Arc 1: Welcome to Shibuya

4/14 Thursday Morning

Ann Takamaki was smiling broadly and toothily, she had been doing it for so long that her cheeks hurt and trembled. Her best friend, Shiho Suzui, was smiling again after almost a year and not one of those fake or meek smile her friend put on for her, but a real and dazzling smile was firmly placed on her face. That simple fact made her eyes watered up as tears welled up in them.

Yesterday she had spent all her time talking with her best friend from the afternoon, to night, to midnight and to the very moment that she had woken up and called her during the morning. Hearing her talk with her past firmness, bluntness and positivity made her feel all giddy. It was great hearing her like that.

It reminded her of better times—times before Kamoshida.

Her smile sagged, her eyes flickering towards the school's main entrance. She walked up the steps to enter the building, eyes furrowing and lips pursing. She knew someone had been with Shiho yesterday. There had been rumors of a boy speaking daily with her, this had frustrated her as she had never caught these moments as she felt that Shiho was being bother by someone. It was just another thing to pile up in the list of all the things she failed to do for Shiho. But all of the sudden, her friend was happier than ever before. She had been looking for her friend after the short break from the Rally, but she had disappeared and she had heard rumors of seeing her walk with the same boy that had been with her out of the school. She should've gone after them, but seeing Sakamoto and the transfer student from her class agitating a very obvious hornet nest made her put those two into priority for her friends sake.

Shiho liked to hide her bruises and played them off as just practice being hard, but she had an inkling as to what they truly were. She took a sharp breath and released it slowly, her chest feeling as if it had been stabbed when that thought crossed her mind. She shook her head and smiled once more.

"I'll have to meet this guy and say thank you, for everything he has done…" She muttered to herself with a smile. She wasn't jealous of how this young man helped her friend, she felt grateful. Someone had been caring enough to help her friend and succeed where she had fail—so yes, she was eager to meet such a kind person. She began to head down the hall of the school with a smile. "Shiho needs to introduce me to him a—!"

"Introduce you to whom?" A man's voice made her stop mid step. She crinkled her nose at the familiar voice and swiveled around towards the tall, muscled and curly hair P.E teacher.

"Kamoshida-san…" Her cheeks were stiff, eyes narrowed and lips pulled down. The teacher took noticed of her expression and clicked his tongue.

"Suzui is going to introduce you to a boy Takamaki-san?" The man asked as he placed clenched hands on his waist and shook his head. He grinned as he looked around at the gathered students and raised his voice. "My, my you shouldn't be toying with a boy's feelings like that—it's cruel and unnecessary, especially if you've been spending time with me, hmm?"

Ann's cheeks flushed red at this, as the muttering from the other students filled her ears. 'This bastard…he's doing this to make me submit to him…like he's been doing all this time…always breaking what he doesn't like…"

Kamoshida grinned as he looked at the blonde bowed her head, shoulders shaking and fist clench tightly. "You—!"

"You shouldn't concern yourself with the private life of a student, Kamoshida-san." The two jumped slightly, eyes snapping towards where the familiar voice that had interfered came from.

Ann's eyes sparkle brightly and a smile spread through her lips. "Shiho!" The dark hair girl smiled at the blonde, giving her a nod as she walked towards her, stopped right to her right and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to pull her close. Shiho looked at Kamoshida, who was grinding his teeth while he kept a steady and focus gaze on her.

Shiho met his gaze and turned up her nose at him.

"Whomever she wants to spend her time with is her problem." Shiho's nose wrinkled as she looked at him. "As a teacher, you shouldn't be boasting about spending time with a student much younger than you. It doesn't do well to the reputation of a grown adult and professional teacher trying to date a sixteen year old student. Now if you will excuse us, we'll be late for class."

Kamoshida's face was red, veins pulsating around his temples and neck. He opened his mouth to say something but was not given the time to respond when Shiho maneuver herself and Ann around the teacher and walked away. The students around were commenting about the events, word spreading almost throughout the entire first floor by the time the two girls turned the corner. Ann broke free from Shiho's grasp and turned towards her with broadened eyes.

"Shiho what are you…" She trailed off when the dark hair girl just smiled at her.

"I did what I thought was right Ann, no regrets."

The blonde looked at her friend with her jaw dropped. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out until she stopped and then she started giggling. "Oh whoa! Shiho you're so cool!"

"If it means standing up for you Ann, I'll be the coolest." The dark hair girl said with a giggling fit of her own. She laughed out loud when the blonde smacked her arm.

"Ah! Now you just turned it totally lame!" The blonde smiled at her friend with misty eyes, the dark hair girl noticed and sighed.

"Why are you crying now?"

"Because…" Ann rubbed her eyes, drying her tears and smiling brightly. "I really want to meet the guy who gave you back your smile."

Shiho's eyes crinkle as her lips tugged upward for the smile Ann was gushing about. Her gaze darted towards a set of stairs where she saw a redhead young man looking in her direction with his golden-brown eyes. The young man noticed he had been caught, quickly turned around, walking up the stairs and disappeared. The dark hair girl's stomach flip in a ticklish manner as a blush appeared on her cheeks at the sight of the guy Ann wanted to meet. She tore her eyes away from the stairs towards a Ann who looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Shiho coughed into her right fist, looking away and hiding the smile that appeared on her face.

"You'll probably meet him sooner or later, Ann."

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4/14 Thursday Afternoon, Afterschool

"Did you have to avoid me all day, Shirou-kun?"

"I just didn't want to get in the way of you and Takamaki-san." Shirou stated with a sigh as he turned and looked at Shiho walked into the alleyway in front of the school. He crossed his arms and looked at her, lips tugged down as he let air escaped his nostrils. His gaze narrowed as he watched her. "Are you sure it's fine to aggravated Kamoshida like that? He will get violent with you if you keep this up."

Shiho snorted and crossed her arms, shaking her head and raising an eyebrow as she watched the redhead. "Trust me Shirou-kun, that man already has it against me thanks to what happen during the Rally. And besides, I've heard that he was asking for me in his office so he could probably…beat me. Hrm…"

The girl bit her lips, her fingers digging into her forearms as her eyes glazed over. Shirou frowned as he watched the and let out a sigh. "So…what is it you want to do?"

The girl looked up, her eyes bright and narrowed. "I want to go back."

"Back…?" He blinked as his eyebrows furrowed and then—"What…!? No!"

"Why not!?" She took a step forward and glared at him. "Shirou-kun…that world had a totally different version of Kamoshida…one that indulges in his own desires so much so that the school turned into a castle. There has to be something we can do to stop him!"

"Shiho-san, you're being reckless." He shook his head sharply, clenching his fist tightly as he felt his stomach tightened up. He felt like beating himself for being so careless that he now had to deal with this. "I told you yesterday that world is completely dangerous, full of all kinds of enemies that can kill you with ease—and I mean kill, as in when you get kill you die."

The girl pursed her lips at him and took a step forward. "You don't think that I'm willing to take the risk? If we can find a way to stop Kamoshida, even if it's a small chance…I willing to take that risk just to stop the abuse that man has on my team, on Ann and on me!"

Shirou leaned back as the girl kept taking steps closer to him, her teeth bare and eyes broad and bright. He looked away, gnawing his lips.

'It's not like she's wrong—there is a way to stop Kamoshida…Kill the Shade, or Shadow of Kamoshida…and the real Kamoshida dies. That's a solution—but not one I'm willing to take and I can bet that neither would Suzui-san…but…it could be the solution I need to get her to back off. Yes…by telling her that the only way to fix this problem would be by killing Kamoshida, then she should give up on this thing. I can't have her accidentally stumbling into Forte's business…if Forte ever found out that another person was involve in this Distorted World shenanigans, then she will definitely do something bad to her…I can't let that happen!'

It was decided, he opened his mouth to give her the solution she most likely she didn't want. "Ki—!"

"Nyahehe! You're absolutely right my lady! There is a way to stop Kamoshida from within his Palace."

Both teenagers went frigid at the familiar voice. The two looked around, their eyes darting from left and right to see where the voice had come from.

"Wha…?" Shiho trailed off as she looked down and saw a black cat with blue eyes sitting between herself and Shirou. Her eyes went wide and she took a step back. "Morgana…?"

"In the flesh." The cat talked, licking his paws and his eyes glittering as he looked at the two teenagers. He then looked at the entrance of the alleyway and snorted. "Oh here they are."

The sound of two hurried pair of footsteps reached the hears of the two teenagers. Two Shujin male students skidded right into the alleyway, the two boys breathed harshly, faced flushed and eyes narrowed. The redhead's eyes went wide when he recognize the blonde dyed hair from one of the students as he stalked forward, his brown eyes focused on the cat as Shiho moved out of the way.

"Morgana what the effed was that!? Why you take off—huh!?" Sakamoto's rant stopped as he finally noticed him and Shiho in the alleyway. The frizzy hair fellow transfer student, Amamiya, blinked a couples times and tilted his head as he regarded the redhead..

"Emiya-san?"

"Yep! Now that we're all gather, let's start this meeting!" Morgana hissed loudly as he licked his paws, everyone looked down at him. Shirou froze at that—

"You two…can hear the cat…?" Shiho eyes went wide at his question as she recoiled back and looked at Amamiya and Sakamato. In turn, the opposing students returned the look.

"Are you for real!? How…how can you hear Morgana!?" Sakamoto took a step back and pointed his right index finger at them sharply. Shiho in turn took a step forward her jaw dropped and pointed right back at him.

"Why can 'you' hear Morgana!?"

Shirou looked between the two teenagers in confusion, before he looked at Amamiya who watched the scene with a raised brow. The frizzy hair teen met his gaze and shrugged.

"Are you two…a Persona users too, Emiya-san?"

"…too?" Shirou parroted numbly— 'Other Persona users…the Black Mask Assassin is a Persona user as well…shit!'

Shiho let out a small gasp and looked at the two opposing teenagers as she took a step closer. "Sakamoto-kun you have a Per—!" Her words were cut off when Shirou briskly grabbed her right arm with his left hand and pulled her back. The girl stumble back, until she was staring at the redhead's back. "Shirou!"

"Hey what's the big idea!?" Sakamoto balled his fists, teeth tight and bare as he took a readied stance to intervene at the rough treatment of the dark hair girl. Shirou agreed that he too would be angry if he saw someone treating a girl like that, and he would make sure to apologize later—but now wasn't the time.

"Shiho-san…stand back, this might be a double cross." He said with gritted teeth as he glared at the two students in front of him. He focused as he bit down hard on the inside of his cheeks and grounded out. "Trace-on…!"

The hammer was cocked and the circuits in his body began to heat up. His eyes sharpened as he held his empty hands opened and at the ready for any sudden movements. Morgana seemed to noticed the rather quick escalation and ran towards a trash can, jumping on top of it and hissed loudly.

"Hey! Hey!" The cat screamed, grabbing everyone's attention towards him as he glared Shirou. "What's up with you!? I knew you were a skeptic like blondie over there, but you're taking it to a whole new level! Calm down! I told you that we were gonna be meeting soon yesterday didn't I!? I want us to work together! Not fight!"

"What!?" Sakamoto growled as he glared with squinting eyes at the redhead, who raised an eyebrow slightly at the look. "No way! That guy is sucking it up to Kamoshida!"

"What…?" Shirou blink a couple of times at the accusation, his stance relaxing slightly. Shiho seeing this, placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked back her seeing her eyes glistening a little as she bit her lip. He sighed and looked at the glaring blonde. "What do you mean sucking up to Kamoshida?"

"I saw you fixing something for the bastard and the way he was congratulating you—and everyone's been talking about you always going to him and asking for favors." The dyed blonde accused with a narrowed eyes and tight fists. Shirou frowned at this as he tilted his head to the side.

"I haven't been doing anything like that…"

Shiho stepped beside him and looked at Sakamoto as she held an arm in front of Shirou. "I think you fell for the rumors the school likes to make up Sakamoto-kun. Shirou-kun did help Kamoshida-san with a faulty air conditioner—but he hasn't done anything more for him."

"Not that I would help someone like him…" The redhead grumbled as memories of the beaten up and crying Shiho filled his mind. Sakamoto blinked at this looked at the two with squinted eyes, then sighed and started kicking off dirt from the ground.

"Shit…I guess I was acting all reckless again…I fell for all the school's stupid gossip…" He looked at the redhead with an embarrass. "My bad…it's been some shitty days…"

"It's okay." Shirou didn't care much for the accusations, his mind was still reeling at the fact that two teenagers in front of him had knowledge of the Distorted World. Amamiya looked at the lessening tension and surprised filled atmosphere and snapped his fingers, bringing all eyes on him.

"So…we cool?"

Silence reign on the alleyway—then Shiho busted out laughing at the words. "I guess…?"

Sakamoto scratched the back of his head with tilt and a grimace on his face. "For real…I feel like a total moron for believing all the stupid crap of the school…"

"Not surprising, you act like a moron." Morgana replied easily.

"What was that asshole!?"

"Again with this…" Amamiya sighed as he looked at Shiho and narrowed eye Shirou. "So I guess we have a few things to talk about huh? Want to go first? Or should we?"

"I think it's best you start." The redhead responded evenly as he looked at the frizzy hair teen. He was still on edge, he wasn't calming down until he could confirm that these two had nothing to do with Black Mask. Shiho looked at him worriedly and placed a comforting hand on his arm, grabbing his attention.

"Calm down Shirou-kun, you don't need to be so tense."

"Don't worry about it, I would be the same if I was in his position." Amamiya assured as he nodded and adjusted his glasses. Sakamoto slumped forward slightly, hands on his pockets while Morgana stood attentively atop of the trashcan. "Well…"

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"So…" Shirou started slowly as he looked at Amamiya with the right side of his lips quirked up. "You got into the Distorted Marble—"

"Palace!" Morgana hissed, blue eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at him.

"Right, right, Palace—!" The redhead flinched as he look at the cat and held up his to gesture his surrender, then turned towards Amamiya once more. "So you go into the Palace by pure chance? Because of accidentally saying the key words through an app in your phone?"

"Yep." Amamiya nodded as he showed off the app on his phone to Shirou. The redhead gulped as he looked at the star-eye design for the app which was identical to the tattoo in his left hand.

"What…?" He had no response to the fact that a phone had access to another dimension. The existence of magic had whirled his brain around when he learned of its existence the first time, especially all the terminology and history. But it was simply so weird and confusing to come into terms when the supernatural acted up through technology.

Amamiya pocketed his phone and gave the redhead a look. "Why are you so surprised by the app thing? Don't you have on too?"

Shirou unconsciously grasped his bandaged hand, before flinching when he realized what he had done and looked away. "I…have other means."

"…" Amamiya just looked at him in silence, twirling some locks of hair. The redhead let out a small breath escape him when the dark hair transfer student didn't ask anymore question and instead towards the cat.

Shiho had finished her situation and the events of yesterday to Sakamoto, she watched as the blonde glare at the ground and scratched the back of his head rapidly. "Seriously, eff that asshole…he beats on kids and then goes out smiling like he's a star or something. Suzui, why didn't you tell anyone any of this!"

"You know why…" Shiho looked away, gripping her left bice tightly. It made the blonde clicked his tongue and kick dust off the ground.

"Damnit…isn't there anything we can do?"

"That's why I brought you here!" Morgana chimed in loudly with his tail waggling, everyone turned towards him. The cat gave a feline smirk and turned towards Amamiya. "Hey, Ren! Get us into the Palace, I want to explain things better over there!"

"Are you sure? You said earlier that things were hectic in there because of those freaky tentacles." Shirou's eyes widened at that and looked at the frizzy hair student.

"You faced off against the Servant?"

"Stop with the questions!" Morgana hissed in annoyance as he rolled his big blue eyes. "Get us into the Metaverse and I'll explain everything!"

"I got it, I got it…"

Shirou just frowned. "Metaverse…?"

Then a weird sensation hit him, and he felt the world shift as his Distorted Marker burned slightly. He looked at his hand with a raised brow before directing his eyes to the red sky.

"Whoa! Suzui, that's your outfit?" Shirou looked down at the excited question from Sakamoto. He blinked as he took in the appearances of the two male students.

Amamiya's outfit consisted of a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black jogger-style pants, brown-black winkle-pickers, and a pair of red gloves. On his face was a mask, colored in black and white, birdlike domino mask. The quiet and unassuming teen stood a little straighter than before and his lips curled up into a smug smirk—he gave vibes of a gentlemanly scoundrel.

Sakamoto on the other hand looked more like thug with his matching black jacket and pants with knee pads, a red ascot, combat boots, a pair of yellow gloves. The skull mask and typical slouch gave nothing but a brusque air to him.

"She looks like a gangster." Amamiya said as he looked at the girl. Sakamoto nodded enthusiastically as he appraised her appearance.

"She totally does!"

"Really?" Shiho looked down on herself, stabbing a spear down on the floor—"Wha!?"

"Hey keep it down!" Morgana shush as he jumped into the middle of the group, his form having shifted back to his caricature self.

"But why do I have a weapon!? I mean…a spear…?" Shiho said as she looked at the silver spear on her hand. Amamiya just made a gesture towards her.

"Just make it look as if your holstering the thing away, it'll disappear." He put a hand on his pocket and brought out a long silver knife that shouldn't have fitted on his pocket. And then just as he pulled it out, he put it back in—he brought his hand forth and showed that it was empty. "See?"

"For real…?" Shiho muttered as she swung the spear carefully, as to not hit anyone, and put it on her back. She let go of the handle, and was surprise not to hear a clang of the weapon crashing on the floor. She tried to look at her back and blinked behind her tiger mask. "Whoa…"

Sakamoto turned towards him and blinked. "Oi, Emiya, I thought you had a Persona…"

Shirou looked down at himself and saw that he was still on his school uniform. He clenched the hand where the Distorted Marker was and looked at the group. "I do, it's just that I have to force the transformation…is that not normal?"

"No, no it isn't." Morgana revealed much to Shirou's unsurprise. He was expecting this kind of answer as he was aware of something not feeling right with his powers. "When someone awakens to their Persona, you materialize an outfit which symbolizes your rebellion. The only exceptions that I have seen being when you first awaken—and from what I saw yesterday, that wasn't your first day using your powers…though…I never saw you using your Persona…"

"Huh?" Sakamoto blinked at the explanation then scratched the back of his head. "Again with the exposition. Anyways, my Persona is Captain Kidd! Here I'll—!"

"Don't you dare show it off now you monkey!"

Shiho sighed and placed a hand on her chest, her eyes travelling towards the normal cloth redhead. "Mine's Irene Adler."

"Arsene." Amamiya answered simply as he started to play with the locks of hair sprawled over his white mask. "What's yours Emiya?"

"I…" That question hit much deeper than what he had thought possible 'What ia my Persona's name…?' "I don't know…"

"What…?" Sakamoto frowned as Morgana gave Shirou a narrowed look.

"Hmm, I think I can guess what's going on."

Shirou looked at the cat with a neutral gaze. "Really?"

"Yeah…I mean, you can still get your rebellious outfit on, so that means you haven't lost your rebellious side! But…" Morgana looked at him intently from head to toe and then nodded to himself. "Yep, that's definitely it…while you have the will to rebel, you haven't taken that single step forward to commit yourself entirely to your rebellion. That's a good reason as to why you don't even know your Persona's name…while the Persona hasn't turned back into your Shadow entirely, it lurks in the surface of your heart—you have the strength and will to fight, but you haven't put your heart into it."

Shirou looked at his bandaged hand, clenching his hand tightly as he frowned at it in disbelief. 'Is that it…!? I don't have access to the power I awakened when I save Illya because I'm not committed!? What kind of reasoning is that!? Haven't I shown my commitment by sacrificing everything for the safety of my family!? What more…what more should I sacrifice…?'

"…your hesitation."

'I'm not hesitating…!'

"Whoa…but…why?" Sakamoto asked as he looked at the cat who shrugged in response.

"Who knows…that's his issues to resolve." Morgana said plainly but gave the redhead an approving smirk. "Still…even without a Persona, he can fight incredibly well and is plenty of strong! I saw him taking out those freaky octopus monsters with his swords! So I'm not gonna vote to take him out of this operation."

"Shirou-kun." The redhead blinked back to focused on the here and now, and turned towards Shiho who looked at him with narrowed eyes behind her bird mask. "If you need my help, don't be afraid to ask. You got it?"

He sigh in response looked away from her, closed his eyes and clenched his bandaged hand. "Trace—!"

Twenty-seven circuits fired up deep in him. The circuits traveled throughout his very being, reaching the deepest part of him until their brushed against a hot fire of rebellion. He snapped his eyes opened and—

"ON!" Fire engulfed him, dissipating quickly to reveal his distorted—rebellious form. "Don't worry Shiho-san, I can handle it."

He ignored her concerned look, while Sakamoto grasped his chin with his left hand as he looked at him up and down. He shrugged and placed his hands on his pockets. "That looks weird dude, what is supposed to be."

Shirou sighed and shook his head. "I have no idea…"

The loud sound of snapping fingers made them look at Amamiya, as he stood with a single hand on his pockets. He looked at the feline creature. "Morgana, what was it you wanted us to work together for?"

"Humph! How business-like…but I like that, totally makes you feel like a real professional!" Morgana grinned as he jumped up into the trash-can he had stood on top back in reality and pointed at them. "Listen up! There is a way to stop Kamoshida for real!"

"What!?" Sakamoto gasped as he looked with broad eyes at the cat. Shiho took a step forward, a fist close to her heart and her teeth gritted tightly. "How!?"

Morgana smirked at the attention. "Good, you seem to be pretty motivated! So here's how will do it—we change his heart!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…huh…what?" Sakamoto asked what was on everyone's head. Morgana laughed at their blank looks.

"Listen! Changing the heart of the Shadow is something that can be done by stealing their distorted desires, the Treasure. If a Palace is manifested by twisted desires, then it stands to reason that the core of such a place is the Treasure. So, what do you think will happen if we still Kamoshida's treasure?"

"…his desires go away…" Shiho murmured as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Amamiya hummed at that and looked at the cat with pursed lip.

"And he becomes an honest man?"

Sakamoto looked at him in surprised and then turned towards Morgana. "For real…! But, don't we want him to get punish for what he has done?"

"Does it matter?" Shirou asked as he raised the headband slightly to let his eyes gazed at them. His brain was racking over the new information revealed—wondering how he could take this dangerous venture by himself. "As long as we can get the man to stop abusing the students, then it should be fine."

"Humph, you're not that ambitious or aggressive are you?" Morgana questioned before shaking his head. "But listen, if we steal Kamoshida's treasure, not only will he turn into a decent man…he will also convince his sins to everyone he can find! Since he doesn't have the twisted desires to keep what he has done hidden, he will try to get them off his chest by revealing them to everyone who can hear."

"That's…that's awesome!" Sakamoto grinned as he gave Amamiya a punch in the shoulder. The dark dressed teen huffed a smirk.

"Finally…some justice…" Shiho murmured with a shaky breath, getting soft looks from Sakamoto and Amamiya. But—

Shirou looked at them sharply, fist tightening as he heard them. 'I need to break this…now. I can't let them go into that place with a Servant running wild!'

"This sounds too good to be true…" Shirou narrowed his eyes further when he caught the attention of the others. He looked down at the cat and gestured toward the castle. "What's the catch?"

"…" Morgana sighed and nodded. "Your perceptive…but, yeah…there is a catch."

"What is it?" Amamiya asked as Morgana looked at them.

"There is a possibility that Kamoshida might die."

"What!?" Sakamoto's outcry made Shiho and Amamiya go frigid as they shook their heads. The feline sighed as he glared at them.

"Look, if you steal someone's desire then there's possibility that you could cause a mental shutdown." That caught Shirou's noticed, his eyes narrowing as he remembered the method the Black Mask used to caused a Mental Shutdown in Marisbury—and it didn't involve stealing something. "By stealing someone desires, we would be robbing exactly that…their desires, all of them. Again, this is just a possibility! I mean, this is the only way we have in taking down Kamoshida!"

"But that's going way to far!" Sakamoto took a step back as he looked at Amamiya with wide eyes as sweat pour down from behind his skull mask. "Right…?"

"I don't want to kill him…" He admitted as he looked down and took a step back. Morgana clenched his paws tightly and began jumping up and down.

"What!? You can't back out of this!"

"We can and we will." Shirou cut in quickly as he whirled around, sending magical energy into his Marker to get them out of the Metaverse. "Killing someone, even by accident is a huge responsibility to bear…and no one here is willing to bear that. We'll go back and figure something else."

'And by we, I mean me…if someone here will bear any responsibility for the danger and consequences, then let it be me…no need for them to sacrifi—!'

"I'll do it…" Shiho's voice filtered into his ears, making him stop from taking another step. He turned slowly to look at the girl as she stared right back at him with narrowed and bright eyes. Behind her Morgana, Amamiya and Sakamoto looked at each other and then at the girl with broadened eyes.

Shirou let out a dry, "What?", escape him as the girl took a firm step forward and pointed at herself.

"I said that I will do it. I'm willing to bear that responsibility."

Shirou bit into his cheeks, squinting his eyes at Shiho. "Are you? Shiho, I get it that you want to bring Kamoshida to justice but—!"

"No you don't!" She stated firmly as she marched right towards him and began to jab her finger at his chest pointedly. "Didn't I tell you already? If it means stopping him from abusing the others, me and Ann…I'll do anything! Shirou…I'm tired…I'm so, so tired of taking his bullshit…of seeing his stupid fake grin…of people praising him so fucking blindly! I'm done with that!"

"Shiho-san…!" Shirou grabbed her hand, stopping her jabbing as he looked at her. He took a deep breath and released it through his nostril. "You're being too reckless! You—!"

"Wouldn't you do the same to protect your family!?"

Shirou recoiled back, letting go of her and looking at the dark hair girl as if he had been struck. He gritted his teeth and looked away. "That was…a low blow…"

"I…" Shiho's eyes glistened slightly and she bowed her head, but then she bared her teeth and looked up with bright eyes. "I know what you're trying to do…you're still trying to help me, even when I can fight…you don't want me to get hurt or to end up regretting my choices…but…but I can't stop…not now!"

"…" He returned his gaze at her and blinked when she bowed before him.

"Shirou-kun…please, even though I know I've asked of you already way to much…please will you stand by me again? You've already got yourself involved for my sake yesterday and…well, in the past as well when you were trying to help me…so please, can you come with me so we can do this together? I know that the possibility of Kamoshida's death could be horrible for you…and that you are busy with your others duty…but I'm willing to take full responsibility for everything." She bit her lip and then her shoulders sagged, shaking her head and taking a step back. "I understand if you want to leave, Shirou-kun…I can't and won't begru—!"

"Geez, you're such an idiot…" She looked up and saw him gripping the bridge of his nose. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and shook his head. The girl flushed and looked away, feeling as she was being scolded by the simple gesture. "After all that rambling what other choice do I have but to go with you on this reckless endeavor."

"Shirou-kun…" She looked back at him and smiled, he just sighed and looked behind her towards the others. Morgana noticed this, jumped, fisted the air and grinned.

"Yes!" Shiho jumped at the loud cry, having forgotten completely about the others as she turned towards them. Amamiya and Sakamoto both shared a look and nodded as the cat directed his focus towards them. "What about you two?"

"I'm in!" The blonde punched the open palm of his hand with a sharp grin. The dark cloth teen smirked and nodded.

"I'm game."

"Then let's find that treasure!" Morgana stated as he started walking towards the castle. "First let us infiltrate the Palace!"

"Wait!" Shirou called out, making the group turned towards him. Sakamoto sighed as he gave squinting eye look at the redhead.

"What now?"

"There's still a rather large elephant in the room—what are we going to do with the Servant?"

"The what?" Amamiya questioned as he once more played with locks of his hair, his eyes focused on him. Shirou sighed, wondering on how to approach the situation without revealing to much of the Mage's Association or himself.

'Screw it, I'll wing it and play it blunt.'

"Servant's the guy controlling those tentacles monsters, you have seen them right?" Shirou looked at the two male and cat, crossing his arms and tilting his head.

"Ugh…" Shiho gagged and the redhead grunted when he saw her face pale considerably.

"Yeah…" Amamiya confirmed as he placed a red gloved hand over his face and shook his head with a shudder. Beside him Sakamoto gagged himself and growled.

"Those things were swimming around the first time we got stuck here, one of them barely caught my leg while jumping over some cages!" The blonde shuddered. "And then they busted right out of the floor when I got my Persona…man, talk about effed up shit…"

Shirou nodded at the confirmation he had received. "Well, those things are part of the arsenal of the Servant we'll be encountering. Since we're going through with this, I might as well give you some fair warnings and how if we tackle the Servant, we should retreat—immediately."

"What!? Why?" Sakamoto looked at him with wide eyes and shook his head. Both Morgana and Shiho turned towards him, the girl tilted her head with furrowed brows.

"Shirou you were fighting against that creep just fine! Why would you—?"

"I wasn't fighting against him at all." Shirou reminded her as he turned to address everyone. "That Servant, Caster, was barely paying any mind to me and was sending those monsters to attack me…the Servant is a total unknown for now, so we don't know what he is capable off. For all we know the Servant's Noble Phantasm could be something as crazy as dropping the equivalent of a nuclear bomb in our face."

"Isn't that…" The blond started, a little shaky at the revelation. "…to much?"

"What's a Noble Phantasm?" Amamiya raised an eyebrow at the term, Shirou looked at him briefly.

"Think of it as super move, a very dangerous secret super move."

"How exactly do you know so much, redhead?" Morgana crossed his arms and squinted his big blue eyes at him. Shirou looked square into the eyes of the cat, hummed and then nodded to himself.

"I don't trust you enough to tell you." 'Not that I would tell you all even if I trusted you. This is sensitive information, a live or die type of info. I don't need to saddle any of you with the responsibility or the looming threat of dealing with the likes of the Association'

"Damn…you don't hold back?" Sakamoto grimace as he took a step back. Shirou snorted and shook his head.

"No, I don't."

Morgana hummed. "So if we see bug eye creep we pull back—fine, not that it won't matter! Since we will be sneaking by!"

"Sneaking, huh." Amamiya repeated as he looked at the cat move forward.

"Yep, now follow me!"

They saw the feline creature waddle away—the others followed the cat without much struggle. Shirou looked at them walked away and bowed his head.

'Am I doing the right thing by giving in so easily to this? Damn it…I should've tried harder to dissuade them out doing this…'

"Hey Emiya-san?" Amamiya's call made him blink and looked up at the dark teen. The frizzy hair young man gestured at him to move as he had stayed behind. "Let's go."

"Yeah…" He moved forward, keeping up with the others. They crossed the wooden bridge for the castle's fortress wall, making it to the castle entrance they looked around. Sakamoto blinked as he saw one of the three doors covered by wooden planks.

"Huh…what happened to the door?"

Morgana turned towards Shirou with squinting eyes. "Someone here cut the door down."

The blonde grasped his chin and nodded, impressed. "Whoa! That's pretty badass, who was it?"

"Heh! It doesn't matter." Amamiya said with a smirk as he caught the look the cat gave the redhead. He looked at everyone present and gave them a smug look. "Let's begin the operation."

"Yeah!"

Morgana grinned widely and pointed forward. "Lead on Joker!"

"…who's Joker?"

Author's Note

Heya! It's been quite a while now, but it's been a busy semester of College. I've still got so many assignments, projects and exams on the horizon that it's staggering.

But, I've got this chapter revised and ready for release. Admittedly I've been rather busy and so stress out that if there's any grammar mistake here, those were honest mistakes. Once the semester is done, I can take my time in fixing the past chapters and those coming in the future.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. While not as explosive or full of action like the last chapter this was still to fun.

Until next time, and let's hope this semester doesn't keep throwing so many low kicks as it has been doing consistently.

Adios!