It was morning. The sun peeked through the translucent layer of the paper doors that had made up the traditional look of the Emiya residence. It was the morning after the ritual. Shirou blinked and opened his eyes slowly, feeling lethargic and for once getting the sensation of a full night's rest. He was sore, unbearably sore across his entire body. However, he was sore everywhere somehow without the dull ache that should resonate throughout his entire body. He was sore from his bones to his muscles, that much he could determine but the sensations that his body were giving him instead were pleasant in nature. As much as he lacked the experience, he doubted that this was the result of a good night's sleep. He had not heard of anything that mentioned that adequate sleep could nullify soreness. If anything, there were mentions of too much sleep causing soreness. He was extremely confused right at this moment. His body was providing the information and he was getting the correct awareness and sensations from feeling the movement of his fingers and toes but he was not feeling the undesirable sensation of what his body was informing him and apparently suffering from.
Shirou looked around his room, trying to get up. The sun seemed to be relatively normal today, not being overly bright nor obscured by clouds. It felt like it would be a pleasant day. He bent both his limbs and attempted to get up.
"Oof!" Shirou let out a whine at falling down like a failing chicken. His manner of getting up had been incredibly undignified. He had gotten his limbs entangled somehow and in a state of immense confusion had waved his limbs around uselessly before hitting the ground.
After collapsing into the floor, Shirou raised his torso from the floor and gave his head a good vigorous shake. He gained his bearings and looked down at his body, attempting to locate the cause of the uncharacteristic clumsiness.
He saw that his bed-sheets were somehow in a knot with what seemed like a light sky-blue scarf. His bed-sheets were twisted tightly in what appeared to be in five directions and the scarf was coiled around the bed-sheets tightly. The scarf was incredibly stretched and it was a miracle it did not tear. A portion of the scarf not attached to the bed-sheets was instead tied around his ankles. Upon seeing the scarf, he recalled the events of what had happened before turning in.
Getting his first proper look at the scarf that he 'made', he saw that when not wrapped around his neck, it was about the length of his body at the age of ten. Although Shirou was still nowhere the height that he hoped he would be in the future and was relatively tall for a boy of ten, the scarf had still seemed slightly too long.
Shirou looked around the room, unused to the level of sunlight after waking up. He looked at the clock on top of his dresser and saw that it was pointing to eight. Shirou blinked, momentarily thrown off by the time, it was hours after he would ordinarily get up. Though he was but ten and had not yet entered the Japanese education system, he was not a late riser. He did turn in much earlier than he regularly did due to the ritual and it seemed that even that wasn't sufficient for the ritual seemed like it had taken more out of him than he thought.
Shirou shook his head, chastising himself for his deposition. He then shot his head up at the clock again and went rigid. It was way past the time of breakfast. He should have been preparing it hours ago. God forbid if Kiritsugu attempted to conjure up whatever unholy demon that would arise from his inability to cook.
Shirou quickly got up again and went on his way to start his morning ritual. Upon reaching the door, he looked back at his futon. It had seemed like he was truly off his wits today. He hadn't even remembered to store his futon and bedsheets back in the cupboard. The reminder also alerted him to the scarf he was still dragging by his ankle. He shook his head once again and went to clean up and begin his morning ritual, wrapping the scarf around his neck unconsciously…
Shirou entered the living room, Kiritsugu was sitting by the table, a cup of tea and a few boxes in front of him. It had seemed that Kiritsugu had ordered delivery for breakfast, this allowed Shirou to give himself a sigh of relief internally. He went to take a seat in front of his father.
"Shirou, how are you feeling this morning?"
"Ah, Kiritsugu, I am feeling okay, if a bit exhausted. Sorry for oversleeping, I should have prepared breakfast hours ago."
"Its fine Shirou, you were spent after the ritual, I anticipated this possibility happening due to the ritual and once you had not woken up at the usual time, I made preparations. It was no trouble to order from the outside once in a while. You already have done too much to compensate for my inability as a parent. Tuck in, you must be hungry."
Shirou gave a nod to his father and pulled one of the boxes in front of him. Starting to eat, he had a look at Kiritsugu and saw that he looked slightly weaker than when he last saw him. It seemed that whatever eating away at him was relentless. It must eat away at him slowly however, for his posture was still straight though, no doubt trying to keep a regular appearance. He seemed to be in thought, eyes staring focused at the windows.
It took no time at all for Shirou to get through his meal, it had seemed that Kiritsugu's prediction was right, he was hungry.
"You are still wearing the scarf?" Kiritsugu questioned.
Shirou looked down and felt the presence of the scarf around his neck. He had not thought to intentionally put the scarf on. He was at home, it would be silly to wear the scarf, especially since the weather was still pleasant. After removing the scarf from his ankle earlier, he had not thought to put it away and had immediately wrapped it around his neck. Shirou could not bring himself to regret the decision, even now with the vast length of the scarf wrapped around his neck, the pleasant weight of the scarf around his neck was felt. The excess heat that should have been a result of wearing such an outerwear was not present however. It was fortunate, for that would have made Shirou supremely uncomfortable.
Shirou put his hands around his neck, unwrapping the scarf and folding it. He placed it on the table and slid it in front of Kiritsugu, he immediately missed the pleasant feeling the scarf had provided him.
"Kiritsugu, what is the deal with this scarf?"
The elder Emiya picked up the scarf and looked at it. He moved one of his hands atop the scarf and muttered the name of a spell in German that Shirou had not learnt. A green magic circle appeared atop the scarf. It rotated for several cycles until fading away.
"Well, whatever it is, it is not truly physical. The spell I used is one of high-level Alchemy meant to decipher an object into its comprising materials. While the scarf is truly projected, it is still a magical object of the highest grade. If my judgement were to be correct, this is akin to a true crystallized mystery and a perhaps even a Noble Phantasm."
"Noble Phantasm? Can you truly call a scarf that?"
"Shirou, you know Noble Phantasms can be items, they don't just have to be swords. However, the debate on the status of the scarf is not important but the important thing is that you can feel assured that it is safe to keep."
Shirou rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, chastised at the reminder from his father. It seemed that even with his father's constant warnings of not being too narrow minded as a Magus, he had still made a folly.
"You know, … you are much better at magecraft than I was at your age… I was never any good as a Magus and understanding the intricacies of magecraft… I was always more of just a spellcaster…"
"My father used to have an assistant to help in his projects. She was much better than me. At the age of fourteen, two years older than me, she had already replicated an experiment to stop the flow of time without much knowledge as a Magus."
Shirou was silent, listening to his father. Kiritsugu had never talked about his past and Shirou never asked. Kiritsugu had a withdrawn deposition, but he had often gone out of his way to discourage any questions of his past. Shirou, taking it as a quirk of his father, never went out of his way to discover more. It was rare of his father to volunteer information like this.
"What happened to her? She must be a great Magus by now?" Shirou inquired, struck by what her perceived of the incredible act of stopping time. He did not know if his father had possessed the ability to do that much in his prime. He believed that such an individual would have made waves in the world of Magi at her current age.
"I don't know… We never stayed in contact when I left the village to go on my quest…" Kiritsugu had mentioned this with a slightly sombre tone.
"Your quest?" Shirou was curious. Was this quest that Kiritsugu went on at such a young age related to goal of the trips that his father went on regularly?
"Ah yes…", Kiritsugu displayed a faint smile, "When I was young, I wanted to be a Hero of Justice, to help save as many innocents as I could… But being a Hero of Justice is a childish ideal, for an opportunity to occur to save someone, that person must suffer from a calamity, for every life I managed to spare from disaster, there will always be another person that I missed."
Shirou was silent, upon reflecting on his dream, Kiritsugu had gained a melancholy expression, it seemed that this topic was extremely near and dear to him. Shirou felt that his father must have been personally affected by such a philosophy to develop such a bittersweet expression from reminiscing his childhood dream. What Kiritsugu had confessed had peaked his interest however. He decided to prod Kiritsugu to elaborate more to provide an insight into what he had learned a few months back.
"What did you do as a Hero of Justice?"
"…" Kiritsugu was silent, contemplating an answer. Shirou was also silent, holding his breath for his father's reply.
"Shirou… You must remember what I told you about Magi… Now that you are older, I believe I can tell you more… While you know that Magi are cold towards other Magi and will do anything to keep their research private and secret, Magi are also cruel beings. While there are many good people who are a Magus, in the world of Magi, there are more individuals willing to do whatever it took to reach the root. And these consequences are often not paid by themselves. It is not uncommon for a Magi to bind or enchant a non-magical individual into suffering for their experiments…"
"Most times when a Magi conducts an experiment, lives are lost… Even human lives in the eyes of a Magus are a needed sacrifice for their goals… While the Mage's association will often turn a blind eye to such crimes, there are often times where individuals are called in to solve the problem when the Magus involved goes too far…"
"I was specialized in combat, while I never worked directly under the Mage's association or the church, I was often called in to defeat such individuals… I never managed to save enough of them from the actions of such selfish Magi…"
Kiritsugu drifted off… he took a final sip of his tea and looked at Shirou.
"Ah, Shirou… I should stop reminiscing in my old age and leave you with a bit of time to process what you learned about your Origins in the ritual. It must take you some time to process the implications of your Origin…"
Kiritsugu got up and walked out of the room, leaving Shirou to his thoughts. It seemed that Kiritsugu had mostly told the truth, albeit watered down and simplified. It looked as though he wished to avoid the topic. Shirou thought about Kiritsugu's motivations… While he knew some of what his father had done in his younger days, he had not been able to obtain much of a clue with regards to Kiritsugu's motivations. It seemed like his father had chased a noble dream. A large part of Shirou admired Kiritsugu's dream, what he admired more was that Kiritsugu had a definite goal in life at his age.
Since the fire and losing his memories, Shirou had to start over with a clean slate. However, through starting at a clean slate, Shirou had never felt very fulfilled. Though he supposed he managed to imitate the role of an average person well enough, he nonetheless felt very empty. There were many moments in which Shirou felt that he was a farce of a human being. Due to this, he resolved to discover and satisfy whatever he desired. This was why he felt that he had such an interest and attachment towards magecraft. While studying and researching magecraft took occupied his time and emotions for a while. He did not believe there was ever a single moment since the fire where he felt complete. It seemed that satisfying his desires were not enough. He had to have a definite goal as a human being. It was in this that he admired Kiritsugu, for he was not had a responsibility, things to do. Sometimes, Shirou felt that he was a waste of space… That he was unworthy of being saved by Kiritsugu…
He powered on his magical circuits, he controlled his breathing at a steady pace, consciously dispersing his magical energy at a spot between two trees. Shirou imagined a burst of bright light, spreading its brilliance across all directions in but an instant. With the mental trigger activated, a red magical circle appeared spinning around his wrists. A translucent barrier sprung up, covering up the gap between the trees. Shirou relaxed the output, anchoring the barrier to the trees and allowing for the natural mana of the world to take up the burden of the spell.
Shirou took a few steps back, he traced a throwing knife. Reinforcing the knife with the intent of improving its toughness, he felt his od filling up every possible gap within the inner structure of the knife. He then launched the knife at the barrier with the intent of shattering it. His muscles were also reinforced, lines criss-crossing across his arms, the physical visual representation of the twenty-seven circuits located within his soul lighting up with a faint green glow.
The knife flew at a speed of a bullet, within but a moment it had hit the barrier and produced a metallic sound. The knife was then deflected back in his direction, almost hitting Shirou on the way back.
Shirou picked the knife up and analyzed it. The knife was remarkably intact for such a heavy impact. It seemed like his reinforcement had worked but it had nonetheless failed to penetrate or shatter the barrier like Shirou had intended. It proved that Shirou's conjectures were right, while the bounded field that he had created was not particularly formidable, a regular object albeit reinforced would fail to do anything to the barrier. The reinforcement had achieved its use by preventing the knife from shattering, but it had not been particularly useful beyond that.
The Emiya residence was rather sparse in terms of magical resources. While Shirou had been successful in persuading Kiritsugu to purchase books on magical theories and his multiple trips, it was nowhere near enough for the young Emiya's thirst for knowledge, as such lacking a viable path he had resorted to testing and learning more on magical theories by discovering them himself through practical methods. The few books that Shirou possessed on bounded fields had mentioned that being a product of magecraft, regardless of power, as long as the barrier was tangible, it would be exponentially more resistant to non-magical items as compared to magical items or spells.
It seemed that while objects could be reinforced by magical energy, they still lacked the qualities of a magical object to be able to overcome the natural resistances of even a basic bounded field.
Shirou projected another copy of the knife he had earlier, dismissing the earlier copy. This time, he reinforced the knife and altered the knife by altering it sharper and pointier. While altering the structure in such a way would compromise its toughness, perhaps it stood a better chance against the bounded field. Shirou raised his arm and got to throwing the knife once more.
This time the knife sunk slightly into the barrier before shattering, producing a crack in the barrier. While the natural principles that a sharper and pointier object stood a better chance at penetration still applied, the effect was still reduced and nullified against the barrier.
"Tsk" Shirou clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. While the effects were expected, he was still mildly annoyed with having to test out magical theories himself to gain a better understanding of magecraft due to his lack of educational resources.
With but an idle thought and a prodding from his intuition that had so helped him across his life, he retraced a new knife and reinforced and altered it, this time with the firm intent of shattering the barrier. While he had already gotten the results, it was always better to check multiple times to ensure the accuracy.
"Shatter!" Shirou grunted, expecting the same results but suffering from the annoyance of the act. A moment before the knife was released from his hand, a blue magical circle containing a diamond spinning around manifested. This was unnoticed by Shirou for what he took notice of a moment later was the act of the knife penetrating the shattering the barrier. The knife continued to fly and was landed in a patch of grass, sinking into the ground.
Shirou was shocked. He had not expected anything like this to happen. It was the same exact situation of the previous attempt, why would there be a variation much less a change of the result so drastically?
He walked up to the patch of grass and pulled out the knife. He lit his magical circuits up and analyzed the knife once again. It had suffered no damage from the impact of the barrier whatsoever. Even a successful attempt of penetrating the barrier should have come as a cost to the structural integrity of the knife. The knife was unscathed. The magical energy the knife was radiating was also two times higher than it should have been. The amount of reinforcement applied to the knife was still the same as compared to the failed attempt however. Shirou took focused his senses and analyzed the knife more closely with similar results. The spell was still telling him the same thing. His gut apparently knew more however by prodding Shirou to look beyond the spell.
Shirou narrowed his eyes and was about to dismiss the feeling when he noticed an abstract sense of what felt like purpose imbued in the knife. It was utterly baffling, the only other time Shirou had noticed such a phenomenon was when interacting with his scarf…
This led Shirou to recall the discovery of his Origin, he not assumed that the awakening of his Origin had done much to him and he had not yet considered a method in which he could take advantage of his Origin in magecraft yet. It was not a major issue, for most Magi tended to have generic Origins that would not be able to assist in their magecraft unless in specific cases. He had begun noticing a pattern in the past three day however. Upon awakening his Origin, everything that he had touched and interacted with had somehow felt more useful to him. Even the knife's in which he regularly used to prepare meals had somehow felt meaningful. Shirou had previously dismissed it but now that he reconsidered his findings, there was a possibility that his awakened Origin of 'concepts' had allowed him to be aware of the concept in everything.
All objects had a use, even the materials the objects were formed out of had a use. Wood was once a branch or a tree trunk, both were useful parts of a tree. A table had a use, a purpose that involved in being a place to rest objects on. As everything had a purpose and thus an inherent function or principle, each object had an intrinsic concept behind it. The only exception were objects made from graduation air which had less of a reason to exist especially due to the active rejection from the world. As such, for the knife to feel like this it must have somehow gained an additional function that was the reason it existed, a 'concept' behind the properties of the knife.
Now intrigued, Shirou looked intently at the knife, trying to feel for an intangible sensation or concept of the knife. While what Shirou was feeling was incredibly vague and abstract, he knew or had the ambiguous instinct that the inherent concept of the knife was 'to shatter'. Shirou recalled his grunt of frustration and furrowed his eyebrows. He had several conjectures to what he had just did and many many more questions. It was at this moment that Shirou once again lamented his options of lacking in magical resources until he nearly felt like giving himself a slap for a revelation had just struck him. He had made a deal with a Magus. A female Magus in possession of a dwelling that contained lots of magical resources…
Shirou peaked around the corner, entering the Tohsaka mansion from the front entrance was daring considering that the bounded fields were active but it seemed that the female Magus was not home. Shirou took a look around. It was his second time in the Tohsaka mansion but he was occupied in the first attempt and the female magus was in so he was left without free reign and time to properly get a look around.
The mansion was clean and organized, but most areas seemed to be in disuse, as though she was not spending the majority of the time within the living areas of the mansion. The mansion was lacking of dust however, especially considering she lived alone without and without servants to assist in chores. It was probably cleaned with the usage of magecraft due to the consistency of the cleaning even across the ceiling and walls. That was a use of magecraft Shirou had not been able to learn not from a lack of skill but rather a lack of materials. It was far better for Shirou to spend his time researching topics he felt was useful rather than dedicating his time to create a spell for a frivolous act such as getting out of cleaning. The Tohsaka's were not in a situation such as his though and likely had dozens of books alone containing the usage of mundane spells to assist in a household environment. Shirou made a mental note to grab a such a book if he was able to locate it.
Shirou entered the study. It also doubled as a library. It was rather sparse with four walls full of books and a wooden study table at the back. It was also rather spartan beyond its function, lacking of magical items or paintings to showcase wealth or prestige befitting the status of the Tohsaka family.
Shirou ignited his circuits and uttered a spell silently, two magical circles spun up in both his hands. Shirou, spread his magical energy throughout the room, dissipating it as thin as possible, making sure to cover every surface of a book. With but his intent conferred through the spell, he was able to obtain the manner of organization and general contents of the books in the room.
It seemed that the books in the room were uniformly harmless in nature and contained non-magical and magical tomes. The magical tomes displayed volumes in hundreds to topics, specific topic or generic magical manuscripts. While they contained a diverse amount of knowledge, it was an obvious assessment that the books contained within the study were less valuable and dangerous. Nonetheless, it contained what Shirou was looking for at this very moment. Shirou walked up to a shelf and removed several volumes on bounded fields and the basic art of Material Transmutation.
With his purpose fulfilled, Shirou walked out of the study and to the staircase. He then walked to the first level in front of the staircase leading to the basement workshop, located in another part of the mansion. Shirou felt that the mansion had a cold and lonely aura attached to it. He noted that it must have been foreboding living here alone as a child at the age of ten. Even the Emiya residence had felt more welcoming and homely with its wider traditional Japanese layout compared to this European mansion.
Shirou walked into the basement, a few steps down the stairs later, Shirou took a step back. He had felt something, a concentration of magical energy in front of him. While he had theorized that the basement workshop likely had a stronger bounded field compared to the house the last time he was here, this bounded field would be much harder to get past. For one, it lacked an anchor to extend its boundaries. This removed an avenue in which the young Emiya could exploit and get past the bounded field.
The concentration of magical energy also had a dangerous feel to it, likely bringing harm or even being lethal towards the unlucky soul intending to enter it. Shirou felt that this bounded field was above his level. He lacked enough skill of knowledge as a Magus at this particular moment to even attempt to bypass the magical barrier. It was better to be cautious he felt, for if he tried and was likely unsuccessful, he would be gravely affected by the barrier.
While it was a sensible decision to turn back and return home, there was still a part of Shirou that felt that it would be a good choice to try anyway. He had wandered the Tohsaka mansion and had not found the books that he would require to help Kiritsugu. A family like the Tohsaka undoubtably had a wider selection of magical possessions that what he had observed in the library. What he required would be in the stores within the basement.
If it were any other situation, Shirou would have made a half-hearted but cautious attempt to penetrate the barrier. On the contrary though, he had made a deal with the female magus and as long as he met her again, she would be bound to allow him access into the basement workshop especially with the contents of the Geis requiring him to assist him as a magical assistant.
Shirou decided to make away with his 'loaned' books and return home before the female magus decided caught him in the act. Even with a deal in place, Shirou felt reluctant to make further contact with her, unsure exactly as to the manner of approach he should undertake…
Shirou made several more trips to the Tohsaka mansion the same week, managing to suss out the schedule of the female Tohsaka to take advantage of her absences from the mansion in order to obtain appropriate sections of magical data that he was interested in. Through the trips, he had managed to discover what he had achieved with his magical experiment. It appeared that his prior knowledge of reinforcement being a common but hard to master spell was true. He had however lacked the deeper insight that when a magus reinforced something, he or she was also enhancing the meaning of existence of the object.
Due to his Origin, he was able to enhance and even give an object a more definite meaning of existence. He was also able to give an object a 'concept', thereby effectively providing an existing object with a new purpose and meaning of existence. Allowing for objects to be more effective with regards to the new 'purpose' and 'concept' of the object. It appeared that similar to his version of projection but with sharp objects 'tracing' he was able to take the basic version of the elementary magecraft techniques to much higher levels due to his Origin.
On his trips, he had returned what he pilfered every time but with even with the caution he was displaying, in his excitement through each journey about his discoveries with regards to his personal magecraft, it was inevitable that through his multiple trips he would leave around traces of his magical energy…
"Argh! Yet again!" Rin cried out, infuriated by the situation. It was the fourth time this week that she was missing a book that she possessed. Different books with differing contents were constantly going missing and getting returned throughout the course of the week. Those were not tomes the Rin regularly browsed. No, her magical education was currently being taken up by her guardian, Kirei Kotomine. Ever since he was granted guardianship over her after the Holy Grail War, he had requested that she went to the church for her tutorage.
As loath as Rin were to admit it, Kirei was a rather capable individual to choose as her guardian, at least only with regards of the theoretical aspects of magecraft. Kirei was a true third-rate Magus without even real magical circuits. Even at the age of ten, Rin would already be able to successfully perform and exceed any spell that Kirei attempted and failed to invoke. The fake priest had absolutely no talent whatsoever in magecraft except for spiritual healing, which was in regular circumstances, a useless skill. He however possessed the knowledge of a first-rate Magus while lacking in experience.
The priest of Fuyuki had studied all aspects of magecraft under her father's tutorage. He possessed the theoretical knowledge of Alchemy, Spiritual Evocation, Summoning, Divination, Necromancy and Spiritual healing at the highest levels. This was what ultimately her education under him boiled down to. Kirei would attempt to pass down the theory of the particular subject in his smug, insufferable manner and Rin would be left to stew at home for weeks attempting the practical aspects of the subject manner herself.
As a first-rate gifted Magus who was even an 'average one', a Magus possessing the affinity for all elements, Rin would be able to pick absorb and produce the results that Kirei so failed throughout his life to produce and within a short period of time, usually days or a week at most. Due to her distaste of her guardian, she was never in the mood to seek the priest out herself beyond the bi-monthly sessions and settled with spending the rest of the time practicing the Tohsaka magecraft.
Rin's routine involved gritting her teeth and picking up whatever lesson that she learnt from Kirei and then spending the rest of her time in the workshop mastering the flowing of transferring of magical energy and subsequently and spells recorded in the Magical crest of the Tohsaka. She also spent much of her time purifying and transferring magical energy into expensive jewels.
As a young family of two hundred years, while possessing a wide variety of spells due to the initial tutorage of her ancestor under the second magician as well as the constant amassing of magical spells due to the constant participation of the Holy Grail Wars, all of the spells were recognizable to Rin even at her age. As such, there was always something to keep her occupied and not needing to browse the many basic and moderate tomes that was in her study.
She was in a different situation recently however, there had been an intrusion into her property and she wished to improve the magical defenses of the Tohsaka bounded fields. She also hoped to coverup any loopholes that existed. This had required her to visit a subject she had long neglected in her short life as a Magus.
The first instance of the incident was when Rin was hunting for a book on bounded fields, Rin had noticed a discrepancy in her family's library. Several books were missing on the exact topic that she was searching for. She wouldn't have noticed it in any other situation, not devoting much time to check on the study, but it seemed that some of her books were lost. She tried combing around her house and had failed to locate the missing books. It appeared that the intruder had absconded with some materials.
It was fine, the young Magus thought, she had made a deal with the impudent male after all, however it was supremely rude to not pay a visit or acknowledge the presence of the owner before grabbing his side of the deal. The bigger annoyance was that he had obtained what Rin was seeking, forcing her to wait.
The second instance was on the next day. Rin had turned to the study after going for a purchase of what she needed for a magical exercise and had returned, seeking another book just to discover that what she needed once again was also missing. While the books on bounded fields were returned, in its place were several books on material transmutation. While reinforcement was a rather simple spell, it was extremely hard to push to its greatest extent and with her family constantly participating in magical combat, it was an essential skill for her to practice once in a while. It was just infuriating that once again the annoyance had deemed it convenient to procure what she needed at the particular moment.
The third and current instances were not as annoying as the tomes taken were not one's that she was needing currently but she had developed a habit of checking in the study everyday to see what the scoundrel the deemed it suitable to obtain today. It was getting more annoying each time this happened. Fortunately, Rin had discovered that each time the rascal came and gone; he had left traces of his magical energy behind.
This was it. Rin had hardened her convictions. She would set up a spell so that the next time the cursed traces of magical energy was detected at her residence, she would be there to confront him. Unfortunately, talented as Rin was, she would not be able to master the art of spatial transportation in the near future and thus she would have to be in the residence on that particular day in order to make her move. Well, that would be better approach anyway. Rin played with the idea of leaving a bait for the Emiya to enter into a space of her choosing. It would be a nice payback after what was done to her…
Authors Notes:
This chapter starts off with the aftermath of the ritual that Shirou undergoes in order to discover his Origin. He wakes up feeling sore and exhausted and he recognizes that he should but the Scarf owing to its abilities prevents Shirou from getting the negative aspects of the sensation while retaining the information for Shirou to acknowledge the condition of his body. We also see the comfort level of the scarf such that Shirou subconsciously wraps it around his neck without even considering how hot such an act would be when not in a cold period of the year.
Kiritsugu express concern for Shirou and does a detailed analysis of the scarf through a Alchemy spell he learn from the Einzberns. There is not much more to be expressed after confirming that the scarf is not some cursed item.
Shirou's talent of projecting what Kiritsugu recognizes as a high level magical artifact however leads him to reminisce his younger days. We see Shirou get a deeper understanding into Kiritsugu's character as well as confirming what he saw in an earlier chapter. Kiritsugu tries to warn Shirou about the treacherous world of Magi as well as a slightly tame version of what his job as a hunter entailed. He also mentions the role of a Hero of Justice as well as the folly involved in wanting to be a Hero of Justice.
This is the first time we start to draw this version of Shirou closer to the canon version of Shirou and the differences are immediately apparent. This Shirou accepts Kiritsugu's mature outlook on the hypocrisy involved in claiming to be a Hero of Justice and Shirou in term displays his more mature outlook by acknowledging Kiritsugu's thoughts.
A thing of larger interest to invoke here is Shirou's internal thought of lacking a goal in life and being empty. What we must know that this much is same as canon Shirou. While he is not completely distorted, he still suffers from starting over with Amnesia. We see the parallels and similarities both with this Shirou and canon Shirou with interestingly Kirei of all people. It is interesting in that both Shirou and Kirei are completely distorted and get their outlook in life set in stone through the course of a Holy Grail War. The only difference is that Shirou is the light version of that while Kirei is the dark version of such a distortion. This Shirou runs a bit closer to Kirei's side since after the fire, in acceptance of his empty existence, he sets out to fulfill his selfish desires. However, contrary to Kirei his selfish desires are not able to fulfill his emptiness in life. It will also require a Holy Grail War to solve that Issue.
Shirou practices his magecraft and discovers the effect of awakening his Origin. Interestingly through the tidbit that reinforcement and alteration means to inject and improve the meaning of an objects existence, in an amusing similarity to projection, Shirou manages to take regular elementary magecraft to a much higher level through his Origin. Now the Trio of "useless" material transmutation magecraft is complete. Basically what this new magecraft entails is to inject new meaning when reinforcing an object, allowing it to perhaps be a hard counter through the 'concept' itself. That's how the reinforced throwing knife shatters a bounded field so easily. I felt that I explained that well enough in the chapter itself.
The explanation as to how he recognizes and makes use of such an ability quickly is basically he nicks books from Rin and through his Origin of 'Concepts' he gains a strong instinct toward deeper understanding of things.
Back to Rin, we discover that Shirou is not as sneaky as he thinks and that Rin is getting annoyed by Shirou's antics. We get a deeper insight into Rin's routines and current magical skills. We also discover the extent of her annoyance through the different ways I use to describe Shirou's in Rin's monologue.
Rin however discovers that Shirou leaves traces of Magical energy each time he comes and goes in order to bypass the main bounded field across the Tohsaka property. She gets annoyed and hatches up half a plan to repay him by pulling a sneaky on Shirou.