Chapter Two: What Is True, and What Is Right

The next morning, Philip was up and early. He quickly burnt some toast, gobbled it down, drank some water, cleaned himself up, then ran out of the house without even saying goodbye to Emiya.

Emiya walked over to the doorway and watched him disappear into the forest. He shook his head and turned back around to resume his chores.

Phil ran down the dirt pathway through the forest, his mind scrambling to connect any dots that existed. What was Valence's plan? What was she going to do to Maxwell? His mind searched through multiple possibilities, but the obvious one was that she was in love with Philip, and that love might become destructive. If it does, she could put people into danger, his friends and classmates, and mainly Maxwell. He had to find out her true intentions.

He slid to a stop by the intersection of the road where he usually met Maxwell everyday. He would be leaning against the light pole, munching on a carrot or celery. But today, he wasn't there. He was probably with Valence.

Philip sighed and placed his hands on his knees. "That bitch had better not touch him," he muttered as he straightened his back and ran to the school.

He couldn't care about what he wore today; a simple white t-shirt and cargo shorts clothed him. His hair was a mess and his shoes weren't even tied, but he couldn't care less. His best friend could be in danger.

In the distance, he could see the swarm of students entering the school, each chatting with their own friend. He slowed down to a jog and squirmed through the openings… until he was stopped by a hand that was shoved into his chest.

"Philip! Why weren't you at the club today?!" the girl yelled with the ferocity of a small cat.

Her name was Alyssa. She's the club president of the dojo club. She's been Philip's friend for a while, but not as long as Maxwell.

Alyssa first founded the dojo club when she saw Philip swinging a bokken, a wooden sword meant for training. She was impressed with his skill and wanted to train just like him, so she created the dojo club. She forced Philip to be in it, of course, and made him "second in command". Later on, Philip convinced Maxwell to join too, and they all trained with each other.

At first, it was just simple sword training and exercise, but it later became more of "hero training" directed by Philip. Whatever wisdom he learned from Emiya, he passed it down to them.

Even though Philip was a highschooler, he sounded like a college professor from the way he talked about the meaning of being a hero. He interpreted Emiya's words, "being a hero isn't just about saving people", in his own way. He believed that being a hero did mean saving people, but he also believed that leading them to the right path was also what they should do— to be an example.

Alyssa looked up to Philip because of that. The idea that a hero can not only just help people, but have those who have been helped help others as well, could lead to a utopia of peace was just too perfect to believe. It sounded unfeasible, but at the same time, very very possible. It was so simple, yet so complicated at the same time. She loved it.

Alyssa pouted at Philip and folded her arms. "You promised me that you would do a duel with me tomorrow, yet 'tomorrow' was yesterday, and you weren't there!" she complained while punching Philip's arm.

"Eh, I'm sorry Alyssa, but me and Maxwell had something to do," he replied as he looked above her through the crowds, searching for either Maxwell or Valence.

"Hey! My eyes are down here!" Alyssa kicked his shin with enough force for him to feel it.

"Ack!" He lifted up his leg and held it. "What was that for!"

"Hmph!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the dojo, the complete opposite direction of where his and Maxwell's class was.

"Wait Alyssa, I got something important to do today, so I can't duel with you right now—"

She dragged him behind the school, shoved him against the wall, and slammed her hands beside his arms while staring menacingly up at him. Though she was small, her tiny hands could destroy a building within seconds. She shifted her legs a bit so that her knee was pointed at his groin… just in case.

Her eyes were filled with the flames of hell. As the president of the dojo club AND the school president, nobody wanted to mess with her. She could probably take on an army of well trained American seals with her legs and arms tied behind her back. All she would need was a pen and some paper.

Everyone feared her, save for Philip. Even if she held a gun to his head, he wouldn't flinch because he knew that she wouldn't pull the trigger. She wasn't that kind of person, and he knew that.

He stood his ground and looked back at his eyes. "Why do you want to duel me so badly anyways? You know that I would lose," Philip reasoned.

Her eye contact remained for a few moments longer before she looked away. "I just want to spend time with you… that's all," she muttered, ears slightly red.

Philip looked below her eyes and at the dark bags underneath them. He could see faint dried streaks of tears. Why was she crying earlier? He had no idea, but it must've been something important because he's never seen her shed a tear before.

He sighed and ruffled her hair slightly, then moved his hand down to her face and wiped the stain away. "Fine, I'll duel you, but let's make it quick."

She looked down at his chest and smiled softly, then her smile turned into an annoyed frown and she slapped his hand away. "If you want to make it quick, then stop struggling and come with me," she ordered while grabbing his hand and pulling him along, while with her other hand, she felt the place where Philip touched her face.

As they neared the dojo, Alyssa let go of Philip's hand and slid open the doors.

The dojo was actually built before the school was, according to the rumors spread by the teachers and students, though they were usually never right. The supposed story was that there was a dojo in the middle of nowhere and some agents came over to build a school, so they asked the teacher who taught in the dojo if they would kindly evacuate. They refused and kicked the agents out of their area. Later on, the agents decided that instead of building on top of the dojo, they would just build around it. Little did they know that the dojo would become famous after the school was built. It attracted many students to it, but later became unused after the master of the dojo passed away. They say that you could still feel his presence there, pushing you to train harder and to try your best.

The dojo was simple and small. The main training room was in the middle with two changing rooms on both sides. The floor was made out of wooden floorboards that felt like plastic, probably because they were heavily polished. A thin line of dust covered the walls and floor. On both sides of the dojo we're five rackets, each holding a couple of bokkens.

Alyssa took off her school shoes and stepped inside with her socks while bowing. She took a deep breath of the familiar smell of the dojo, straightened her back, and walked over to the left side to get a bokken.

Philip did the same as he entered. He looked up at the ceiling where a single fan and light hung. A fly flew underneath it and landed on one of the blades of the fan.

Philip looked back down and walked over to the right side to grab a bokken. He grabbed the handle of the wooden weapon and paused. He turned his head slightly to the side. "Hey Alyssa… are you okay?" he asked.

She ignored him and grabbed one of the bokken. "What kind of duel do you want to do? Just sword against sword? Or whoever gets to hit the other person first gets a point." She twirled the wooden sword between her hands before grabbing the handle with her left hand.

Philip grabbed his sword and examined Alyssa's eyes. She hid her feelings well with the mask of anger over it. "I'm fine with whatever, but won't you miss class? You won't be able to top Valence if you do."

She slammed the end of the blade into the ground and frowned at him. "It's fine, second place is good enough for me anyways," she said while tightening the grip on her blade.

Alyssa was superior to Philip compared with strength and intelligence. She was the top student in school, aside from Valence, so to skip class just to duel him and lose the race against Valence was unlike her. Her pride and ego was too thick to just throw away her chance at being the number one student. Something must have happened.

Philip sighed and placed the wooden sword on his shoulder. "Fine, make your first move then," he said, sliding his foot back and moving his free hand to his hip.

Alyssa nodded and bent her knees close to the floor. She slid the bokken into her right hand and took a deep breath. It was the fighting stance she used when she wanted to get a one hit wonder. It was extremely effective in tag duels, and it was just as dangerous in a real duel. Philip never underestimated her attack.

With a powerful kick of her foot, she launched herself across the room at unnatural speeds. Her right hand released the sword and she swung the bokken with her left arm, the sound of wood cracking from within due to the force. A loud whistle sang as her sword flew through the air.

Philip used the same move he used against the ghost and bent his back backwards, then he kicked himself back up again and adjusted the grip on his sword. He swung down towards her shoulder while taking a step back, but he missed his mark as Alyssa kicked the back of his leg, having him fall onto the ground and roll away.

Her attacks were more aggressive than before, not wise, not careful. If felt blind and lost, just a swing of a sword, but not the swing of the soul. Philip taught them to always fight with all of your soul, because you never know when you'll lose it, but today, she threw away that wisdom. "No matter how just your words may be, you ruin everything when you speak in anger." John Chrysostom spoke those wise words. Philip followed it closely, both in actions and in words.

Philip stood back up and got into a fighting stance, his legs spread apart and his knees slightly bent. He raised his sword above his head and took a sharp breath in. He took a large step forward and slammed his foot into the ground, anchoring himself there. With his other foot, he swung it around, as well as his sword, towards Alyssa's back.

With a furious blow, Alyssa swung her sword with an unnecessary amount of force. Their wooden swords clashed against each other, the loud sound of wood snapping; flying splinters shot all around as Alyssa's sword broke in two. The top half of the bokken went flying past Philip's face, barely missing his eye, while the handle of the bokken shattered in her hand.

She tripped over her own foot and fell forward. Philip grabbed her by the waist and held her there. "Something happened, didn't it? What did you want to talk about Alyssa?" He lifted her back up and grabbed her shoulders. "What's wrong?"

Alyssa's eyes avoided him and looked down at the ground. Tears were forming at the edges of her eyes, but he wasn't sure if it was from the pain of the bokken exploding in her hands or something else.

She took in a shaky breath and laid her head against his shoulder. "... My grandpa passed away yesterday…" she finally spoke. Her body shook slightly as she stood there, nearly motionless.

"...Mr. Kureson…?"

She nodded her head in his shoulder, his shirt slightly wet from her tears.

Kureson was Alyssa's neighbor, but she called him her grandpa because she felt closer to him than her own parents, and he was the nicest man on earth. He was known as the grandpa of all grandpas. He would take kids in from the streets and take care of them. No matter what your background was or who you were, he would treat you with respect and kindness. No man right in their mind would ever harm such a kind old man.

He was nicer than Alyssa's own parents, which is one of the reasons why she was so attached to him. Kureson's home and loving embrace was what let her escape her reality of an unloving family— to enter a dream where someone actually cared for her, but now that she's been brought back to reality… it must've been hard for her. Philip didn't know Kureson so well, but he knew that he was a good man.

Philip placed his hand on her head and looked away. "So that's what you wanted to talk about yesterday…" he muttered.

"So please…" She grabbed his shoulder and tightened her grip on him. "Stay here with me for a bit."

Philip nodded and walked over to the edge of the dojo while pulling her along and they sat down. She kept her head on his shoulder and relaxed her back.

"Let me see your hand Alyssa," he said as he looked at her bleeding and splintered hand. "It must've hurt when your sword broke—"

"I'm fine," she assured him and hid her hand behind her back. "I'll clean it up later… just stay here for a while…"

Philip sighed and leaned back with the support of his hands. "Fine."

They stayed silent for a few moments. It was just the two of them watching the grass move to the wind. It was peaceful and nice. The warm feeling of her subtle heartbeat and the movement of her chest from her breathing was relaxing.

Breaking the ice, Alyssa cleared her throat. "Now that I've gotten some of my steam out," she adjusted herself to where her arm was touching his, "what's going on with you and Maxwell? You said you guys had some business together."

"Well… it's just a gut feeling I have, so it's kind of iffy and I'm not sure if I'm right," Philip answered, his eyes wandering towards the clouds.

Alyssa rubbed her eyes and sat up straight. "No, tell me and maybe we can find out together if you're right or not."

Philip scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "So… Valence gave a love letter to Philip and—"

"She WHAT?!" Alyssa yelled into his ear.

"Agh! Don't yell!" He gently pushed her away and stood up while rubbing his ear. "But yeah, he got a love letter from her and now they're together in a relationship."

"That's great!" she exclaimed as she threw her hands up in the air. "That's good for him! She's his dream girl, right?"

"Yeah… but the thing is…" he took out the love letter from his pocket. He picked it up from the ground after Maxwell accidentally dropped it. He gave it to her with a grave expression. "Read it, tell me your thoughts on this."

Alyssa nodded and opened up the envelope. The intense perfume was still there. She coughed and pulled out the letter. "This is what she sent him? It smells horrible."

"That's what we said." Philip wiped the sweat away from his forehead and leaned against the frame of the dojo.

She unfolded the letter and read it silently in her head. After a few moments, she groaned and placed the letter down. "My eyes…" she complained. "Are you sure this is from Valence? Like, really really sure?"

"Who else could it be from?"

"I… I'm just at a loss for words. I can't even read half of it, but… this is so absurd." She flipped the letter upside down and read it again.

As she reread it once more, Philip looked over at the second floor of the school where his classroom was. "I have a gut feeling that this isn't right, and I want to investigate what her plan is. I just can't trust her that it's just 'love'. Can you help me?"

"Of course I'll help!" She crumpled the letter and stood up. "Where do we start? Should we just turn her into the authorities—"

"Hey, slow down," Philip interrupted as he walked up to her and took the crumpled piece of paper from her hand. "I just said it was a gut feeling. I want to get as much evidence as I can that she's evil or something. I don't want to convict someone innocent."

"Then what do we do then?"

He slid the crumpled paper into his pocket and looked over at his classroom that was on the second floor. "Let's watch what she does for the moment I guess."

Alyssa nodded with agreement. "Sure, let's do that."

Philip walked over to the sword racket and placed his bokken back while Alyssa kicked away the mess outside the dojo. She picked up her backpack and picked up his and offered it to him. "You ready?" she asked.

"Yeah," Philip answered as he took his bag from her. "Let's go."

He led the charge into the school and jogged down the hallway towards the stairs, Alyssa following right behind him. They both quickly climbed the stairs and slowed down to a calm yet quickly paced walk as they got closer to their class.

"Do you want to head in already, or do you want to just sit outside and watch since we're late for class?" Philip asked.

"We might as well head in. It won't make such a difference anyways," Alyssa replied.

"Then let's just head inside—" he suddenly stopped and backed up as a thin spider web covered his lips and entered his mouth. "Ew! Ack! Get it off of me!" He waved his hand in the air frantically, trying to dust the webbing away.

"What happened Philip?" She stood next to him and tried to wave away whatever was hitting him.

"A spider web got into my mouth." He spat on the ground and wiped his face. "Whatever, it's fine." While regaining his composure, he walked over to the door and reached out to open it.

The door slid open first, making Philip jump back a bit.

"Oh, hi Philip," Valence greeted him as she walked out of the classroom. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi Valence," Philip greeted back as he took a step back and tightened the grip on his backpack. Alyssa hid behind him and peeked over his shoulder. "This is my classroom as well. What a coincidence, right?"

"Huh, I guess that I've just never noticed you in the back over there." She smiled at him and patted his shoulder. "Well, I'm heading out to use the restroom. I'll see you…" she spotted Alyssa hiding behind him and winked at her, "two later." She walked past them towards the restroom while waving to them goodbye.

Philip and Alyssa watched her disappear around the corner before they turned back around and entered the classroom. "Sorry we're late," Philip announced as they walked in.

Their teacher looked up at them and shook her head. "Go sit down, Philip, Alyssa," she ordered as she looked back at the papers scattered on her desk. "I'll just mark you tardy for today, so don't be late next time."

"We understand," Alyssa said as she split away from Philip, but before she did, she gave him a nod and walked away.

Philip nodded back and went over to his seat in front of Maxwell. Fortunately, he was there, but some other students were absent due to being sick. "Hey Maxwell," he whispered as he took out his seat, sat down, and placed his backpack on the ground. "Are you alright?"

Maxwell was busy gnawing on some kind of brown stick. He looked up at him and smiled. "Oh hey Philip," he said as he took out the stick from his mouth. "Dude, she gave me this long-ass meat stick! It's so good, wanna try it?"

"Nah, you got your saliva all slapped over it," Philip replied while shaking his head.

"Hey, your loss then." He continued to chew on the stick of meat, slowly consuming it till there was nothing left.

Philip scooted his chair back and leaned into Maxwell's ear. "Do you think that Valence is suspicious at all?" he asked.

Maxwell stopped gnawing at his stick and placed it down while he shrugged. "No? Why?"

"Because of, you know, everything. That love letter she made, her weird obsession with you, and the fact that she did have a boyfriend before," Philip explained.

"Dude, c'mon, that love letter was sweet. I mean, I can't read it at all and I lost it a bit back, but that's all dandy and well. She loves me to death, I know that for sure, and she didn't have a boyfriend, she already told us this."

"I'm telling you Maxwell, she's bad news, you can just feel that aura from her."

"Stop bad-mouthing her man. She's a good person." Maxwell frowned at him and picked up his stick. "Are you just talking down about her because you've never seen me with a girl?"

"What? No, why would I—"

"Is it because you're so used to seeing me be a loner and being useless that it's hard for you to see me find something good, is that what it is?" Maxwell's grip on the stick tightened as his true feelings started to pour out. "You're always one step ahead of me Philip, always better than me. I walked in your shadow because I admired you, not because I wanted to be unnoticed." He looked away towards the ground and relaxed his hand. "I also want to be cool like you too."

Philip stayed silent and looked away as well. He scooted in his chair and rested his chin on his palms. "Fine, whatever. I didn't mean for you to be my shadow anyways."

—-

For several days afterwards, Philip and Alyssa watched over Valence and Maxwell. Day after day, they watched carefully, but they couldn't find anything suspicious. Philip started to grow apart from Maxwell from their small argument they had a few days back.

Everyday when Philip and Alyssa walked to class, Valence was always there to greet them. It was quite bothersome and did nothing for them except have spider webs sneakily enter Philip's face.

Valence's normal life was so… normal, that even Alyssa started to have doubts in her mind.

And that doubt grew more in more til Alyssa decided to confess to Philip about her doubts.

During lunch, she told him to meet up with her in the dojo after school, so he obeyed and waited outside of it for Alyssa. He waited there for roughly thirty minutes there. The sky was already dark and he had to get home soon, but he had nothing else to do at the moment.

"Philip, sorry for being late," Alyssa called from a distance.

Philip's head perked up and he looked over at her. "No, it's fine—" He paused mid-sentence when he saw Maxwell right behind her. His body tensed up and his hand twitched. "What's this about, you bringing Maxwell over here."

They approached him awkwardly, Alyssa looking away from Philip's eyes and Maxwell staring straight at him. "Philip, there's something we wanted to talk about with you."

Philip sighed and leaned against the frames of the dojo. "Since you brought Maxwell with you, I'm going to assume that this is about Valence," he said while sliding his hands into his pockets.

Alyssa nodded and stood in front of him. Her eyes rose up to meet him. "Philip… I'm sorry but—"

"You're also having doubts about Valence?" Philip asked.

Alyssa slowly nodded and pressed her fingers together as she talked. "It's just… you know, she isn't suspicious at all. We haven't seen her do anything except take care of Maxwell and do school work… and that's about it."

"She's a good person Philip, you just can't see it right now," Maxwell added. He took a step forward and grabbed his shoulder. "I can understand that you're worried about me, but I'm fine. All she wants is just love, nothing else."

Philip moved Maxwell's hand away from his shoulder and shook his head. "I'm sorry Maxwell, Alyssa, but I just can't put it to rest. There's something wrong with her, and I know it."

"There isn't anything wrong with her Philip. She was normal back then, she's still normal now." Maxwell sighed and turned away. "Forget it, I'm going home."

Alyssa watched him walk away before turning back to Philip. "Philip, I know you're worried about us and your peers, but we're fine. Nothing bad has happened before, so why would anything bad happen now?"

Philip looked away and clenched his fist. "I'm sorry Alyssa, but I can't throw away this gut feeling. I know that I'm right, I just know it." He walked away towards his home, leaving Alyssa there to question whether Philip's gut feeling was correct or all the evidence already pointed at Valence to show that she was innocent.

As Philip walked home by himself, his doubts rose more and more in his mind. Was his friendship tearing apart because of something that didn't even matter? What if he really was wrong and he was doing this for nothing? Should he just go up to them and say "sorry I thought your girlfriend was some sort of terrorist"?

His confidence lowered even more as he reached his house on the top of the hill. Maybe he was wrong, and he was just fighting for nothing.

He opened the door to his home and entered inside while stomping his shoes on the welcome mat.

Emiya was in the kitchen washing dishes. He looked up at him with his usual stern face. "You're late," he said as he put away a dish into the cabinet. "What took you so long to get home?"

Philip ignored him and tossed his bag onto the couch. He jumped onto the soft cushions and groaned.

Emiya stopped what he was doing and took off the gloves from his hands. "What's wrong Philip? You aren't normally like this."

Turning his head to the side, Philip sighed and looked down at the ground. The chaos ensuing in his mind could not be tamed by even the chains of heaven that connected the earth to the sky. It would've struggled to keep his mind from tearing apart.

"Emiya… I have a question," Philip said as he rolled onto his back.

"What is it, Philip?" Emiya asked as he looked down at him from the back of the couch. He folded his arms over each other and leaned over the top, his head hovering above Philip's.

"If… Um… When you were younger and you knew you were in the right, but no one else believed you or stood by your side, what would you do?" Philip asked.

Emiya's eyes softened when he heard his question. His hands reached down towards Philip and caressed the side of his cheek. "So that's what you're going through…" he muttered. Taking a deep breath in, he walked around the couch and sat beside Philip. "Philip… Can I tell you a story?"

Philip nodded, his eyes focusing on the light above.

"There was this girl," he began. "She was this boy's childhood friend. She supported him in everything he did. She was like a little sister to him, but one day, her feelings overwhelmed her and she couldn't control herself. People ridiculed her and told the boy to kill her if he wanted to save the world, but she was his world— his everything, so he betrayed and decided to use everything he had to save his world. Even when the world told him it was wrong, and even the girl he loved said so too, he knew in his heart it was the right thing to try to save her."

Emiya smiled down at him— a small and simple yet expressive smile that warmed Philip to his toes. "So Philip, when you're faced with this problem and you know you are right, push through to the very end and carry that belief in your heart. It's not about what is true, but what is right, and you have to believe that til the very end."

Emiya stood up and rubbed his own palm. "Now, you better get some rest Philip. Tomorrow's Friday. I'll make you a big breakfast, so go to sleep.

Philip nodded and stood up as well. "I'll clean up then. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight Philip."