Chapter 2 - Ordinary Days

Fire.
Death.
Fear.
Despair.
Red.
Hurt.
Pain.
Unbearable.
Still.
Stand.
Feel.
Agony.
Heat.
Searing.
Hot.
Walk.
Ache.
Hurt.
Dust.
Ashes.
Eyes.
Watering.
Tears.
Walk.
Limp.
Look.
Destruction.
Grief.
Anger.
Sadness.
People.
Alive.
Injured.
Corpses.
Debris.
Trip.
Fall.
Pain.
Ground.
Taste.
Gravel.
Ashes.
Arms.
Push.
Up.
Arms.
Give.
Fall.
Ground.
Sting.
Cuts.
Burns.
Grit.
Bearable.
Again.
Arms.
Push.
Up.
More.
Crawl.
Drag.
Move.
Little.
Give.
In.
Turn.
Face.
Up.
Sky.
Dark.
Black.
Weak.
Tired.
Exhausted.
Sight.
Fading...
...
...
...
...
...
...?
Hear.
Steps.
Open.
Eyes.
Blurry.
Face.
Smile.

...relief?

A pair of eyes shoot open. Sweating mildly all over, panting quickly and heart beating at a considerably fast rate than normal, the young man steadied his breath.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. The boy repeated this simple step until he regulated his breathing. He then frowned once done, thoughts circulating his head at a rapid pace.

'...That dream again. Why is it popping up now? I don't want to dream about it anymore... Then again, I can't just forget about it...' He put a hand to his forehead and wiped the remaining sweat away. He breathed out slowly again and dismissed his previous thoughts.

"No time to think about that now. What time is it..." He glanced at his clock on the wall of his room. "Ok, good. Got loads of time to prepare for school." He spoke to nobody. He nodded to himself and set course for his plans to get ready. First off, take a shower and get rid of the sweat that had built up on his body.

The red-haired boy got up and went straight ahead to the bathroom in his moderately large house. Walking across the many hallways of his traditional Japanese home, the sun was shining bright just like the day before. He couldn't help but admire the sun's rays beaming down on his home and casting beautiful shadows across the wooden floor. A normal, serene day. A day that he would enjoy.

Even if he didn't consider himself normal.

He reached the bathroom and started to clean himself of his sweat.

After the boy finished his morning rituals that included some workouts, breakfast and other things, he got dressed into his Homurahara Academy uniform and set off. It was a school day after all. After a while of walking down the route to school, his thoughts glazed to his 'guardian', who missed out on his culinary skills last night.

'Where was Fuji-nee on Saturday evening and yesterday? I know she's only been missing for one night and one day, but she normally would've been eating at mine... especially if it's the weekend...' The redhead contemplated. It was rather weird for a certain animal to be missing out on his specialties. In fact, she would never be missing out on any of his dinners. Sure, there were some instances where she missed them, but most of the time she would come over and hound on them. Unless...

'Don't tell me...' He mused about the thought, blinking in disbelief at it. '...has she finally learnt how to cook?' No way. No chance. More like no hope.

He shook his head and stopped in his journey to school, still in his own thoughts and missing the strange glances thrown his way. That thought... would probably never happen. As long as he was living on this earth and still able to cook, she would be there.

As fast as it came to his head, the thought was dismissed just as much. He continued walking, though he was still thinking. It was probably something school related and not something so exaggerated. Even so, it could eventually happen. It was a far away dream, but a dream nonetheless. Why did that even pop up in his head? She's pretty lazy when it comes to physical labour.

"Ah, hey! Emiya!"

He was bought out of his musing as he heard a feminine (somewhat deep) voice calling for him. He looked back and saw a young woman, making her way towards him at a fast pace, hand in the air in a greeting manner.

"Oh hey, Mitsuzuri. How you doing?" He waved at her and slowed down to allow her to catch up.

"I'm doing good, Emiya. How are you doing?" The girl named Mitsuzuri greeted back and matched his walking pace. She was wearing the typical Homurahara uniform, albeit the female version. A dark skirt, a white dress shirt with red trimmings on her collar and cuffs, along with a thin light brown waistcoat adorned her slim build. She may look pretty manly, but she was still good looking in a tomboyish way.

"I'm doing good, just as always. A new week, yet the same school days. The only thing that's noteworthy is the good weather." He answered with a smile.

"Ah, yeah. That's true. Come to think of it, it's been pretty good lately. Maybe it's a sign..." She put her hand on her chin in a contemplating manner.

"Mm. Maybe it is." He looked forwards to where they were headed, looking for another topic to talk about. "So, how's the Archery Dojo been? Is it still doing great?"

"Mhmm! It's still going strong. We've got a bunch of new hopeful first-year students that are pretty eager to start now." She smiled with a hopeful tone, which caused Shirou to smile back as well. Sounds like the Archery Dojo is still in good spirits.

She continued, "The new guys are kind of split up into groups. Some of them don't have any experience with the bow, while the others have some or more experience. Nevertheless, all of them are showing a lot of interest in doing the club, which is really exciting! I can't wait to see them grow up. Although..." Her previous smile now turned into a frown and Shirou noticed a faint bit of annoyance in her tone. "There has been some trouble in the club lately..."

He looked at her. "...I'm guessing it's Shinji again?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He's kinda getting out of hand; scaring the first years and whatnot. His arrogant side has been a showing a lot more often now. I wonder what's up his ass this time." She scoffed at the end of her comment.

He smiled sheepishly. "Well, that's Shinji for you. Who knows what his problem is, this time round. It seems like he's got a load of problems all the time, now that I think about it."

She smirked. "That means he's got a lot of sticks up his ass then, doesn't it?" She slapped him in the back playfully and Shirou scratched his head.

"Now come on, don't say that. What has he done to you?" She looked up to the sky to think, but after 3 seconds she replied back with a 'matter of fact' tone.

"He's annoyed me too many times to count. His superior attitude towards anyone he meets, is too much to handle and so very aggravating." She sighed. "Hasn't he done that to you? He talks to everyone like that, doesn't he?"

"W-well," Shirou stuttered, "Yes, he has many times, I will admit that. But he does have some good traits..."

Mitsuzuri raised an eyebrow towards him. "Oh, does he now? I don't really want to figure out these traits and I'm sure he doesn't even know he has these 'good traits', but please enlighten me."

"Ok then. Don't tell him I told this to you but..." He started speaking about Shinji Matou's so-called 'good traits'. By the end of it, Mitsuzuri was wide eyed. What Emiya said about him was, pretty much, not good traits.

Who directly insults someone after thanking them for a good job? He also said that he did it many times, but he thinks that Shinji was genuinely thankful. Thinks being the keyword. Maybe he was, but during the time she was listening, she did not think so. The young man was too high up on his horse to bring himself to thank Emiya Shirou, the ex-ace of the Archery Club.

"Ok. I think I get it now." She lied. He had spent the majority of the walk to school talking about Shinji's apparent good side, and she had gotten rather bored. By the time they had reached the gate, he had stopped his rambling.

"Anyways, Emiya. Come by and sort out your friend's attitude towards the young ones, eh?" She waited for his reply.

"Yeah, sure. I'll come by after school, yeah? I'll make sure to cool him down." Shirou replied.

She smiled. "Thanks, Emiya. I'll be seeing you. Bye bye!" She waved and they separated at the gates.

He smiled and waved in return. After she was out of view, a frown formed his face. He has a lot of stuff to do today.

First things first, find and speak to Fuji-nee... if she's even here.

*snore*

"...n." A noise.

*snore*

"...an." A sound.

*quiet breathing sounds*

"...-san." A quiet mumbling.

"...ehehe..." Taiga giggled lightly, still in the universe of dreams.

"...a-san?" Sounds of floorboards creaking.

"...hehehe... no, don't~..." Her head moves and she turns slightly, still in her sleep.

"...ey? ...ga-san?" A sound that is barely audible.

*more light breathing noises*

"...hehe...hehehe... so soft~..." Mumbling slightly, she grabbed at her duvet (?).

"...ummm... aiga-san...?" A gentle shake got rid of some of her drowsiness... but not enough.

"...nooo... don't leave..." More sleep talk.

A sigh. "Taiga-san. Wake up." A gentle, yet firmer shake finally got rid of most of her drowsiness.

"...ah? ...huh?" An imaginary bubble burst from her open and drooling mouth. She slowly opened her eyes and she saw a blurry blue colour from the left of her vision.

"You awake now, Taiga-san?" The blue colour spoke more clearly now.

"Uhhh... yeah?" She blinked to clear her vision. Once finished, she saw Minato staring down at her with a blank look.

"...eh? Minato-kun?" She sat up and took her back off of the futon, stretching and yawning all the while. "...why are you here?"

"It's the morning already, Taiga-san. I came to wake you up." He switched his gaze to the outside. "You were sleeping quite deeply and I made breakfast. I ate my bit and I'm already ready to go to work today."

"Eh? So, that means..." She looked to the side. 45 minutes left until the start of school. "HUUUUHHH?!" She yelled and her eyes widened. What?! That late?! She has so much to do to get ready!

"...I'm guessing you're late?" Minato replied.

"Yeah! Dammit! I have to eat your breakfast, clean myself, get ready for school, ride there... Argh!" She grimaced because of all the things she has to do. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?! I don't think I could do all those things in 45 minutes!" She glared in his direction.

"I was trying to. You were just sleeping too deeply, and... can you take your hand off of mine first?" He gestured towards the said subject and she followed.

"Huh? Oh!" Taiga's eyes widened. When had she done that? "S-sorry! I must've done that when I was asleep!"

He simply smiled back. "Nah, don't worry. You shouldn't apologise for something like that." Before she could reply back, he stood up and held a hand out to her. "Come on, let's get you ready for the day."

"O-ok-okay. Th-thanks." She blushed a little bit at his prince-like gesture. She must still be in her dream. If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up anytime soon. Too bad it was reali-

Oh. Wait. Reality was perfect. Scratch that.

He lifted her up onto her feet and lead the way to the dining room, Taiga following behind. He began, "You don't have to eat all the things that I made this morning. Just enough to fill you up." He looked back at her with his only visible eye in view. "Besides, I thought this would happen. I could have woken you up more forcefully, but you looked like you were enjoying yourself." He smiled. "So, I took the liberty of preparing some bento for you to eat when you're at school."

Her eyes sparkled. "Really?! Homemade bento from you?! Thanks a lot, Minato-kun!" She bought her hands together and skipped towards him in happiness. If she could hug him right now, she would.

With the smile still on his face, he turned around to face her. "I've made two portions for you because you might have an empty stomach by the time it gets to lunch. It should be able to fill you up for the rest of the afternoon." He finished as they had reached the dining room.

"Eat up, Taiga-san. This breakfast is for you." Set up on the table were breakfast dishes that prompted her to salivate. She gulped. She had to hold herself back to just relax and eat this while missing out on school completely. It seems like his skills were enough to tempt her to miss school.

She sat down on her side of the table while Minato sat on his. She bought her hands together and spoke, "Itadakimasu!"

She grabbed her chopsticks and started chomping down on the breakfast from heaven with much gusto. She had already finished one dish when Minato began, "As I said before, I'll be going to work today. I'm going to talk to the manager about the work times and hopefully I'll be back in time to make dinner."

"Mmm! Okay~!" Taiga gulped down her food as fast she could and replied back. "I'll ask the faculty at Homurahara to try and get you a place. It might take forever, but I think I'll be able to get you in. I'll tell you the progress of your place when you get home, okay?"

Minato nodded and stood up, seeing as she finished his breakfast. "Sure and thanks. You should probably get yourself ready now. I'll clean the plates and stuff."

Taiga was now energised and stood up. "Alright! I can now go the whole day! Thanks for the breakfast, Minato-kun! I'll go get ready now and I'll see you later!" He smiled at her and waved her out. She waved back and ran out the room to get ready for work.

It had taken her 15 minutes to eat, clean and get dressed, leaving her 30 minutes to ride the rest of the way to school. It was a rather rushed job, though she managed to accomplish it. Probably because of his breakfast.

Once finished, she was standing at the entrance of her home. And then she yelled, "Minato-kun! Come over here for a sec!"

She heard the floorboards creaking and the sound was coming closer. She peeked at her watch to check the time. 28 minutes remaining.

'Hope I get there in time...' She thought idly.

"Hm? What's up, Taiga-san? You need me?" She looked up.

"W-woah..." She stuttered and her eyes widened slightly. Minato was wearing his work uniform and boy, it looked good. Just like always.

The clothes that they retrieved the day before was, of course, the male variation. A pair of dark black pants replaced the woman's variation of the skirt. A fine piece of formal wear, minus the blazer and instead adorning the formal waistcoat.

But on Minato... a true model. Truly better than the ones seen on TV. Taiga mentally fist-pumped in grace.

"Taiga-san? Something wrong?" She was bought back to the real world by Minato, who had come closer.

"Ah! No, nothing's wrong." She smirked. "I was just admiring your attire. It looks really good on you, Minato-kun! You clean up really well!"

He smiled back in thanks. "Thank you. I think I'm ready to serve some customers right now. Although, I think it's a little bit tight..." He adjusted his sleeves on his shirt, trying to get a more comfortable position for his arms.

'Oh wow... guess that's what training does to your body, huh? More eye candy for all women around then.' She thought while looking at him. He looked skinny when seen from a distance, but up-close was quite a different story. But it depended on whether or not his clothes were thick or not though. These clothes were obviously quite thin.

He found her staring and, of course, he was about to tease her about it. Seeing a chance to escape from embarrassment, she took it.

"Aaaaanyways, I've got some money here for your bus to the city. You know the way to and from right?" She handed him some money from her bag and grinned smugly in her mind.

A brief flicker of amusement passed in Minato's eye and she managed to catch it. "Yeah, I think so. Thanks for the money. I'll be sure to buy some more ingredients when I'm on the way back as well. We're running out." Minato stored his bus fare in his pockets. "I think you should be going now. I'll leave a little bit after you. Need to finish up here first."

Taiga nodded in reply. "Okay. Take care when you leave, alright? And also remember to lock the whole place up! Good luck on your new job! See ya, Minato-kun!" She exited the house and waved at Minato, who was waving back.

"Bye bye, Taiga-san! You take care too!" He replied back.

She then started her scooter and drove off towards Homurahara Academy.

Shirou sighed to himself. He had just wasted his time looking for Taiga around the school, only to find out that she clearly wasn't here yet. He sighed in resignation again and slumped on top of his desk, seemingly giving up.

Of course, considering her laziness that she normally exudes, she just might have been late. He took a quick glance at the clock in his classroom, 2-C, and 5 minutes had already passed, signalling the start of homeroom but... the teacher was yet to be seen.

'Come on... where are you?' Shirou thought. He considered all the options that caused her to be late. Laziness, traffic, hasn't woken up yet or... something happened.

Thinking and concentrating more deeply, Shirou's expression was now fixed into a slightly concerned and worried look. Did something happen? She WAS missing on Saturday evening and the whole day on Sunday.

'Nah. I think I'm thinking WAY too deeply in this. It is Fuji-nee after all...' He shook his head. His thoughts were making him overthink things and it does not help in the least, if something really had happened to her. It may be a thought to keep in mind though...

"Alright! I am not late!" Erase that. Looks like he didn't need to worry after all.

Taiga burst into the classroom, panting slightly at the pace she used while traversing the stairs. "Settle down, guys! I may be late, but now that I'm here, you need to quiet down!" She hushed the class down and proceeded to walk to the teacher's podium, almost tripping over nothing on the way. Shirou smiled to himself. Yep, no need to worry.

She managed to steady herself and got to the podium, while hearing giggles from the students. She cleared her mouth. "Ahem! Now that I have your attention and before we start homeroom, I've got some news for you!" Shirou perked his ears. She visibly smiled and her visage was growing increasingly excited.

Perhaps to a normal student's eye, Taiga's energetic manner would be excused. After having her as their homeroom teacher for a couple of years, they had gotten used to it. She had a reputation of being the bright, yet childish teacher after all. But for Shirou, who had spent the majority of his childhood under her care, his eye managed to spot some of the emotions coming from her that people wouldn't see cross her cheerful visage.

What he had seen from her expressions and her stature, was warmth, happiness and... what?

It was a small and very, very faint feeling that he had managed to catch from her. A small, budding seed of emotion that would undoubtedly bloom into something big. It seemed that even Taiga didn't know about it just yet. Hell, it very nearly passed under his nose.

But Shirou caught it and immediately understood this hidden emotion. After all, he had seen it when she was hanging around his father, back when he was a kid.

This made Shirou gaze at her with a confused expression. When did she get this very, very, VERY faint emotion? Did it have something to do with her being missing on Saturday evening and Sunday? Has she even gotten over her crush on his father? If so... who is the guy who has gotten her attention? More questions will need to be asked.

He continued listening to his surrogate sister's speech. "Everyone! Our class is, hopefully, going to have the honour of getting a new transfer student!" All of the students wore an interested expression at the news. Then, the questions came.

"Excuse me, sensei." A male student raised his hand. "Hm? Have you got a question for me, Ryuudou-kun?"

The student council president promptly stood up. "Yes. As I'm sure that everyone here is interested in this new transfer student, I will ask: is this transfer a boy or a girl?" All students looked towards Taiga in anticipation and Shirou looked to her as well, interested about the news.

Taiga smiled at the class. "I won't reveal much about the new guy as I want it to be a surprise, but I will be telling you that the student is... a boy! Girls, you're in for a treat!" She cheerfully closed one eye and pointed a thumbs up to the class, striking a pose.

The girls were now even more intrigued, as Taiga had told them that the new student was a male. She even told them that they were in for a 'treat' and this got her more questions from the students; specifically the female populace of the class.

"Sensei! I have a question!" A young girl stood up to ask. Taiga nodded and made a gesture, signalling to say the question and still maintaining the smile. Shirou noted the increasingly growing brightness in her smile.

"Sensei, is the student handsome? We have yet to see an actual bishounen in school here." She said excitedly, along with her fellow females who were chatting amongst themselves.

A symphony (more like cacophony) of sounds like 'Tch', sighs and scoffs were heard from the male half in return to the female's degrading comment. They then turned to Shirou with hopeful glances sent his way. He just looked at them, a puzzled face replacing his former neutral expression.

"W-what?" Shirou said. The male half just sighed and shook their heads in unison, returning their gazes towards the teacher's podium. Even Issei shook his head and sighed as well.

'What was that about?' Shirou mused. Why did the rest of the males look at him at that moment? And also, he noticed in the corner of his eyes that some of the girls were giggling when they looked at him and that they had slight pink tinges on their cheeks. Why was that? Was something about him funny?

Shirou ruffled his hair in irritation. Those were questions that bothered him all the time. It had happened to him many times before, when the girls giggled in his direction. Were they making fun of him? That's pretty mean. Not to mention that it made him hurt a little on the inside.

Inside the mind of Emiya Shirou, he didn't think that he was popular. Average looks, humble attitude, mature personality and average grades, this is what he thought people would think of him.

Contrary to his thoughts, he was actually quite popular within his school's peers.

He WAS the retired ace of the Archery Club and he actually had greater than average grades, placing him in the top third of his year. This warranted more than enough attention from the females and envy from the males, though his nature of doing 'odd' jobs in school diverted him enough to not notice this attention.

How he managed to divert himself from his increasing popularity for almost two years, boggled the minds of the people who knew him.

Hence the fact that all the boys in the class were thinking the same thing.

Emiya Shirou is THE most clueless and densest teenager in the whole school, with a popularity status that every male would probably kill for.

"I won't tell you anything about him. That'll just ruin the surprise for you guys~." Taiga responded back.

Her message left all the girls wondering and excited about this new mystery student. They were now chatting amongst each other more loudly than before and the males were scowling, uttering curses under their breath at this new student.

A certain blue haired boy sneezed and felt a cold sweat on his back, whilst at work.

"One last thing I should tell you guys about him. He'll hopefully be arriving in a couple of weeks time! I don't know the exact date of his arrival, but it shouldn't be too long!" Taiga announced.

"Ehhh? So sensei doesn't know? Awww~." The females said simultaneously.

Taiga waved her hand at them. "Now now, don't worry. The wait will be worth it. You can count on that!" She then winked and struck her previous pose again. "Ah! And also, exams are coming up in 2 weeks! You better start studying now!"

The class was, for some reason, a perfect orchestra today. Moans of exaggerated grief were heard throughout the class of 2-C. Shirou didn't mind it, but he chose not to join in and instead smiled towards his classmates.

'I guess they're excited about the new student, huh? Speaking of him...' Shirou's thoughts revolved. More questions popped up for Taiga to answer. Especially the discreet way that she popped the news towards them. It almost sounded like she knew the student.

'I'll have to wait 'till lunch time, I guess. But for now, let's concentrate on lessons.' He put aside his questions to ask as homeroom was starting. But one question lingered, as he looked around the classroom.

'Where's Shinji?'

Lunchtime...

It was now lunch time. One would normally be happy for this time of school, as it's the time to be eating, socialising and taking a break from school lessons. But right now, one student couldn't bring herself to indulge in the relaxation of lunch time.

On the outside, she kept a dignified air that exuded pride. That air almost never extinguished and the way she carried herself off of her heels, all the students in the hallway couldn't help but admire her and stare. They were obviously attracted to her and some of the girls envied her for her bewitching beauty. But that was just a front.

Being one of the most admired (and beautiful) students in school, Tohsaka Rin had a guise to maintain. On the outside, an almost prestigious yet humble exterior was painted on her graceful features. Truly fitting for an heiress like her. But on the inside... it was a different story.

She was currently conjuring up a storm of questions in her mind. And this situation was not one to take lightly.

'What the hell was that big spike in prana?' Right now, Rin was coming up with theories in her mind. She was currently rummaging every inch of her brain for any logical reason for the very recent outbreak of prana that appeared in Fuyuki, just as fast as it had disappeared.

She had felt the prana release on Saturday and hell... it was big. It was like a huge bomb was dropped on a part of Fuyuki and a few minutes after she had felt it, she went to the affected area, a small park in the outskirts of the city.

The area itself was, oddly enough, untouched. She had expected something at least big enough to coincide with the amount of prana released, as the mana was not so much depleted in the area. Whatever happened there, a lot of od was needed. She looked around the area and found no clues as to finding out whatever happened there. It was the evening after all and nobody would've been hanging around a park like that at that time. And the culprit might've escaped by the time she arrived.

'What could've possibly happened there...? The od that had to have been used... an abnormal amount. Who could possibly have that much od...? And what happened? What's going on?' Rin was fuming on the inside, though it did not show on the outside. She had been coming up with all the possible solutions that her brain could wrack up... but it got her nowhere. She had no clues to get a lead as to what happened and so she decided to investigate the area once again, later on today.

It was her duty as Second Owner of Fuyuki City to supervise all supernatural activity that happens in the territory. And so far for this case, it was quite supernatural. How this ridiculous burst of prana came to be, she had to find out. It was quite worrying to find a release in prana that could be felt from even her house, being only a few miles away. Especially when there are no clues as to what the hell happened...

...and that there could be a magus that is doing something in her city without her knowing and permission.

She kept those thoughts in her mind for later. Right now, it was time to figure out her game plan in order to find out what happened in that area and when she finds one clue, it's time to play detective.

Ignoring the looks of her classmates and the obvious chatter that she only managed to hear bits of (something about a new student?), she headed towards the roof of the school to contemplate about what to do.

Meanwhile, in a hallway, still lunchtime...

"Fujimura-sensei!" Shirou yelled towards Taiga in the second-year hallway in school.

"Hm? Shirou~?" Taiga looked back to see Shirou waving at her to come over. She skipped towards him in a happy manner, making Shirou smile crookedly at her and scratched his neck awkwardly. Good ol' Fuji-nee. Never ages, never changes.

"What's up, Shirou? Do you need something? If you're here to give me lunch, don't worry! I've got it covered~!" Taiga shot a thumbs up at him and Shirou looked back at her, a puzzled expression settling on his face. She was holding a tied up bento in her hand, seemingly ready to eat it.

"What? No, Fujimura-sensei, I want to ask you something. Nuh uh uh, not about lunch, but about the recent weekend." Shirou interrupted as Taiga was about to ask him about lunch again. 'Where did she get that bento from?' He added in his thoughts.

"Oh, the weekend? Alright, ask away!" Taiga said, somewhat happily.

"Well... to put it bluntly, where were you yesterday and the evening before that? I was waiting for you and I prepared your meal, expecting you to come." Shirou questioned. "I thought you would've come and eaten at mine just like you always do. What happened?"

"Hmmm..." Taiga put her hand on her chin, thinking. "Well, I got out of school really late and seeing as I was really, really hungry then, I went and got some... take-away."

"...really? That stuff?" Shirou sighed. Well, she must have been really hungry to miss out on his dinner. REALLY hungry. He continued. "What caused you to be so late? What time did you get out of school?"

Taiga put on a contemplative look. "Let's see... I got out at, I think, 7 o' clock-ish? There was a lot of schoolwork that had to be done that I missed out on." She stared back at Shirou. "Why are you asking these questions? Wait. Could it be...?"

Her mischievous façade formed on her face. "Were you worried for me, Shirou? Why, thank you! Looking out for a pretty lady like me, any woman would want you!" She leaned forward and patted him on chest teasingly. Shirou lightly blushed and scratched his head awkwardly, catching glimpses of some girls giggling at his blushing visage.

"W-well... you are right. I was pretty worried about you... can you stop smiling at me...? You're making me embarrassed..." Shirou looked away, pink cheeks still on. But he didn't escape as more girls were giggling and chatting to each other, while he tried to look away. Why? What did he do?

"Awww~! Little Shirou-kun is worried about his onee-san? My Shirou-kun is growing up!" She put on her bubbly eyes and tried to pinch his cheeks.

He quickly waved her off and retorted, rather flustered. "Don't treat me like a kid! Besides, I was just looking out for you! C'mon, Fuji-nee!" After a while of hearty chuckling from Taiga, she eventually calmed down.

"Hehehe! You shouldn't worry about me, Shirou-kun! I was alright yesterday as well! I just went out really early because I had to do some things. I ate out, that's why I wasn't there for breakfast." Taiga said.

"Oh, really? What were these things you had to do?" Shirou replied back, a little more coolly now. He still was a little flustered though.

Taiga just wagged her hand at him. "Now now, Shirou! You shouldn't pry into a woman's secrets!" She put her hand on her hips. "I'll be sure to contact you next time I won't be there, okay? You're too protective! Don't you trust me~?"

Shirou sighed and smiled. "Yeah, I trust you, Fujimura-sensei. I might have overreacted a bit. Well, maybe more than a bit. Sorry for bothering you."

Taiga waved him off. "Don't worry about it! Now, I'll be off! See ya!" She then sped off into the hallway to get to whatever destination she was headed.

Shirou stared at the dust trail she left. He then turned and walked in the direction of the student council room, where he usually hangs out, with his lunch in hand.

'She's hiding something.' He thought. 'I might be wrong, but I have a hunch she's got something to hide. Hmmm...' The parts that stood out when she was speaking, was the takeaway and her missing status yesterday. Maybe this was one of hose occasions she had to miss out...?

'Well, whatever.' He shook his head. 'I can trust her and I think I need to stop worrying. I think she's going to be alright... ah. Wait. I forgot to ask her why she's cheerful... well, she always was but... ah, never mind.' He arrived at the student council room and greeted Issei, who was already inside.

"Hey, Emiya. Where were you?" Issei started.

"I was speaking to Fujimura-sensei. I had to talk to her about something." Shirou replied back to his bespectacled friend.

"Hm, alright. Let's eat then shall we? I've also got some jobs that I need your help with..." Issei waited for Shirou to sit and bought out his own bento.

'I'll think about that for later. I think it's something personal anyway. I don't want to pry.' Shirou concluded and sat down, facing Issei. He set his own lunch on the table and started eating with Issei, talking about things that interested them and the jobs that he would gladly help him with.

Afterschool...

At last, after a boring, yet educational last lesson, the school day was finally done. Students were celebrating internally for yet another school day finishing and all of them were going their separate ways; some going to afterschool clubs, some straight home and others going to the city centre of Fuyuki to chill out.

For Shirou's case, it was time to do some odd jobs and bear the not-so-noble title of "Fake School Janitor". By odd jobs, that means repairing worn down electronics and the like, something an ordinary student wouldn't normally do afterschool or in the morning.

But first on the agenda, was to sort out the arising problem that was Matou Shinji, vice-captain of the Archery Club.

'...what has he done now? Mitsuzuri said he was picking on the first years... probably saying how bad they are or something, I guess.' Shirou sighed. Ever since he left the club (through Shinji's 'persuasion'), his superior attitude has been at an all time high. Shirou mused that it was probably because of him retiring. Not that he really minded. Shinji was a friend, after all.

Shirou hiked over to the Archery Dojo to where the problem lay. He entered the dojo and took his shoes off, when he heard some pretty loud chuckling noises... and some sobbing sounds.

"Hahaha! If you can't hold a bow right or get the stance correctly, you shouldn't even be in here!" Undoubtedly, that was Sakura's brother.

"Hey! Shinji! Leave it be! You're making her cry!" The captain's voice could also be heard by the entrance.

'I think this is getting out of hand...' Shirou had to stifle a sigh. From the sounds of it, Shinji was bullying a poor first-year girl. Leave it to him to downgrade someone from their level.

Once he finished taking his shoes off, he entered the fray. "Is something going on here?" He said when he entered the dojo.

Reactions came from the captain, vice-captain and bystanders. "Ah, Emiya! Nice timing!" Mitsuzuri exclaimed with an expression of relief on her face.

"Tch! Emiya? What are you doing here?" Shinji's trademark scowl appeared when Shirou came in. Shirou just dismissed it and smiled crookedly at him.

"Senpai!" Shirou turned to the voice that leaked happiness and saw Sakura, dressed in her Archery gear. She was smiling happily and looked at Shirou with something akin to admiration. Or something more.

Shirou didn't notice, much to her disappointment. Nevertheless, he smiled back at her in greetings which lit her up again.

After smiling to Sakura in greetings, Shirou turned to the captain, Mitsuzuri. He started, "What happened here? Did she do something?"

Once Mitsuzuri was about to speak, Shinji opened his mouth first. "The thing that she did, is showing up here. She clearly doesn't belong here. Her stature is crap and the way she holds her bow is also crap. How she even got into the club is something I don't get!" Shinji sniggered at the end of his speech and Mitsuzuri glared at him.

She responded, "Hey Shinji! Shut up! Anyone can join the club, newbie or not!" Her glare didn't seem to perturb him in any way, as shown by the increasingly growing smirk on his face.

He put his hands on his hips. "Well well well! I guess that's why the Archery Club has gotten so bad then! Hahaha!"

Mitsuzuri was about to retort back again, but Shirou stopped her and shot her a look that said 'let me handle this'. She nodded an affirmative, albeit quite reluctantly, as shown by the visible amount of anger on her face.

"Hey Shinji," Shirou started, "She's clearly a newcomer but that doesn't mean you should pick on her."

"Ha! Have you seen these people try to shoot an arrow, Emiya?" Shinji stared at Shirou. "They couldn't do it at all! It was pathetic!"

Shirou sighed in response. "They probably can't right now. But that doesn't mean that they can't practice shooting an arrow. Everyone starts at the beginning, Shinji. You, me and even the captain started from not being able to hold a bow properly. Give her a chance to prove herself and I'm sure she'll be great." He smiled to the girl who was now currently watching the conversation with swollen eyes. She smiled and blushed at the gesture.

Shinji scowled. "Hmph! We'll see. After all, trash will stay trash."

Shirou scratched the back of his head. He's been doing that a lot today. "Come on, Shinji. Just let it go and give the new guys a chance."

Shinji glowered at him and ignored his comment. "Why are you here, Emiya? Didn't you retire? Did you come here to show off?"

"No no," Shirou replied, "I came here because someone needed help. I can even help you, Shinji, if you just ask. After all, you're a friend and I help my friends."

Shinji turned away from him and headed for the door. "Whatever. I don't care. Train them up all you want, I'm sure they won't change." He exited the dojo with that remark hanging in the air.

Once he left, Shirou stood there and sighed. He felt a hand hit his back and turned to see Mitsuzuri, Sakura, the first-year girl and the other first-years looking at him with respect shining in their eyes.

The former was smiling appreciatively, her previous glare now gone from her face. Sakura, on the other hand, was smiling sweetly, although she was a bit upset from Shinji's display. The latter... well, she was blushing and was clearly struck from his show of sticking up for her and the others.

"Thank you, Emiya." Mitsuzuri said. "He can become a handful most of the time, but as I said this morning, I don't know why he was particularly heated this time round."

"Don't worry about it," Shirou replied, "If he does it next time, tell me again. I'll be there." Shirou smiled at her and she nodded in response.

"Alright, everyone! Let's get back to practicing!" Mitsuzuri exclaimed to the other students. She moved further into the dojo and waved a goodbye, along with the first-year girl who did the same.

"Thanks, senpai!" Multiple voices were heard thanking Shirou for standing up to Shinji. He gave a friendly gesture and they happily returned it. Once done, he turned to Sakura, who was still standing next to him.

"Thank you, senpai. I know my brother can be a bit troublesome, but he means no harm... I think..." Sakura muttered.

"Like I said to Mitsuzuri, don't worry about it. I think I've known Shinji enough to know his actions. I can take care of him." He smiled warmly at her and she reciprocated the action.

They stared at each other for a few long moments, with a comforting silence blanketing them in their own little world. Gazing in each other's eyes, they still had their warm and happy expressions plastered on their faces. It felt like they had a moment, right there and then.

"Hehehe~..." Unfortunately, to Sakura's dismay, the two got their moment ended by the sounds of giggling.

They got bought out of their stupor and turned to the side where the entrance was and the direction of the giggles was heard. What they saw was the teasing face of Taiga Fujimura, who was looking at them with cat eyes and a hand that was covering her obviously smirking mouth.

The two looked at the animal for a couple of minutes, an increasingly growing wildfire spreading on both their cheeks, widening eyes and a twitching mouth on Shirou. They were saved from the embarrassing silence from the one who started it.

"Hohoho... you two are the most innocent and cutest couple I've ever seen!" She held both her hands in front of her in a delighted manner. "The way you two just manage to create a lovely atmosphere, is just... too cute~!"

"W-wha-! Fuji-nee! I...! We...! W-we were just...!" Shirou stuttered and tried to come up with an excuse, but failed miserably. On the other hand, Sakura was blushing in embarrassment and was silent, looking at something interesting on the floor.

"Hehehe! No need to come up with any excuses! I'll leave you two lovebirds alone now, ok~? Bye bye!" She then skipped deeper into the dojo to do whatever she needed, leaving the two in an awkward silence.

"..." Sakura was still looking at the floor of the dojo, unspeaking.

"..." Shirou gaped in Taiga's direction where she was headed, frozen in his tracks and unable to speak his excuses.

After a moment of gaping, Shirou turned to Sakura, the blush still evident on both of their cheeks. He then spoke, scratching his neck in the process. Too much scratching. "W-well, I'll be s-seeing you, Sakura. U-umm, good luck with the Archery Club in the future."

Sakura finally managed to look up in his direction, though she diverted her eyes to the side. "Y-yeah. See you soon, senpai."

After speaking those words to each other, they both separated. Shirou went towards the entrance of the dojo, while Sakura went to practice more archery.

'When will she stop?! Sakura may be cute and all that, but I don't see her that way... God! When will she learn her lesson?! I'd really love to see her get her own taste of the medicine she always gives to me!' With those concluding thoughts, he went back inside school to fix some broken electronics.

He obviously didn't know that there was a saviour out there in the city that already served the medicine. Too bad he didn't get to see it.

By the end of the school day, Rin headed straight home to get ready to investigate the disturbance that happened two days ago.

Her head was on overdrive throughout the whole school day, still trying to figure out what the hell is happening in her city. For a big release that occurred near the place she was living, she couldn't help but think that it was a really dumb move.

There was no Bounded Field set up around the area, indicating either a really dumb magus or no sense of awareness for the individual. Who was still dumb. Whoever done it indicated his or her presence to everyone who can do Magecraft. She couldn't understand what the culprit's objectives were.

One must first set up a Bounded Field to improve secrecy, right? So why was there no field here? Maybe it's an experiment gone bad? A possibility. Who knows? She can ponder more about that later.

Anyways, Rin bought more jewels with her, just in case of trouble. The culprit could still be there doing whatever and even though she was proficient enough to handle herself in close quarters, one can't be too careful. It was a magus who had probably done it after all.

And so, she began her trek at around the same time the disturbance occurred, at about 5 o' clock-ish. While walking, she idly wondered about what was going on in the rumour mill at school today.

It was causing quite a stir apparently. She had heard from her fellow peers by the time lunch had finished and she had returned to the classroom to overhear some of the females talking amongst themselves.

They were talking about this new mystery student that was going to be arriving in a couple of weeks time. No specific date was announced or heard, but it was said the student will be coming. What really caught her ears, was the fact that these classmates of hers in 2-A were chatting excitedly.

'Who would've thought that those girls would get so excited for just a bunch of rumours? They might not even be true. But a new transfer student going into our year, huh? I guess that's something to look forward to.' Rin mused. Stories were going around that this new student would be quite the looker, if not more. She heard from one of the girls that the energetic teacher dropped the hint that they, the females, would be in for a treat. The teacher didn't say anything more than that, as she wanted to keep it a surprise.

Yup, definitely something to look forward to. A surprise is a surprise after all. She secretly kept to herself the vision of the looks on her classmates' faces, if the rumours turned out to be untrue.

She concluded her thought process, as she had arrived at the destination. The sun was slowly dimming and going down, painting the sky in a beautiful orange hue. Streaks of white fluff called clouds were very slowly breaking apart from each other, dissipating into nothing. A beautiful sky that she could admire, if not for the fact that she had something to do.

"Haaaaa..." She slowly breathed out. The street lamps turned on, as if helping her in her investigation to find something... or someone. "...alright. Let's get to work."

She rolled the sleeves up on her red coat and got to work.

"...ok." She spoke to no one in particular. "Why the hell can't I find anything?!"

After two long, agonising hours, she scanned the place for anything. Anything that could help her in this search for the cause of the disturbance.

Scanning the street near the park, she sensed the atmosphere around the park as it was where most of the mana in the air had depleted. As for the word 'most', she meant a little. The surroundings had suffered no depletion in mana but this one particular spot had lost a little bit of it, though it will be a pretty long time until it begins to generate again. Strange.

Though that was the only thing strange in the area. That was the one thing she could gather that she thought could be related to this case. The culprit did a great job at hiding whatever happened here, much to her dismay.

Nothing seemed out of place and that was what infuriated her. For a seemingly third-rate magus (which she concluded the culprit was), the person was really good at covering his or her tracks.

Rin smiled evilly to herself. When she finds this person, and she WILL, she's going to teach them a lesson for wasting two hours worth of her time.

Oh, will she be looking forward to that particular time.

She exhaled loudly and looked around the place. All was quiet and the place was empty, with her being the only one on the street. The area was shrouded in darkness, though not completely pitch black. The only light sources there were the street lamps, providing limited illumination in the area, though you could still see quite a distance without it.

It was now 7 o'clock. The beautiful orange hue in the sky was no longer present and was instead replaced by an equally darkening, and beautiful, blanket of twinkling stars. Rin looked back down to earth and was about to conclude this failed investigation, when she heard the rustling of leaves.

She craned her neck towards the noise that broke the silence and went into alert mode. Is the perpetrator here?

She looked towards the park where the rustling came from and narrowed her eyes. The person has made an error at making an obvious noise like that. She started walking cautiously in the park's direction, keeping her eyes peeled for any movement.

'Damn lamps. They aren't giving me much vision here. Got to trust my instincts here.' Rin thought.

She set one foot onto the park's gravelled floor, when a gust of wind blew her hair into her face and rustled the leaves of the trees and bushes around her. She quickly got rid of the stray hair and pressed on, keeping the hair at bay on the side of her face but maintained her vigilant guard.

The wind died down. But the rustling of a large bush didn't. Rin kept her steps silent and moved towards the offending piece of nature that was still moving.

Getting closer and closer, she lifted her arms to reveal whoever was the cause of the shaking.

Closer.
And closer.
And closer.

Until...

"...I've got you now..." She muttered under her breath, not loud enough for the person to hear.

Creeping up slowly to the big bush that could hide a man, she swiftly pried open the bush to reveal...!

"Meowww..."

...a cat.

"...eh?" Rin murmured. Ok then. Turns out to be a cat. Perfect. Just perfect.

Well, this turn of events certainly added to burning frustration that was her ego. First the so-called investigation that bared no fruits, now a freakin' cat gets added to the mix.

Rin looked up to the night sky, as if calling for a miracle. She then sighed in resignation. Today has been an unfortunate day... and a complete waste of her damn time.

This magus was going to get it. For sure.

With that declaration burned in her head, she looked back at the cat to see it staring back at her. With what looked like an expression akin to disinterest on the cat's visage, the cat simply stood up and moved from it's perch in the bush and left her to frown at the animal.

She then sighed again. She straightened out her posture and fixed her face. Turning around from the place where the cat had been relaxing, she saw a sparkle before slowly walking away.

After taking 5-10 steps to where she entered from, she stopped. A sparkle?

Letting her curiosity take over her, she walked back to the bush and opened the space to settle her eyes on something twinkling. Though she could only see a little bit of the object because of the twigs in the way, she opened up the space more and grabbed the sparkling object.

Picking it up in her hands and placing it on her open right hand, she visibly lit up at the sight.

A silver, metallic gun rested on the palm of her hand, glistening in the moonlit sky in all it's luster.

Chapter 2 - End

A/N: Alright, so here's the next chapter! So, so sorry about it being two months since the last chapter. The game called 'Real Life' has been occupying me for the past month. Been busy with school starting up again and exams coming up. And also I've got some new stories that have been recently appearing in my mind and I've been planning them. I won't reveal too much, but they're mostly P3 crossovers (which has the always-charming Minato as the protagonist).

And so, with that said I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thought it was time to introduce the F/SN characters now. And I will answer a question that probably has been in your mind; "When will the Grail War start?" The answer to that is when Minato transfers into Homurahara and gets his own place to live in. I've obviously got some stuff planned before that :D (and hopefully I get to submit a chapter earlier).

With this note ending, I say: see ya next time and thanks for reading! (Also, thanks to the new reviewers who submitted the recent reviews for brightening my day!)