Start of the [Luck: E- & Mana: ZERO Saga] of our resident seaweed!
A slice of life before the true suffering starts...hehehe...
Rewind Count:1 Morning (Three years after death, Shinji 17, one week before the Grail War)
I warily looked down at my palm for the quintillionth time. A million little reflections glared back.
After the time I first died/revived, the amulet I crushed - to be more specific, the ruby on it - had fused with the skin, bone, and flesh of my right hand.
Luckily, I hadn't died a second time, so I hadn't had the luxury to see if it would stay stuck (thank god for the small mercies), but it was concerning all the same.
I pulled on my leather gloves to hide the arcane mess that was my right hand and sighed.
Three years had already passed. Three years of trying to pull myself up from the pathetic self-pitying negative spiral that was my life.
I changed out of my sleeping clothes and into my skin-tight gym shirt and pants. I glanced at the clock and scoffed at myself.
The time was 4:30 am. I am fucking diligent, ain't I?
I silently traversed the eery Matou household, not wanting to meet that ancient monster that was my grandfather.
Today seemed to be my lucky day as I arrived at the kitchen without any incidents.
"Good morning, big brother."
Or not.
Sakura, for what unholy reason, was already up and well. This has continued for the past few years, ever since I tried to turn a new leaf.
"Sakura. Why are you here?", I growled.
If it was three years ago, Sakura would have dipped her head down in shame. If.
"Why, to make breakfast for you, of course.", Sakura giggled as she flipped over a pancake. "Ryuudoji temple is quite far away, and your training with Kuzuki sensei is just brutal. You need your food."
It was by pure coincidence I stumbled upon Kuzuki fighting off a stalker who was harassing a female student named Ayako Mitsuzuri.
I hoped he had left her to fend for herself; she was an annoying and vicious bitch, almost on the level of Tohsaka, but I'll come back to that later.
Anyways, being the little eager simp I am, and probably still loose in the head from my first death (there could be no other reason), I begged Kuzuki to teach me how to fight.
To my surprise, he simply nodded his head. I asked him if he wanted anything in return for his tutelage.
And you know what he replied?
"Complete and utter diligence. That is all."
Can you believe that? You would think he was the kind of stereotypical teacher who would do anything to stay in line.
You are right. He is. A teacher, that is.
I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he was a professional assassin, though. Those martial arts of his were designed to kill.
As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have lasted three days if it wasn't for my insane physical capability.
One might think that I was bragging. Like hell I would.
There wasn't one day, one single fucking day I wasn't ridiculed for being a hunk on steroids in this god-forsaken worm-infested household.
All muscles, no magic. The epitome of a failure.
And the one time these muscles contribute to something, they drag me into this endless hell cycle of training with a man with almost no emotions.
...Come to think of it, why did I do this in the first place? I shouldn't be that crazy, right?
Fucking wuss. Why would I even do that?
For the upcoming Grail War? For what?
A servant will do all the fighting, and most likely, Sakura would be the master.
For what do I train? For whom?
...
Ah, fuck. For me, of fucking course!
If I can keep my own against other mages, I can be a pseudo master with a contract grimoire!
No other possible explanation. QED.
Sakura set a bowl of steaming white rice and miso soup in front of me, with a repertoire of other Japanese goodnesses.
She smiled and waited for me to eat.
Her smile.
...
Fuck. I really hated Sakura.
"Thanks for the food.", I grumbled under my breath.
The way Sakura's infuriating smile widened told me that she has heard all she wanted to hear.
Run. Breath. Run. Regulate the blood flow. Run.
15 minutes just, and I reached Ryuudoji Temple. I should have ran at speeds of at least 56 miles/hour (90km/hour).
Yes...22.5km...about that fast.
I checked my watch. 5:15 am. 15 minutes early as always.
I calmed my breathing and sat cross-legged in the middle of the temple's pebble garden.
A tingle of danger traveled down my spine. That teacher really doesn't know restraint.
Now, time for pure instinct.
Sway head back, intercept arm, strike with elbow, faint jab, half a step back, twirl to the right, use body axis to divert the following jab, step onto foot to stop movement, catch sleeve, block heel drop from above, knee kick in the abdomen, breath -
A fist caught me in the chin, and I felt my vision blur. Shit-
A backhand hit to the temple was all he needed to take me down. I went with the blow and rolled back several meters.
"Urgh...that hurts like a bitch..."
"You shouldn't have let down your guard. You became arrogant with your training, and decided to disrupt your rhythm."
"Yeah, yeah...sure...rub it in, won't you..."
Souichirou Kuzuki stepped out of the shadows without a single sound. I swear to god he is an assassin.
Both of his hands were slightly bleeding from striking my inhumanly tough body.
"You will do that with any other student? If you want to cause mass murder, I recommend you use firearms.", I sniped. My lip was cut. My mouth tasted of blood.
Kuzuki raised a single eyebrow.
"No, when I train with you, I do so with the full intent to kill, not maim. If I do so with any other person, they would die in seconds. And my martial arts is not suited for mass assassination. I would use a bomb if that was the case."
"..."
I swear to god yet again, this man is a complete psycho.
Kuzuki kicked something up with the tip of his leather shoe and caught it in his hand.
I blinked. I couldn't believe my eyes.
"I think it is time for the training to go on to the second step. We have approximately 40 minutes before the early morning club activities start. You will now fight against me...armed with an APC9 submachinegun."
"...Wut?"
Kuzuki's arms twitched upwards, ever so slightly. I did the most sensible thing in my life.
I ran towards the nozzle.
For Souichirou Kuzuki, the boy in front of him was a most intriguing specimen.
When the boy first begged him to teach him the arts of murder, he naturally thought about refusing.
Except...there wasn't any reason for him not to teach the boy.
He was living because he chooses to live, despite his orders to commit suicide after his kill to erase the tracks.
All his life, his sole purpose was to kill one person, and then to die, for people he didn't know nor cared for.
What would become of his arts if he lived his life out?
All the other people, people who were trained like him from a toddler in an environment constructed to brainwash them into mechanical assassins for one-time use, and then to be discarded...
For the first time in his life, he felt something akin to regret. Regret, that there was no other person alive to succeed him in his life's work, the accumulation of his arts.
Kuzuki decided to test the boy. If he proved to be too frail, it would be the reason to refuse.
The boy was anything but that.
Three years had passed since he had taken the boy under his wing, and he couldn't help but be astounded by the sheer tenacity and potential of the boy.
Shinji Matou did not break. Shinji Matou did not die!
Unknowingly even to him, Kuzuki was smiling.
He couldn't wait to see what kind of monster his pupil would become.
With that warm feeling in his chest, he pulled the trigger.
His pupil screamed.
"Ow...fuck...ow...how in fucking fuck's fuck did he get a gun!? A firearm of the US military, nonetheless! An old model like the AK47 may be on the black market, but an APC9..!? Are you kidding me?"
After bandaging up my wounds and pulling out a dozen shrapnels with a tweezer, I finally reached the school gates.
I never thought I would be happy seeing the school gates, but right now?
I could've kissed their rusty ass.
Looking around, I found there were almost no students around. Glancing down at my watch, I grimaced.
6:30 am. What to do...
I eyed the archery stadium in the distance. I smile tugged at my lips.
Yes, that would do...
Opening the fusuma (Japanese door), I found that there was nobody in the archery range. Good.
There were two targets at different distances, one at 28 meters, and the other at 60. I chose the latter.
I noticed there was a lone arrow stuck in the middle. I felt a vein pop in my head.
That bitch...it was her challenge, I just know it!
I took an arrow and raised my thumb, aligning it with the tiny red dot far away.
Then, I threw an arrow in the same way someone throws a javelin.
The arrow flew through the air in a straight line and split the arrow on the target, cleanly in half. The force behind the arrow was so strong, that it punctured right through the wooden target and gouged a hole into the brick wall behind.
"...Ah, shit."
"Phew~what a throw! You are a damn chad, you know?"
Cold sweat poured from my back when I heard that familiar voice ring out from behind.
Ayako Mitsuzuri had her usual smug smile on her face as she stepped next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
"...What do you want...?", I growled.
"You see...Sakura was quite sad that you quit the archery club. Emiya also asks where you have gone. Tohsaka also told me that you needed some rehabilitation activities to set your, and I quote; 'broody, teen-angst filled mind', straight. "
With every name, I felt my temper rise tenfold. Those fucking good-for-nothings...!
"So...?", Mitsuzuri said in a sly, saccharine tone, while making sure to gesture at the property damage I created.
"Do we have a deal?"
I stormed out of the club, furious at myself and all the evil in the world.
Shirou - the Emiya browny saw me and raised a hand with a stupid smile.
"Good morning, Shinji-"
"Yeah, FUCK YOU TOO!", I screamed back in his face.
I pushed him away, of course, with only a morsel of my strength.
It would be...troublesome if he were to end up hurt. Yeah, that's it.
All those fucking goody two shoes make me sick.
Emiya looked horribly confused.
I left him that way. He would be crawling all over my back anyway.
Why would he be friends with a moody guy who hates human contact...?
It's a mystery.
Meh. A mystery. Yeah. Somehow, I have a feeling that Ayako, Rin, and Shirou would like this version of Shinji far more than his original narcissistic bipolar self in the novel.
A tsundere? Oh, puuulease. He would break the entire genre if you try jamming him into that rabbit hole.
Please review, let me know your thoughts, anything, and review!
X-kalibuuuur, out.