Fate/Reach Out

Chapter 27: Fortitude, Reflex, and Will


May 5th, Evening, Shopping District

It was the same thing every night. Just as the young and elderly turned themselves in for the night, the roar of over a dozen motorcycle engines would roll in with laughing delinquent riders. All semblance of peace and quiet was destroyed, and it would last for hours as they raced up and down the streets.

One boy watched the scene play out from his window. This has been going on all week, and he'd had about all he could stand of it. Biker gangs. Damned leathered pansies who thought they owned the world because of riding a hog on their crotch. Sure they carried knives, brass knuckles, and maybe even a gun if they felt rebellious, but they were just punks hiding behind their swagger.

With a growl, he threw on a skull-and-crossbones t-shirt over his head and straightened the belt around his jeans. Once dressed, he examined himself in front of a full body mirror: dark, intimidating clothes, bleached white hair swept back in a crewcut, several piercings around his ears, a small scar over his left eye, and a death glare that would send any pansy crying to their mommies.

This was the look of a man. A man that got shit done, and wasn't afraid of anything.

Nodding to his reflection, the young teen marched down to the door of his family house/store, cracking his knuckles as he did so.

He was just in front of the door before a soft voice called out to him from behind. "Don't do this, Kanji-chan. This isn't what your father would want."

Kanji Tatsumi bristled, but didn't turn to address his mother. "Don't bring the old man into this. I'm doing this for you, Ma." His mother was one of the many people who couldn't sleep whenever the biker gangs rolled in.

"All you're going to do is make a few riled up kids hurt and get in trouble with the police." Although it went unsaid, her tone heavily implied "Again."

"The same police that can't even catch some electrician murderer?" he asked rhetorically, finally turning to her. "Hell, they needed some chick on a motorcycle to catch that ATM guy! If they have a problem with me, it's because I can do a better job pounding these shitheads!"

It was one of the many reasons why he didn't trust the cops. Every day people of the Shopping District called the cops with complaints about the noise, his mother included. But by the time someone actually showed up, they would ride off like leaves in the wind. It was clear that the police didn't care enough about them and quickly saw their situation as "The Street That Cried Wolf".

The Tatsumi matriarch frowned sadly. She was small and frail looking in comparison to her tall son. To anyone else, it would look like she was his grandmother with her gray hair and soft voice. "This isn't like you, Kanji-chan. You used to be so kind and thoughtful of others. Now you just go around picking fights."

"And you know damn well why!" he snapped. Without waiting for a reply, he stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

Outside of his house and family owned shop of "Tatsumi Textiles", Kanji realized just how abysmally loud the motorcycles were roaring up and down the streets. No wonder no one could get any sleep whenever they showed up.

Just up at the top of the hill, he saw a row of motorcycles lined up with some scantily dressed girl in front of them holding a flag to signal them. It looked like another race was to start, and he didn't have time to run up and beat down everyone.

From the corner of his eye, Kanji spotted a row of traffic cones lined up against the sidewalk, almost like race track spotters. Kanji didn't know where they got all these, but he frankly didn't care. He just saw a perfect weapon to use.

The flag girl gave the signal, and the motorcycles revved up in reckless abandon. Kanji quickly picked up a traffic cone and threw it overhand. "Eat this, assholes!"

His aim was as true as it was insanely lucky: the cone landed almost perfectly over the lead biker's head, blocking his view. Briefly screaming and using his hands to remove the cone, his vehicle lost control and fell sideways. As biker and motorcycle alike skidded down the road, the other cyclists behind him either tried to immediately brake or speed up to avoid the collision. It was in vain as soon every racer crashed or collided with each other in the biggest pile of totaled vehicles in Inaba's history. Bikers either jumped away or found themselves rolling off of the vehicles to avoid any injury worse than a scrape.

"HELL YEAH!" Kanji roared triumphantly, showing off his bicep-polishing gesture. "SUCK IT, DICKHEADS!"

His victory was short-lived as the biker gang, sans their bikes, started to crowd around him like a mob. Most were hurt and scraped, and all were undoubtedly pissed off at him. One biker, with a purple Mohawk and spike-pierced chin, marched over and glared at Kanji face to face.

"You ruined our race, you little shit," he spat. Kanji wondered if the "shit" was emphasized deliberately as he felt spit land on his face.

Just one more reason to kick his ass.

"You're keeping Ma up with your racket," Kanji shot back, rubbing the spittle off with the back of his hand. "And everyone else on this street too. It's pissing us off!"

"What about it?" the biker smirked. "You're all just a bunch of old fogies close to death's door, blaming Junes. No one really cares what happens to you and your rural store homes."

Kanji ignored the laughing jeers, and the few others singing the Junes jingle. He could care less about that department store because there were bigger problems he had to take care of first. One of them was standing right in front of him.

"Just take your damn drag race out of here or else!" There, that was the bastard's one and only warning. If they actually back away, then there would no police and his mother would have nothing to worry about. But if they didn't-

The biker leaned forward, scowling. "Or else what, dumbass?"

Then hell would break lose.

Kanji immediately leaned back and threw a head-butt at the Mohawk biker, knocking him out in one strike. The ringing split on his forehead was worth seeing the guy's eyes roll up into the back of his head, as well as the stunned silence of the mob.

Before they could recover and rush him, Kanji lifted the biker's body by the shoulders and threw him overhead with a roar. The crowd quickly dispersed to avoid the throw, but two unlucky teens found themselves under his body.

Three down. A shit ton of assholes to go.

Kanji immediately threw his arms up to guard his face and crouched down. He had been in enough street fights to know how important it is to conserve energy. Right now the bikers were wasting theirs trying to pummel him, from his arms to his legs and sides. The most they got out of him was a pained grunt from a kick too close to his groin, but his guard held.

He endured about a minute of punches and kicks before he shot up and spun his body with fists clenched and extended. Necks, chins, noses, and faces caved from the force of his windmill punches, and the innermost bikers surrounding him were quickly knocked out.

Those still conscious now regarded him with wary distance. Two reached for their flip-knives, holding them improperly and without the right balance. Kanji screamed and tackled the closest biker, who attempted to intercept him with a punch. The bleached haired teen grabbed his arm, slid to a stop, and swung the screaming biker's body at his gang members.

Suddenly realizing the severity of the fight, the remaining bikers warily stepped away while brandishing their hidden knives. Kanji cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders back one at a time, welcoming the challenge.

One knife wielder screamed and charged. Kanji marched in a power gait, casually grabbing the man's hand and bending it so hard it cracked. The biker dropped the knife with an uncharacteristic girly shrill, which allowed the younger teen to deck his face with his other hand. Two more tried to rush him at once, but Kanji simply ducked and punched both their stomachs at once. As they staggered and gasped for breath, they soon found themselves smacked away to the teen's right by a strong backhand. Finally, a screaming, short member held his hand back to throw a straight punch. Kanji simply palmed his face and shoved him down to the ground.

Never once did his gait stop. Not once did he give as much as a passing glance to them.

He had almost forgotten how great it felt beating these bastards up.

Kanji stopped marching as he stared down the last biker member. The road they stood on was littered with unconscious and moaning bodies. Now he just had to take care of one more dumbass biker dick.

…except it was really a dumbass biker chick.

At first Kanji thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, and had assumed everyone was a guy in the cover of the night (except for obviously the flag girl, but she and a few other spectators bailed the moment the fight broke out) But this biker member was now crouching, staring at him with equal parts horror, anger, and amazement, was different. Her body frame was smaller and leaner, which he assumed was just a young kid suckered into some gang group. The orange jacket and sweatpants were baggy enough to hide the features, and he could see a backwards cap on the head, but the face was a dead giveaway. He could clearly see the make-up along the eyes, half-full lips, and long brown hair flowing to the middle of her back.

Unless this was some really ga-…ho-… weird guy, then the person before him was totally a chick.

The two of them stared at one another, still and silent. The biker's fear gave way to impatience and snapped at him. "What's the matter, shit for brains?! Ran out of juice already?"

Kanji realized two things from that dialogue. First, the biker was definitely a girl. The voice was too high to be a guy's and wasn't at all fake or flamboyant. He had never fought girl bikers before, and tended to avoid girls in general.

But the implications soon died away because of the second realization. He knew that voice. "Shana-chan?"

The girl blinked in confusion, and stared at him with dawning realization. It was weird how he could suddenly remember a girl from elementary school, but it was hard to forget that day.

Before the seemingly inevitable breakdown, the street suddenly got brighter from the headlights of a car. Slowing to a stop, the driver stepped out and gazed around. "What in the-?" the driver gawked in dismay. "I've been gone for three days and this happened!?"

The man's figure was hard for Kanji to make out, due to the headlights obscuring him from view. But as the man stepped in front of his car to confront the two of them, he suddenly recognized him as Detective Dojima; a cop who had more often than not arrested him for "disorderly conduct". Like right now.

"Kanji Tatsumi," the cop said in a disappointed tone. "Still up to your old tricks, I see."

For once, Kanji was thankful that a cop showed up. He'd take anything, even jail, to get away from her.


Dojima Residence

As far as returns from extended trips went, Shirou wasn't expecting much with Inaba. In fact, his uncle being immediately called up to work and apprehend a local rebel who could singlehandedly beat down a biker gang on the way home was one of the last things he'd expected to happen. Only after active cops arrived on the scene and Dojima was relieved for the night did he tell Shirou and Nanako about Kanji Tatsumi.

"I know him through work, back when he went around crushing local biker gangs since middle school," he said during dinner. "I haven't heard much since you came over Shirou, so I hoped he was attending classes at your high school…"

"But why does he picks fight with them, dad?" Nanako had asked. "Couldn't he have called the police instead?"

"Kanji's always had a problem with authority. If I had to guess, he fought that biker gang because they were keeping his mother up with the noise. A few on duty cops confirmed that they've been getting similar complaints from the residents for all of Golden Week."

"That's a pretty thoughtful gesture," Shirou noted.

"It is," Dojima agreed before frowning. "But also very violent. And the media's going to be eating this up tonight."

True enough, the evening news special showed coverage of the fight's aftermath, with video focus on the downed bikers and Kanji being escorted into a police car. Several neighbors were interviewed and admitted they only saw the fight start after the roaring of motorcycles stopped as if they had all crashed into each other.

And according to the weather report, this coming Saturday was going to be rainy. Two days from now.

All Shirou could think of as he turned in for bed was, "What if Kanji's next?"


May 6th, Road to School

Chie groaned, walking the familiar yet dreaded trail back to school. "Why do the holidays have to end so fast?"

Beside her, Yukiko smiled. "Well, at least they were peaceful. The culprit hasn't done anything yet, so we can use all this extra time preparing for mid-terms."

Chie's frown grew. "Ugh, don't remind me."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Chie. We can study at each other's houses like we did last year."

The brown haired teen nodded, only feeling slightly better at her friend's offer. She knew the first tests of the school year were coming up, but she hadn't been studying at all. She wanted to say it was because she was more concerned about rescuing Yukiko from her own castle, but a large part of her procrastinated in favor of exercise.

She was also feeling worried about if Shirou had had a good Golden Week or not, and if his guardian Taiga Fujimura was okay. She really hoped so, because she liked her from the first moment they met. And Chie knew that Yukiko would like her too.

Yukiko looked ahead and noticed two boys standing and talking. "Oh, there's Emiya-kun and Hanamura-kun."

Chie's head snapped up to see that her friend was right. With a smile, she immediately sprinted over, waving and crying "Emiya-kun! You're back!" Yukiko blinked and hurried over to her friends.

Whatever conversation they were having (apparently Hanamura was about to ask him a question), it was casually dropped as they waved in greeting. "Good morning, Satonaka. You too, Amagi."

Chie stopped herself next to the red-haired teen, smiling. It was a surprise for Yukiko to see her friend cheer up so suddenly. "So how was Golden Week? And your guardian? Is she okay?"

"Fuji-nee's doing well," said Emiya. "And Nanako and I had a great time over there. I want to say Doji-nii (that is Dojima-san) did as well, but…"

"His uncle got K.O.-ed," Hanamura grinned in amusement. "By his guardian the first night over, and with a rolled up sheet metal poster no less."

Both girls gasped. "Seriously?!" cried Chie. "I hope he wasn't hurt badly!"

"He was pretty upset at first," Emiya admitted. "But it's hard to stay mad at Fuji-nee. She's, well… she's just Fuji-nee."

It was an explanation that only made sense to Chie. The older woman certainly had a unique flair to her, somewhere between mature and youthful. Taiga Fujimura might as well be in a class of her own. Well, either that or "older Chie", as she sure would be a term Hanamura would use.

"I'm a little confused," Yukiko admitted. "You call this Fuji woman 'sister', but Chie and Hanamura-kun called her your 'guardian'. What happened to your parents?"

An uncomfortable silence passed between them. Chie and Hanamura exchanged uneasy glances, dawning with realization, as they gazed back to a solemn Emiya. Why else would someone have a legal guardian, or spend a year to visit extended family, or even try avoiding mentioning anything about his dad?

"You're kidding," Hanamura murmured. "You mean your step-dad? Kiritsugu Emiya is-?"

Emiya nodded. "Passed away five years ago."

"Oh my gosh," Yukiko paled, and bowed her head deeply. "I-I'm so sorry, Emiya-kun! I didn't mean to intrude or sound so insensitive."

"No, no, it's fine. I didn't mean to put off admitting this for so long either, but the murders kept coming up. And…" he trailed off, but shook his head. "A lot of things happened during Golden Week. Stuff I can't really say here."

"But your guardian's fine, right?" Chie asked again, not liking the implied notion of "a lot of things".

Emiya winced and laughed. "Oh, she's fine all right, after what she did to me."

"Well, I say we meet up at our special secret headquarters after school today," said Hanamura, as the awkward tension was now gone. "We can talk all about it there."

Emiya stared at him incredulously, and Yukiko's eyes widened excitedly. "We have one of those?" they both asked in contrasting tones.

Seeing Hanamura smile and mentally boast, Chie shook her head. She was already walking back to school before quipping, "It's just a food court table at Junes, isn't it?"

"Hey!"


After School, Junes

Sure enough, the Investigation Team's "special headquarters" was a food court table in public view of everyone around them. And it wasn't just a corner table hugging the wall either, but a round table sitting in the middle. This revelation did little to ease Shirou's worries as he saw everyone around them eating and talking amongst themselves. "Is this really a good place to hold a meeting?"

In his seat across from the magus, Yosuke waved his hand dismissively. "You worry too much, dude. Tell me, what do you hear right now?"

"Nothing noteworthy," Shirou shrugged. "Just some people hanging out among themselves. There're also two women and a man speaking by phone right now."

Yosuke raised both eyebrows and looked at their surroundings incredulously until he identified the three individuals the red-head described, including a girl around their age standing just outside the food court and behind the magus. "Seriously, man? Is this also a… thing?"

"Not exactly," he explained as he shook his head, breaking off from his light meditative state. "It's more like a side benefit of developing the mindset necessary for… doing things."

"Can all guys like you do that?" Yosuke asked him, sounding a little disappointed.

"I don't know, but even if they can't there are alternatives, like a Fami—," Shirou cut himself off and frowned.

"Well, the point is no one else can hear us," said Yosuke. "It's called 'hiding in plain sight'. As long as we act and talk casually around here, then no one would have any reason to suspect we're hiding a secret. I mean, the police arrested us because we were looking suspicious anyway."

"You were the suspicious one, idiot!" Satonaka glared. Yosuke coolly shrugged back.

Shirou had to admit, it was not something a magus would think to do. Normally they would cast bounded fields and hide in seclusion than openly expose themselves. "Even so, we have policemen looking everywhere. If we have to hold meetings here, I would prefer to play this safe and go by some sort of code word."

Yosuke smiled. "Spoken like a true leader. And it makes me proud as your advisor to say: 'way ahead of you.'"

Yosuke reached into his school bag and pulled out a single sheet of paper that looked like a written resume of sorts.

"What is it?" Shirou asked as he was handed the paper.

"A character sheet for Dungeons and Dragons. I've been working on them since after Amagi-san's, I mean, 'Konohana Sakuya's' rescue." Amagi gave a knowing giggle.

Shirou blinked and read the paper over. He wasn't too familiar with pen and paper games like Dungeons and Dragons, but he knew they were immensely popular for groups of gamers. A few words caught his eye, such as "Sorcerer/Paladin" under Class, and "Izanagi" under Name. "Our characters are based off of our Personas."

"Yep," Yosuke grinned. "I know you're new to this sort of thing, but we can do the actual playing over at Teddie's place. Here is more of a trial run on what we plan to do for our next campaigns, so don't worry if you don't get all the rules down yet."

Shirou looked up from his stat sheet to Yosuke, who winked at him. Exchanging quick glances to the girls showed that they had their own copies and seemed keen on playing along. The masquerade was so perfect in its simplicity, and that even a paranoid magus would overlook them passionately roleplaying a well-known pen and paper game together.

Hiding in plain sight indeed.

"As you wish, Jiraiya," Shirou smiled back, both amazed and proud of his friend's endeavors.

"Perfect," the auburn teen grinned. "Now, let me get you up to speed; you're Izanagi, the wandering Sorcerer from a far off town, and had recently been blessed as a Paladin upon arriving in the Yasoba region. You met and helped the wind Rogue Jiraiya (that's me), who was being chased by Warrior guard Tomoe."

"That was my idea," 'Tomoe' grinned to 'Jiraiya's' chagrin.

"Anyway, the three of us get together through some long-contrived means that we don't need to go over again and help rescue priestess Cleric Konohana Sakuya. We know it was an attempted kidnapping and murder after two civilians suffered the same fate, but are still trying to figure out how and why. Where we last left off, you, Izanagi, left for a pilgrimage back home while the three of us went on an important side quest. So, without further ado; how'd it go?"

Shirou smiled and recounted his Golden Week trip as best he could, taking care to stick to the roleplay of his wandering sorcerer paladin (if such a class is even possible). From his family meeting the flower girl (Sakura) and the kendo woman (Taiga), to finding a cursed meadow where two undead monsters chased him throughout town. Luckily, or unluckily as he later saw it, the Cleric Kotomine assisted him and told him some unkind things about his late father. The kendo woman got mad and threw him out, and later gave him plenty of gifts for his trip back, such as his bow and arrows.

"Sweet," 'Jiraiya' smiled. "With ranged weapons, fighting the Shadows will be even easier."

"By the way, what was this important side quest you three partook in?" asked 'Izanagi'. His friends flinched and looked at one another with pained expressions.

"'Important', he says," the tomboy huffed under her breath.

"W-well, it was a learning experience," the raven haired girl admitted.

Shirou was now curious and a little worried. "Guys? What happened while I was gone?"

The girls looked expectantly at Yosuke/Jiraiya, who groaned. "W-well, a day after you left…"

The recounted story used code-names and referred to Teddie as the "bear", but Shirou got the gist of it. Yosuke and Satonaka thought it would be a good idea to train Yukiko in the use of her Persona. Teddie tried flirting with Amagi, got her mad, and fled back to her castle dungeon (apparently she didn't share her Shadow's sentiment on the word "scoring"). After a few floors of fighting and trekking through Shadows, they found Teddie running back to them, and away from a monstrously powerful Shadow. They initially tried to fight it, but between its resistance to physical attacks and immunity to their strongest elements, they had to change plans and run away as well.

Shirou winced at the description of the Contrarian King, as Teddie dubbed it. "That bad, huh?"

"Teddie wants your help as soon as you can," Yosuke added. "He's been a panicked wreck since."

"I see. We'll head over there later then. Which reminds me; does anyone here know about Kanji Tatsumi?"

"I know him," Amagi immediately nodded. "His mother runs the textile shop that our inn gets shipments from. I actually haven't seen him as much these last few years, though…"

"Oh, he was on that news special last night, wasn't he?" asked Satonaka. "Something about beating that biker gang last night, all by himself."

"The noise from their racing was driving everyone crazy, but they always bailed before the cops showed up," said Yosuke. "I guess if this Kanji's beating up biker gangs, he's not in one, huh?"

"It's going to be raining tomorrow," Shirou reminded them dryly. "Kanji's the most recent face to appear on the news, and if our hypothesis is right so far…"

The others nodded, as the rest didn't need to be said. The Midnight Channel would be on, and another clue to who the culprit may target next.

"Although I'm not sure if we can rule 'that' as the culprit's main calling card," Yosuke insisted. "What appears on the Midnight Channel is a warning, but he still hasn't put the other person in yet."

Shirou blinked. "What other person?"

Chie frowned. She was afraid this might come up sooner or later. Hearing about what had happened on his trip back to Fuyuki made her wonder if things might have gone smoother if she had just told him the truth from the beginning. She had just gone over her issues with her Shadow, and already she was keeping secrets from others.

So, she gulped and decided to come clean before things got more awkward. "Your guardian, Taiga Fujimura."

Shirou's surprised and horrified look didn't make things easier, but she pressed on while staring at the table. "It was raining on the night of the news special she was on, and she appeared on the Midnight Channel right after. We didn't know who the person was and you weren't picking up our calls that night. I went over to ask you before you left for the holiday break, and when I realized it was her..."

She hung her head low in shame. "I just didn't have the heart to tell you. You looked so happy and excited for Golden Week. Holidays are supposed to be fun, and telling you that someone close to you could be next would have ruined it for you. But it got ruined anyway, because now she knows your secret. I'm sorry, Emiya-kun."

A long silence passed as she felt everyone staring her down. Hanamura was startled but seemed to be nodding at her reasoning. Yukiko was shocked as if Chie had lied to them, which was a fair assumption. And Emiya… he stared at her as if trying to read her intentions, and his gaze softened each passing moment. It did little to make her feel better, though.

"I see," he said finally. "Thank you, Satonaka."

Huh?

"While I am upset you kept this from me, I'm more upset at myself that I know you're right. If you had told me, I would have spent more time being paranoid and less time spending it with my family. Maybe I could have been more careful. Maybe those Yomi demons wouldn't have come after me if I avoided the park. And maybe I wouldn't have accidentally told her I was really playing a Sorcerer Paladin character with you guys."

It took the others a moment to realize what he meant, and they stared at him in surprise. "You mean she didn't before?" Chie asked. She would have thought that at least the family from Shirou's hometown was in the know before, given how close he seemed with Taiga.

"My dad was insistent that I didn't tell anyone," he said before looking rather sheepish. "But you know, I think it was one mistake I was glad to make telling you guys because, well… it's nice not having to hide it all the time."

"Yes," Yukiko nodding in understanding, and exchanged smiles with Chie. "It's a very wonderful feeling."

"At least until after we get our asses kicked," Yosuke dryly noted with a frown.

Almost immediately after the mood was ruined, and in a complete reversal to her calm smile, Yukiko burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Ahahahahahahahaha! That's so true, ahahahahahaha!"

Yosuke was honestly surprised that he made her laugh, while Chie was scolding Yosuke and unsuccessfully trying to get her friend to calm down. Shirou just watched them with a small smile. Before Inaba, he doubted he would ever be sitting around others and sharing conversations like this. It didn't matter whether it was preparing to save someone else or just meeting up after a long weekend; there was always something to talk about and he could tell from the Fool Social link that they all wanted to be here.

It felt good to have friends.

"All right guys. Let's go pay Teddie a visit."


May 8th, Samegawa Flood Plain

As it turned out, Kanji's silhouette did show up on the Midnight Channel, but all the Investigation Team could do was wait (especially to recover from their fierce fight against Contrarian King). Kanji was apparently still in custody so unless the culprit was posing as a police officer, they would have a hard time putting him in the TV world.

At the very least, this meant that they could focus on mid-terms without any problems.

Most of them, anyway.

"Are you sure you don't need to study?" Shirou asked between arm stretches.

"I AM studying!" Chie insisted as she bounced on her feet from side to side. "I'm getting my body pumped so I can cram all my notes for tomorrow!"

Shirou frowned but decided not to comment on how studying should work. If it actually worked, then he had no reason to comment otherwise. And if he was being honest, he enjoyed having the break from studying almost as much as Satonaka. They were both the most physically active people they knew around Inaba, so it stood to question that they would continue to meet to help each other.

"Today's the day," Chie said to herself, starting to bend up and down for toe touch stretches. "Today's definitely the day!"

"And what a day it is. Just look at those leg muscles!"

Shirou turned away, ignoring the Duke's words. He came to exercise with Satonaka, not stare at her legs.

His wandering gaze stopped as he saw his little sister walking along the road above them. "Hey Nanako!" he waved and smiled.

Nanako stopped and turned to him. Smiling as well, she hurried down the steps to the riverbed. "Oh, big bro! And Chie, too! What are you guys doing here?"

"Hey Nanako-chan," Chie waved, just finishing her stretches. "Just getting ready for training!"

The smaller girl tilted her head to her side. "Training? Then, who are you fighting with?"

"Why, Emiya-kun of course!" she boasted, but flushed at the implications and backpedaled. "Uh, I mean myself! Maybe?"

Nanako giggled. "That's cool! You're a hero like big bro!"

"Uh, well," Chie stammered, flushing at the praise. Because seriously, a hero like Shirou? She'd never reach that level… "So anyway, what brings you out here Nanako-chan?"

"It's Mother's Day," she answered. Chie winced internally at what should be a sensitive topic, but the younger girl just smiled and walked closer to the riverbed. "She's not here anymore, but we always used to play by this stream before. I don't have anything to give her, but I hope she doesn't mind."

"I'm sure you do," Shirou said. "Maybe there's something you could put at your family altar? So she can see it?"

Nanako's face brightened with realization. "The flowers! My teacher taught me and the class how to make origami flowers! I still have them back home, too! Thanks, big bro!"

"Anytime," he smiled, patting her head and earning a giggle. Chie watched the scene play out with a little envy. If only she had a little sister like Nanako. Well, I should at least get something nice for my mom today. Maybe a good grade for my mid-terms?

As Nanako turned to Chie, her face once again blossomed into awe. "Wow! A ladybug!"

"L-ladybug?!" Chie's voice cracked. Almost immediately she spun around with her legs spread and arms up. "Where is it? Where's the bug?!"

Nanako pointed at the older girl. "There! It's on your shoulder!"

Chie snapped her head to her left shoulder, and true enough there was a small, red and black-spotted round bug positioned on her jacket. It looked so small and innocent, but it was still a beetle hiding so many jointed legs underneath its shell.

Her face started to turn blue. "Uuuuuuuuuuh-!"

"That's amazing!" Nanako gushed. "They say that ladybugs bring good luck to whoever they land on! Isn't that-!"

"AAAAAAAAAH!" The kung-fu girl shrieked as she leaped straight into the air, startling Shirou and Nanako. Being closest to Shirou, she latched onto his body for dear life. For his part, the magus stammered and tried to steady himself as the panicked girl's arms and legs held fast.

"Get it off!" she whimpered with clenched eyes. "Getitgetitgetitgetitgetitgetit!"

"N-Nanako?" Shirou turned to his confused sister. "A little help, please?"

She was confused, but nodded and leaned towards Chie's shoulder. With an extended finger, she reached close to Chie's shoulder and allowed the cooperative little beetle to crawl over.

"It's off now," she said, staring carefully at the ladybug.

Chie, watching Nanako carefully direct the bug off her shoulder, exhaled a sigh of relief. "Thanks Nanako-chan. Thanks Emiya-"

She turned to the magus… who she was still wrapped around. And whose face was in very close proximity with hers. "-kun." She squeaked the last syllable, more out of shock than to finish the sentence.

Gently, Shirou's arms reached for her sides to steady her as she hopped her legs back down, and pulled away. Neither teen said a word and glanced away from each other thanks to the very compromising situation they had been in. It was worse for Shirou, hearing the joyous uproar of Eligor in his subconscious.

At least Nanako didn't notice. She was staring at the ladybug on her finger before looking up to the jittery girl. "You don't like bugs, Chie?"

Chie fought back the urge to jump away from Nanako's finger. "I don't like anything with jointed legs or creepy eyes or squirmy bodies or-" she shuttered to stop her growing list. "Just thinking about b-bugs makes me sick!"

"But ladybugs are cute," Nanako insisted, smiling down at the rather complacent beetle. "Like grasshoppers. They wouldn't hurt anyone either."

Chie groaned and slumped in defeat. "You sound just like Yukiko. She's fine around bugs too…" Of course her best friend was more ideal than her. She literally wouldn't hurt a fly. But her? She would jump in a panic over a tiny spotted beetle.

Shirou might have overlooked this if not for Eligor, who was done jesting and laughing at his expense. "She was struggling enough with her inferiority complex, but now it grows in the face of her fears. The poor dame."

"There's nothing to be ashamed about, Satonaka," he said to her. "Everyone has fears, like your fear of thunder-"

"Don't remind me," she snapped coldly and bitterly. The thunderstorm yesterday was one of the worst, and it didn't help that some idiot classmates kept talking about people getting struck and killed by lightning. The only thing that calmed her down was Shirou, who she also latched onto when the power went out before he left to fix it himself.

Everyone in class remembered him as the Fake Janitor, incidentally a title he already earned from school back in Fuyuki. She just saw it as another day being him: a clueless idiot with a kind heart.

"Sorry," he winced. "If it makes you feel any better, I have pyrophobia."

A fear of fire? Chie wondered. That would explain why he froze up when Shadow Yukiko set the throne room ablaze.

"All I'm saying is that what you fear or dislike is a part of who you are, and there's nothing wrong with that. Some might even think it to be a part of your feminine charm."

Her eyes flew open. "Femi…?" Did he really just say that? Did he think she had feminine charm?

"Besides, a lot of kids in my class don't like bugs either," Nanako assured her, watching as the ladybug flew off her finger. "It's not just you, Chie."

Chie switched gazes between Shirou and Nanako, both of smiling and supporting. "Heheh… and here I was thinking about how silly I looked back there. Thanks guys. Now then!" With a chipper smile and confident pose, she turned to the young girl. "We were in the middle of training, but you're more than welcome to join us, Nanako-chan!"

"Okay!"

"Great, now let's start with a kata. Your just move your arms out like this, keep your knees bent-"

While Shirou focused on his own routine, Chie personally guided Nanako through the motions. Perhaps Nanako was a bright and quick study, or Chie was a good teacher, but something told him that she made good progress for a first lesson.

Half an hour later, the session ended and Nanako hurried home before dusk. Shirou and Chie waved her off, though Chie sighed once the girl was long gone.

"I got to get over my fears," she told herself. "I don't want to look like a sissy next to Nanako-chan."

"You're not a sissy, Satonaka," said Shirou. "You're one of the bravest and strongest people I know."

Chie barely fought back a blush. "R-really?"

"You even fought Shadows that resembled beetles," he added. "And back then your fear didn't act up."

She blinked in equal parts amazement and horror. "You're right," she started to grin. "All I have to do is see them as Shadows when I stomp 'em! Bugs might still get to me, but there's no way I can lose to a bunch of Shadows!"

"A little unorthodox, but at least her passion's back."

The Chariot link grew ever so slightly, but Shirou was now past the point of cross-examining it. It was as Igor and Margaret told him before; the Social Link was a mutual bond of trust, and there had to be a reason why Satonaka would trust him after that ladybug episode.

His musing stopped when her fist instantly smacked his shoulder; not too rough to imply anger, but certainly not gentle either. Her glare directed at him was also a bit of a bluff. "If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll kill you."

"Noted," he replied with a smile. "Should we stop here for today? We have mid-terms tomorrow after all."

"Yeah, you're right," she answered, only slightly deterred at the reminder of testing. "I got all the exercise I need, so I just need to train my brain too!"


May 12th, After School, Shopping District

"Are you serious about this?" Yosuke asked her as he tried to keep up with her brisk pace.

"Dead serious," Chie huffed. "It's the only way."

"All I'm saying is that wishes for better grades are common for emas. Heck, I'm pretty sure a lot of failing students specifically wished for that before taking mid-terms. You're just beating a dead horse here."

"Shut up!" and she bolted further ahead.

Shirou and Yukiko, following close behind, exchanged worried glances. The mid-terms had officially ended today, and the results would be posted for everyone to read a week from now. They were both confident in their answers, and Yosuke seemed more relieved to be done than fretting over any notion that he did good or bad.

But Chie was stressed, and immediately compared whatever answers she could recall with Yukiko. To her shock and dismay, every answer she got was wrong, even the tallest mountain in the Solar System. She was certain she got it right with "Mount Everest"! Damn that King Moron for making a trick question!

Needless to say, Yosuke heckled and teased her, one thing led to another, and she decided to go to the Tatsuhime Shrine. Perhaps the gods above would take pity on her and make it so that her grade was within the top 50%? Or better yet, make it so she wouldn't screw up future tests?

As Chie pondered, Yukiko noticed a familiar place from her daily inn errands. "Oh, there's the Textile shop," she pointed ahead.

Just next to a red torii gate and stone stairway climbing up the hillside was a small building with an orange wooden sign erected above reading "Tatsumi Textiles". As with many family owned businesses of the Shopping District, it was a house that doubled as a store, but it was one of the few remaining in business. It was most likely the endorsement of the Amagi Inn buying their clothes and dyes that kept them afloat.

"You think Kanji's back yet?" Shirou wondered. He tried asking his uncle before, but he refused to talk about work to him, especially in front of Nanako.

"Let's swing by after," Yosuke suggested. "We can think of an excuse in the meantime."

For now, the students followed Chie up the stairway to the now abandoned shrine.


Tatsuhime Shrine

For a place that was abandoned, the hill shrine was in a worse state than Shirou thought. With the building closed off, an old offertory box was set at the top of the steps for donations. Traditional thick rope and talismans were seen both hanging above the box and tied around a thick tree to the side of the building. A pile of stones formed a makeshift path branching from the left of the tile road, leading to a small yashiro under a small rusty red toriigate. Shisa-like animal statues and stone built lanterns paired up on each side of the tile road, as well as the yashiro. The dirt looked malnourished with stems of weeds growing, but at there were some healthy trees with plenty of leaves to provide shade for the bugs crawling around.

"Whatever happened to the priestess that lived here?" he asked aloud, still drinking in the entirety of the shrine.

"No one knows actually," Yukiko answered. "Some even believe that the shrine had no one to begin with. Still, children love playing up here all the time, so someone must be taking care of it after all this time."

Chie ran ahead and made a beeline for the shrine. After dropping some yen in the offertory box, she stepped down and turned to a small pole-like stand next to it. She delicately picked up a new plaque, oddly with no front image or symbol, and started to write. "'I want to be smarter. – Chie Satonaka".' Perfect!"

"That's it?" Yosuke blinked. "Weren't you going to say something like, 'I wish to pass this exam'?"

Chie rolled her eyes even as she hung the ema in place and walked back to the others. "Like I'm going to waste a wish on that. If I'm smarter, not only will I not have to worry about future exams, but I'll be able to do all sorts of smart things. It's like getting two skillets with one stick!"

Sweat rolled down Yosuke's head, but he chose not to comment on her butchered metaphor. For her sake, I hope that wish does come true.

"That's an excellent idea, Chie," Yukiko smiled. "And I know you can do it if you apply yourself."

"Thanks, but it's not like I have your talent in studying, Yukiko."

"Well, how about when the summer term finals come up," Yosuke suggested with a smile. "We all get together at my place for private lessons?"

The raven haired beauty let out a single, startled gasp. Before Yosuke knew it, his head was snapped to the side and his cheek burned in pain. "Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"I expected better out of you, Hanamura-kun!" she scolded. "I can't believe you, making off-color jokes like that!"

"I was talking about a study group!"

Yukiko blinked owlishly. "Study group?" She then let out a silent "Oh" and looked away, embarrassed. "S-sorry. The inn's been getting some strange visitors lately and my hand moved without thinking."

"You should have just shrugged it off," the headphone-clad teen whined, nursing his cheek.

"To be fair, anyone else would have found what you said creepy and wrong," Chie frowned. "I mean, 'private lessons' at 'your place'? Really?"

"How is this my fault when I'm the victim?! Shirou, back me up here!" He turned to ask for help from their leader, but he wasn't standing with them anymore. "Shirou?"

They quickly saw Shirou in front of the ema stand, intently focused and reading the small collection of wishes. "I never realized."

"Emiya-kun?" Yukiko didn't like the tone of voice right now. Too soft and defeated, just like hers from before.

"I never realized the scope of it," he said vaguely. Curious and concerned, the others gathered around him and read the ema wishes.

"I want things to go well with
the person I like!"

"We want Koro to come back!
Please, god. -Saito"

"God, please give me some friends.
-Yoshitaka"

"I have nothing to live for. I want to
recapture the joy of life."

"I'm worried for Haruka-chan.
I wish she could smile more."

"Huh," said Yosuke. "Quite unusual to see wishes like these around. But what scope are you talking about?"

The red-haired magus clenched his hands hanging from his sides, and his face morphed into one of guilt. "Don't you guys get it? These are wishes asking for help."

A stunned silence filled the shrine, broken only by leaves rustling in the wind. Normally ema wishes were about love, health, and happiness. But Shirou was right; these were each written by someone asking for help.

And Shirou stared at each of them, torn and haunted.

Yosuke patted his shoulder in understanding. "Look, Shirou, sometimes you just have to focus on the big picture. I mean, stuff like a lost dog or no friends? Yeah, it's pretty bad. But we promised Teddie that we'd catch the guy that's been throwing people into his world. What we're doing now is a big responsibility."

"But that doesn't make these problems any less prevalent," he argued back.

"I get that, but we can better help everyone in this town by catching the criminal and giving them some relief. These emas aren't important enough to worry about."

"'Not important enough'?" Shirou echoed, his now scowling face directed at the auburn haired boy. "Is that what you think? That the problems not most obvious to us should be someone else's? That we should look the other way and move on with our lives? That their wishes mean absolutely nothing to us?!"

"Emiya-kun?" Chie had only seen their leader angry a few times before; first when snapping at her from telling the police about the TV world, and second when Shadow Yukiko allegedly killed Hanamura. This time was different, as he seemed personally upset at Hanamura's words. What happened to him to make him feel this way?

Yosuke felt his own anger rise, but he could tell, like Satonaka, that for some reason the ema wishes, or the notion of them, meant something important to Shirou. Exactly what, he didn't know, but the guy needed to listen to reason.

And he did so by smacking the back of Shirou's head like usual.

Yukiko and Chie both gasped at his brazen assault. "Hanamura-kun!" the former cried.

Shirou grunted, angered and betrayed by his friend. "Yosuke, what the-"

"I just said 'focus on the big picture,' you idiot," he cut him off, surprising everyone once again with his cold authority. "We're high school students playing Dungeons and Dragons in our free time while a serial murderer is on the loose. Saki-senpai's dead because of that bastard, and I followed you because you were dead-set on stopping him too."

With building momentum, Yosuke grabbed Shirou by his undershirt and pulled him threateningly close. "I don't get what your problem is, but in case you haven't been out from under your rock? The world sucks. If there's one thing I can agree with my Shadow on, it's that. Third world countries are killing each other, children all over the world are starving, world disasters pop up every other year, and I can only guess that's the tip of the iceberg for those not in the know of you-know-what.

"You may think your Persona or magic tricks can bring world peace, but we're still human here. I'm being a realist in focusing on the problems only I know I can fix. And that's stopping a serial murderer before he gets someone else. Don't you dare ever assume I don't care otherwise, because if you do, I'll kick your ass Jiraiya-style!"

The girls exchanged worried glances with each other and the boys in deadlock. Shirou had long lost his scowl when Yosuke began his tirade, and had listened intently. He had realized that in the heat of the moment he displaced his own feelings from past memories on the ema wishes. And in a startling moment, it almost drove his friends away, as he felt and saw the emotions through their faces.

"I…I'm sorry Yosuke," he admitted. "I don't know what came over me." Admittedly it was acts of distant anger that had managed to drive away others in Fuyuki from being close to him, and for once he regretted showing the others this bad side of his.

But Yosuke sighed and released his shirt, as if his apology was enough. "Probably your bleeding heart getting a little excited," he joked. "But that's one of the things I like about you, I guess. You help keep me honest."

"He means it too." Pixie supplied.

The boys grinned in good nature, and the girls exhaled relieved sighs to themselves. "You are right," the magus frowned. "A lot in this world isn't fair or safe for others, and most people are unaware of how bad things really are. For years I spent training myself, never making any progress but kept assuring myself that I would, and that I could make a difference. But here, standing in front of these ema plaques, it's hitting me that I'm nowhere even close. I haven't made a difference at all."

"That's not true," said Yukiko. "You and the others saved me not too long ago. In fact, we're all here alive because of you, Emiya-kun."

Shirou blushed at her earnest praise. Something about the young heiress' words made his deeds seem all the more special. "Y-yes, well, it was still my fault in the first place that Yosuke and Satonaka got involved. They wouldn't have been in danger of their Shadows if not for me."

"Perhaps, but if you had fought my Shadow without Chie or Hanamura-kun…"

…Shirou honestly hadn't thought of it that way before. "I guess you're right," he allowed, feeling everyone's smiles directed at him.

"But still," he continued. "Saving people is not where I plan to stop. If I want to call myself an Ally of Justice someday, I need to help everyone in need. Starting here."

"A-ally of justice?" Yukiko stared at the redhead with wide, dazed eyes, already mentally building him atop a pedestal.

Pretending to ignore her friend's sudden glow (as she knew it would go away soon), Chie asked, "What do you mean here? You're not thinking-"

"I'm going to make these wishes come true," Shirou announced. "Every last one."

"I hate to be the downer realist here again," Yosuke frowned. "But there're hundreds of plaques hanging there. Even considering the relevant ones that were put here for like, a year tops, there's so many people in town and almost impossible to find the right one. You can't possibly grant them all."

Shirou silently stared at the stand, as if ignoring his friend's warning. Then he reached out and grabbed an ema. "I can start with this one."

Chie's eyes widened. "Wait, that's my-!"

"Satonaka. I hope you don't mind but I'm going to borrow your ema as a reminder and a promise. With Yosuke and Amagi as my witnesses, I'll see to it that you reach the level of intelligence you seek and pass a school exam with high marks."

Chie could only stop and stare at him. He was merely standing in front of her with the plaque at hand held up at eye level, but it looked like one of the most heroic poses she had ever seen. And his earnest speech to personally help her study; had it been anyone else, she'd either laugh it off or kick them, depending on how forward and raunchy they were thinking. But she instinctively knew that Shirou's word was as good as gold itself.

She made the smallest of smiles, the briefest of nods, and the softest of affirmative noises. "Mh."

It was, quite frankly, adorable for her.

Yosuke, noticing the very subdued reaction from the tomboy, glared suspicious daggers at the culprit. "All right, what's your secret? Some sort of innate magecraft sorcery?"

Shirou blinked. "Excuse me?"

"When I offered to study with the girls, I got a stinging cheek that I'm pretty sure has faded into a red handprint by now. (Shirou tilted his head for a better look. "Wow, you know you're ri-") But when you said you'd help Satonaka study, she gives probably the most over the top moe reactions possible."

As if snapping out of a trance, Chie blinked and fumed at them. "N-no I wasn't! And even if I was, it's because he didn't make it sound like a creepy pick-up line!"

"I did not make a creepy pick-up line!"

"Studying together certainly sounds fun," Yukiko nodded. "Is it all right if we study together as well, Emiya-kun?"

Yosuke turned to Yukiko in dismay. "Are you kidding me?!"

"I don't mind," the magus shrugged. "But I was offering to help Satonaka, and you seem to be well off academically so far."

"Well, we can all study together then. Between the two of us, I'm sure Chie will be a super genius!"

"Hey! Don't forget me! I can offer lessons too!"

*SMACK!*

"Oww! God dammit, the other cheek?"

"Oh, were you talking about studying again? Sorry."

"Then how come you don't sound like it this time?!"

Chie broke into laughs, and Yukiko followed shortly after. Shirou smiled and patted Yosuke's shoulder for comfort, who was downcast and rubbing his new sore cheek. As the four students started to leave the shrine, it seemed like the perfect end of an otherwise normal day for them.

But it wasn't over yet.

Shirou stopped walking. It was like before from the Fuyuki Central Park, when he felt the presence of someone, or something, watching him. It didn't have the same killing intent as the Yomi demons, but it still unnerved him greatly.

"Guys," he asked slowly. "Anyone else getting the feeling that we're being watched?"

The others turned to him in confusion, before looking uncomfortable themselves. "Now that you mention it..." said Yosuke.

Chie quickly noticed the source, and pointed to above the shrine. "Look! Up there!"

Everyone followed her gaze, and saw the shape of an animal just before it jumped. With surprising agility and acrobatics, the four-legged animal landed perfectly before them, its back facing the entrance they came from.

It was a fox with an orange coat and wearing a red and pink heart-patterned apron. The tail length and weight of its body from the landing implied it to be of adult maturity. Its ears were partially cut along the edges, and scars were seen all over its face, back, and left leg.

Perhaps more startling was the ema plaque hanging from its mouth.

"It's just staring at us," Yosuke whispered, trying his hardest not to flip out from being jumped by an animal.

"What do you think it's waiting for?" Chie asked.

"Maybe it wants to give us the ema?" Yukiko suggested.

The fox moved its head back. It was almost like it gestured for them to come closer.

Exchanging quick glances, it became unanimous to them that the leader should do it. Shirou walked slowly to the fox, careful not to startle it, and was both relieved and perplexed by how calm and still it was. The fox's eyes stared at him with serious focus, its behavior showcasing its intelligence and awareness of his presence.

Shirou's hand edged just under the fox's mouth, and accepted the ema as it was let go. The first thing he noticed was the odd, brittle texture of a leaf stuck on the back of the plaque; it was unlike any shape of plant-life he had ever seen. Then he read the wish written on it:

"Please help Grandpa's legs get better. –Keita"

The fox's ears twitched once, and then it sprinted away behind the shrine.

"Hey, wait!" Shirou called, but the fox was already gone.

"Oh, not every day you see young'uns like you around here."

Forgetting the fox at the moment, the four teens noticed an old man limping his way toward them. "Not much to see here though, especially now that the priestess here has passed away. I come by to tidy things up once in a while to pay her back, but-"

At this, the man cringed and slumped down. His hand reached for his side to comfort it. "-but my legs have been actin' up lately."

Yukiko knelt next to the old man's side. "That's awful. Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"Wouldn't be able to afford it," he frowned. "All I can spare goes to the shrine, and it barely has enough to keep goin'. I don't know what's worse; not being able to maintain the shrine, or not visiting Keita anymore."

"Keita?"

"My grandson."

Shirou looked between the old man and the ema the fox just handed him. Could the fox have known about the old man and his grandson? Is that why it gave him this ema, to let him know?

If so, then what's with the leaf? It was so unusual that Shirou couldn't even begin to discern the shape of it.

As the magus was fiddling with both the leaf and ema given to him, the old man slowly righted himself to standing with Yukiko's help. He stopped and stared at Shirou's hand after the first step. "Th-that leaf!" he pointed, shaking in both age and awe. "Where did you get it?"

"You've seen this before, sir?" Shirou asked.

"Aye, way back when. My grandmother always used to say a leaf shaped like that was the best cure-all herb around, including ache pain! But I thought it didn't grow in the mountains anymore." The man's legs shook, holding up only because of Yukiko's supporting arm. His gaze turned to Shirou's eyes, pleading. "P-please young man! Can I trouble you to spare that leaf?!"

Shirou paused, almost taken aback by the man's plea. It was a surreal feeling, being asked for help personally when he would just act to the general danger. He had forgotten how long he wanted to feel needed, and he wasn't disappointed to finally embrace it.

"Of course," he said, and handed over the leaf. The old man cradled it gently, careful not to wrinkle or crack it.

"Ooooh, this is it, this is really it," he smiled, and stuck the leaf over his pant leg. "Now if I remember this right… yes, it's working!"

The old man's smile grew, and he was standing upright as if decades younger. He then jumped and clicked the heels of his shoes together. "Amazing! The pain I've been feeling for who knows how long! It just up and vanished! In fact, I feel better like I'm thirty years younger! No, fifty! Why, I feel better now than I ever did before!"

The old man began to run around in circles at a speed no man his age would normally be able to do. The whole time, he was laughing in pure glee, and cared not for the bewildered stares that the high school students were all giving him.

He stopped in front of the red-haired teen and shook his hand vigorously. "Oh, bless you young man! You really helped me out! Our meeting here in this shrine was most fortunate! This deserves a little something extra in respects!"

The old man dashed to the offertory box and blindly threw a handful of bills and coins in. Without missing a beat, he made a sharp u-turn out of the shrine, clicking his heels again mid-skip. "Hahaha! I'm coming home, Keita!"

A stunned silence filled the shrine once more, but out of marvel of the man's healed aches and restored vitality.

"Well," Chie spoke after a pregnant pause. "That was a thing."

Yosuke looked back to the offertory box. "Seems kind of a jip that Shirou's the one who gave him the leaf, but the real reward went to the shrine."

As the shrine fox walked back into view with a content expression, Shirou knew better. It knew who Keita's grandfather was, and it knew how to help him in accordance with the wish. It made sure that, by giving the wish and leaf to Shirou, it would reach the grandfather much easier.

Perhaps he was overthinking the fox's reasons, and maybe even willing to ignore how the fox seemed excited at the offerings for whatever reason. But Shirou felt that the fox heard him express concerns and desire to grant the ema wishes. The old man was a test, and he liked to believe he had passed.

Shirou walked up to the shrine and knelt down to the fox's height. The fox turned and stared back at him.

"Thank you," he said.

The fox nodded, taking a liking to the magus.

An unlikely bond between man and animal formed that day, build on a similar desire to spread goodwill. The means and ends might have been different, but the two understood each other, and would grow to learn more about one another.

The Tarot of this bond read the Roman "IX". In the center of the face was a black lantern holding an orange circle light (symbolizing a candle) in the case and a chained red eye at the bottom. The lantern was emitting a yellow light from the circle, with waves of red, purple, red, and blue spreading away from the light source.

Thou art I, and I am thou.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Hermit Arcana.

"Our leader is making small talk with a fox," Yosuke quipped, amused. "The guys at school are never gonna believe this."

"I'm right here and I don't believe it," Chie added.

"Still, that leaf came from the fox, didn't it?" Yukiko asked. "If it had more, it would make exploring 'Teddie's place' so much easier."

Healing magic and medicine could only go so far in prolonging dungeon crawling, and their magic hadn't reached the point of healing more than cuts or scrapes. But having only a few of those leaves could solve a lot of problems.

With a mirthful expression, the fox jumped away again towards the space between the ema stand and the large tree. The students quickly followed, and saw that there was a hidden path to the backyard of the shrine.

Compared to the open front entrance, the backyard was greener yet vastly unkempt. To Shirou's surprise, he could make out three target boards for archery, and a small building further down looked like a storage area with the door ajar. As fascinating as the backyard was, it was soon clear that the fox meant to show everyone the several bushes growing further back.

"Holy shit that's a lot of magic herbs," Yosuke gawked.

Chie turned awkwardly to the fox. "So uh… is it okay if we can have some of those to use?"

The fox jumped back to the shrine steps, and beckoned to the offertory box. Exasperated sweat rolled down the backs of all their heads.

"It's seriously expecting payment?" Yosuke gawked again.

"I-I'm sure it has its reasons," said Yukiko. "From what the old man said, these leaves are probably rare and hard to find."

"I guess the myths are true," Chie sighed. "Foxes really are tricky little sneaks."


Tatsumi Textiles

After… intense negotiations with the fox regarding ema wishes and payment (nobody had any idea how Shirou managed to do it), the Investigation Team left the shrine satisfied and on to new business. Namely, to check up on Kanji since his news special aired a week ago.

If the outside had the homey appearance of old fashioned wood, then the inside was more of a Japanese-styled family room than a storefront. Stands, shelves and racks were filled with rolls of many colored clothes, with a few tables for good measure. What could be called a shopping counter was really more like a knee-high desk for eating. And possibly the most out-of-choice item in the store was a white maneki-neko statue sitting precariously on a shelf.

Shirou was too busy admiring the room's odd choice of décor when, in a strange case of déjà vu, he felt a smaller body collide with and knock him down. "Ack!"

His friends immediately huddled around them in concern, and he thought he heard the store clerk gasp out too. "Whoa!" "Emiya-kun!" "Are you two okay?" "Oh my!"

"Y-yeah, I think so," Shirou grimaced and nursed his ringing head. He was lucky that the fall wasn't serious enough to knock him out.

He was just about to ask if the person he ran into was all right when he heard him respond, "We really should stop meeting like this."

The young man was wearing a different set of clothes from before; a navy blue jacket over a white dress shirt and thin blue slacks, but the blue hat clued him in immediately. "I know you. We met during Golden Week."

"And how odd we find ourselves bumping into each other again," the boy smiled. "Literally."

"You know this weirdo?" Yosuke asked. Chie forcibly elbowed him for his lack of tact, but the boy merely twitched at the slight.

"I wouldn't call him that," Shirou frowned at Yosuke, before turning back to the boy. "But it was more of a passing acquaintance after arriving at Fuyuki City. His train was leaving, so we didn't even have time to even introduce ourselves."

"Let's remedy that," the boy held out his hand in greeting. "My name is Naoto Shirogane."

"I'm Shirou Emiya," he returned the handshake, and turned to gesture the others. "And these are my friends from Yasogami High; Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, and-"

"-Yukiko Amagi," the boy cut in, staring intently at her. "Yes, I read about your disappearance. You're the only survivor from the serial murder case thus far."

Although Naoto was casual in his speech, his blunt lead-in to the murder case set off alarm bells to the Investigation Team. As he pulled back his hand, Shirou felt another sickening case of déjà vu. This time it was like comparing the young Naoto to the priest Kotomine. Dangerous.

Chie recovered first, taking a protective stance in front of her best friend. "What are you implying?" she glared.

"Just making an observation," Naoto replied. "Many details of her survival contrast with what happened to the last two victims, from how long she was gone to where she was found. But I digress. This is hardly the appropriate place to discuss such matters, or a comfortable topic for anyone involved. I apologize."

He turned and bowed to the store owner. "Good day, Tatsumi-san." He bowed silently to the students as well, and quickly stepped out.

"What's that guy's problem?" Yosuke frowned.

"I don't know," said Chie. "But I don't like him."

"I'm terribly sorry about that Yuki-chan," the store owner, Mrs. Tatsumi, said to them. "I'm sure he means well."

Yukiko was still frazzled from the boy's words, but ultimately decided to ignore him for now and approach the counter. "I-it's alright, Tatsumi-san."

"Well I assure you it's a relief to everyone that you turned out alright," she nodded with a smile. "And you're as lovely as always, much like your mother when she was your age. What brings you here today?"

Yukiko smiled shyly from her praise. "Well, if it's not too much trouble, can I ask how your son Kanji-kun is doing?"

"He's upstairs in his room right now. That boy from earlier was just escorting him back for the day."

"Shirogane-san?" Shirou asked aloud, glancing back at the entrance he just left through.

Yosuke mirrored his action before exchanging glances. "An escort? We're talking about a guy that could mow down biker gangs, and he has a damn escort!? If anything it should be the other way around."

"Oh dear," the shop owner frowned suddenly. "I let that slip, didn't I?"

"If it's not too much trouble, Tatsumi-san," Yukiko asked. "Could you explain to us the relationship between Kanji-kun and Shirogane-san? I know Kanji-kun and I were never close, but I'm also concerned for him with all the rumors going around about him."

The Tatsumi matriarch sighed. "Nothing personal, Yuki-chan, but I'm afraid I can't. Kanji-kun's situation is… delicate, and the less people in the know the better. But I can assure you he's safe and sound here."

"For now," they realized. Shirou wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. Kanji was most likely in protective custody, and they couldn't effectively warn him of what may happen to him if the culprit was able to hide in plain sight.

Chie, however, had a different revelation. One that caught her wandering eye since Yukiko approached the counter. "Oh my god. This looks just like-"

"Hmm?" Mrs. Tatsumi turned to the nervous girl. "What was that, dear?"

"Oh, uh," Chie stammered, pointing to the blue clothed table in front of her. "This scarf looks really nice! I just thought I've seen it somewhere before."

"Ah, are you acquaintances with Miss Yamano? She ordered that scarf special you know."

The Investigation Team fell very still, as they all stared at the cloth. It was of red and pink colors synthesized together, and decorated with yellow-white flower designs about the size of a fist. Yukiko quickly realized that she did see Miss Yamano wear such a scarf as she was checking in the Amagi Inn. Shirou and Yosuke, along with Chie, were reminded of the noose in the bloody poster room from Teddie's world.

Unaware of the teens' silent horror, she continued to explain. "In actuality, she ordered a pair of matching scarves, but in the end only wanted the women's scarf. It left me no choice but to sell this one separately."

As odd and unlikely as it was, there was a connection between Yamano and Kanji. The scarf his mother made, sitting in open view waiting for a new buyer. It made no sense, and it horrified them.

But Shirou knew what to do. "How much?"

Mrs. Tatsumi blinked, turning to him. "I'm sorry?"

"How much for the men's scarf? I'd like to buy it."

Yosuke pulled him around and away from the store owner, who was now standing up to fetch the scarf. "Shirou, what are you thinking? That scarf is likely the reason Kanji is you-know-what!"

"Exactly," he whispered back. "This could be a clue to figuring out 'his' motive and reasons, or why Miss Yamano only bought half of her ordered set. Would you rather it sit here until someone else bought it?"

"Well, no," Yosuke admitted. "But what do you plan to do?"

"I'll analyze it at home tonight, and then show it to Teddie tomorrow. Maybe between the two of us we can figure something out."

"And if you don't?"

"Sir?" the store owner called over them. "You still wish to purchase the scarf?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Shirou answered, before turning to make his purchase.

He was able to catch Yosuke sighing and muttering under his breath, "I hope you're right."

Honestly, Shirou hoped so too.


A/N: Finally we're seeing more of Kanji. And Naoto. And especially the Fox. Expect to see more of the Fox. Maybe even a name for her (yes, I'm gonna call the fox a girl).

And for those confused about the thunder scene Shirou and Chie both alluded to, there's originally an omake from the Spacebattles forum written by a cool fan Wasuregusa, where he wrote the scene in question.