A/N: Yo! This is Napalm back with the next chapter of Fate of the Red-Haired Devil. As you may have seen from my other stories, I am doing a rotation between 8 different stories every 2 months in a variety of different fandoms including Isekai, Danmachi, Fate, and Highschool DxD, so if any of them interest you, please take a look and let me know what you think. Here is the schedule for the next 8 weeks:
This week: Fate Red-Haired Devil
Next week: Profiles
2 weeks away: Issei's Fate
3 weeks out: Rampage
4 weeks: Reactions (could be another chapter on Dark Isekai reacts or another new story)
5 weeks: IC
6 weeks: Gamer of the Sword
7 weeks: random
This will be my schedule for the next 2 months for my stories. As you can see, IC is close to the end because it got a lot of love in my last 2 months, having 2 new chapters as it was a brand-new story, but after this 2-month schedule I plan on keeping to something similar to it, so you will all know what to expect and when to expect updates to my stories.
I know it has been a long time since I updated Fate of the Red-haired devil, but I am now updating it and will be updating it pretty regularly as it is a part of the main 2-month rotation. I plan on getting through Arc 1 of the story, which will cover the prologue of the Holy Grail War until the fight he oversees between Archer and Lancer. That is when the first arc will end and the next arc will fully begin.
This is another prologue chapter focusing on his relationships at the school and what he thinks of the other characters, as well as what has changed between them prior to the Holy Grail even starting.
Rin, Shirou, Issei and Shinji are all major parts of this chapter as it will mainly focus on his school relationships, segueing to a Rin focused chapter next chapter- and how she views him and his capabilities, as well as her suspicions.
Preface 2-School Days
Shirou dropped into his seat right as the bell was about to ring as he always did, never too early or too late, nor stopping to chat with anyone. To his peers, he was a pretty aloof individual, never paying too much attention to anyone or anything outside of his interests. He used to interact with the Archery club on a regular basis as a member of it, but ever since he quit when he got injured, the only person he really interacted with from that club was Shinji.
That injury clearly didn't stop him from being athletic with the body type he had. Because of his aloof personality and tendency to keep to himself, Shirou had no idea how he was viewed by the student body. The entire female student body pretty much had a crush on him because of his looks and personality, seeming like a cold prince or a samurai almost with his build and mannerisms. He was well muscled, with a lean but tall build that lent itself well to the image of Shirou as a prince or being above the rest. Not only that, but even with his aloof and introspective nature, Shirou was never unapproachable, always being ready to lend an ear when needed-even taking on the job of dealing with Taiga on several occasions that had people writing eulogies for him. His good nature and looks made a lot of girls crush on him, and even some guys felt the same. Those that didn't had nothing to begrudge Shirou about either, as while normally it would be in their nature, Shirou was just too nice. It was almost impossible to stay mad at him or even get mad at him in the first place.
The only real fault a lot of people had was his choice of company.
Shinji Matou could be described in a multitude of different terms, but a lot of them didn't mesh at all with their perception of Shirou, so his relationship with him didn't make much sense to many people. He could easily be described as a playboy, womanizer, player, manipulator, arrogant bastard, and many other foul terms, but somehow, he seemed like friends with Shirou.
What many people didn't seem to realize is that they really only tolerated each other, because of their relationship with Sakura. Shinji was jealous of Shirou's good looks and talents he had without any effort, but held back out of a certain promise he made with Sakura. Shirou on the other hand, tolerated Shinji as he was one of the only people willing to approach him, as well as out of respect for his friendship with Sakura. So, it was really more mutual toleration than any real friendship.
Lunch time was a great example of their dynamic in action, a dynamic that very few people actually got to hear.
"So, Emiya, what sports team are you thinking of joining?" Shinji asked, a smug grin on his face, seemingly his default expression.
He asked this every year, joining the same athletic team or club that Shirou joined in a failed attempt to prove his superiority. And, it was truly a failed attempt in every sense of the term. It was a failure in the sense that it would prove his superiority to Shirou, as Shirou really didn't care about who was better one bit, as well as a failure in the sense that Shinji had never once outperformed Shirou in any of his attempts.
When Shirou tried the Kendo team, Shinji was right there behind him, getting one less hit on his opponent than Shirou did. When Shirou was in the archery team, Shinji always scored at least one less bullseye than Shirou did. Even on their tests, there was almost always a one-point difference between the two.
With the similarities in height, their unusual hair colors, and the fact that Shinji always seemed to be a step behind Shirou, people had taken to calling Shinji a 'knock-off Shirou' or the 'Knock-off Prince' for short. Needless to say, this just inflamed Shinji's rage further.
The two of them generally just sat in silence, eating or just being around the other, but every time the time came when Shirou decided to join a club, Shinji would strike up the conversation.
"I'm thinking track and field." Shirou admitted, he was honest to a fault-especially around Shinji.
He always tried to be honest as it was in his nature, but he was also a very shrewd person-using that same honesty to create falsehoods others couldn't see through. But, around Shinji his nature was brought out more, he was honest with Shinji not because he was a very honest person, but because he liked to screw with him.
He knew about Shinji's weird second fiddle issue Shinji had with him, which was why he always let him know in advance what club he was joining and sure enough:
"What a coincidence," Shinji said in a smug and blatantly false tone, "I was thinking the same thing."
Shirou had to hide a smirk using his food for that one, otherwise Shinji would catch on to the game Shirou was playing with him.
"Well, may the best man win," Shirou said in a sincere tone, Shinji not picking up on the double meaning and shaking his hand as the bell tolled for the afternoon classes.
Afterschool was his typical time he spent in the student council room fixing electronics Issei brought to him.
"I still don't understand why you do this for such a low cost," Issei said, pushing his glasses up on his face as he did so.
"It's honestly no hassle to do," Shirou assured Issei as they started another conversation regarding him being used to repair the broken-down electronics.
There was a rumor that ever since 2 years ago when Shirou joined the high school, the school had actually let go of several electricians they had on their faculty for emergencies. No one would confirm or deny this, but no one would be surprised if it was actually the case.
"I enjoy the work, and it's not like I don't get helpful experience out of it." Shirou assured Issei.
"Ah, are you looking for a job as a maintenance worker or something?" Issei asked, curious as it was the first time Shirou had responded with an answer like that.
"Something similar," Shirou said, being evasive but also truthful in his answer. Honesty really was the best weapon to deceive people after all, as Kiritsugu and Sakura had taught him.
"It's nice that some of our peers have good lives planned out ahead for themselves." Issei said with some scorn in his voice.
Shirou rolled his eyes, unseen to Issei as he was face first in a heater putting it back together. He knew what Issei was referring to and honestly couldn't care less. He was referring to his so-called rival, Rin Tohsaka.
Rin had recently announced that she was actually going to London after Highschool was over, hoping to join some sort of jewelry research team, and Issei had not wasted a second needling her over her less-than-possible aspirations. Shirou knew better as he was familiar with the 3 families involved in Fuyuki, having been informed of them by his father.
His father had told him quite simply: "None of these families should be an issue. The Einzbern have no reason to suspect I stayed in Fuyuki, the Matou are a declining family and you are on the good side of their heiress, and the Tohsaka are staying close to the ground after what happened in the last Holy Grail War. Besides that, the Tohsaka never revoked my permission to be on the land after the Holy Grail War ended."
Rin had never brought it up with him so he assumed she knew and allowed him to stay in her land, after all, she had brought up magecraft around him before now.
"Hey, Tohsaka," Shirou greeted amicably. There was no resentment or harshness between the two, they were even rather friendly towards each other. Sure, Rin had a slight rivalry with him when it came to academics, but outside of academics, she had informed him flatly she was the only boy at the Highschool who didn't make her want to vomit out her intestines (in her own words, which was downright praise coming from her).
"Good afternoon, Emiya," She greeted him politely, a little bow of the head to acknowledge his presence and greeting, more than most got from her.
There was a reason that many looked up to her. Between her perfect image of immaculate control, her amazing grades, and her high aspirations, many people considered her to be a cool princess of the school, almost a queen (When Shirou heard this, he had a vision of her by his side, acting in his name to assist him and help him rule over other people-but he didn't know why he got that vision and assumed it was just about him having a crush on her-which he definitely had a light one).
After that, they chatted for a few minutes while Issei looked on with a twitch in his eye, irritated that they were talking like he wasn't there.
This was something they both enjoyed. A little-known fact was that Shirou was a troll, he loved doing minor things to irritate people, as long as they weren't actively hurtful and weren't something that would go out of his way. Rin was the same way almost, she got enjoyment out of messing with people who annoyed her, which Issei did with his talk of her being a witch. Sure, he was close to the mark, but it was still irritating to be called a witch and it annoyed her that someone hadn't fallen for her little deception.
"Have a good afternoon, Emiya," Rin said with a smile as she waved him goodbye and continued on her way home for the afternoon.
"Do you have to do that every time you see each other," Issei asked, annoyed that he was once again left out of their conversation.
"What are you talking about?" Shirou asked innocently, pretending he had no idea what Issei was referring to.
Issei just sighed, "I'm going back to the temple to pray for your soul." Issei said. It had become something Issei was accustomed to after being a member of the temple for years, saying that he would pray for someone every time he parted with them.
Shirou just had an irritated look in his face after Issei left. For some reason, every time Issei said that he would pray for Shirou, it just irritated him. He wasn't sure why, but he had always had a natural aversion for religion, even if he didn't mind the holy figures that were celebrated like Jeanne of Arc.
"Now, time to finally work my magic and see what's wrong with this." Shirou said once he was sure that everyone was gone.
Shirou practiced his magic in secret everyday by using it confirm people's locations and for maintenance work. A lot of magus would scoff at the idea of using structural analysis, projection and reinforcement for simple chores, but Shirou had gotten in the habit of training whatever way possible, and maintenance was a very good way for him to train his craft.
The heater was a good example. Shirou recited his personal aria "trace on," He murmured as he activated his circuits and analyzed the heater. He could see all parts in it, as well as their condition and what the heater had gone through.
Shirou sighed as he finally saw what was wrong with it. "Damn it, Shinji." Shirou said as he rolled his eyes. It turns out that the reason it was broken was because Shinji had gotten pissed off and in typical Shinji fashion, took it out on the nearest thing to him-in this case the heater.
How Shinji had never gotten caught when he let his temper loose was a true mystery to Shirou, even more than how true magic worked. He sometimes even did it in front of people and no one noticed.
Thankfully, only a few parts were out of place, and Shirou just opened it up and placed the parts back where they needed to be. Shirou had a good knowledge of how electronics and machinery worked both as a curious interest of his as well as a frequent target of his structural analysis skill so he was well familiarized with what went where in appliances.
With that having been fixed, Shirou left the student council room and headed to his after-school job working with Taiga's grandfather as a mechanic.
Done! I have the 2nd chapter completed. As you can see, this chapter focused on his relationships with other students within the school as well as how they have changed from cannon.
Because Shirou is a devil, he has a natural charm and allure to him that has greatly changed how he looks to the student body, placing him on a pedestal like the one Rin was placed on in cannon.
I also went into how Shirou's relationships with Issei, Shinji, and Rin have turned out comparing them to cannon. He is less tolerant of Shinji's bullshit than he was in cannon, but he is also more subtle about it, using his honest nature to get back at Shinji without him realizing. So, on the surface they appear friendly, even if in actuality they only barely tolerate each other.
Issei is on a bit less friendly terms with Shirou due to his nature as a monk. They are still friends, but nowhere near as close as they were with Shirou not being one to take part in religion as well as his almost friendly relationship with Rin.
Rin is the last relationship this chapter really explored, in the multitude of miscommunications that are occurring between them as well as the warm relationship the two of them have. Because Shirou is more of a troll than in cannon, because of his devil nature, as well as his natural charm, Rin is more friendly to him, not on the terms of having a relationship with him, but she definitely harbors a slight crush. Shirou is the same, however, he also instinctively recognizes that Rin would be a good choice for the queen piece, having a solid demeanor and the qualities of one.
The major miscommunication that is happening is that Shirou thinks Rin is aware that he IS a magecraft user on her lands in Fuyuki, while Rin merely thinks he knows about magecraft because of how close Sakura is to him and the fact that there is a bounded field over his house.
I will include this in the 4th or 5th chapter to this prologue of the Grail War.
The next chapter will focus on Shirou using his magecraft and training it up, as well as more on his relationship with Sakura, while there might be 1-2 chapters after that before the grail war officially starts.
When the prologue ends, I am planning on putting up another random slot or another new chapter for one of the stories instead of go right into the 2nd and first major arc of this story, so expect a few months of waiting between the 4th or 5th chapter and the start of the grail war and summoning of Saber.
With that said, this is a different approach I am taking on this story than any other one and I would love to hear what you think of how I am laying out the information to it.
Please review and let me know what you think about it.