier now.' and how! She pulled out the pieces out of Kayneth's corpse in a second! 'This would normally take me three minutes of extraction and half hour to extract what made it pieces in the first place...'
Juri can do this because of Third Magic and her Magical Attributes of Harmony and Assimilation. Otherwise it'll take decades to scrape off what Magus Killer did to the Crest! Third Magic deals with the Soul and Magic Circuits are IN the soul. And Magic Crests are made out of pieces of a Mage's Circuits. Using a part of it, she was able to gather all pieces, and separate what destroyed it in the form of something emitting from the pieces. She scanned what it was with a spell.
'...Magus Killer indeed. His Origin of Severing and Binding which he weaponized will destroy a Magus' Career.' Reines frowned as they read the results of the Scanning Spell. 'Kayneth's body was shot with bullets months before his death, and there was a huge bill paying Touko Aozaki to fix his ruined body and even then he's confined to a wheelchair afterward, two weeks before his death.'
'Here, all done.' said Juri, assembling the pieces. 'Some are so tiny they may as well be dust specks.' Melvin took out a storage case, and she guided the whole thing inside with a shoving motion.
'Well, this will take me ten years of work.' Melvin declared, looking at the bits and specks in the enclosure. 'They're so tiny! This is impossible to rush-work.' he informed them.
'You'll be compensated well.' Reines promised him. 'Juri.' Juri stepped towards Melvin and placed her hand on his chest.
'Er?'
'...wow, you're born with this...?' Juri blinked owlishly. 'There's also traces of magic potion that works rapidly to heal but when it wears off...yikes. The problem with this is that there's something constantly corroding you inside out, a well-made curse. Did your parents piss off someone and attacked you, their heir as revenge? It acts so much like an illness that its almost hard to detect. Almost.'
'Huh?!' that got the adults shocked with her words.
'...while I can heal you, I have no idea how to remove curses...who's an expert at Curses of this caliber?' Juri piped up. Indeed, Curses weren't her field...so yes, she has no idea how to tackle that.
'...we'll handle that.' Waver decided. 'You've done well, Juri.' he praised her. She was a big help to one of his goals at least...