Chapter 8 - "The Next Day (Andante Intermezzo Entr'acte)"

After the battle with Berserker, Archer and Rin left to return to the Tohsaka manor to recover.

Shirou and Saber had also decided to headed home, to rest up and prepare for the upcoming battles.

"Oh! That's right, I wanted to ask," Shirou realized, "Saber, what was with that Ilya girl? Why was she following me?"

Saber nodded, "Well..."

Starting from the beginning of what he knew, Saber explained her circumstances to Shirou. It was a long story, but Saber answered Shirou's questions, and told him about Ilya. Her true nature and her relationship with Kiritsugu and with Shirou himself.

By the end of it, Shirou knew he had to rescue Ilya.

Saber could see the resolve in his Master's eyes.

Saber grinned.

He really was proud of his younger self.

...

Once they arrived back home at the Emiya residence, Shirou decided to make something for them to eat.

But right as he began to walk towards the kitchen, Saber interjected.

"Wait, actually, I'd like to use the kitchen, if you don't mind."

"Well...I don't mind, but is that okay? You're a guest, after all."

Saber laughed. "That's true. But I'm also you, you know? And more than anything, I've been wanting to use this kitchen again. It's been a long time since I last saw this old place, after all."

"Well, alright." Shirou agreed, seeing Saber's point, "Then feel free to help yourself..."

Shirou sit around the kitchen kotatsu, relaxing for a bit. Saber looked through the fridge, taking and making use of the ingredients that were available.

"Ah! That's right." Shirou realized, "You never told me you were from that you were me from the future! I mean, I had figured out as much, but...What's the story behind that? Is it normal to summon yourself from the future as a Servant? And what's the deal with Archer and Berserker? Why are they both versions of me, too?"

Saber chuckled lightly, as he prepared their meals.

"Well, it's exactly normal," he said, while remembering Archer, "...But it's not an unheard of phenomenon to summon heroes from the future, either. Though usually it's not your own future self being summoned."

"I see..."

Saber sliced up some onions, while preparing a nice Japanese-style chicken broth for a nabe-dinner.

"As for Archer and Berserker, I don't know why that is, either. But all I can say is that there seems some strange circumstances behind this grail war..."

Saber started preparing the rest of the vegetables, too, starting with the mushrooms.

"In my own Holy Grail War," he recounted, "Only Archer was summoned from the future, as a future version of myself. As far as I can tell, he's still the same version of himself, of us, here too. Everybody else was a genuine historical hero of some European land or the other..."

"..." Shirou listened intently.

"...That was what led me down the path of becoming a true hero, too. It was only after meeting and falling in love with Artoria, my own Saber. Well, that and Tohsaka's advice were what really set me straight, and kept me from going down Archer's path..."

"I can't imagine that you'd go down the same path as Archer..." Shirou didn't know Archer that well, as they hadn't really talked. But there was just something about Archer that Shirou found himself disliking. It certainly wasn't fair to the Servant, since Shirou didn't really know him, but there really was just something about Archer that Shirou couldn't find himself being comfortable with.

Saber chuckled, lightly. "Yeah. It's been so long since our paths diverged that I can't imagine how I would've ended up like him, either. Still, he's not a bad guy, though."

Shirou grunted in acknowledgment, though skeptically.

"He's just, very troubled, is all." Saber added, "About the things he's seen, the things he's done."

Shirou didn't know about that, but he took Saber's word for it. After all, it's not like he himself knew Archer that well. They had only glanced at each other few times, and Shirou had only gotten a bad vibe from him, but nothing more than that.

Maybe Saber was right...

With that being said, Saber had managed to finish his preparation, and presented Shirou with his excellently made chicken-nabe. Over the meal, Saber told Shirou of his own holy grail war, and of the events that followed after, including his own epiphanies on happiness and love.

It certainly gave Shirou a lot to think about.

They finished their meal in peace, and Saber sets out a futon in the same bedroom as Shirou, without protests, since they were both males and furthermore since they were the same person, and they went to sleep (though Saber didn't really need to sleep - but he enjoyed it, and it wasn't very likely they'd be attacked on the first night of the war. And his own senses were good enough that he was confident that he'd surely jolt awake if any Servant tried anything).

And so, they went to sleep, peacefully.

That night, Shirou dreamt of golden swords, and of the sight of a indescribably beautiful female knight.

"I ask of you, are you my Master?"

Shirou was mesmerized by the sight, losing track of the time, the place, and even his own voice.

...But what he did know, was the sight of her would forever be burned into his heart and soul.

...

They awoke early the next morning, Shirou not recalling much of what he'd dreamed about, except for the emotional impression that it had left and the fact that it was a good dream. One that made him feel intensely happy, for some reason.

Shirou prepared breakfast for the both of them, and they ate.

Saber dematerialized, and followed Shirou to school.

At school, they encountered Issei, who looked Shirou up and down, analyzing him.

"What is it, Issei...?" Shirou remarked, "You're creeping me out."

Issei took one last stern look at Shirou, then adjusted his glasses.

"It's nothing," Issei remarked, "I just wanted to make sure that you were still you."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, nothing." He said, muttering under his breath, "So I guess it wasn't a prank after all."

That was when Shirou noticed that Issei was wearing gloves, as if to hide his hands.

'Wait...Don't tell me Issei became Master too...' Shirou thought, 'And he summoned another version of me? That would explain the strange looks he's been giving me...'

"Well, alright then." Shirou said, trying to move the topic along, "By the way, Issei," Shirou inquired, "About those gloves..."

And right at that instant, Tohsaka came strolling right along. Issei prudently took his leave before he got in the crossfire of Tohsaka's presence, leaving only Shirou and Tohsaka alone to talk.

"Hm...? So I see that you've brought your Servant along with you to school?" Tohsaka noted, "I guess you're not completely incompetent as a Master, after all."

Shirou could telepathically feel Saber's slight amusement at the jab, at his expense.

"...I don't understand what you mean." Shirou commented.

Tohsaka gave him a look.

"As Masters," she explained, "We could be ambushed anywhere, even at school, by fellow Masters."

She looked at him incredulously, "Did you not even realized that?"

"Ah." Shirou scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Not until you just explained it to me."

"But I appreciate the warning." Shirou said, "You really a nice person, Tohsaka."

"Wha...?!" Tohsaka blushed, "I'm not! And don't think that we're allies just because of what happened last night! We're still enemies, you know?"

Shirou wanted to refute that, but Tohsaka had already stormed off, likely anticipating Shirou's friendly response, and not wanting to bother with it.

Shirou shrugged, and he and Saber headed to class.

They attends classes normally, including Taiga's homeroom class.

Saber looked on fondly. "This is quite nostalgic..." He commented telepathically. "I didn't realized that I even missed these old sceneries until I was standing in them again."

Shirou paused, a question forming in his mind. "...Do you regret it? Following the path you did?"

"No, not at all." Saber answered, immediately.

It actually made Shirou feel a bit foolish for even asking, given the certainty in Saber's voice.

"I doesn't regret it at all. And I was happier and more fulfilled by the end of my long journey than I previously ever could've dreamed or hope for."

"I see."

Saber smiled, fondly, "It's just nice to visit such nostalgic places every once in a while, for a change."

...

Thankfully, the day was a relatively uneventful one. No attacks or ambushes by fellow Masters, for one. No suspicious civilian deaths, either, for another.

They returned home, though not before briefly stopping by the Miyama shopping district to buy some ingredients for dinner first.

Once they settled in the living room, Shirou pondered.

"...To be honest," he confided in Saber, "This whole thing still seems so strange to me."

"How so?" Saber asked.

"Well," Shirou said, "Even ignoring the fact that multiple versions of me been summoned, it's still all so much to take in. I'm suddenly caught up in a war between magus I know nothing about, honestly speaking, I really don't have any idea about what I should be doing next, or what I'm even really involved in."

"Well, that's understandable." Saber replied, reassuringly, "I felt the same way, once."

"But rest assured," Saber continued, "The best way to prepare for the war would just be to train yourself up, like you and I already planned. Plus, you have an advantage that I didn't, having my future knowledge to rely on, so you're a lot more prepared for this war than I ever was."

"Yeah, that's true..."

"So relax. Don't worry about it too much. Just focus on improving yourself, above all else."

Shirou still seemed a little bit unconvinced, but given the confidence in Saber's voice and with the knowledge of Saber's previous experiences, Shirou did feel a bit more relaxed.

"...Okay."

With that settled, they enjoyed a nice snack, before going on to discuss the current situation of the war.

There weren't any bounded fields at school, Saber noted, and no gas accident reports.

So, that likely meant that the Rider, Caster, and Assassin of the war have been replaced by other Servants, though not necessarily (because Lancer was still the same old Lancer from his war). And likely by other versions of Emiya Shirou, albeit that he didn't have any sort of confirmation for that speculation yet.

Judging by the way that Issei was looking at Shirou, though, and based on his comments and gloves, it was also likely Issei had become a master. And judging from location of Caster in his war, Issei likely summoned a Caster as well. Most likely another Emiya Shirou, given his comments. (Or possibly, but less likely, some disguise based Servant that could pose as Emiya Shirou, and was deceiving his own Master.)

Saber noted that in that case; Lancer, Berserker, Rider, and Assassin were the ones they really needed to watch out for. Maybe Caster, too.

"We might be forced to fight Ilya and maybe even Issei at some point." Saber told Shirou, grimly. "Shinji, too, if Shinji summoned a non-Emiya Shirou rider."

(Or even if he did summon an Emiya Shirou rider, but the Shirou Rider either had a twisted character, or couldn't keep Shinji in check.)

Shirou sighed, "I know that. But, I really don't want to have to fight against Ilya or Issei." Shirou said, "Even Shinji, though he's been kind of a jerk to Sakura lately, used to be a good friend once. So I'd rather not fight Shinji either, if possible."

"Yeah, I understand perfectly how you feel." Saber commented. And he really did, "But we'll just have to deal with it, if it really does come down to that."

Shirou looked a bit melancholic, but nodded in agreement.

"Well, just thinking about it won't get us anywhere, so let's just put that aside for now and just focus on his training." Saber said, "It's the best way he can prepare for the upcoming Servant fights."

Shirou nodded, and as soon as their meal was over, they headed to the dojo for some sword training.

Saber beat on Shirou relentlessly, but Shirou was learning quickly, and had improved a lot by the end of their first session, even by Saber's standards.

And though Shirou was exhausted by the end of it, Saber insisted that they head over to the old workshop as well, to test out Shirou's magecraft.

Shirou was making incredible process by his own standards, successfully reinforcing objects without even a single botched attempt, even though he would usually fail at them multiple times before a single success (especially when he was exhausted like this).

It was as if he'd suddenly gained a much deeper understanding of the process of how to analyze and reinforce objects, and of his own capacities.

"...What? What is this? Why am I improving so quickly?"

Saber also took his time, looking over Shirou and his progress.

"..." Saber remained silent, though he had an inkling of what was causing Shirou's rapidly accelerating growth rate.

They continued training for a while, with Saber giving Shirou very useful advice, tidbits and tricks that helped Shirou even further with his analysis and reinforcement magecraft.

'Well, he'll have this much down soon,' Saber though, 'So it's working on projection next, huh?'

...

They trained until Sakura arrived, and Saber dematerialized so Shirou could go out and greet her.

Shirou welcomed Sakura in, noting that she also had a glove on her hand, like Issei, but in Sakura's case, it was probably just her hiding another bruise she got from Shinji. After all, there was no way that Sakura could be a master in this war, right?

Shirou lightly cursed Shinji under his breath, low enough that Sakura couldn't hear. She was too kind, even by Shirou's standards - for her to defend her brother, even when he was acting like this towards her.

"Damnit, Shinji..."

But shaking his head and ignoring that, Shirou enjoyed the company of Sakura warmly. If it wasn't something Sakura wanted to bring up, he wouldn't thoughtlessly force it out of her.

The two of them headed to the kitchen, to make dinner together, and Fuji-nee arrived shortly after.

They had a nice beginning of a dinner together, but...

"There's a servant approaching!"

Jolted by Saber's sudden warning, Shirou suddenly straightened up his spine and posture, though he tried not to show his sudden alertness on his face, so as to not startled Sakura and Fuji-nee.

"Which one?" Shirou shot back urgently.

"...I don't think it's a particularly strong one, probably an assassin without presence concealment, or acting as bait for a trap."

'..."

"But, they maybe working with one of the hostile (Lancer or Berserker) or unidentified Servants (Rider, Caster)."

"...Damn, to think they'd try a sneak attack!"

The doorbell rang, and before Shirou could warn Sakura or Fuji-nee, Fuji-nee was always rushing towards it.

Shirou desperately followed after her, trying to stop her.

"STOP! Fuji-nee!"

Fuji-nee opened the door...

And...

"Eh...? Shirou...?"

Shirou was also shocked, but for a completely different reason than Fuji-nee was. Standing at the porch was almost a mirror image of himself.

Unlike the other versions of him, who were altered in some way, this version of Emiya Shirou looked almost completely similar to him. Though his mirror counter part wore a completely white shirt, in contrast to his blue and white one. And his eyes seemed somehow ro have a more innocent and less experienced look to them.

"Eh...? Ah yes, that's me," he replied to Fuji-nee, "I'm Senji Shirou. Nice to meet you."

Senji almost started to ask if he knew her from somewhere, before he stopped himself, seeing his alternate self in the hallway.

Shirou heard the sound of glass break behind him.

"Ri-rider?!"

'Rider?! ...Sakura?!'

Chapter 8 - "The Next Day" END

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Next chapter, Archer and Rin's interactions at last. Rin finally question Archer and gets some answers (lol). Look forward to it!