Preface:
Rejoice, Readers!
Dual Chapter today!
I was originally just going to post them one at a time, but I noticed they were both very short (500 and 100 words or so, respectively), much shorter than my usual 1500-2500 word chapters, so I joined them both together.
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Then, please enjoy.
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Chapter 0 - The Many Menu Options
Tohsaka Rin was very proud of her self.
The Grail War was on the verge of starting, and she had just performed the summoning ritual perfectly, going through the motions and the words without mistake, so nothing could go wrong now!
(Though, for some reason, her red pendant flashed brightly as the summoning succeeded.)
Yes, indeed, Tohsaka Rin was very proud of her self and her accomplishment!
...Only to then find out,
That she had been a whole hour off with all the clocks.
Tohsaka facepalmed.
To have made this kind of mistake, and right off the bat, no less!
Cursing, she rushed up to where she had seen a bright flash of light come from.
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"A Card?!"
Before her lay not even a proper Servant, but only a card floating in mid-air, which depicted a Servant Class.
Tohsaka sighed.
To have summoned only a Card and not even a proper Servant...
Had she really messed up so badly?
Groaning in dismay, she grasped the card in her hands, intending to see if there was at least anything she could use it for.
And in the next instant,
She transformed, her clothes donning the appearance of a certain nameless wrought-iron hero. And knowledge of the war, from the grail and of the hero's capacities, suddenly started flooding into her mind, filling her full of knowledge.
Tohsaka Rin's eyes widened.
"...You have got to be kidding me...!"
The Grail actually expected them to fight other Masters using "Class Cards"?!
And furthermore, she hadn't even summoned Saber, but Archer, of all classes!
(Somehow, she could her card grumbling and sulking at that comparison.)
"Well, whatever," Tohsaka said, "I'll just have to make due."
If she was going to be fighting in person, then maybe an Archer or Caster suited her better anyways, as a magus and a more tactical type of fighter.
(Or maybe even Berserker, if she were to disregard all notions of caution and fight her opponent head on with her Baji Quan martial arts.)
Once again, Tohsaka Rin sighed in exasperation, at the situation she had suddenly found herself dragged into.
This was going to be one very long Holy Grail War...
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Chapter 3 - The Soup
Emiya Shirou slept.
And he dreamed, a beautiful dream,
A Dream of a Lonely Girl, atop a grassy hill. A hill that seemed almost out reach, stretching out, far into eternity.
She was, a girl who had given everything up for her people,
Sacrificing everything she had for their prosperity.
Even though she herself would never have a chance at her own happiness, at her own love.
But even then, for all she had done, for she had given,
...She was never once acknowledged, never once loved by others.
Someone had once said...
"The King doesn't understand the hearts of people."
Yeah, that may have been case.
But even so, she fought on.
Never once loved, never once appreciated.
But that was fine.
That was the role she had accept, the one she had resigned herself to.
Yeah...
The girl was so similar to himself, that he couldn't fault her...
...But then, why?
Why did it feel so wrong to him?
...Why did he feel like crying?
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The wind shifted.
The next instant,
Shirou was atop a hill, no, a barren mountain full of blades, fierce sandstorm whipping all about.
He could barely make out a figure in the distance, his broad back filled with swords.
Strangely thought, it felt as though Shirou himself was the one being stabbed in the back.
Shirou could feel the pain and weight of each and every one of those blade, as though it was he himself that was slowly being killed, each sword piercing through him and weighing down his soul.
Each blade and each wound, a broken hope and a broken ideal.
The man turned around, and all of a sudden, Shirou could see the man's mouth moving around his lower face, though his eyes were still obscured by sand.
Very vaguely, Shirou could almost understand what he was saying, by feel alone.
"...Can you...up...?"
The tanned man smirked.
[]
Shirou awoke with a start, feeling sweaty and vaguely irritated for some reason.
His sudden leaning up startled Rin, who had been looking over him and feeling his forehead, and she fell back with a start.
"Owww..." She moaned, as she rubbed her rear, where she had fallen.
"Tohsaka?!"
He hadn't expected to see her, of all people, in his house.
"What are you? Why are you here?!"
Tohsaka had composed herself at this point, and gave him a haughty look.
"Well, that's not a very nice way to greet someone who saved your life, Emiya-kun."
Shirou looked confused, but then quickly realized what she meant.
"Ah, so back at the school..." Shirou said, "So that was you, Tohsaka!"
Internally, Tohsaka cursed at herself. She hadn't actually meant to bring that up, but it just kind of slipped out.
"Thank you, Tohsaka. I'm grateful."
Rin blushed.
"I-It's fine. It-it's not like I did it for your sake, or anything!"
Shirou smiled at her, "Even so, I appreciate it. Thank you."
Rin blushed even further, "hmph"ing and turning her head away.
Shirou took a moment her strange attire. She was dressed in a strange red-flowing robe with an elegant skirt with black armour covering her chest and waist.
She looked good in it, but for some strange reason, Shirou felt a bit irritated.
'Cosplay? No, in the first place, why is she cosplaying in my house?'
"Um, so about those clothes..."
Tohsaka looked down, and flushed in embarrassment as she realized she had forgotten to uninstall her class card.
"Is that cosplay...?" Shirou asked cautiously, "It, it fits you."
He said it awkwardly, trying to compliment her and trying not to make her feel too self-conscious about. And it did fit her personality, though he found himself admitting it a bit begrudgingly.
Tohsaka scowled, as her class-clothes suddenly disappeared in a flash of light and she returned to her normal garbs, quickly grabbing her class card as it reappeared right in front of her.
Shirou just looked on, stunned. He had never seen clothes appear and disappear like that outside out the magical girl shows Taiga occasionally liked to watch when she was crashing over.
"That's wrong, you idiot!" She scolded, "This is, that's,"
Tohsaka shook her head, as she struggled to explain. And not bothering with a summary, got straight to the point, "It's something you saw for yourself, isn't it? When you were fighting off that blue-flasher woman."
Shirou looked puzzled. "Blue-flasher woman...?"
"Oh!" Shirou's eyes lit up in recognition as he suddenly realized what Tohsaka was talking about. That's right, there had been someone like that, a women in a blue spandex with a spear. He had seen her at the school, and then she had ambushed him when he returned home, and he ran to the storehouse, and then...
...A strange card had appeared, and...
The rest of his memories from that point onward were a bit fuzzy, but he did remember something like knight's armour suddenly appearing on him, and handling an (immensely powerful) sword, covered in wind, better than he over knew how to. Then Tohsaka appearing before him, and a sudden shock to his system, and...
...That was the last of what he remembered before he passed out.
"Now that you mention it..." Shirou said, "...What was all that about?"
Tohsaka looked at him skeptically, "You didn't get any info from your card, or the Grail?"
Shirou shook his head.
"To be honest, I don't even know what you're talking about right now."
Tohsaka looked at him, and seeing his sincere confusion, closed her eyes and pinched the top of her nose in exasperation, sighing.
This was going to be a long night...
Shirou, at least, had the decency to look sheepish and apologetic.
"Alright, Emiya-kun, I'll explain it for you." Tohsaka said, "But I'll only explain it once, so pay close attention!"
Shirou nodded.
And so, Tohsaka explained about the whole situation, and about the strangely abnormal circumstances of the current war. Incidentally, she also handed over his card in the process, which she had been keeping safe as he had been unconscious.
He gratefully accepted it back.
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Bon Appetite!
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Author's Notes:
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Just fyi, since I don't think this is gonna be mentioned in the main story.
Cards automatically run a start-up installation the first time they're used, but after that, it requires physical contact with card, intent to use, and Master compatibility to start up and use cards (though the base compatibility requirement is only being chosen as worthy by Grail, so practically any master can easily use any card. That being said though, higher compatibility naturally means more capacity to draw out the Servant's available power).
The cards also require declaring "install" to use, they just naturally auto-equip themselves on to their master, if they're in physical contact with a Master, and that Master has an intention to use the card.
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Anyways,
Next Chapter, Chapter 4, will start off after the church visit and YOROKOBE, SHONEN!
It'll start around when Shirou and Tohsaka are walking home, and feature Shirou and Tohsaka VS Ilya.
...And yes, Ilya does have the Berserker card, so look forward to that!
Chapter 4 is one I'm looking forward to personally, as one of the highlights of this story. It'll really be one the first main dishes of the story, suiting its role as a "fish dish".
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Preview:
Chapter 4 - The Fulfilling Fish
Sighing out in concentration, Shirou focused himself, his mind, his visualization.
"Nine Lives Arrow Works!"
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Look forward it!
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