Day 2: Shirou — Strange Tidings

The day began normally enough for Shirou. He awoke from a dream of fire and swords to find that Sakura hadn't come over that morning. While that was a bit out of the ordinary, it wasn't remarkably so; though Sakura tried to come by every day, every now and then something would keep her. Probably something had come up at the Matou household that required her attention. In any case, in the absence of Sakura, it fell to Shirou to make breakfast.

After an enjoyable meal with Taiga, he turned on the TV to check the news. That was when things first took a turn for the unusual. Shirou had been expecting the top news to be the continuing hunt for the Fuyuki serial killer; the networks had been increasingly attacking the police force and politicians for their perceived incompetence in failing to apprehend the culprit. Instead, the reporters listed off one strange occurrence after another, each more bizarre than the last.

During the night, numerous people had lost consciousness and fallen into comas, apparently due to gas leaks. While such things had been known to happen before, it was quite rare; Shirou had never heard about so many separate gas leaks occurring in such a short period of time. Even more strangely, at around the same time the gas leaks were occurring, an enormous white wolf with two tails had been seen jumping between the rooftops of buildings in downtown Fuyuki. Normally, such eyewitness reports would be discounted as the ravings of lunatics and drunkards; but so many people were claiming to have seen the same thing that it was impossible to ignore.

The second strange occurrence happened when Shirou was walking to school. He was halfway there when a small girl with silver hair and red eyes stepped into his path. Shirou had never seen the girl before, but she gave him a sly smile that implied that she at least was familiar with him.

"Hey, onii-chan." the girl said. "You'd better summon it soon, or you're going to die."

Before Shirou could ask what she meant, the girl turned on her heel and departed, disappearing into an alley. For a few moments, Shirou considered going after her and trying to get her to explain her cryptic proclamation; but that might cause him to be late in getting to school, where he was really hoping to check in with Sakura before class. It probably wasn't anything all that important, anyway; just some girl playing a practical joke.

Still, a sense of unease followed Shirou as he walked the rest of the way to school. He had a strange but unshakeable feeling that his life was about to change forever.

==Interlude: Sakura==

When Sakura Matou arrived at Homurahara School, Rin Tohsaka was waiting for her by the front door. Before Sakura could speak a word of greeting, Rin grabbed her firmly by the arm and led her to the bathroom. Ignoring Sakura's mumbled protests at her rough treatment, Rin checked to see that there was nobody else in earshot. Once she had confirmed that they were alone, she spoke seriously to Sakura.

"The time of the Holy Grail War has come, and I have been selected as a Master." Rin said.

Of course. If Sakura had been chosen to represent the Matous, then it only made sense that Rin had been chosen to represent the Tohsakas.

"You understand what this means, don't you?" Rin asked. "If you've also been chosen as a Master, then my duty as a magus is clear."

Rin was good at hiding her emotion. If Sakura didn't know her as well as she did, she wouldn't have been able to sense the grief behind her mask of determination.

"I'm not a Master." Sakura said.

"I wish I could just take your word for it." Rin said. "But historically, a member of the Matou family has always been selected by the Grail. Therefore, I'm going to need to make certain."

"How?" Sakura asked.

While she knew that magi could identify one another by sensing the prana generated by an active Magic Circuit, Zouken had never told her about any method by which a Master could be distinguished from an ordinary magus. If Rin did have some kind of spell like that, Sakura might still trigger it — while she wasn't currently Rider's Master, she had been the one to perform the summoning ritual that called Rider into the world. It would depend on how exactly the spell worked, whether it looked only for a current bond or for traces of a prior one as well.

"It's simple." Rin said. "All Masters chosen by the Grail receive a distinguishing mark: the three Command Spells which appear somewhere on their body. If you don't bear any Command Spells, then you are telling the truth and are not a Master."

Sakura relaxed. Three Command Spells had indeed marked her hand when she'd summoned Rider, but those marks had vanished when Zouken had used his worms to reforge the Command Spells into the Book of the False Attendant for Shinji. No trace of them was left for Rin to find.

"Command Spells can appear anywhere on the body." Rin said. "Mine are on the back of my right hand, but that doesn't mean yours would necessarily appear in the same place. So, I'm going to have to search your whole body in order to make sure you really don't have any. Take off your clothes."

Despite her discomfort with the prospect, Sakura didn't argue; it really was the quickest and best method to convince Rin that she wasn't a Master. Sakura's rare interactions with Rin were always awkward; having to disrobe for her made this one even more so. The feeling of air across her bare skin made the Crest Worms within her body squirm with excitement. They had learned that nudity often meant that one of Sakura's "lessons" was about to begin. Sakura hated the effect the worms had on her body, amplifying her carnal impulses. It was would get so bad that, as part of her magecraft training, Zouken had enlisted Shinji to periodically relieve her tension, as he put it; a duty that Shinji was all too eager to fulfill. The worst part was, when the urges got bad enough, Sakura would stop resisting him. Her body was constantly betraying her, forcing her into depravity. Even now, despite her fear and embarrassment, the worms were doing their ugly work. She only hoped Rin didn't notice.

Fortunately, Rin was detached and clinical in her examination. Though Sakura often yearned for Rin to show her some warmth or kindness, she was now grateful of her cold and professional manner, which helped Sakura keep her own emotions under strict control.

"It seems you were telling the truth." Rin said, barely concealed relief in her words. "You really haven't been chosen as a Master. You can put your clothes back on now."

Sakura hurried to do so, hoping to quiet the vulgar urges being generated by her agitated crestworms.

"So, you aren't a part of this War." Rin said. "And Shinji doesn't have any magic circuits, so he couldn't be chosen... that only leaves Zouken as a potential Matou candidate. But from what I've heard, he's so decrepit that he can barely move around the house, let alone fight in the Holy Grail War... so perhaps, for the first time, the Matous have been passed over entirely."

Pain welled up in Sakura's heart. She wanted to tell Rin that she was wrong; that Shinji had become a Master through the magic of the Book of the False Attendant, and that Zouken still maintained his vitality by using his Crest Worms to consume the bodies and souls of others. She wanted to tell Rin about the Worm Room, and what she had endured there for the past ten years. Rin knew nothing of the Matou family magecraft; she assumed that Sakura had been undergoing traditional training. If she knew about the Crest Worms, she would definitely try to save Sakura. And from the bottom of her heart, Sakura was crying out to be saved.

But Sakura said nothing. The lesson she had learned from the Fourth Grail War was still fresh in her mind. Uncle Kariya had known of her suffering, had tried to save her... and what had opposing Zouken gotten him? Eaten by worms, like all the others who had tried to stand in the ancient magus's way over the past few centuries. Rin couldn't save Sakura — trying would only result in her worm-eaten bones joining the countless others carpeting the floor of the training pit.

Sakura envied Rin, for living a life she never could. Sometimes, she even hated her, for never inquiring about Sakura's life, for never making the effort to learn that Sakura was in trouble and needed to be saved. But Sakura would never wish the Worm Room on anybody. And so she stayed silent.

"In any case, we don't have to be enemies." Rin said. "That's a relief to me, Sakura. I would have done what was necessary, but... I wouldn't have found it easy."

She turned away and seemed to address the air.

"Come on, Black Archer; we're done here." Rin said.

Of course. Since she was a Master, it was only natural that she would be accompanied by her Servant at all times. The Servant must have been present the entire time, unnoticed in its spiritual form. Sakura felt her embarrassment grow at the thought of some uncouth hero leering at her naked body, and her writhing Crest Worms twisted the sensation into perverted pleasure. Sakura took a moment to splash cold water on her face, then hurriedly exited the bathroom.

==Interlude Out==

The first thing Shirou did when he got to school was look around for Sakura. He soon spotted her leaving the girls' bathroom along with Rin Tohsaka. Tohsaka, as always, carried herself with a cold and haughty grace; Sakura, however, was blushing deeply for some reason and kept her head tilted down towards the floor.

"There you are, Sakura!" Shirou said. "I was a little surprised not to see you this morning. Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine." Sakura assured him. "There were just some... things I needed to do... at my house this morning, so I didn't have time to come over. I'm sorry I wasn't there to make you breakfast, Shirou-senpai.

"It's alright, I can manage on my own once in a while." Shirou said. "Umm... I'm just kind of wondering... what were you and Rin doing in the bathroom together? You look kind of, well, ...embarrassed."

"It was nothing." Sakura mumbled. "She just wanted to look at my body."

"Um... what?" was all Shirou could say to that.

His reaction only made Sakura blush more.

"It was nothing... untoward." Sakura told him.

"Well, if you say so." Shirou said dubiously. "But really, you shouldn't let Rin boss you around like that. If anyone's giving you trouble, you know you can always come to me for help, right?"

"I understand, senpai." Sakura said.

For some reason, she didn't look Shirou in the eye when she said it.

"Anyway, we can't stand around talking all day." Shirou said. "We have to get to class."

He reached out to take Sakura's hand, and heard her gasp.

"Senpai!" Sakura said. "You're bleeding!"

"Hmm?"

Shirou looked at the back of his left hand. A small amount of blood was trickling from three small cuts. It was really only a tiny bit of blood, nothing to warrant the surprise and fear he'd heard in Sakura's voice; it didn't even hurt. Shirou tried to recall when he might have gotten the cuts; probably he had scraped his hand without noticing while working at his part-time job. The only slightly odd think was the shape of the cuts: they almost seemed to form a pattern that resembled a sword. The first cut formed the blade; the second, the crossguard; and the third, the hilt. It was probably just a coincidence, though; Shirou's mind must still be lingering on the subject of swords because of how often they appeared in his dreams. He held up his hand to show Sakura how minor the injury was.

"It's nothing, see?" Shirou said. "Just some scratches."

"No..." Sakura whispered, eyes wide with barely concealed terror. "No... it can't be..."

"Really, I'm fine." Shirou reassured her. "You don't need to worry. Look, I'll go to the nurse's office and get some disinfectant put on it, okay?"

He really thought Sakura was overreacting, but he wanted to put her mind at ease and it really wouldn't be too much trouble. Shirou walked down the hallway to the nurse's office, not knowing that even more strangeness awaited him there. When he entered the room, he found himself facing not the regular nurse, but a strange young woman with pale white skin and white hair. Her arms and legs were wrapped in bandages in several locations.

"Um, excuse me." Shirou said. "Do you know where the nurse is?"

The woman turned to face Shirou, regarding him with pale yellow eyes.

"Unfortunately, due to certain circumstances, the regular nurse is unable to fulfill her duties at this time." the woman said. "Therefore, until she is able to resume her duties, I will be temporarily filling her role as school nurse. I apologize if my own skills in the healing arts are deficient in comparison to hers, but I will attempt to help you to the best of my ability."

Shirou was somewhat taken aback.

"Um, I'm sure it won't be a problem." he said. "I just assumed you were here to be treated because of, well, the bandages. Are you okay?"

"That is a personal matter." the woman said. "I would prefer if you did not inquire further."

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be rude." Shirou quickly said.

"It's alright." the woman said. "You meant no harm by your question; you will be forgiven."

The way she clasped her hands when speaking that last part, as though in prayer, made Shirou slightly uncomfortable.

"By the way, my name's Shirou Emiya." he said. "Who are you?"

"Caren Ortensia." the young woman said. "Though my primary service is as a nun for the Holy Church, I have some experience in first aid. All healing comes from God; but we, as His servants, must strive to carry out His will through our own efforts."

"Right..." Shirou said. "Anyway, it's nothing serious, just a few small cuts that need to be disinfected."

He extended his left hand for Caren to inspect. Oddly, her eyes widened in surprise much the same way Sakura's had upon seeing the pattern formed by the small cuts.

"Holy Stigmata." Caren whispered. "The blessing of the Great Grail. ...But why show this to me?"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know what you are talking about." Shirou said.

"What?" Caren asked, tilting her head.

"I don't know anything about any holy stigmata or whatever." Shirou said. "It's just a few small scratches, nothing serious at all; look, they've already stopped bleeding. If you could just put a little hydrogen peroxide on them, I'll be on my way.

"Oh!" Caren said. "Yes, of course one of your kind would think it necessary to deceive anyone associated with the Holy Church about your participation in these happenings. You will be forgiven."

Caren treated Shirou's hand without further comment, and he left the nurse's office feeling slightly relieved to get away from the unusual young woman. Today was turning out to be one strange event after another. Of course, he didn't know that the most significant event of all was still yet to occur.

Since Shirou didn't have any part-time work this afternoon, he normally would have left school as soon as classes got out. However, one of his classmates, Issei Ryuudou, had asked him to look at a broken air conditioner in the student council room. Shirou would never turn down a request for help, so he stayed at the school to take a look at the machine. With his structural grasp magecraft, it was easy to identify the worn-out parts causing the problem. He was then able to repair the unit by strengthening them with Reinforcement. Of course, he ran the risk of destroying the unit if he made a mistake, as he had with the lamp during last night's practice; but since it was already broken in a way that conventional methods couldn't fix, there was really nothing to lose.

"Trace, on."

Fortunately, the process went well, and the air conditioner was returned to functional condition. Shirou looked on his handiwork with satisfaction for a few moments; Issei would certainly be pleased when he came in tomorrow. Then Shirou started getting ready to head home, as it was beginning to get late. The actual Reinforcement itself didn't take long at all, but as usual he'd spent a lot of time on the painstaking work of constructing the Magic Circuit in his spine. It seemed all of the other students had gone home already.

As he began walking away from the school, however, something caught Shirou's eye. Flashes of purple light and the sound of steel singing through the air, coming from the courtyard. Despite Shirou's senses tingling with the intuition of danger, he couldn't help but turn back to take a look. If someone was in trouble, it was his responsibility to lend a hand. But when he rounded the corner, what he saw was beyond belief.

Rin Tohsaka, a look of fierce determination on her face. A man clad in a blue bodysuit, whirling a glittering red spear. A dark-haired girl in a purple skirt, drawing back the string of a black bow. A powerful aura composed of equal parts mana and killing intent.

The school had become a battlefield.