Trial by Blades : Chapter 3
The long night continued, Zelretch started by saying how Shirou's training will go, not only because his magecraft is peculiar but because it will almost be like starting from scratch.
"Boy, reinforcement is no easy thing,from what you've learned you knew how it worked, but you're still a bit far from actually mastering it. I suggest that you structurally grasp an object before reinforcing it before you structurally grasp it again to check what the results were. This will be your routine every night starting from now on until I say that we're doing things differently, got it ?"
"What ? Doing things differently ? By what ?"Shirou was curious and a bit excited, what would the old man say ?
"Let me explain, from what you've known, your father said that you're either average or worthless than other magecraft besides the three that you initially knew and the fourth which what I told you but you can learn these branches and at least be average about them because even though you'll be the best at what you do, not learning non-elemental affinity types of magecraft or what you can call the basics, you will still be a laughing stock if you haven't learned these, besides I'm quite sure it'll help you in the future."Zelretch, speaking sarcastically, knowing that the child's future is already decent in his standards from what he saw, but the chances of this timeline turning a different direction is still huge and his student is still a highly unstable subject to talk about since it's still honestly too early.
"Hmm, so can you give me examples of the types of magecraft that don't need elemental affinity Zelretch-jii-san?"
"A great example would be the manipulation of bounded fields in which I will discuss about in a later time until I say you're quite ready."
Understanding that those things shall be encountered later on, the boy said something."Then what about what you said about Projection and Altering ?"Feeling too eager Shirou asked the Wizard Marshall an obvious question, which is why a newbie at magecraft like him got hurt.
"Oww, what was that for ?!"
"As I said this will be the only things that you'll do starting from tonight until I say something, and if you want to ask a reason why, it is because you still need to get used to prana flow, and information processing to your at least mastery of these components you won't get anywhere within either projection or altering."It's really hard teaching someone from scratch isn't it ? But this is for the child's future if he were actually to be his student, displaying him to The Clocktower would be quite an honor for the boy and also for himself as well, as someone who lasted being the apprectice of the possessor of one of the true magics, and himself for advancing another brach of magecraft that everybody deemed worthless.
"Uhh Zelretch-jii-san what's with the scary grin on your face ?"Asked, Shirou while trying to structurally grasp a rock."Well, anyway."
"Trace, on. Analyzing basic components,"At this point shirou felt his body heating up, his magic circuits firing up, "Analyzing flaws,"He saw the rock like a blueprint, knowing the spaces that lack hardness that when struck, the rock wil either crack or get destroyed."filling the spaces with prana."He transffered prana into the rock, trying not to give it too much or not enough prana."All right reinforcement success. How was that ?"The boy seemingly satisfied that he didn't fail this time because he is still a novice even at this branch of magecraft despite training for 2 man learning that you haven't improved at the thing you're supposed to be good at is quite disappointing.
"Boy give me the rock,"At this, Shirou gave him what he wanted and examined it like a doctor would his patient, "Hmm, I have to say, this is very me point out your flaws kid, first is you expended too much prana, even though you intended to transfer the right amount you failed at actually transffering it from your body, to the rock thus the prana only leaked and was the prana that managed to reach the rock didn't even reach the gaps that you were supposed to fill, and leaked again, thus last, you tried to transfer more mana after you failed, thus repeating the first two flaws until you got lucky and actually succeeded, and you did all this without ever having the thought that I'd discover you kept on failing until you were lucky."He was losing composure, but seriously who wouldn't, teaching someone who thought that he knew what he was doing is harder than someone who did not know anything at this kid is laughable or needs pity but Zelretch is leaning more on the smack his head side
"I know I'm sorry I'll never do that again"Feeling really embarassed, it feels weird and different from the time Kiritsugu was training him, he would not point out his flaws and just praise him for doing it, it was nice. But with his Zelretch-jii-san, yeah he admits that he's pretty strick for a teacher but there's a strange warmness there it's not that bad and he certainly can get used to it.
"That's it for tonight, you have school tomorrow don't you?, Remember to not slack off just because you're training magecraft. Blending with the mundane world is still needed after all."Zelretch calmly said, being meticulous enough to even get the boy a good standing in his normal life.
Before Shirou would wake up to do his daily workout, after that he then takes a bath and prepare the food for two, no three people now. Even though Kiritsugu is gone, he already have seem to be gotten over it already, thanks to the new addition to his family.
For a vampire, waking up in morning is quite a pain, not only that you feel tired when you wake up, but the urge to sleep again also remains, it's simply hard to even get up, Zelretch at least got up just to tell the boy why he's gonna sleep again after eating breakfast. As he walked into the living room he now told him that he should be at least fine with sleeping all day and be awake at night teaching him magic, it's actually better to be just like that. He noticed something though and asked the boy.
"Boy, even though I didn't want a chage of clothes you still gave me some, why ? These doesn't even suit me at all." Annoyed by the fact that he's supposed to wear the clothes that the boy's father owned.
"You mean you only wear that suit, like all the time ?"The Emiya boy tryong hard not to chuckle, at the realization.
"Boy, are you insulting me. At this Zelretch gave an intimidating expression, but I should not interfere more than I did already. Shouldn't you hurry up preparing the food boy ? That energetic girl from yesterday would be eating here no ?"
Shirou felt his spine tingle at the statement and went back to preparing the food, he wouldn't want his sister angry at him first thing in the morning right ? As soon as he finished settting what he made at the table, the sound of the entrance door getting slammed reached the kitchen and he sighed out of relief.
"Phew, I didn't think I'd make it, thanks for pointing the food out, Fuji-nee would have killed me if the food wasn't ready by the time she was here already."Shirou's last words were said by then as the tiger quickly tackled him and scolded him.
"How dare you give Zelretch-san a bad idea about me Shirou, hmph! at least you got to prepare the food already." Taiga's attention then shifted from Shirou to the food in an instant, eating very fast like a wild animal.
"Hey hey Fuji-nee remember to save some for us okay ?"Worried since Taiga is just gobbling up the food. If left alone, she can probably eat all of it in a moment's notice.
With her mouth still full of food Taiga tried to reply and ended up choking. As Shirou noticed he quickly took action and helped Taiga. Zelretch only complimented the child.
"Nice reflexes kid."
"Don't mention it, its pretty normal for her to choke she's always like this, I'm just used to it."Shrugging the compliment off Shirou kinda underestimated himself."Anyway what were you trying to say even Fuji-nee ?"
After drinking water, Taiga now said what she wants."I said that how can I obviously stop eating, your cooking is so delicious Shirou!"
"I appreciate the compliment but still, look out for yourself geez, and stop being such a glutton, there's still the two of us that needs to eat."The boy said in a lecturing manner."Still shouldn't you hurry up Fuji-nee ?" Shirou noticed that Taiga is going to be late for her class if she continues this pace and prepped her up.
At this Taiga moved in inhuman speeds hurrying up and rode her scooter just to get to her university before it's too late while screaming,"AAAAHHHH I'M GOING TO BE LATE !"
Shirou and Zelretch, now left alone, the pair ate in peace. As soon as they were finished Shirou now gathered the utensils and dishes and washed them. Finishing up the boy said goodbye to his new grandfather figure and headed to school, at least relieved that the mage won't do anything except sleep until night falls.
The trip to school isn't that far, for someone with a toned body like his, Shirou should not have any problems walking there. Besides a little exercise would be good for someone starting to enter puberty right ?
Upon reaching the school Shirou changed his pair of shoes and headed to his classroom, as class will start in about fifteen this grace period, his classmates usually spend it by either having a chat or doing last minute only slept to conserve his energy. The fifteen minutes were over and their teacher came in, thus the signal for the class about to start has been risen and everybody stood up, did greetings, and sat down, the lessons started and everyone were studying and focused. Except two particular persons.
Shirou noticed that his classmate, Tohsaka Rin was also not listening, seeming to think about something deep, he only stared at her beatiful face. Afterall who would not steal a gaze from the school idol right ? Shirou Emiya cannot help but reminisce at his middle school first-year experience.
It all happened in an instant, Tohsaka Rin was renounced as the school idol back then and upto the present, many boys sought for her, as many as the girls who coveted her.A lot of the boys that tried to confess to her were shut down without remorse, crushing their hopes right off the bat. Even though yes he himself tried to confess to her, it was not as pitiful as the others, in fact it looked like she was saying something to him. As soon as he confessed to her, she replied with a smile, a cute smile and just said "Not yet."
This made all the other boys jealous and thus isolated Shirou fron the rest of a few tried to befriend him because they want to know why Tohsaka answered him this way, like did something happen between them, or that she only used him as a shield.
It was sunset, a sign that classes would be ending for the day, as soon as the teacher told them to stand up and bow all of them were tired and kinda happy that their suffering is over, everyone would get home now and Shirou is one of them.
As usual he would walk home immediately, pretty hungry and tired, he longed for a bath at home. At least not until he saw a group of kids who looked like the same age as him, bullying a purple haired her and pulling her hair.
Shirou got angry and instantly ran at them punching the one who seems to be their leader. If he were to be a Hero of Justice this was the right time.
"And who might you be ?!"The group asked him, surely he did not know this girl, but she was getting hurt by these guys and he who dreams of being a hero shall not let this pass.
There was about five of them each coming at him at same time, Emiya Shirou can not handle five men at once, he was clearly outnumbered, he closed his eyes, assesing the situation of what he could do, he saw a bunch of wood, looking shiny, it seems someone was burnishing them. He grabbed two of those and held each each other on both of his hands like twin ready with the exchange, not fearing pain, for he was protecting someone for the first time he charged at them closed eyes and reinforced the wood on each of his hands, the first step on his dream is right there.
If they were to hit him even once the fight would be over with his loss, carefully finding a strategy to at least hold out the group until an adult sees the conflict. He deflects a punch by smacking the first enemy's arm with the wood on his left hand, dodged a punch coming from the side and then countering the blow by smacking the ambusher's arm, spinning to kick the enemy behind him before it could launch a blow. Shirou was not expecting how good he was at handling the group, the first three attackers only took a step back, the first two holding onto their arm that he attacked, it seems that they are unable to attack now, the one he kicked who seemed to be the one who leads them had tears in his eyes. And then the second exchange started.
"GET HIM!"The fight restarted with the leader and the two uninjured boys now came at him. Shirou dashed to the leader and purposely made the other two come at his back, striking them first before facing the leader. Not noticing that the first two boys who attacked him were gone and now coming at him from both sides, it was too late to realize until he got held by the two boys with their leader laughing loudly.
"Did you honestly think you can handle us hahahahaha"He laughed with the last two boys that he struck when they were behind him,"You know I'm not even gonna retaliate because they're gonna do it for me."Smiling, he pointed at the boys behind him and they replied "But seriously those sticks hurt, it was like I was struck by a shinai, you made a mistake at going easy at us though because we won't hehehe"Trying to be intimidating they picked up the wood that Shirou used."Now tell us how much it hurts okay ?"Getting ready to hit Shirou, he raised the blade and now swung in a kendo fashion and was stopped at the act by an adult and with him was Tohsaka Rin.
As soon as they saw the adult the group of boys let go of Shirou and ran away, the grown man did not chase them but attended to Shirou instead and asked if he was okay.
"I'm fine mister but you should go to the girl there", He pointed not knowing that the one he was pointing at was not there already."Those boys were bullying her so I tried to protect her." With a tone of worry Shirou exclaimed but was silenced by the man.
"Relax kid, as soon as we got here we only saw you were fending those boys off, Amazing even though you were clearly outnumbered, do you study martial arts perhaps ?"Impressed by the boy's feat he asked weird questions to him, but then he realized that it was getting out of hand and got serious again."I was quite shocked to learn that the wood I burnished would be used for another reason, it's okay I won't ask for anything since it was used for good, in exchange I'd like to ask for your name.
Shirou kinda dumbfounded now replied"Uhhh, right my name is Emiya Shirou and I'm at my second year in middle school."
"Thanks for granting my request, though I can say that this girl who approached me in public and asked me to help was quite worried, perhaps you two know each other ?"
Shirou stared at the girl and definitely his eyes weren't fooling him it was indeed Tohsaka Rin, and IS SHE BLUSHING ?!
The Tohsaka girl then replied to the man and said "Yes he's my boyfriend"with a smile on her face.
Shirou and the man, schocked could only question"EHHH, EEEEHHHH?!"The man then regained his composure, put his hands on Shirou's shoulder and gave him a thumbs up before saying"Boy you sure are lucky, not getting hurt by those boys until I arrived, and having a cute girlfriend too, you sure are lucky. Well I should leave you to your girlfriend now."The man then gathered all the wood and left after giving Shirou a wink.
"What's with that statement Tohsaka-san, is it true, that I'm your boyfriend ?"Doubting that the school idol only took interest in him just for fighting a few boys.
"So you saw through me already huh ? Then let me get to the point, since I saw that you can at least fight, I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend, Emiya-kun."With a grin Tohsaka revealed her intentions to Shirou making a halft-truth statement but what her true intentions were actually far from what she said. She was annoyed to herself for not noticing that a classmate of hers is actually a magus, and that this idiot just used magecraft in public. It was peculiar though, only that fake priest and her should have been the only ones who know about magecraft in the city so who should Emiya Shirou be ? She intends to find out by being close to him."So Emiya-kun shall we walk home together ?"She stretched an arm, while faking a smile. Seems like she got her point out there.
Dumbfounded Shirou only went with the flow, umaware of the Tohsaka's underlying accepted her invitation, wouldn't ? Even if it's fake they'll look like their close anyway and it was fine for Shirou already. And so the both of them walked to Shirou's home.
When they were at the Emiya residence, Shirou tried to invite Tohsaka to dinner. Things were going good for the Tohsaka girl, being invited to her said lassmate's/magus house is a really big advantage to her, perhaps if she is lucky enough she might run into his workshop. And so she accepted and the pair headed inside.
Perhaps if she wasn't plotting something she should have noticed that someone was asking her companion a bunch of questions already.
"Shirou, explain yourself."This unidentified woman said to her fake lover, seconds passed as Shirou tried to explain that she was only a friend that he invited for dinner. The woman then tured to her and asked her a similar question,"Who are you ?"
The woman was intimidating she would give him that, but that's not enough to make her lose composure."Nice to meet you, my name is Tohsaka Rin, Emiya-kun's girlfriend."It seems that the statement shocked the woman.
Shirou rolled his eyes, he new this was goong to happen, if he does not do something the situation would break out of control way more than ot already is, quickly he said the appropriate word to describe their relationship."It's fake, we're faking it Fuji-nee."The statement now rest the woman at ease, producing a serious tone, she asked the Tohsaka girl.
Before replying, Rin whispered to Shirou,"Are you an idiot ?!"To this Shirou replied with"No, not letting her know the truth is more dangerous, knowing her she'd parade you to everyone as my girlfriend, even though that's your purpose, the method that's gonna be used is a big no for me, and probably you too."Rin only agreed to him and now replied to the intimidating tiger looking woman in front of them, seeming to pounce if given the wrong answer to her question."I promise you miss ?"she asked for her name, to this Taiga replied and just said,"Fujimura is fine."
"Then I promise you miss Fujimura that I Tohsaka Rin will not involve Emiya-kun here to any dangers while he's on his duty as my boyfriend, is that fine for you."Taiga doesn't have the right to interfere, actually she did but with the girl reassuring that there will be no harm done to her brother she allowed it anyway, besides it was Shirou who accepted the deal first anyway, setting the deal she replied,"As long as he doesn't get hurt in anyway while he's acting as your boyfriend then we'43 fine."
Women sure are scary, thought of Shirou, but it's getting late they should finish dinner soon, Tohsaka still has to go home. As soon as they finished dinner He proposed to walk Tohsaka home, she declined and said she can go home alone, Shirou didn't question her anymore and she left, a few minutes later Taiga also went home. It seems that his Zelretch-jii-san never woke up, he must be tired and left him be, and he practiced structural grasping and reinforcement through the night
Meanwhile, the Tohsaka girl is walking home thinking to herself, "So my preparations are complete already huh? Though I didn't get to see his workshop I'm sure I'll discover who Emiya-kun really is."
At a dark old crypt, a girl in a pit of worms, thought, who was that red haired boy that saved her ? She did not know and she forgot about it, it's not like salvation will come to her anyway, the torture continued.
At the Emiya Residence as Shirou was practicing structural grasping on various things, when you're alone stupid/clever ideas come to mind and Shirou's was him structurally grasping his own body."Whaa, this is."
A/N: Yeah kinda late, I know, Long chapter though, yeah figured I should make longer ones. I thought of a schedule to upload chapters now though, from now on the chapters will be written on weekdays while they will be uploaded on weekends. Yeah I had to do this since school's fucking me up.
About the fight scene, yeah I kinda needed it because I was testing if I could describe a battle with words only. Tell me what you guys think about it. I also used it as a plot device to make Shirou meet a certain someone, then about Shirou's relationship with Tohsaka, no their relationship will not reach the heroine level, it's more of Tohsaka being curious with Shirou, and even though the pair is already set I will not turn this into a Tohsaka route even though I fucking love Tohsaka I shouldn't, everybody needs a chance with Shirou and I'll probably end this story with an alternate ending for each girl. Doubt the story would end fast though I got a shit ton of ideas I want to get out of my system like a certain 1v1 fight in the future.
P.S. still need a beta, that guy that we all love/hate will appear on the next chapter. Bye
I don't own the fate franchise all dem rights go to type-moon.