"Cocoa., tea, or coffee?"

"I'm sorry, professor Ozpin, but...I don't think I understand..."

"It's just what I'm asking you: would you wish cocoa, tea, or coffee? I know you're from the east, so I think you like tea more, but I wouldn't dare to presume..."

"Ehm...then some tea, please..."

Shirou couldn't help to think it was a dialogue surreal that he was having with the headmaster, while the teacher was pouring fuming tea in a mug, and then he offered it to him. After all, he expected some scolding and maybe a punishment because of what happened in the mess hall, and instead, Ozpin welcomed him with kindness, and he even offered a drink. Everything was in front of Kirei Kotomine, who was smiling with an amusing impression.

Something was wrong, "Professor..."

"Please, drink, Mr. Emiya. Otherwise, it will cool and, then it will lose its taste..."

Shirou did what Ozpin was asking him, and he drank the tea with small sips.

"Then, how is it?", Ozpin asked his student.

"It's...very good." He wasn't lying: the tea was very delicious.

Ozpin smiled at him, "I'm very glad to hear it. This is a special brew from Mistral. It was sent to me by professor Leonardo Lionheart, headmaster of Haven Academy, one of my oldest and dearest friends. As a matter of fact, I called for you just to talk about old friends..."

Now Shirou was confused," Professor...What about the mess hall...?"

"The mess hall? Ahhh, that foolishness! Don't worry, Mr. Emiya, I knew what happened, even before you set foot in my office. I admit you had been a little crude, but still within the bounds. And about Mr. Winchester, I think his small tour in the infirmary could be enough punishment for him: he has good potential, but if he loses time with something else of similar..."

The auburn-haired boy was relieved to hear it, but then what he was doing here? " Professor, then what..."

But Ozpin seemed to understand what he was going to say, "Look, Mr. Emiya, I wanted to talk with you since the start of the academic year, but I didn't manage to do some space in my schedule until now. Since Qrow called me to inform me about your existence and your request for admission to my school(a bit unorthodox, but who I am to judge, after all?), I had been always curious to know you and to talk about Kiritsugu. After all, he was one of the better Huntsmen of his generation, in addition to being one of my personal friends...And I thought the professor Kotomine's presence could provide us an insight, considering he and Kiritusgu were old teammates when they both attended Beacon.", the headmaster added, understanding the other unexpressed question.

Now it was explained what the teacher was doing here, and then an amazed Shirou turned on him, "Really? Were you my old man's friend?" He didn't believe it so much.

Kotomine finally broke the silence, and he spoke to him with a neutral voice, "While I admit to having been Kiritsugu Emiya's teammate in the team OEEK, I would like to clarify something to you. We could be teammates, we had tried to work together well and we even had managed to do it, but we weren't friends at the end of the day: we were too different in the character to get along with each other...In fact, before talking about Kiritsugu specifically, and I'm sure the headmaster agrees with me, I'm more interested to know about you and how you met him, for the moment.", and Ozpin nodded to his final statement.

At least, Shirou could say he was sincere, and his relationship with the old man could explain why he seemed to be interested in him, but the auburn-haired boy wasn't sure about that point.

"Just talking with him still makes me shiver..."

"I'm afraid there isn't much to talk about it. When I was seven years old, the town where I think I lived in Vacuo's kingdom was struck by a disaster, and then the Grimm..."

Ozpin stopped with a wave's hand, "Vacuo? 'You think? But I thought you were from Mistral, and your name is oriental too..."

Shirou was uncertain about that point." The truth, Professor, is that I don't know...I lost every memory of my life before that night, so I don't know anything about my past. Anyway, the Grimm swarmed inside the town and they started to kill the small number of survivors from the fire. I would have been among them if Kiritsugu had been not there and he had not saved me."

Like Kotomine, Ozpin didn't seem to show any emotion, while he was hearing his tale, but after all, it was probable they heard about similar stories all the time, "Please, continue."

"After that, he brought me to a hospital in the capital, and, while I was still hospitalized, he asked me if I wanted to be adopted by him."

"And did you accept it? Just like that?"

"Well, as the same Kiritsugu told me, the choice was between an orphanage or the strange man who saved me...Anyway, when I was dismissed, I went with him, and, as I presume you already know, we relocated into a small town in Anima, and...the rest is history." Shirou concluded, presuming the teachers weren't interested in their...such monotonous life in Fuyuki, aside from the Grimm's hunting and...other occasional adventures.

Ozpin and Kotomine looked at each other with an uncertain look on their face, then Kotomine asked Shirou, "And tell me, my boy, had Kiritsugu never told you about his past, about what he did before your meeting, about...something of him?"

Shirou sighed, then he answered him," No, he never told me anything. He just spoke about the fact he was a Huntsman, to have been in a team named OEKK, but besides that, his past before I met him is a blank page."

That point had been always very frustrating for Shirou: every time he asked his old man about his experiences, Kiritsugu made a weird look, and then he always changed his argument.

Once again the two teachers looked at each other uncertainly, but at that point, the boy had some questions of his, "If I can ask you, why did you ask me about Kiritsugu and what he had done during my period with him? I know he was your personal knowledge, but I don't quite understand your great curiosity of yours..."

At that moment, the silence reigned between Ozpin and Kotomine: judging from their looks, at least from the headmaster's, they didn't know how to answer him. In the end, Ozpin took a deep breath, and he spoke, "Your question is a legitimate one, Mr. Emiya, and in fact, it isn't my intention to deny it. But you must consider the answer isn't easy either..."

"The truth is that, until Qrow didn't call me to inform me about you and your relationship with your father, I no longer had any information about Kiritsugu for twelve years. Considering this, I was quite sure he was dead: he was one of the best ones, after all..."

" What?!", What the Ozpin told him struck Shirou Emiya like thunder: he had always had the strong sensation that the old man was hiding something, otherwise he would not choose Fuyuki as their habitation without any contact( there was some exception with the underground in Mistral, but still...), but knowing this was shocking to him, anyway.

"In fact, but knowing he was in Vacuo ten years old is a novelty for me: I hoped you could know what he has done during the two years between what happened to him twelve years ago and your meeting, but I was wrong..."

"I knew Kiritsugu had always been a lonely wolf, but hiding himself from his allies...This is too much even for him unless there wasn't a good reason..." Shirou thought, but there was something else that struck him, so he wanted to ask the headmaster about it, "Professor Ozpin, you had just told me that happened something to Kiritsugu twelve years ago. Could I know about it?"

Ozpin didn't speak to him quickly: he seemed to weigh what to say, or even if to say about it, judging from his undecided look. But when he finally decided, he had no time to open his mouth, because Kotomine got there in time, "I think, professor Ozpin, it's better proceeding step by step. After all, we're throwing up to this poor boy information of which he wasn't even aware, since the beginning. After all, as he already said to us, he doesn't know anything about his father's past."

"Tactfulness by Kirei Kotomine?! It's funnier than a Yang's pun... I knew him for very little time, and I can already say it's absurd for him, considering what he said during the lesson..."

Nevertheless, Ozpin listened to him, "I think my colleague is right, after all, and I'm sorry about my hurry. Anyway, as Kirei already stated, I guess you want to know about Kiritsugu first..."

Shirou nodded to the headmaster: it was a rare and unique occasion for him.

"Very well, let me start by saying both your pasts are similar. Even he was orphaned, when he was still twelve, during an incident."

"An incident? What kind of?"

"Sadly, he didn't specify it, when he told me about himself, years ago. Anyway, when it happened, his only parent, the father, an independent scientist, lost his life as result. At that point, Kiritsugu was saved by a passing Huntress who took him under her wing for five years, and then he enrolled at Beacon when he was seventeen."

"A Huntress? Did he ever tell her name?"

"No, he never told me. However, you should understand Kiritsugu wasn't very talkative, but I think you already know it. He spoke just a little generally, and, about himself and his past experiences, he was even more tight-lipped with everybody."

"Typical old man. Even when he was just a boy like me, he didn't talk with anybody..."

"As a matter of fact, I believe there was just a person with which he talked more."

Shirou was amazed," Really? Who they are?"

"I think that's my call now, professor." Kotomine interrupted the conversation suddenly.

The auburn-haired boy turned on him, then the teacher put a hand on one of his pockets, and he took out what seemed a photograph.

"This was made more than twenty years ago." The teacher said to him, before showing it.

Shirou saw the subjects in the photo, and he was amazed: there was his old man, then clearly a boy, with other three young people. He understood this was the team OEEK in the age: there even was a younger Kirei Kotomine with shorter hair than today, together with other two girls. The two young women seemed to be similar and yet they couldn't be more different from each other: one of them was clearly an albino, with short white hair, a yellow eye, while the other one was covered by a patch, and a sullen look on her face; the other one had long natural white hair and red eyes, and, in comparison with the first one, had a big smile on her face( actually, Shirou thought she resembled a grown-up Weiss)

Then Shirou turned again on Kotomine, but the teacher understood what the student was going to ask him, because he spoke, "The albino woman was my partner, Claudia Ortensia, while the other woman was Irisviel Einzbern, leader of team OEEK, Kiritsugu's partner, as well as...his wife."

A hit on his head could have not been more deadly, because that's how Shirou felt at that moment, "Kiritsugu was married?!" Even if he had adopted him, Shirou didn't think of him as a possible...family man.

"Yeah, and they had even a daughter."

Shirou couldn't believe the next novelty could be heavier than the first one, but now he was contradicted again.

"Kiritsugu has a wife and a daughter?! But why didn't he ever tell me?! But then what he did with me for all this time...Wait a moment..."

Because he was caught by a frightening suspect, Shirou did a question which he feared to ask, "Professor, before you talked about his wife and his family in the past tense...What happened to them?

Ozpin took the word before Kotomine, and he spoke softly, "While Kiritsugu was out there for a lonely mission, there was an accident in the home where he lived with his family in Vale. The home crumbled, and then Irisviel, or Iris as she was called by her friends and loved ones, died as result."

The horror invaded Shirou, but he couldn't do anything about it: he could just guess what Kiritsugu had felt when he came back.

Then another thing came to his mind, "And...the daughter?"

Ozpin talked again with a trace of bitterness in his voice, "The little girl survived, but the injuries were too extended, and then...the doctors had said there was little hope she could wake up again...She was just seven."

Once again Shirou could just guess what Kiritsugu could have endured.

"Everything happened about twelve years ago..." Ozpin added.

And now Shirou understood what could be the reason for which Kiritsugu closed any communication with his old allies: he knew a family's loss could make crazy a person.

But it didn't explain his actions when he had adopted him, and why he had chosen to make believe to being dead," Professor, what did Kiritsugu do, when he knew about his wife's death and his daughter's condition?"

Ozpin signed, then he spoke:" After Irisviel's funeral, he made hospitalized her daughter in a specialistic center in Atlas: there are better structures there. Then he tried to find anyone who could help the little girl. I know, because when he went to me, I gave him personally three names of specialists about Aura and the human body. But I know it was useless because I learned everybody gave him negative answers. After that, I don't know what happened, but Kiritsugu Emiya disappeared and I didn't have any notice about him more."

The silence reigned between them for some moments: the atmosphere was very heavy.

At that point, Kotomine asked Shirou, "If I can ask you, Mr. Emiya, how did he die?"

Shirou took a deep breath( for some reason, he didn't like it had been Kotomine who asked him that question), then he spoke, "He was sick, from the moment I knew him, but he was hiding it well. It never permitted his status could be a hindrance for him and me when he trained me. In the end, he started to surrender gradually to his sickness and I found out about his status, but despite all, he continued to resist even beyond the limit. I don't know what kind of sickness was, but I have the sensation a normal person would have died after just a couple of years. And yet, Kiritsugu Emiya died just three years ago."

There wasn't any kind of expression on Kotomine, while he was hearing about his old teammate's death: his look continued to be indecipherable to Shirou's eyes.

Instead, Ozpin wore a contrite look on his face, "I'm really sorry, Mr. Emiya. I called you here to talk about your father, and yet, it wasn't my intention to stir bad memories."

"It doesn't matter, professor. It's already been a while from then."

But they couldn't deny the tone of this conversation became very dark, so Ozpin made an uncertain smile and asked the student, "Maybe, you wish to know something else about him when he was still a student. I can assure you, it's worth..."

Actually, the auburn-haired student had to admit he was quite curious about that period," It would be my pleasure: was he good?"

"It was one of my best students. I think the only ones who could beat him were the members of team STRQ and our Kirei. Don't you think, Kirei?", Ozpin asked his colleague.

"You give too many credits, professor. Kiritsugu had already a strong experience when he came here, while I was just the son of the teachers. There is a strong difference...

The rest of the conversation was nice in some way. After all, Shirou liked to hear stories about Kiritsugu who weren't dark, like what he learned about him in the start.

"Oh goodness, look at the time! It's better to go for you, Mr. Emiya. If you will come late for the afternoon classes, it's possible Glynda would punish me for holding you back so long.", Ozpin said to Shirou, when suddenly he looked at the watch.

"I'm sure there is a strong possibility"

"You don't help, Kirei"

Shirou stood up at that point, "Then I hurry: I wouldn't want to worry my teammates."

"All right, Mr. Emiya. It'd have been a real pleasure talking with you. If you wish to know something else, then my door is always open."

"I will count on it, professor. It'd have been the same for me too." Shirou was true: despite the dark turn of the conversation, he was still glad to know about Kiritsugu.

But, before going away, he thought there was still something he wanted to know, so he turned on Kotomine, " Professor, can I ask you something else?"

"You already did it at this moment, Mr. Emiya, but I'm generous, so you can ask me something else."

Shirou ground his teeth: he didn't like Kotomine. He hold back a rebuke, so he asked him:" Professor, why during your lesson did you talk about the need to kill humans when we will become Huntsman?"

Kotomine answered him with a deadpan voice, "Why, Mr. Emiya? Because it's the simple and clear truth, after all. Our profession is hard and dangerous, and there are many young men and women coming here to become Huntsmen because they are driven by reasons like blind idealism or a simplistic vision of life. Sadly our world isn't as a fable as they believe to live, but it's hard and cold, and being hard and cold in turn is necessary to survive. It could be something a person doesn't want to hear, but it's something a person should hear, nevertheless. Don't you like it? My point stands still, anyway. And I want to tell you something else: I was true when I said I wasn't Kiritsugu's friend, but I'm pretty sure he would agree with me about this. Am I wrong?"

No, sadly he wasn't: despite Shirou believing in ideals and Kiritsugu could respect him for that, nevertheless, his old man had always tried to have him face the hard truth about what they did. Otherwise, why should he have brought Shirou with him some years ago in that punitive expedition against that tribe of thieves and killers?

But Shirou limited himself to just do an affirmative nod to Kotomine, then he turned to Ozpin, "Ehm, professor, about Kiritsugu's daughter...is she still hospitalized in Atlas?"

Ozpin did a bitter expression, "Not anymore..."

"Is she dead too?"

"She's disappeared."

Shirou was shocked, "Disappeared?! But how...why...?

"Almost a year after the incident which took her mother's life, she's disappeared from the hospital where she was a patient. We don't know how: it wasn't a scientific research center certainly, but there was still strict surveillance. And naturally, I don't know who could have done it: his father was already disappeared too and there wasn't any possible suspect...Anyway, there was a wide inquiry jointed by Vale and Atlas, and it was conducted by General James Ironwood personally, but despite two years of efforts, it was useless...Today that girl would be nineteen-years-old, and even today we still don't know what happened to her."

Shirou didn't know what to think, but a thought crossed his mind: did Kiritsugu know about what happened to his daughter? Of course, he had to know it. And yet, while he was living with him as an adoptive father, why had he never tried to find her, his real daughter?

"If I can permit, child, don't you try to make sense of it. Whatever happened years ago is something beyond your reach, at least for now. Besides my advice is to trust your judgment and focus on what you know about Kiritsugu and his teachings. Despite he could have behaved questionably, I'm pretty sure he had a good reason, and I think he was a good parent for you, after all...And said that, I think it's really time for you to go..."

Shirou nodded to the headmaster, then, understanding how it was really the time to go, he made a wave to two teachers, and he exited the office. But his mind was full of many thoughts and ideas, while he was returning to his team, and it wasn't good for him.

After all, Ozpin was right: it doesn't make any sense to rack his brain for something that happened years ago. And anything could deny Kiritsugu had been a good father to him: he was and he would have been always his hero.

"I hope I can find your reasons, anyway, old man" But he was troubled about what he knew now about his adoptive father, his first family, and what happened to the girl. He could understand about his wife, but why did never tell him about his daughter?

And there were still two things crossing his mind.

When he had heard professor Ozpin talking during the opening ceremony, and before the initiation trial, Shirou didn't have any particular sensations about him. But now, after the four-eyed conversation with him, the situation with him was different. Before enrolling at Beacon, Shirou was sure to have never met professor Ozpin, but then, why his voice was so familiar to him now?

Besides, when he and Kotomine had talked about Kiritsugu and his past, Shirou believed they had been quite true about what they told him about his adoptive father. But he didn't manage to shake off the sensation that they had been silent about something else too. But about why they had done it, sadly Shirou Emiya didn't have any possible idea.

"What do you think about the boy, professor?"

"From what I have seen about him until now, I think he's smart, hard-working, polite, and courageous...too much, I must say..."

"I agree with your judgment, even if I felt a certain hostility toward me from him."

"I'm afraid, it's the same for everybody else, Kirei."

"You wound me, professor."

"If only it were true..."

When Shirou finally left the office, Ozpin and Kotomine remained alone there, and they were discussing the student and the conversation they had had with him.

At some point, Kotomine changed the argument"If I can say it, Professor Ozpin, I don't think it's wise don't say something else to the boy. I think he's sharper than how much he can appear."

"I think so too, Kirei, but I had already to say something really hard to that boy...I don't want to give him more burdens than necessary."

"I think I can understand your point, professor, but as I always said, even just a little time ago, a person must face the hard truth, and that boy isn't an exception. I can understand you didn't want to tell him about Kiritsugu, his nature's job, and his particular 'nickname', but I think you could say to him it wasn't an accident what happened to his family twelve years ago.

Ozpin took a deep breath, " The job was too clean, and the hit man had been too good to be found. And the list of possible instigators was too long. It would have been useless talking about it with the boy."

"Even if you have a certain idea about the culprit?"

Ozpin remained silent: he understood Kirei's point, but there had ever been any evidence and, from what he had seen about that boy, there was the risk he would have done some foolishness.

" I think it's interesting knowing he was in Vacuo ten years ago, anyway."

"Yeah, I think so too, but why he was there? And why after that did he choose to hide?"

The silence returned, then Kotomine broke it, "Professor, until now we had thought Kiritsugu had been killed, while he was trying to find the hit man or the instigator behind the attack on his family, but in light of what Shirou Emiya told us, I think we must questioning everything we believed to know.

"For example, if did he know about his daughter's whereabouts or had himself been to kidnap her from the hospital in Atlas

Ozpin was amazed to hear something like that, but he held himself: he knew his colleague didn't ever talk in vain, " How could you possibly say it?"

"Professor, if Kiritsugu was still alive, it's impossible he didn't know what happened to his daughter, even after cutting any contact with our associates. After all, he had the skills and the nerve to enter and exit from Atlas, without being seen. Besides, we had already excluded the instigator behind the attack on his family, because, if they were that person, they had that girl killed, not simply kidnapped."

"And if I want to be even more accurate with my theory, why would have he adopted some passing boy from Vacuo and why should he have moved with him to a lost corner of Anima to raise him as his son, without talking or even thinking about his biological daughter? I don't know about you, but its' something completely out of his character."

Ozpin thought about Kotomine's points: he didn't want to admit it, but they weren't so implausible. "Your theory is good, Kirei, but I have another one too."

Kotomine said to the headmaster, "Please, I'm all ears."

Ozpin talked, "Kiritsugu tries to find a specialist for his daughter or the guilty behind her condition, so he starts to use his bounds with the underground. Don't let forget his job had brought him to the lowest levels of Remnant. But then someone powerful, maybe a person with a grudge toward him( there were many of them at that age, ), kidnaps his daughter as revenge or bait. So our associate, when he finally knows what happened, starts his personal hunting without nobody's help: he was like that, after all. After almost a year, Kiritsugu finds his prey and his daughter in Vacuo. Then...something happens, something really bad to his daughter, and after that, he finds and saves the boy. Maybe he thinks about the fact that he's almost the age of his daughter, maybe he thinks he's his second greatest chance after losing his family...I don't know, but anyway he decides to adopt him and he seeks to build a new life far away from everybody and everything. I know you think it could be too sentimental about the last part, but both we know, despite he was analytic and logical the most of time, he was still a man with feelings."

On his part, Kotomine answered him with a neutral voice: "It's a good theory, professor, but can you explain to me why should he have cut any contact with his old associates? He could be permitted to retire when and how he wanted, but however it doesn't explain why he didn't say to anybody he was still alive, at least to reassure them. After all, he knew many secrets about this world..."

Ozpin knew about that point: it was the weak point of his theory, but he didn't know how to rebuke it. So the headmaster took a deep breath and said, "I will ask Theodore to inquire what happened in his territory ten years ago. Maybe he will find the answers we are seeking."

"It's been already ten years. Professor Theodore is good, but it could be too much even for him. According to me, only Kiritsugu could tell a complete account about what happened to him, but sadly dead men don't tell tales."

Ozpin thought it was true, but he didn't want to leave anything to chance. Then, he decided to close the conversation, "Kirei, I must ask you to not say anything about our theories, suspects, and what we chose to be silent about. I don't want to trouble the boy more than how much we already did it. He will know about it: it's not my intention to deny him the truth, but it will take place when it will be the right moment. From what I have seen, he has the potential to become a great Huntsman, and it's not my wish he wasted his strength and time for what I think it's an errand's fool."

Kotomine nodded to Ozpin's request, and he was true with his gesture. After all, he was curious too about who Shirou Emiya could become. He was expecting great things from the son of Kiritsugu Emiya, better known in certain circles by partners and enemies alike, as the "Huntsmen's Killer".