Another day, another idea. What do I have for you today? Well, as some of you may know, I've been dipping my foot into the Fate pool of fics. I've written one Fate fic where Shirou was reborn as Harry Potter in another universe. And I don't know when this will release, but I have a few other fics that I've worked on with Fate. We can chalk this up to another one of those ideas. Today, I am going to propose a Fate/Persona 5: Royal idea. This idea has a few inspirations. The first is "Fate: Clouded Psyche" by The Distorted Shadow (id: 13333760), then "Fate: Reach Out" by Vegeta the 3rd (id: 8872034), then lastly (to an extent) "Fate Masks of Heroism" by Gilgamesh The King of Heroes (id: 11306987). These four ideas are primarily Persona 4-based and there are few Persona 5 ones in comparison. Perhaps due to timelines that one would need to work with and the like, I don't know. With my recommendations out of the way, let's get to the idea itself.
An interesting thing happens in "Fate: Reach Out," a very interesting thing. Don't worry, I'm not going to copy their story, but it did raise an interesting question about the Holy Grail itself. In Fate, at least post-3rd Grail War, it becomes a Monkey's Paw, but in Persona 5 it seems to have a will of its own. So, that got me thinking, what if I did a story (or at least wrote up a pilot), potentially going over that concept itself? What if, after the end of Hollow ataraxia, Shirou and co. found themselves in Tokyo where someone working in the shadows was trying to create another Holy Grail completely outside the system that was destroyed in Fuyuki? But also, what if it was also found out that Shirou had extended family living in Tokyo in the form of our favorite gremlin hacker Futaba? This is essentially what has spawned this idea. Totally not that Futaba and Shirou both have red hair or anything like that. But let's get this all started.
Title: Fate/Phantom nights (not final).
Pairing(s): Shirou/Rin/Saber (Artoria). Ren/undecided. For Shirou, this is a trope of a pairing, but I'm fine with it. As for Ren, I'm unsure. Part of me wants to do the Futaba route just so that Shirou can go "big brother mode" on Ren as I think that'll provide some prime entertainment for us all, but personally, I'm privy to Makoto, Haru, or Ann (if we were going for an adult character MC to watch the events through, then Kawakami). But we'll see if this continues where that'll go.
Rating: M strictly because of the "prana exchanges" that Rin and Shirou would do as a romantically involved couple, Saber too, even if it is only spoken of in passing as opposed to actually describing it. As for another potential pairing(s) I do not know how far I'll take it, even implied things that "canonically" (for the story) happen off-screen between couples. Language will be a given. Descriptions of blood and gore may be a possibility in order to enhance the direness of a scene if needed. Lastly, innuendo may occur. Ok, it for sure will, but the frequency may not be too often.
Summary: Shirou can never quite tell what the agenda is with Zelretch. Sometimes he helps, sometimes he hinders, and sometimes you can't tell what he's up to. This happens to be one of those times. Zelretch mysteriously directs Shirou, Rin, and Saber to Tokyo to investigate grumblings that someone is trying to reinitiate the Grail system, but in Tokyo instead. Meanwhile, Rin has her own, personal agenda and finds something for Shirou that he once thought was lost.
Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my desktop. Persona belongs to ATLUS and Fate to TYPE-MOON. I only own this idea. See the forward for the full disclaimer.
XxXxXxX
Shirou stood outside of the high school where he'd be spending his third school year at. He was dressed in the school's winter uniform consisting of a pair of black and red plaid pants, a black coat, a white collared shirt with a plaid tie of the same mentioned colors, and black loafers. Rin stood beside him wearing similar attire with a black and red plaid skirt of about knee length – as part of the uniform's seasonal rotation – with black tights underneath, a white collared blouse with a ribbon-style tie of the same plaid coloring, a black overcoat, and black loafers. He had to admit, she looked quite cute in it. The first time he had mentioned it to her, she had gone into full 'tsun-tsun mode' and blushed before punching him in the shoulder.
But he had to ask himself, why were a couple of magi enrolling at a prestigious – at least for Tokyo – school? Well...
XxXxXxX
Two weeks prior. Unknown lab associated with the Clock Tower.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that again?" Rin asked incredulously.
Shirou and Rin sat in the two provided chairs on the other side of the Wizard Marshall's, Zelretch's, desk. They had found themselves in his apprenticeship after the Fifth Grail War in Fuyuki ended and Rin had... accidentally merged three separate timelines almost causing a paradoxical event to swallow the town to correct itself. That was three months ago. The two pretty much dropped out of high school to be his apprentices. Rin for jewelcraft, Shirou for... no one knew exactly why the Wizard Marshall took an interest in him, but Shirou and Rin had a stray inkling of a thought of what it may be.
Unlimited Blade Works.
A Reality Marble – simplified as being an alternate perception of the universe as its holder sees fit – a practice of borderline True Magic that took decades if not centuries to develop with known users able to be counted on two hands easily; but Shirou was able to develop one in less than two weeks. That was unheard of. Only Rin, Shirou, Artoria, and Zelretch knew of his Reality Marble, and it was for the better considering the practices of magi of the Clock Tower.
"My little birdies have caught wind of a magus operating in Tokyo," Zelretch started to explain, "and said magus is trying to restart the creation of the Holy Grail."
Rin's eyes trailed to her hand still showing the Command Seals which she went through great pains to cover up with various make-up concoctions or gloves, a look that gave her away. "You mean, another Grail War?" she asked.
"Both yes, and no. No massive spikes in mana have been detected indicating that Servants have been summoned. Whoever this magus is, they appear to be rebuilding the Grail through other means outside the system that you two are familiar with."
"Other means?" Shirou asked. "Do you know what they may be?"
Zelretch shook his head, "Unfortunately, no. Even the Kaleidoscope itself cannot reveal other universes and timelines to help hint at how they may be attempting to do this. The person behind it is shrouded in darkness as well."
"So, what is it you want us to do about it?" Rin asked.
"Well, isn't it obvious? I'm going to need you two to investigate!"
"Umm, how do you want us to do that exactly?" Shirou asked.
"As with all magi, they have a network of people. You start your way on the outer-most individuals and work your way in. As for how? Neither of you finished your Third Year, right?"
XxXxXxX
"Damn that Zelretch," Rin muttered, "making us go back to high school again. And all the way on the other side of the planet again."
"Look at the bright side," Shirou started.
"What bright side?"
"You look quite cute in that uniform."
Her face lit up red in embarrassment but didn't do anything to Shirou in public as she muttered in 'tsun-tsun mode,' "Stupid Shirou."
"Well, I guess we shouldn't put it off any longer," Shirou muttered as he started walking inside the school with Rin following behind him.
XxXxXxX
The day went as both Rin and Shirou expected. Being transfer students, they had to make themselves known to the class and introduced themselves. They had spent the night before with Artoria as their stand-in for a potential class rehearsing their introduction. They settled on telling their names, a hobby, and that they were on a work-study abroad for a year and have come back to finish their education before going back to college. It explained who they were, something to make them seem personable, and then why these eighteen-year-olds were just now finishing their third year. Apprenticing under Zelretch was studying abroad.
Technically.
It all went well. Well, at least for Shirou.
He introduced himself, said his hobby was fixing things to see how they worked, and that he did the work-study abroad. Obviously, the 'using of magecraft' to figure out how things worked went unsaid. Rin had forbidden him from doing any unpaid work. Said that she'd take the payment on his behalf and stuff it into investments in his name should he attempt to refuse. No lover of hers was going to become an unpaid Brownie. As for Rin's introduction? Well...
"I am Tohsaka Rin," Rin introduced herself. "I am studying to go into gemology and mineralogy for a career. And like Shirou, I studied abroad last year as part of a work-study." She saw the girls in the class start to eye him. "I am also Shirou's girlfriend, so don't get any ideas!"
That was... awkward for Shirou. Not because he was embarrassed by her, but because she never really announced their relationship to anyone and kept it very private. Especially during their final days in Fuyuki. He didn't know if it was out of some kind of embarrassment or for her to have old wounds reopened while there. But the merge changed all that. The mixing of timelines meant the mixing of feelings and experiences. Shirou had to ask himself if her boldness in disclaiming their relationship outright was to really throw off other girls because of the attention he was unknowingly generating, or if it was because the other sides of her wanted this version of herself to clearly state her intentions so he couldn't be stolen away. On some level, he was flattered.
For the school day, there was nothing to write home about it other than the two transfers excelling in English due to living in England, and the mother tongue there was English. Also, Artoria helped with proper English as well, but that was left unsaid. As far as the outside world was concerned, she was their housekeeper and maid. But obviously, her secret was known to both Shirou and Rin. The sciences weren't really the two's strong suit, so they knew that they'd need to study up on those subjects outside when it coincides with magecraft as several theories and practices echo each other.
During class, Shirou was able to pick up a few things from the class. The first was that there was a rumor circulating about another new transfer student, this one was a boy a year beneath them. If the rumors were to be believed – which both Rin and Shirou put very little faith into such things as this was high school; though there was always some tiny bit of truth in rumors – the boy was in the mafia and killed a man and was only out due to a plea deal. There were other rumors that said that he sold several girls into prostitution. These on top of other outlandish accusations that were defamatory in nature caused the couple to metaphorically raise several eyebrows when their classmates had attempted to make small talk using the new junior as the topic of discussion. Rin could already tell that Shirou was getting THAT look in his eye, the 'saving people' one.
Knowing how Shirou would be, she understood how he was. But at the same time, she couldn't let him go off half-cocked as high school (and even college to a major extent) was very popularity based. This was something she tried and was successful with at Homouhara where they kept things secret from all of their classmates despite the two being very intimately involved. If she was going to let Shirou get involved at any level with this new junior, they'd both need information, or else they get blacklisted from social circles they'd need for information, especially since Zelretch found it fit to enroll them here of all places. He could have sent them off on a mission without the extra steps of schooling, but he saw fit to enroll them, so this school had something to do with the new Holy Grail and Heaven's Feel. Zelretch didn't do things without reason, even if they didn't seem to make sense at the time.
Rin gave him a look and signed 'later.' And 'we need info.'
The two had learned American Sign Language for simple phrases or words one-handed while at Homouhara as they couldn't communicate in the open without exposing their relationship to the rumor mill of the school. While there was no reason to keep their relationship secret here, that didn't mean they had to tip their hand with what they were thinking in public. After all, the connection to the mystery magus was here, they didn't know who it was yet.
After school, the couple happened upon the new transfer student in passing. There had been something missed during their onboarding and they needed to stop by the teachers' lounge to collect some paperwork. They rounded the corner to see the new student – a boy with a black, messy mop of a haircut and glasses who stood about average height dressed in the same uniform as Shirou – being dressed down by another teacher – a woman in a striped yellow shirt and a jean skirt with her own messy brown hair – who they had been informed was named Kawakami.
Right before they saw her, though, something felt off about the school, like someone tripped a Bounded Field. But as fast as it came it was gone. Shirou and Rin looked at each other; something wasn't right here.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Kawakami asked the transfer.
"Yeah," the transfer replied. His voice was soft and submissive like he was trying to avoid all confrontation.
"Also... it seems like people are already talking about you, but I'm not the one who told them," she rubbed the back of her head nervously but it definitely didn't show in her voice. She then whined, "I can't even catch a break... Why do I have to deal with this?"
It looked like she had attempted to mutter it under her breath but said it aloud. She seemed tired, real tired. But that comment seemed uncalled for. "Harsh," Rin mouthed.
"You should head straight home without stopping anywhere. Sakura-san sounded pretty angry," Kawakami continued not missing a beat like the previous comment was never said by her. "Oh, and about Sakamoto-kun. Don't get involved–," she trailed as footsteps approached. "Speak of the devil..."
A boy walked up with blonde hair which appeared to have black roots which meant he dyed it. He wore a non-standard undershirt consisting of a t-shirt under his school jacket and had shoes that were more 'street'-oriented, though the rest seemed 'school standard.' He slouched forward and kept his hands in his pocket as he stood in front of Kawakami-sensei. In both Shirou's and Rin's minds, it read as 'thuggish.' His mannerisms would suggest projecting an aura of bravado to keep those that aren't worth their time away until around a small group or a person. Shirou knew that aura all too well, after all, Rin used to be the school idol/ice queen of Homouhara.
"What do you want? I heard the police caught you cutting class today," Kawakami stated knowingly. It appeared their blonde underclassman had a history with this teacher.
"Ugh, it was nothin'," the blonde tried to shrug off.
"And you haven't dyed your hair back to black either."
"Sorry 'bout that." He wasn't sorry about it. He walked over to the transfer and stated, "I'll be waiting on the rooftop," before walking away. It wasn't a threat but an invitation.
Kawakami shook her head in disappointment. "See? That's why I don't want you getting involved, understood?" she asked before walking away, not waiting for the transfer's reply.
Another voice on the other side of the hall could be heard by both of them, the speakers attempted to be quiet but weren't doing a good job at it. Then again, they were at the stairwell, so it wasn't that hard to hear them. "Why did you allow a student like him to transfer here? He's already associating with Sakamoto," a younger male voice complained. The man was clearly an adult based on his vocal tones. "A student with a criminal record, and a culprit with an assault case. At this rate, it'd be pointless how much I contribute to the school," he asserted as he put his hands on his hips almost sanctimoniously.
"Now, don't be like that..." the principal said. They knew it was him due to his voice. And mass. Kind of hard to miss that. "This school counts on you, Kamoshida-kun. You are our star." He shook his head, "Still, a steady build-up is necessary behind such brilliance as well."
"...Your troubles never seem to end, do they, Principal Kobayakawa?" He seemed to perk up after that. "Alright, I understand. I'll continue to do my best to answer your expectations of me."
"Brownnoser," Rin mouthed and Shirou nodded in agreement.
The teacher left and now they knew who it was: Suguru Kamoshida. Former Olympian athlete after some kind of covered-up controversy a few years ago. But that was as far as both Shirou and Rin cared. Celebrity gossip wasn't their cup of tea. The weather and traffic were about the limits of their caring about the media. While they needed to be knowledgeable of the world, celebrity gossip didn't fit into that.
The couple paid no more attention as Kamoshida went upstairs and the transfer walked down the hallway before going upstairs himself; it looked like he was going to the library.
"Looks like the show's over," Shirou observed with a bit of amusement to lighten the mood. Rin didn't smirk as it appeared she was deep in thought. "Rin?"
"I'll talk more about it when we get back," Rin replies.
They exit the school and start walking to the metro station. "So, have you considered joining any clubs?" Shirou asked.
"Considering the potential for a Grail war, no."
"They have some good sports teams, but no archery." Rin laughed. "What?"
"After Archer, you're still wanting to do archery?"
"Just because that ass was a future me and me not wanting to end up like him doesn't mean I can't acknowledge a skill we both share."
"True." They walked and passed a small shop that had a French aesthetic in its shopfront. She suddenly stopped. "Did you feel that?" she asks as she turned towards an alley.
"Yeah," Shirou confirmed as he Reinforced his eyes to look down the alley and saw nothing out of the ordinary. The couple walked down the alley and when they arrived in what appeared to be a pocket, like a small area for storage for garbage or other items that may be stored in a shed of some kind, there was nothing there. Beyond it in another alley connecting to this one was Shujin. "That was... anticlimactic."
"That doesn't make any sense. It felt like there was a Bounded Field here," Rin said, more so to try and reassure herself that she wasn't going crazy.
"I know, I felt it too. But something was off about it. It didn't feel of this world."
"A Reality Marble?" Rin suggested out of nowhere. "The only person in the world right now that has one is you."
"I know, but that's as far as we know. There could be others. But it is centered around here."
"How could a non-living thing have one? Assuming the theory you're presenting is solid."
"I don't know. Maybe reality in and of itself is weaker here and something is bleeding through. But the question then becomes why aren't we seeing anything?"
Rin was silent as she contemplated this. She finally admitted, "I don't like it."
"Me neither, what are you thinking?"
"We could have Artoria monitor the area, and see what happens. Being astralized she'll be completely invisible even to other magi." She then looked to Shirou. "How about putting some of those runes to the test?" She pulled out a gem and tossed it to her boyfriend. Looking it over, it was a piece of quartz so purely clear one would misidentify it as a diamond at first glance. She then pointed to a fire escape on a building. "Think you can stick it to a railing with a good, wide area of visibility?"
"Surveillance?" Shirou asked to which she nodded. "I can do that." He Reinforced his body and leaped to the fire escape in a single jump. He climbed up and looked the alleyway over. Seeing a good place, he traced a Nordic rune to the back of the gem and stuck it to the metal of the railing. No one would suspect Rin's magical camera here. "Good?"
Rin's crest flared for a second and she replied, "God's Eye is in place."
"So, that's what you're calling it?" Shirou asked with a smirk from above.
She puffed out her cheeks in embarrassment and looked away before admitting, "It's a work in progress."
Shirou rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's actions and jumped down from where he was, landing in a crouch. "Bounded Field of our own?"
"Bounded Field of our own," Rin agreed. She took out a piece of mercury-infused chalk and started drawing on a wall the structure for a magical circle. Once satisfied, she placed her hand on it and her Crest flared once more. The circle filled with magical energy causing it too to glow in the same shade of green before fading away. "Now, we'll know if someone steps foot in here."
The two walked out of the alley back into the regular foot traffic. As they rounded the corner, the alley flashed ever so briefly the image of a castle before returning to what it had been before.
XxXxXxX
Three days. It had taken three days for the Bounded Field to get tripped to the point where Artoria was now watching the alley deastralized. The alley in and of itself being traveled was of no consequence, after all, people did use it. It was when someone entered and didn't leave for hours, that's where questions were raised and Artoria asked to keep an eye on it. The day after the couple had planted their bug, it had been tripped where two had gone in and hadn't left for an hour. The third time was the third day, and that was when it had been tripped three times. The first was by two humans and an animal, followed by another human, and lastly by that same human. It was at this point that Artoria had been stationed there waiting for them to reemerge so the individuals could be identified.
The 'watch and wait' method had been all too effective.
Artoria had observed three individuals, and a cat, leaving the bounded field hours later after they entered. They were all from Shujin Academy based on their uniform schema (one of the advantages of the unique uniform system that schools adopted was that they could be easily identified from a distance. The distinctive black and red plaid gave them away despite the one blonde boy having a non-uniform shirt and shoes on and the blonde girl wearing a white hoodie. The boy in shaggy black hair took the cat with him. Artoria had to resist the cuteness. She wanted to pet it. But she couldn't, her knightly duties came first.
The two blonde teens deferred to the shaggy-haired boy's command. The blonde boy outright called him their leader. He also appeared to be new to the role of leadership, Artoria observed, as he appeared to shrink at the very concept of it from what little she was able to overhear of their conversation as it slowly became drowned out by the masses around them in the crowds. From the mind of a tactician, she understood that everyone started from some point. After all, she started as some borderline peasant girl who just so happened to draw the Sword of Destiny from a stone set up in advance by Merlin. She saw the infinite potential within, it just had to be nurtured to come to fruition.
"Saber, did you find out who it was?" Rin's voice came over their mental link.
"I have a person of interest. I am following them now," Artoria responded over the link.
"Very good, keep us updated," Rin added before closing the link.
Artoria leaped down and astralized in a disguise reminiscent of some of the clothes that she wore during the Fifth Grail War, though the style itself was updated to reflect modern choices in material and cut. She even wore a hat to help make her blonde hair less obvious at first glance.
She followed the boy into the subway and followed him at a distance. She watched as she appeared to converse with a cat that was in his bag. But this cat didn't feel like a cat on a spiritual level. Like a Phantasmal Beast of some kind that chose the form of a cat. Either that or she was losing her edge and this boy was literally talking to a cat without even knowing what it could possibly be saying in response. Which, if she was being honest, she didn't know which one was worse.
The teen finally got off of the subway and walked into a suburb-type area which Artoria noted as being called Yongen-Jaya. He rounded a corner and walked into a café that had European-type external décor. She was about to walk away and out of sight to deastralize to make her way back to Rin, but-.
"Artoria, what are you doing here?" Shirou asked with Rin beside him.
"I should be asking you the same question," Artoria rebutted.
"Well..." he trailed.
XxXxXxX
One hour earlier...
"We should probably get home," Shirou said as he started to pack up letting the class rep go on to whatever duties they needed to do.
The school day had been relatively uneventful. The only thing of note is that they had been asked by the Student Council President Niijima Makoto to tour the school's available clubs to see what they two would be interested in doing. Shirou and Rin could both tell why she was doing it: it was a distraction from the recently attempted suicide of one of the second-year students. Neither Rin nor Shirou had been able to get down there in time to use any magecraft to stabilize her condition as by the time they got there the girl was surrounded by the student body as well as EMS. For all the clubs the couple said that they'd think about it. After all, they were in their third year and were getting ready for college. Well, they were already in the college of the Clock Tower. The only other bit of news is that there were rumors that the messy-haired second-year had attempted to assault Kamoshida in his office which did cause Shirou to raise an eyebrow.
"Something wrong?" Rin asked as they walked past the same alley as before, Artoria perched and ready to observe.
"Yeah," Shirou admitted. "I know we shouldn't take much stock in rumors, triply so amongst students here, but something's off about that Kamoshida guy."
"How so?" Rin prodded. She had her own theories, but she wanted to hear his line of thought first.
"First, we have this other transfer student who really appears to be keeping his head down because of some criminal charge that all of the teachers know about and suddenly it comes out in the student body rumor mill. The teacher complaining about said student does so to the principal within earshot of the guy. A student tries to off themselves, is overheard by said 'criminal' and his friend, and his friend goes to his office in a blind rage where the guy trying to lay low is pretty much on the chopping block in less than a week." They got to the station where he continued, "Not to mention he's been giving you lustful gazes when he thinks no one is watching."
Rin nodded in agreement. "That perv has been looking at my breasts and ass. Only you get to do that," she grits through her teeth angrily. She coughed into her hand to center herself again and continued, "I've heard through the grapevine as well while getting to know some of our female classmates to stay away from volleyball due to Kamoshida coaching it and him having less than honorable relationships with his female athletes; while they said it was a rumor, there is likely truth to it. As for what I've heard about his training, it's talked about in hushed voices as being extremely rough to the point of borderline abuse in public." Shirou nodded; he had heard the same as well.
They entered the train car and it started to speed away. But Shirou noticed that they were going the opposite way of their apartment. "Uh, Rin, did we get in the wrong car?" he asked.
"To go home, yes, but there's somewhere else that we need to go first," Rin replies.
"Ok, what are we going to see?"
Rin took a seat, not quite sure how to get the topic started. "Shirou, how much do you know about your family, your biological one?"
He shrugged. "Nothing at all, why?"
"What if I, as Second Owner, pulled a few strings and found living relatives of yours?"
"Living relatives?"
"A cousin, in this case."
Shirou blinked, unsure of what he just heard. "A… cousin?" She nodded. He took a seat next to her. "How did-?"
"I spoke to Taiga; your adoption wasn't the most… legal of adoptions by Kiritsugu and he asked her grandfather for a favor. I proceeded to pull records from City Hall regarding the fire and there were innumerable missing person cases, but there was one that was opened and shut on the same day as your adoption paperwork went through: yours." She pulled out a small binder that had photocopied papers inside it. The first was a picture of what appeared to be him when he was maybe three years old. "It was requested by a Wakaba Issiki out of Tokyo. She would have been your mother's sister." He turned the page to see another woman who had black hair and glasses. She looked pretty plain. Like she would blend in with the crowd. "Based on her picture it appears you got most of your looks from your father."
Shirou gulped, "So, my aunt is-?"
"She passed away two years after the Fuyuki Fire incident under strange circumstances," Rin finished with remorse.
"Strange circumstances?" he parroted.
"Eight years ago, she had been working in a field of science that no one's heard of and all topics associated with her research are covered up and that what's not is dismissed as quackery."
"What did she research?"
"From what I've been able to dig up, something called Cognitive Psience."
"I've never heard of that before."
"Neither did I, and I looked into it and from what I can tell, it's research into inner worlds and how performing tasks in that inner world may affect the holder of that world. It almost sounds like-."
"A Reality Marble," Shirou finished and Rin nodded in confirmation. "Could the Association have killed her off?"
"As you know, researching how to develop a Marble is Taboo, in order to make an example of people, the Clock Tower and the Mages Association make sure you know if someone gets a Sealing Designation for researching how to develop a Reality Marble. Her name was not amongst the names of people issued a Sealing Designation."
"So, she was working on something similar to Reality Marble research in secret and was silenced," Shirou summarized, "likely someone close to the project." Rin nodded in agreement with his summary as that's the conclusion she had also come to in her research. "So, why are we going on this line? If my maternal aunt is dead, what's the point of-?"
"She is survived by her only child. Her daughter. Your cousin," she enunciated to impress the importance. "She's a few years younger than you and would have been a toddler had she taken you in instead of Kiritsugu and was five when her mother died, she's fifteen now."
"What do you know about her?"
She turned to the next page. "Only that she's fifteen and abandoned the last name of Isshiki for Sakura several years ago; the family name of her legal guardian, Sojiro Sakura. Currently isn't in school for unspecified reasons. While her legal guardian, Sojiro isn't legally her father."
"Then why take his name?"
She shook her head, "Couldn't find out why. Must be personal enough to be kept of public records." She was silent for a bit but spoke up finally, "You aren't mad at me, are you?"
"Mad?"
"For digging into your past. I know you see Kiritsugu as your father despite some of the missteps he deliberately taught you in magecraft."
Shirou was silent as the train stopped at another platform. She didn't get up, so it wasn't their stop yet. "Would you have still told me if I had no surviving kin?"
"Yes. While you don't remember them due to your amnesia, there's a possibility that may clear up and you suddenly remember them one day. You deserve to know who they were." The pair were silent as the train stopped once more.
"Yongen-Jaya," the automated voice announced.
"This is our stop," Rin said as she stood up.
Shirou followed and exited the train and the station. She then looked at a street sign to confirm she was going the right way before turning down it. She walked a bit further and stopped at an intersection and looked down at a café. It appeared Western-styled in terms of a storefront. The sign above the café read, Café Le Blanc. The sign on the window still showed that they were open.
"So… this is it. The workplace of my cousin's guardian," Shirou said as he took a step forward. But as he did, he paused and noticed that someone was in front of him. "Artoria, what are you doing here?" Shirou asked.
"I should be asking you the same question," Artoria rebutted as she stepped out of the shadows.
"Well..." he trailed.
Shirou began to explain why they were there and the fact that Rin looked into his family before Kiritsugu and found a cousin on his mother's side and that they were on their way to meet her guardian; after all, it's be poor form to show up unannounced. As for Artoria, she explained that she was following a shaggy-haired boy who had emerged from the alley. The big red flag that she stated was that he and his friends had been wearing the same colors of uniform they were.
Rin looked to Shirou. "Shaggy black hair and hangs around a blonde bluster-type?" Rin asked.
"Sounds like our same 'problem' transfer student underclassman," Shirou concluded.
Artoria looked at the two of them with an inquisitive look. "You… know this boy?"
"'Know of' would be more accurate," Rin corrected. "Like us, he's a transfer student but it appears as though he has a criminal record that somehow got leaked."
"I assume such knowledge isn't meant to be spread around?"
"For a minor? No, it's not supposed to."
"You don't think he's the one behind forming the Grail again, do you?" Shirou inquired.
"No, I don't think he is. He's got a record and only appears to have arrived here recently, within the last week. From what Zelretch told us if the Association has just caught word of it, it has to have been in the works for months, bare minimum. From past experience, the only reason someone would be able to force another Grail by any means is through mass mana consumption."
"Such as that provided through the Fire to absorb close to fifty years of mana forcing a War ten years later," Shirou concluded.
Rin nodded. "If whoever this is that's concocting reviving the Grail without a War has even Zelretch concerned enough to send Agents to stop them, it has to be serious."
"He didn't seem all that serious," he tried to shrug.
Rin placed a hand on his shoulder. A gesture of, 'oh, you sweet Summer Child.' "Shirou, Zelretch is a man of many obscure tastes, hobbies, and proclivities for pranking. But if it were any other task, he would have requested Enforcers sent to eliminate whoever it was if he knew who they were and not a magus with powerful gem magecraft, a 'third-rate' magus with a Reality Marble on par with the Treasury of the Gate of Babylon in terms of its contents, and the literal King of England who has a mythical sword classified as an anti-fortress Noble Phantasm used to destroy both previous Holy Grails. Either whoever is attempting this summoning has no idea what they're getting into, or they know exactly what they're getting into. I don't know which is more terrifying."
Artoria spoke up, "And it needs to be known if they are somehow creating their own Grail or using a fragment if the destroyed Grail in Fuyuki. Either the Heaven's Feel ritual will backfire if there's a single fragment of Angra Manyu or it will succeed without issues. If they do have an infested fragment and have no idea what they're doing…"
"It will be Fuyuki all over again," Shirou concluded.
Artoria nodded. "But worse. Tokyo is larger and is more compact in some regards. It will be on par on the devastation of the firebomb raids committed against your country over fifty years ago."
This got both magi to turn to her in shock. "You know about that war?" Rin asked.
"As you know, the Throne of Heroes exists beyond time and space. Heroes from past, present (as you would interpret it), and future reside there. Great men of that time have been immortalized in the Throne for their actions during it."
There was a bit of uncomfortable silence. "Do you know who-?" Rin.
"Unfortunately, no. The Throne recorded their memories of the time as well as their actions. They help contribute to a summoned Servant's knowledge about an era."
"That does make sense," Rin muttered in thought. She shook her head. "We're getting off track." She turned to Shirou, "We're here to meet your cousin." She then turned to Artoria, "And you're here to investigate our supernatural alternate world." She turned to face the unassuming coffee shop, "All which happen to be inside that coffee shop." Not waiting for any further objections or tangents, she led the way and Shirou and Artoria followed.
They crossed the short stretch of asphalt and Rin opened the door whose bell jingled to announce their arrival. "Welcome," came an older man's voice. Shirou looked the man over to see that he is around forty years of age, or thereabouts. He has black hair styled back with gel alongside a beard and goatee that are trimmed neatly. His face is framed by a pair of glasses which complements his high forehead and longer nose. He wears a pink collared shirt with long sleeves rolled up below his elbow; all of this is covered up by a blue striped apron. He has tan slacks with the cuffs rolled up and white loafers. His eyes immediately went to their uniforms and Artoria's casual attire. "Are you the kid's friends?" he asked with a glint in his eye that offered only suspicion.
"No," Rin answered curtly.
His demeanor appeared to change to that of a more hospitable host, "Oh, booth or bar seat?"
"Actually, I'm here to speak with you. My name is Rin Tohsaka, I spoke with you on the phone regarding your charge's and my companion's familial link a few weeks ago."
His eyes narrowed. "Yes, I remember. I assume you have proof?"
"I do. Shirou?" Rin asked as she held her hand out for the binder that he had been carrying the entire time since the train. He handed it to Rin who handed it to the man who opened it and started to page through the contents. "I have included contact information for your own private investigation as well to confirm all of its contents."
"You're very thorough," he commented in a way that Shirou wasn't quite sure if it was a compliment or a generic observation. "No need, I've spoken with my own contacts I've gathered through the years and they've verified the authenticity of your claim." He set the binder on the table. He held out his hand to Shirou. "Sojiro Sakura, owner, and operator of Café Le Blanc. A close friend of your aunt, Wakaba."
"Shirou Emiya, student and adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya," Shirou introduced himself as he extended his hand as well and the two shook.
"You should know this, but if you hurt the girl I've come to see as my own daughter, I will make you wish you could die," he warned very calmly. Shirou could instantly see Artoria's blade hand make a fist and slowly start to fill with nothingness. The borderline sheen of her Invisible Air showing itself. Shirou made a small hand gesture and it dissipated. "I have no such intentions, sir. I only want to reconnect with the family that I just learned I had."
Sojiro looked into the corner of the room, specifically near where the walls met the ceiling, pulled out his phone, and dialed a number. "Futaba, I'm coming home early and I'm bringing company."
Meanwhile in an unknown place outside of dream and reality. A long-nosed man commented in a jovial tone, "Oh, how interesting. Philemon, are you influencing things yet again?" There was no answer. "Of course, you'd make things interesting for me between me and the Jailer in this game."
To be continued…?
XxXxXxX
[Preview].
Everything had been going so well. The newly christened Phantom Thieves broke into Shadow Kamoshida's Palace and located his treasure, created a Calling Card to force it to appear, and delved once more in a mad dash to steal it. Then, things went not so well. Kamoshida caught them and now they were in a battle to the death to get a treasure. He seemed immortal due to his trophy and they were going to target that, but things got worse. A Cognitive Shiho had been summoned by Kamoshida to mess with them, mostly Ryuji and Ann. Kamoshida's strategy worked and both Ann and Ryuji were taken down quickly. Ren couldn't blame them; Shiho was their friend. He could tell that they were still alive, but if he was taken out then their lives may possibly be forfeit. Morgana was currently playing medic which left Ren to defend the not-cat while he tried to revive his friends.
"And then there was one," the distorted voice of Kamoshida's shadow announced. He held up the golden knife and stabbed at Joker. It was moving too fast for him to dodge. "Die!"
"Rho Aias!" a new male voice called out. Immediately a flower with three petals hued in fuchsia appeared before Ren and in front of that a transparent shield. Kamoshida's golden knife struck at the shield and only sparks came off of it.
"What!?" the Shadow shrieked. "Who dares-!"
"This body is made of swords," the voice calmly intoned. Ren couldn't look away else he be blindsided, but the words seemed to have power. Almost on par with the verbal contract he made with Arsene. Immediately what looked to be a baker's dozen of assorted bladed weapons embedded themselves into Kamoshida and exploded with enough force to send the distorted Shadow back a dozen feet and to his back.
"You were right, Shirou," a girl's voice stated. "This place is a lot like a Reality Marble."
"Who are you?" Ren asks as he turns around. Behind him are three normal-looking people dressed in normal attire. The only male of the trio, a redhead currently held a black bow that looked much too dense for anyone of his stature to hold. The first of the two girls had her black hair in twin tails and held what looked like gems between her fingers. These two were dressed in his school's colors, but the last girl wore what looked like a casual dress.
The boy pointed to himself, "Archer." He then pointed to the gem girl, "Caster." Then to the last girl, "Saber." Like his Phantom Thieves, they were using pseudonyms. "When we get out of this, we'll do introductions later." He turned to Caster, "Triage?"
"Triage," she agreed.
He then turned to Saber and requested with a gestured hand towards the now recovering Kamoshida, "If you'd please?"
"Of course," the regal-sounding voice of the blonde woman came as what appeared to be a battle dress complete with armor appeared around her, in her hand was an invisible sword. In the blink of an eye, she went from in front of him, to hear the clash of metal on metal behind him.
[Preview end].
XxXxXxX
And with that, this idea has come to a close. Quite an interesting idea, isn't it? As hinted by that preview, Shirou, Artoria (Saber), and Rin will join the Phantom Thieves but for their own means of obviously hunting down the new Grail constructor's identity and the conspiracy behind it that the Thieves will find themselves in. So, in other words, they're not officially joining, but fighting alongside them as their goals align. The things I want to explore in this fic are the familial link between Futaba and Shirou, the conspiracy behind the inevitable showdown with Shido and Yaldabaoth's Holy Grail (and Yaldabaoth) as well as Shido's co-conspirators (as it's been a long-running theory in some circles that Shido was behind Kobayakawa's hiring of Kamoshida – basically showing off the political pull he had to indoctrinate a new generation of minds willing to serve him – a sponsor of Madarame to manipulate the Arts, a business partner with Kaneshiro and Haru's father to handle both illegal and legal business worlds, obviously involved in the SIU with Sae, was directly behind Wakaba's suicide – pretty much confirmed – and Miyuki to an extent and in Strikers potentially influencing Konoe's research). The short of it is that Shido has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies. One of the other things is that I do want to have Shirou append his Aria for Unlimited Blade Works. After all, during his journey after the Fifth War things in his worldview may change and I want that big reveal to happen at the climax of the story with the summoning of his Reality Marble in its most recent completed form allowing him to summon something that can only be brought out within it that he cannot Trace that's been a discussion topic for many years from what I can tell. I won't say what it is, but if you know, you know.
These are the big things I do want to explore and one of the big challenges will be creating a story that's somewhat familiar (Persona 5) while at the same time allowing the elements of Fate to enhance the supernatural aspects of the SMT/Persona universe. This will be the greatest challenge of this story of making it interesting without completely copying all of Persona 5. The other thing too is that we're not going to be following Ren around all that much outside of the occasional Mementos excursion and Palace heists; meaning I'll need to come up with a parallel story to tell mostly surrounding our Fate cast of characters. Again, I don't want it to be a pure echo with a tag-along (though it will need to happen here or there to push certain plot elements along) but a story that does have its own identity. That will mean, of course, that the preproduction stage (plot layouts/diagrams, etc.) will take longer should I commit to this as a project. With all that being said though, let's go on to other projects.
In terms of other or new pilots I'm working on, recently I got back into the Nier series, specifically Automata, and did some brainstorming on a pilot that is wholly in that universe and I think it's a bit of a unique concept that I haven't seen anyone do yet. I'm not going to put too many details out there about it yet, but I'm really excited about the concept itself. I'm still working on those two oneshots (the Cyberpunk and Breath of the Wild ones) as well as other Fate crossovers I spoke about last time. In terms of "newness" this Automata idea is the only new idea I've come up with since last time. On to IRL stuff.
This week I'm not too happy again. So, I ordered a Figma figure from Amazon which said they had it in stock, only for them to cancel it two weeks later (this week) because they didn't have it in stock. So, I went to Crunchyroll's storefront and used my refunded money there instead. Got me a Jeanne d'Arc Fate/Grand Order Figma and the fancy 2B Figma they're selling. I already got the shipping notification and it should be here by Monday; considering the figures themselves, they look badass and I can't wait to unbox and put them on display. I'm going to an IRL meetup (unrelated to this site) in my state's capital tomorrow night and a concert Saturday. I've got a packed weekend. I'm looking forward to it so wish me luck and hopefully, I make some new friends while I'm at it.
Lastly, I just want to say the usual. That being let me know what you thought of this idea in all the usual places. If you feel like supporting me monetarily, I have anonymous donation addresses in my bio. And I'll see you in whatever I decide to put out next.