Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Taylor

I was walking through the halls of Winslow, with five minutes until first period, when I was grabbed and dragged into a bathroom. Once my brain had caught up to the sudden movement, I found myself staring into the face of my former friend Emma. My arms were being held behind me and a quick turn of my head revealed the psycho that Emma had replaced me with.

"My Dad said something interesting this morning," Emma said. "Apparently, he was talking to your dad the other day and 'Uncle Danny' said something about how you told him that you and I had a 'falling out.' " The traitor leaned in close. "Did the little cry-baby get sick of being put in her place and go whining to daddy?"

"No," I said quickly.

"Good," Emma said, "because we would all just hate it if a certain someone had to drop out of school and start selling her skinny, ugly ass on the streets just to afford food because she and her daddy were ruined by a lawsuit for defaming the character of her betters." She looked me over in an exaggerated way. "Not that anyone would pay for it, anyway. Because, Taylor, you're just the ugly, unpopular, little, weakling, who everyone hates. While I'm the popular student model, Sophia's the track star, and even Madison is the cute social butterfly. No one will take your word over ours, and no one in this school will side with a waste of space like you against us."

"So if you're thinking of pulling something like that," Sophia said from behind me, "don't. The only way this is stopping is when you stop wasting everyone's time just by existing." The thug threw me to the ground. My backpack came off in the struggle and she kicked it to the far end of the bathroom.

"Do everyone a favor and just leave," Emma said as she and Sophia turned to leave. "Just go home and cry yourself to sleep." Then, I was alone on the floor of a high school bathroom.

I felt Opal wiggle out of my hair. "Princess? Are you alright."

"I'm fine," I lied as I pushed myself up and went to get my bag.

"Princess, I can see the tears in your eyes."

I wiped my eyes and grabbed my bag. "It's fine," I said, "it's just more of the same shit as always." Opal didn't chastise me. "Come on, let's go."

Opal sighed. "You don't deserve this, Princess."

Once Opal was secured back in my hair, I left the bathroom. It was too late to get to get to class on time, but I didn't care, I wasn't heading for class, anyway. Not anymore.

"Princess," Opal whispered into my ear when she realized where I was heading, "you're not actually going to do what those ruffians-"

"No," I whispered back as I walked out of Winslow's doors, "I just need to be anywhere but here right now." I did a quick look around for witnesses. "Maybe we can stop a mugging or foil Uber and Leet's latest plot or something. Do something more meaningful then spend the day around people who inexplicably hate me."

Once I found a private enough looking alley, I ducked down it, tranced, and took off.

F/KLPT

Okay, either I was really bad at spotting crimes in progress or there weren't that many muggings early in the morning… In hindsight, I probably should have suspected that maybe, just maybe, street criminals didn't operate early in the morning.

"Opal," I said, "I think if we're going to be doing the hero thing then we should probably research the behavior patterns of criminals."

"Probably."

I did a quick fly over by the docks, the worst neighborhood in town. If there was anything going down, it would be going down there. It had to be a quick one, in case Dad stepped out of his office at the dockyard and looked up, but… nothing.

I hmm'd, then looked at Opal, "Now what?"

"Well, obviously we should probably land and power down," Opal replied, "as much as I'd love for you to show off your regal radiance, doing so while truant from school would probably garner the wrong sort of attention." Opal bent in contemplation. "We can always check for more villainy in progress a little later."

"I guess." I flew around for a bit, looking for a good place to land and change back. After a minute, I noticed something odd. There was an empty side street near the boardwalk… Well, empty except for a blonde looking up and waving in my general direction.

I landed and the blonde greeted me. "Good morning, Hero. Getting an early start?"

"Kind of, Lisa." As far as I could tell there was no-one else around so I just untranced in the street. "Shit happened, I had to leave school, decided to do something productive… Then there were no street crimes or villainy going on to stop right now."

"And while you're somewhat happy that no-one is in immediate danger right now," Lisa picked up, "you can't help but be a little bit disappointed that you can't do any heroics right now."

"Exactly," I answered. "And there hasn't been anything magical to do since the other day… Opal," I changed gears, "did the cards have anything to do with the-"

"There's been no change in the greater anomaly as of yet," Opal replied. "However, I'm not sure that we can rule out a connection just yet, but there are no specific leads on either the greater anomaly or where the Class Cards came from just yet." Opal perked up. "Oh, that reminds me, I spoke with my Onee-sama last night, she and her own master wish us luck in our mission."

"...Opal," I asked, "What does that word mean?"

"Oh… I think the most accurate translation would be respected elder sister," Opal explained, "Sapphire most commonly speaks Japanese, her master is Japanese, and they're based in the Japan of the world they reside in, so the Japanese term just feels like it fits."

I was about to ask since, apparently, Opal knows Japanese, if she could tell me what Caster's incantations mean, but then Lisa interrupted with a flat "okay then." Her expression changed though. "Well, if you need something to do for a bit you can hang out with me. I'm just running some errands, but..."

I smiled. "Sounds lovely."

F/KLPT

"And I think my world issues teacher is obsessed with capes. Every other assignment is capes," I half-explained-half-complained. "Next week I've got to write a five-page report on a foreign hero."

"And everybody and their grandma is doing Dragon or Masamune," Lisa correctly guessed, "or else another member of the Guild, so if you want a good grade you either need to pick someone else or do a phenomenal job of what everybody else is doing."

"Exactly." Not that I was so sure I should put in the effort-chances are that it'll get ruined or stolen by one of three bitches before I can turn it in.

Lisa and I had been all over town-normally I'd be nervous going to and through some places, but I had Opal and the class Cards with me, and Lisa had said she had "friends" who'd told her the safest ways to get through those places. Along the way, we'd just started talking about whatever. Right now we were heading back towards the Docks… Had it been long enough that there might be crimes to stop?

"Well, you could always-"

"Taylor," a somewhat familiar voice called out and interrupted Lisa. I turned and saw Mr. Saito… heading back to his shop with a package in his hands. We were on the same street as Saito Repairs and I hadn't even noticed. "Shouldn't you be in school right now?"

"Taylor," Lisa asked, "who is this?"

"Uh, this is Mr. Saito," I half heartedly introduced, "he's kind of a friend of my Dad's, kind of… He owns and runs the repair shop… there," I gestured lamely in the direction of Saito Repairs. "Mr. Saito, this is my friend Lisa."

Mr. Saito shifted his package so that it was under his arm, then walked over and extended a hand to Lisa. "It's a pleasure to meet you, young miss."

Lisa took his hand and shook it. "The feeling is mutual."

The greeting done, Mr. Saito turned back to me. "Now, why aren't you in school right now?"

Crap! "Winslow has an administration day, school's closed." Please buy it, please buy it, please buy it.

"Taylor, a lot of the high school aged children in this neighborhood go to Winslow," Mr. Saito began, "if the school was closed, they wouldn't have all left this morning." Damn it!

"Um… Look,"I began half-heartedly, "some stuff happened and I had to leave for the sake of my mental health." I looked the young man in the eyes while doing my best impression of a puppy. "Please don't tell my Dad."

Mr. Saito was silent for a moment. "I won't tell your father," he said after a moment, "but I can't in good conscience let a pair of girls your age wander around this part of the city. If you need to spend time away from your problems, you can hang out in my shop where it's safe."

I looked toward Lisa. she'd taken out her phone and seemed to be texting something to someone. "I can put off my last few errands for a bit," she said when she finished.

"Okay then," I answered, "I guess that would be okay."

A few minutes later, Lisa and I were sitting at a small table in the corner of Mr. Saito's workshop. "Is there something I can offer you?" the repairman asked. "Tea? Biscuits? I've got some homemade jam."

"You keep homemade jam in your shop?" Lisa asked.

Mr. Saito got a look in his eye. A strange look that I'm not quite sure how to describe. "I always have homemade jam on hand." Then he blinked. "And I live in the apartment in the basement."

"Okay then," Lisa answered. "Well... maybe a little bit. It'd be rude to refuse, right?" I nodded, I guess that was right.

A few more minutes later, Lisa and I had been provided with the items in question(Mr. Saito was a talented jam maker,) and the repair man had gotten to work. As it had turned out, the package he was holding was the motor of a Segway. A neighbor of his had brought one in and the motor it had come with was completely fried.

"So, Taylor," Lisa began after a sip of tea, "you were saying something about an essay on foreign capes?"

"Yeah, five pages on a foreign hero," I said, "and all the well-known ones are taken."

"I know a couple of more obscure, by American standards, foreign operating heroes," Mr. Saito added without looking up from the gadget he was fixing.

"You do?"

"Yes," he said matter of factly. "There's Jupiter, in Italy-he can fly and generate large amounts of electricity from his hands."

"So he named himself after Zeus-using the Roman name," Lisa interjected.

"Exactly, There's also Hexe Königin, in Germany," Mr. Saito continued, "she's a bit like Eidolon, I think, and styles herself as a queen of witches-hence the name. Then there was Muramasa."

"Wait, I've heard that legend," Lisa interrupted. It was vaguely familiar to myself too, "Muramasa was a swordsmith with a bad temper. Due to circumstances too numerous to account here, the legend formed that his swords, while of legendary quality, were cursed. Why would a hero name himself after a swordsmith with such a story?"

Mr. Saito took a deep breath and then began. "Miyazaki Eijirou was a man who saw the world in a terrible state and devoted his life to fixing it. However, after several years the man came to believe himself to be cursed-no matter what he did or what sacrifices he made, he never seemed to be able to make any major long term changes for the better." Mr. Saito sounded wistful. "Then he got his powers. He was what is called a Tinker, a parahuman whose powers manifest as a superhuman affinity for technology and the sciences. His power was particularly adept at the creation of blades with special properties."

"Let me guess," Lisa interrupted, "even after getting his powers his 'curse' was still there?"

"Exactly," Mr. Saito finished, "and so he twisted Muramasa-not a maker of cursed swords, but a sword maker who was himself cursed. Though, even in his belief in its futility, Muramasa continued trying to save lives and make the world a better place, even as the stress of it all took its toll on him. Still, till the day he died, he kept trying to save as many people as he could."

I had to ask. "How did he die?"

"He was on Kyushu when Leviathan attacked." Mr. Saito said solemnly. Kyushu... it wasn't there anymore. "When he became convinced that the fight was lost, Muramasa abandoned direct combat with the Beast and focused all of his efforts on helping people evacuate. Per an eye-witness account," Mr. Saito said, "when the ground beneath his feet began to shake and crumble, Muramasa removed his mask and told the first person he saw who he thought might live his name and asked them to deliver a message, before he went back to find one last person he might be able to rescue."

"Do you know the message?"

"The last words anyone living ever heard Muramasa say were 'My name is Miyazaki Eijirou of Fuyuki. Find my son and tell him that he is loved.' " That... That was some heavy stuff.

"That was awfully detailed, Mr. Saito." Lisa sounded a bit... Incredulous.

"Muramasa was based in Fuyuki," Mr. Saito replied, "while I lived in Kobe, Fuyuki wasn't that far away. Being one of the 'local' heroes, Muramasa was a favorite of many young boys, myself included." A smile came to the repair man's face. "There's something admirable, I think, about a man who knows that something is a lost cause but still fights for it-someone who tries to save everyone even though he knows it's impossible. Of course," he said, somber once more, "there's just one more hint of tragedy: When an island crumbles and sinks, it's never clean. There were waves going out, and Fuyuki was flooded so badly that I think there are still documents that mistakenly claim that it was on Kyushu itself. It's unknown if the younger Miyazaki survived." He finished with something or other, then turned on the Segway he'd been tinkering with. The wheels turned but the new motor wasn't making a sound. "I think this is done."

"I think," I said, "that I know who I'm writing about. Can I cite you in my essay?"

"Of course," he answered, "if you'd like I have plenty of stories about him that I can share with you. Of course," he continued, "you'd have to find corroboration for some of them but it can't be that hard."

"I'd like that." I reached for my bag-I'd have to ask Opal where it had gone when I'd transformed later-to get my notebook. Then I felt Opal tug on my hair and... Aw crap, she was going to tease the hell out of me over this later.

Lisa was checking her phone. "I do need to finish that errand though," she said, "Taylor if I left now would you be okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to be alright alone?" Mr. Saito asked my friend.

"Yeah," she answered, "I know all the safest ways to get around town, and it's honestly not that far from here. after that, I'll be with other friends, so..."

"Alright then, be safe."

And in just a moment, I was alone with Mr. Saito, taking notes as he worked and told stories about a cursed hero.