Chapter 2: Beginnings, Reunions and Endings

The day after I started learning curses, Kiritsugu was waiting for me in the living room. Splayed out in front of him are multiple textbooks of various sizes. He gives me a tired uplifting of his lips before motioning me over.

Directing me to sit next to him, I try to get a better view of the books. "This here, Shirou, is going to be the first part of your training." He said. My eyes widen as I beam up at him. Finally, I could learn to be like Kiritsugu!

"We will learn about different languages." My disappointment is immediate. He ignores my pout. "Once you have enough knowledge in most of these languages that you can get by, I'll get Justeaze to teach you more about English and German when you are resting from your magecraft."

He pauses in consideration. "Perhaps I'll see if Fujimaru can join in on those lessons if she wishes, too."

I nod. Fujimaru learning with me wouldn't be that much of a bother. We'd been getting along a lot better compared to when we first met.

"Regardless, once I'm happy enough with your ability to talk to anyone, anywhere. I'm going to train you in modern combat, which differs from what Justeaze has taught you." Kiritsugu notes as if checking off a checklist in his head.

"I will teach you on some of the magic of my family, as well as some tricks I've learnt from my years of travel." He stops to give me a stern look. "But we are going to do this step by step. I will not rush this." But all that his concern and caution did was make me more determined to do my best. Making Kiritsugu listen to me, to make him happy back?

Doing something like that I'm sure would make me happy, just like how back then helping me made him smile. It was like I could smell those flowers again.

Finished, Kiritsugu took out the first of one of many books. Studying languages before going to school looks like it's going to be my normal now, huh?

It turned out that not only was Fujimura happy to learn languages with Kiritsugu and me; she was the most excited I'd ever seen her outside of Kendo. The weirdest part was when we got to the actual part of learning, she was so subdued I asked her if she was sick. Her putting me in a headlock wasn't very nice, though.

Over the time we studied together and sparred, we started calling each other by our first names.

Kiritsugu seemed pretty pleased we were getting along. Maybe he liked when I get along with people? I should ask some classmates to come over to spend time together. He worries too much about me.

Though I'm not sure I'd like that cutting into my study time.

I'd been struggling a little with how much I'd been studying. With language classes early in the morning, school with my sisters challenges, sparring, magic training and then even more training in my sleep. Though I only got tired if Justeaze was away on one of her trips. Staying so focused for so long was hard, but I made it work.

Maybe having some people come over to make Kiritsugu be less worried and also do some extra work on learning more about other people would be fine?

I don't want to disappoint everyone training me by not working in all my spare time, but this seems like a good way to have a break.

Finding out who would be the best to take home to meet the old man would be hard, though. I'll have to keep it in mind.

Over time, I realized learning languages was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. While being with friendly with my fellow students, I was only close to Taiga by the time I was halfway through the year. It was frustrating.

Whereas my training in curses was smooth in comparison. Curses of Retribution, Misfortune and Paranoia were the best I could work with what I've learned so far, with varied results. I don't think I'd want to use them all that much. But better to know it in case I see someone else use it.

It was during one of my training sessions with Justeaze in the day that I made a large breakthrough.

She was sitting cross-legged on the floor as we had been testing my magic on her. During our training, we played a game of chess together. The goal of the game is to cheat as much as possible with magic without breaking the established rules of the game. We had time limits between our turns of only ten seconds, and while trying to focus on playing the game, I'd also try to disrupt her focus or shake off any magic she cast on me.

Sometimes Justeaze would place a spell that would make me see pieces in the wrong places or see her make a move she didn't make. Using Structural Grasp had to be my answer for most things where I couldn't trust my sight.

We found out early on that any spells that would make me feel pain didn't distract me much at all. Pain was something I'd been familiar with for a long time now, ever since the fire.

Despite my success in getting around some of the magic Justeaze would cast to distract me, the annoying part was I wasn't that good at chess. It was a game I don't think I'd seen anyone else play. People in my school didn't know about it and I couldn't find any books to study it. So I was playing a game I knew I couldn't win without cheating against someone who was better at playing and cheating.

But going into this, I knew that. Justeaze told me it was going to be hard and that I might feel like giving up.

Giving up wasn't really something I'd ever do.

So instead I had to make up for my lack of skill by being smart. Retribution didn't work because Justeaze wasn't trying to hurt me. Misfortune I could use as a slight distraction, but that was about it. Mostly my options were paranoia as a curse, reinforcement, structural grasp, projection and alteration.

Losing pretty badly and with everything upside down, I just went for it and tried a curse of paranoia. The most subtle of my spells, all it required to activate, was eye contact and enough magical energy.

"Guilt." I said. My aria or incantation for this spell. Where most of my spells I used 'Trace On'. For the curses, it felt wrong to make a general aria for them, so I made them different for each one.

The spell failed to make Justeaze even twitch. She takes a few seconds to realise even as I move a piece and sigh in exasperation. "You did it again…" I groan.

Rarely, my curses failed to even affect her. Casting it would work perfectly fine, but it would fail to take root. She always looked embarrassed by it when it happened. That happened only when we were training outside of dreams, though. She had to try not to resist in order for any magic to work on her.

"Hehe. Whoops, my bad." She said, getting only an unimpressed look in return for her low effort apology that didn't sound apologetic at all.

She doesn't even look down as she moves one of her pieces and takes one of mine. I frown.

I needed to change something up. Justeaze was just so overwhelmingly ahead and I had nothing strong enough to catch up.

The idea hit me. If I didn't have any spell that was strong enough, I would just need to use what I had to bridge the gap. With my magical energy already within the board and the individual pieces from Structural Grasp, I had everything I needed to make some changes.

Making my move with my piece just before my time runs out, I start my ploy. "Bloom." I said.

Justeaze only raises an eyebrow in response, recognising the start of my aria for my Misfortune curse. Her reaction is a lot more subdued compared to her first mixed response of pride and chagrin when I initially finished this Incantation.

Rushing, I try to finish my spell before her turn ends. "Misfortune grows where hope wilts." I said.

"Oh my, I didn't realise you were going for the full incantation, Shirou. What would make you curse your poor older sister like this?" While she sounded devastated, she was grinning at me like she was halving the time of her life. She moves her piece, which makes this a little more awkward for me.

"So bloom, oh black roses." My three point aria finishes before I take my turn. Picking up a stick by my side, I brought for this reason. I wait for Justeaze to take her turn with bated breath. Eyeing the stick warily, she can only sigh as when she finally goes to move a piece, I strike and hit her knuckles with the stick.

Justeaze glances down at her knuckles with the now red marks. She shakes her head in bemusement even as I enact my plan with her distraction.

Looking back at the game, she looks surprised before it turns to amusement. I give her a smug look at the board full of all white chess pieces.

In response, all the chess pieces went from looking white to black before I run magical energy through my body to remove the illusion.

Okay, maybe this was going to be harder than I thought.

When the old man had told me he'd teach me about modern combat in all honesty, I did not know what that was going to involve.

What it actually involved was during the school holidays me, Kiritsugu and Justeaze were going to the ruins of some mansion deeper in the forest across the river on the other side of Fuyuki. Apparently, the Einzbern family had an entire castle in there that someone had partially destroyed a while ago.

Getting into Miyami Town, it was only about an hour's walk until we got into the forest proper. The entire area was grey with fog, making it hard to see too far in any distance.

Occasionally, we'd find some trees that looked as if someone had ripped them out of the ground or they'd been bent inwards.

Kiritsugu had brought a couple of large suitcases with him. Justeaze effortlessly carried both of them on her shoulders in her training uniform. Still very expensive-looking clothes but much closer to what other people would wear with shirt and pants.

After a what felt like forever, a giant mansion appeared out of the fog as we walked. It seemed like one half of the house had collapsed and the other was full of giant holes.

"What even happened here…?" I can't help but question this place once we'd made our way into one of the less destroyed rooms.

Behind me, I hear those suitcases being placed on the floor carefully before Justeaze ruffles my hair. "Don't worry about it. Someone has already handled it."

The sounds of something being unlatched echo through the forest before I turn around to see Kiritsugu pulling out what looks like a weird L shaped metal stick. "This here, Shirou, is going to be the start of your training in modern fighting." He takes a moment to place various other strange metal objects on the table.

"The battlefield is its own hell. Where the lives and hopes of people are sent to die for the foolish gain of others." The grim note in Kiritsugus' voice makes me uneasy.

"My goal here is to teach you how to survive in any condition, against as many opponents and types as possible. With any weapon."

Nodding, I point towards one of those things he put on the table. "So what are those?" I asked.

"These are going to be what you are learning today. Guns." He said. "Afterwards we will more into explosives, how to arm and disarm them."

Nodding to show my agreement despite my confusion about how most of this works, the rest of the lecture turns more into a description of what gun safety is supposed to be.

When we came out here the next day, we found the mansion itself completely rebuilt. Kiritsugu stared at Justeaze afterwards, but her only response was a dignified. 'I got it sorted.'

We end up spending most mornings traveling out to the forest for me to learn more about guns. While I spent the afternoons training with Justeaze. Learning how to maintain and safely handle guns somehow became how to care for and maintain other weapons at the start of sisters classes.

Learning gun safety then became disassembling guns, which eventually turned into learning how to shoot with an actual gun.

Starting off, we were going to practice with a pistol. But the target Kiritsugu had me aiming at made me uncomfortable…

Standing just within my sight, facing towards us near the mansion, Justeaze waits with a completely unimpressed look at Kiritsugu next to me. Giving an uneasy look at him myself, I leave my pistol facing the ground with the safety on.

"Old man… haven't we been spending days on days learning that pointing and shooting at people is a bad thing to do…?"

Unmoved, Kiritsugu motions for me to point my gun at Justeaze again. "If guns could harm her, she'd already be dead." My jaw falls before giving an admiring look in her direction. She puffs up in smugness.

"Even then, other Magi or others aren't above using magic or abilities to pretend to be other people. You shouldn't hesitate in killing an enemy regardless of their appearance if it's between your life and theirs."

"So shoot." My hands aim upwards now, no longer troubled by harming Justeaze and more about what he said.

People dying for me to live is wrong. But if Kiritsugu wants me to learn to defend myself with a gun, then I'll do it. But I don't think I'll ever use them.

Justeaze doesn't even flinch at the crack of gunfire as the gun rocks in my hand. It's pretty startling to fire the gun, but reinforcement helped in making sure I'm not sore or let go of the gun. I'm not sure I even hit until she gives me a thumbs up from the distance and shouts.

"You got a couple of hits! Good job Shirou!"

With a look of appraisal, Kiritsugu stares at me before giving me a small look of approval. "Good job. It looks like your aim is fairly good for a start. Let's continue."

Even after the shooting finished, she didn't have a single tear on her clothes.

Once it had turned into practicing firing with different weapons that could fit my size, we used the surrounding area to practice hiding.

While the old man was staying within the restored mansion. Me and Justeaze would play hide and seek tag, with me using some things Kiritsugu had taught me. Though my job was to tag Justeaze with a bullet or tagging her normally, while she could only tag me with touch.

Learning how to be quiet was a lot different compared to anything else I had learned. Compared to self experimentation or trial-and-error fighting, being quiet was more of a skill in self control.

Trying to move in the right ways, breathing correctly with the right amount and what felt like way too many other small things that I wasn't making as much progress as I wanted. Both of my family always encouraged me, so I managed to brute force my way into working through it.

Because of how Justeaze teased me all the time, I practiced sneaking by, trying to catch her unawares whenever I could.

It never worked.

Time seemed to fly by as we all got into a routine. I filled my days and nights with non-stop training with the help of Justeaze and Kiritsugu.

Once school had come back, while the workload was less, I honestly missed all that training.

School had been more of a struggle as time continued. I was at the top of my grade and had friendly relations with everyone in my school. But I didn't really get close to any of them or really understand them. I was taller and had a lot more muscles than everyone in my class. Looking like one of the upper years made me stand out too much.

The topics all of them talked about were all things I'd not really done if it wasn't part of class. Sports, books, all those things. They just didn't interest me at this point. Though I tried my best to learn about them so I could at least add a little to any conversation.

Outside of that, things continued in this way until the next year.

Christmas eve was a lot livelier than last year. Taiga and her family came over to celebrate with us and I don't think I'd heard home ever be so loud.

Taiga gave me twice the amount of presents that day since I wasn't really sure when my birthday was. So she gave extra to make sure she missed nothing.

In that case, I believe I'd be nine years old now. I'd definitely changed a lot.

Most of the coming year was more of a quiet affair. Justeaze did a lot more traveling, which meant my training was slower without her being able to supervise me.

When she could be back home, I took the time to practice what Justeaze called my brain dead scheme. What I was trying to do was make my Reinforcement go to another level. Currently, I use it more for a sort of general improvement to my body overall.

But considering how the brain controlled everything, if I could make that better than it currently was, I'd have so much become easier.

Practicing in the dream with Justeaze watching me closely, with Structural Grasp to keep as close as possible to making sure I didn't mess up. It was honestly the best conditions I could get. I had to go slowly, almost at a crawl when practicing it, but the benefits were amazing.

Almost everything became just that little easier. I didn't dare practice it without her help after she made me promise. While over reinforcing a part of my brain was honestly one of the worst feelings of my life, I stubbornly continued practicing. Practicing in a dream couldn't kill me, but apparently it was the closest thing I'd ever get outside of actual death.

During one of these attempts, Justeaze wore a pensive expression, as if mulling over something. It was easy to wait for her to say something, since she could never keep her thoughts quiet when talking to me. "Considering you have been training so long and should be stronger now. How would you like to spar against something different?" Decided on whatever she was thinking, she propositions me with a small cheeky uplifting of the mouth.

"Sure." It seemed like a great idea.

When skeletons wielding various swords, bows and axes started dragging themselves out of the floor, I wasn't as sure.

There were about five of them, two swords, one bow, two axes and a lot of rattling. I needed something that could help. "Trace On." I said.

Analyzing my dagger, I project a hollow copy of it in one of my hands before I reinforce myself. That's about as much time as I have before the skeletons come after me. Thankfully, they don't seem to have any tactics as they come all at once at the same time. The only problem is that archer at the back.

First things first, I needed a bigger stick, so I might as well set up my other spell while I'm at it. I lifted the hollow dagger as I alter it, cracks showing throughout as I throw it toward the skeletons. "Do not forget." I said, closing my eyes even as I rush forward.

Honestly, I came up with the idea of what I was going to do with the dagger after training with Kiritsugu and Justeaze.

How dangerous explosives are was shown to me after seeing one of them destroy a tree outside of the Einzbern mansion. I ended up spending quite a lot of time dealing with guns and the occasional explosive Kiritsugu would show to me, and each time I'd always use Structural Grasp on them.

So while I would come to train here, I tried to see if I could add the property of Explosion to objects with Alteration. It was a lot harder than it looked and the best I had gotten so far was being able to add it to Projections I made of weapons. Though it got expensive if I wasn't smart about how I used it.

And exploding was exactly what I was looking for.

The dagger flies amid the skeletons before making a minor explosion. The explosion is closer to more force that pushes the skeletons and would have blinded me slightly if I kept my eyes open. Structural Grasp makes up for my lack of eyes. I can see where they are by pulsing energy to get a general idea of where everything is.

Where the skeletons are is a blurry mess. They are magical enough to make it hard to see them exactly. But even a hole in my scanning can tell me enough.

"We are all made from sin." Making my way quickly in, I slam myself into the side of a skeleton with a sword while it's reeling. A crashing wave of clunks follows as it falls over the top of some of its allies, knocking almost all of them over.

There're sounds of something being pulled taught just as I reach for my prize, one of those rusty swords. Abandoning it, I hurry to the side to look toward the archer. An arrow flies to where I just was. As I run around the group of tangled skeletons, I duck as one of the still standing skeletons swings for my head with a chipped looking axe.

Scooping up one of the discarded axes while I was down low like this, I club it into the side of the axe wielder, making it stumble before I chase after the archer. Unfortunately, I couldn't alter the axe yet for what I needed.

"Pain begets more pain, in harming others, shall you suffer more yourself." My aria I felt sometimes was way too long, but the curse of retribution was just that strong, I mused.

The skeleton tries to hit me with its bow like a club, but moving faster than it can turn is simple enough. With one chop, its leg is off, before I quickly move forward and crush its head with my foot as it collapses to the ground. "Trace On."

Altering the axe with Reinforcement, I change its shape to be more like a baseball bat just as the still standing axe skeleton catches up with me. I sigh as the rest of the skeletons get up as well.

This was going to get more troublesome.

Weaving quickly between the swings of the skeleton right in front of me, I line up the bat to strike at its spine.

There's a crack as the skeleton bends unnaturally, with the two halves of it going in two different directions. The bat takes me with it from the force of my swing and spins me.

Struggling to regain my balance, I have to scramble to move out of the way as the two skeletons with swords attempt to cut me down.

My body comes to a stop as the skeleton that I had stolen its axe from had latched onto me and lifted me off the ground from behind. Squirming in panic as the sword skeletons get closer and the skeleton behind me digs into my flesh with its cold bones, I grab onto one of its arms that is holding me with my free hand, not holding the bat.

With a heave, I tear the arm from its socket and drop. My arms raise to block the swords swinging in my direction. Where the bat blocks the sword, the Ill thought block with the skeleton's arm only slows down the sword.

A flare of white hot pain comes from my shoulder as the sword slides in and gets stuck. I can't control my arm anymore as it flops uselessly by my side and the half of the bone arm I had been holding slides from my grip. A groan escapes me even as the curse takes effect. Across from me the shoulder of the skeleton who had struck me craters from being crushed and cut through. Its arm falls to the ground as it's no longer attached.

I guess that means it cut about halfway through my shoulder, a faint voice in the back of my head notes.

Gritting my teeth, I ignore my pain and press the advantage I have right now. Thankfully, training with Justeaze taught me to not to let go of my weapon, so it was still in my grip.

The sword pressing against my bat slides away from me as I move to the side. Sucking in a breath only helps a little from the pain of the one currently stuck cutting into me, but I can't afford to grab it right now.

My bat cracks before I let go of it, jumping backwards as fast as I can. With my one working hand, I grab onto the blade in my shoulder.

Exploding as soon as the bat hits the floor, the skeletons chasing after me go flying in my direction from the force. My ears ring from being so close, but I only stumble compared to their rag-dolling.

With a wrench, I pull out the sword and quickly flip it into my grip even as my vision briefly goes white from the pain. My strength was quickly draining with my blood loss and I was struggling to keep focus.

Nothing to stop the bleeding, so best I could hope for here was not a total defeat. I quickly make my way to the skeletons, even as a weird thought comes over my mind.

Well, if I can use Reinforcement to change the shape of objects. How come I can't do that to my body?

As I'm crushing the spine of one skeleton and throw my sword at the last, most of my focus goes into the magical energy still in my body. I feel my shoulder move without touching it as I use Reinforcement to shape my body with the help of Structural Grasp. The pain increases exponentially in response.

Making my flesh connect is a weird experience. Everything sort of feels wrong even if it's roughly where it's supposed to be. Though my arm still doesn't work. At least it's not getting worse...?

I think?

Stumbling to the last skeleton trying to get up, I kick it so it falls back down before I stomp on its neck. Reaching down, I grab onto its skull and with a heave; I pop the skull off.

My vision fills with white stars as I woozily stand in place. From the side, I hear enthusiastic clapping.

"Whoooo, go Shirou!" Justeaze cheers. "Though… good thing this is just a dream." Giving me a curious look over. "I can't say I've seen somebody use Reinforcement to try to force wounds to reconnect."

Slowly, I make my way to sit on the floor in exhaustion. "Why not?" I asked.

"Well, it's more a case of that. There's just a lot better magic for healing." She taps a finger to her chin. "Usually there are cheaper, faster and more efficient spells in comparison. Even then, you'd need to have great medical knowledge to reconnect yourself with no repercussions of wounds being healed incorrectly."

As Justeaze finishes talking, the familiar feeling of being back at top health occurs. Rolling my newly healed and functioning shoulder, I give a curious look in her direction. "Actually. Why haven't you taught me any healing spells?"

The look I get is complicated, though I'm not sure why. "You have too much things to focus on, so I thought it would be better for you to wait on touching that sort of magic later." She gives me a smile as if to reassure me.

"In that case, it's a good idea to learn healing magic, considering just now." I said.

Looking distinctly more troubled, she gives me a side glance. "The other magic I know is... definitely impossible for you." She pauses. "That would leave that, then?" She asked, half talking to me and herself at the same time.

"Leave what?" I'm only getting more confused.

Waving me off, she shakes her head for no. "Don't worry about it. If I'm going to teach you magical healing, I'll need some time to get it ready. Instead, study ahead of time on biology and use your Structural Grasp to get as good of an idea of your body as possible."

Disappointed, I can only hang my head with a sigh before nodding. "Okay."

"Thanks Shirou. In the meantime, sparring again might help with your improvement. Let's try Oni this time. I hear they are quite popular here."

Gulping is my only response before getting ready to fight all over again.

I had decided how I was going to solve the friend problem.

Being the best in my class, usually I'd finish before everyone else and try my best to talk to the others and help them out with their own work. But there was one girl who always tried to keep up with me. While she was always polite, whenever I offered to help her, she would decline and then work herself even harder. Smart, kind, and diligent. Honestly, I don't think I could find a better friend to bring home so Kiritsugu wouldn't be worried.

Mustering my courage when there was a break between classes, I made my way towards her with my foolproof plan.

"Tohsaka, I want to be your friend." There's no way she can misinterpret this! Rin Tohsaka was smart like that.

Taken aback by my question, she gapes at me in embarrassment before recovering. "Emiya." She gives me a nod in my direction. "I'm not sure we know each other to jus-"

"Don't worry!" I quickly interrupt before she can come up with some way to get out of this. Sister has taught me the perfect way to deal with uncertain girls! "If we become friends, we won't have to stop competing. Actually, people will look on it more favorably." I barrel on continuing. "Friendship doesn't have to be something you just decide on one day. We can spend time near each other and I'll prove I'm worth it."

I prepare my ultimate finisher. I practiced this until Justeaze was satisfied.

"My dad worries about me because I can't seem to bring any friends for him to meet. I thought that he'd be really happy if I was to become friends with somebody as smart and kind as you." Sincerity is key in matters of friendship, that's the wisdom my teacher has taught me.

Spluttering at my words, her face goes red as she looks away from me. "W-well, If you're that desperate. It'd be rude to not help y-you." Unable to even look in my direction as she stutters, I bask in my victory.

Whipping her head in my direction, she points a finger at me imperiously. "But I better not hear any complaints from you!"

I can only smile gratefully at her, even as she gives me a look of surprise. "Thanks Tohsaka. You really are a great person."

Tohsaka huffs and walks away from me, but I catch a small smile much more genuine than most of the ones I saw her give at school. I'm left stuck in place for a few seconds, looking after where she went.

Making people happy really was its own reward.

After that, to cement the friendship, I spent what time I could with her instead of spending my time evenly with everyone else. Her friends, thankfully, were both people I was on good terms with, being Ayako Mitsuzuri and Kaede Makidera. If there was one thing I could use to describe all of us as a group, I think it would be competitiveness.

While Makidera was loud and full of energy, Mitsuzuri was a lot more dignified and acted more like the boys than the other girls. In comparison, Tohsaka and I both played the parts of honor students. The more time I spent with Tohsaka, the more fun we found in trying to tease the other. Usually, we were both serious people, but this sort of competition was nice.

I blame my sister for making me like this. Kiritsugu certainly doesn't tease much.

A friendly rivalry built up between me and Mitsuzuri, though mostly it was just anything sports related. I hadn't even come close to losing yet. But her stories on the martial arts she trains in were really interesting. If I ever had to spar with her, I do not know if I'd win. There wasn't much I had to compare with what real martial arts would be like.

With Makidera, both Tohsaka and I usually have to help her with her studying or just leave her to figure out the work itself. Compared to Tohsaka, who was naturally smart, or me who spent as much as I could studying, Makidera was neither motivated nor particularly gifted at learning coursework. Mostly her competitive nature is what would get her to get any of her schoolwork done.

The major downside to all this was the one thing I didn't want. All of them had strict parents, or a guardian in Tohsakas' case. So it made spending time together outside of school almost impossible.

If I could get all of their parents or guardians to approve of me, solving the problem of having friends over at my place would be done.

My behavior and coursework in school were perfect as far as I knew, so I wouldn't have any problems in that area. All that I needed was to find out more about the parents. I'm sure I had just the way to solve it too.

It was with confidence that once we were all together on a lunch break, I came up with my plan. "Mitsuzuri." I said.

She swallows her food before giving a curious look towards me. "Yes?" Tohsaka and Makidera both look in my direction as well. "Well... I know it's hard for all of us to meet up out of school. And I was just thinking I had a good idea on how to solve it a little with your help."

All three girls give a look at each other in some sort of shared doubt. I don't know why they were giving me looks like that. My plans were fine.

"How...?" she asked. I give her a nod with all the confidence I can muster. "Well, it's easy. Since both me and you do martial arts, let's convince your parents that we all want to get together and practice. All we need to do is get the other two up to do it." I said. The other two make sounds of protest.

"Oy! When were you going to ask us if we even wanted to?!" Makidera is as loud as ever. Tohsaka who was about to say something before Makidera shouted, just nods in agreement.

"My parents are pretty strict... I'm not sure if they'd just let you all in to practice with me." Mitsuzuri trails off awkwardly, though thankfully she doesn't seem against the idea.

This just means I need to bring out my big winning condition I've been keeping in reserve for something like this to convince the others. I clench my fist to show my determination. "I'm going to try my best, anyway. Spending more time with you all is worth it."

Bowing my head, I prepare my finishing move. "I never considered you two wouldn't be able to keep up since you aren't into martial arts like me and Mitsuzuri. Sorry for not considering if you'd even like martial arts and just assuming."

Both baited, they puff up like angry cats in protest.

"Emiya..."

"Hey, I'd be able to kee-"

They both cut off as they realize they were talking over themselves. I continue on before they can build up steam. "Mitsuzuri, would it be fine if you could ask your parents if I could have a Kendo match with you at your house?"

"Sure, I can try." Completely unphased she shrugs.

Both Makidera and Tohsaka look at each other in exasperation before giving out sounds of frustration. As they go to complain about how we weren't including them, my lips lift upwards in a smile.

Mitsuzuri's house was close by since we both lived in the traditional Japanese house section of Miyama Town. It wasn't a long trek to take, but I was feeling a little annoyed.

"Cheer up Shirou, I'm sure they'll love me!" That's the source of my annoyance. Cheerfully, Justeaze walks with me on the way. There're looking like some rich princess in jewelry and a Kimino. I wanted to show off my new friends. but Justeaze just strong armed both Kiritsugu and I into her going along with me alone instead.

Ignoring her, the rest of the way here had been easy after that, despite her protests.

Being the last to arrive outside the front, I spot Makidera with what looks like a couple of stern adults that are likely to be her parents since she shared a lot of features with them.

In comparison, Tohsaka stands very stand-offish next to what looked like a priest around Kiritsugu's age. Wearing simple vestments with a cross around his neck, he gives a stiff smile in our direction that doesn't reach his eyes.

Mitsuzuri with her parents were the most serious out of all of us. Quickly striding my way over, I make my way in between the others with a quick nod. I can almost feel Justeazes pout from behind.

"Thank you all for coming. Please make your way inside. We already have some food and drink prepared for you all." The man next to Mitsuzuri speaks up, sounding as serious as he looks. Politely, we all file in behind as he leads us through their tidy and well-maintained home.

We get separated from the adults as they wish to have their own private talk, so we get to spend time nearby in a nearby room. Thankfully, Justeaze is pretending to be a responsible adult convincingly right now. If she messes this up, I'll be furious.

With all of us dressed formally, it felt odd in the silence before Makidera breaks it.

"Man, I hope you are ready to get your butt kicked today, Emiya when we spar. This whole formal thing is a pain."

My hands raise in defense. "That's just what we have to do to meet like this. Once they get used to us, we can ease up a little."

"You make my parents sound like strays…" Mitsuzuri trails off in disbelief. A giggle has us both looking toward Tohsaka, who pretends as if it wasn't her.

My hands wave in protest. "No, no, your parents aren't strays!" It's more like her parents are guard dogs I have to try to not get bitten by so I can make friends. Know yourself and your enemy is the key here. Guilt stirs in my stomach at labeling her parents as enemies.

Enemies is a wrong word, more like a temporary obstacle? I'll have to work on the wording.

Sensing weakness, all three girls spent the rest of the time before the adults came back teasing me while I weakly tried to defend myself. Seemingly all in a good mood, we see both Justeaze and that guy who came with Tohsaka meet up with us before they leave on their own business. Justeaze would be returning later in the evening to come pick me up.

Weirdly, sister seemed in one of her moods where she was excited about something. After we waved them goodbye, I watched suspiciously as both Justeaze and that man walked in the same direction. Away from the direction of home.

Under my breath, I grumble. "I don't like him..." Before turning on my heel to follow Mitsuzuri's parents back within the house.

After that, we spent the day playing and sparring under the supervision of at least one parent. Most of the time it was me, Mitsuzuri or whichever of her parents that was supervising at that moment who helped the two as they were learning. It felt unfair sparring with the other girls who didn't have any training, so teaching them would make it a lot better.

Kyudo we aren't able to do at all since it's only a class for older people because of its possible danger. It felt odd though since guns were way more dangerous and I had those with Kiritsugu. But I guess shooting guns isn't a martial art.

A lot of it was just making extra sure to be soft on my blows for Kendo since I could hurt people even without reinforcement badly if I'm not careful. While most of the grapple martial arts I had no skill in, I was a lot stronger and energetic than everyone else combined so I could make the difference in sheer effort.

The parents acted a little odd about my Kendo though. Thankfully, I got to spar against both of them despite the weird looks. All three of my friends had also given me looks of amazement or, later on, quiet looks of determination. I might have accidentally awakened their fighting spirit a little too strongly...

With how successful we were with this first outing, I couldn't stop smiling. Everyone else seemed pretty pleased with the time to spend together as well, even if we were all pretty bruised by the end. After that, coming to Mitsuzuri's house became a regular thing every couple of weeks. I was the only one out of the group who got to spar with the adults, though I was still yet to win at all.

Sometimes when I was training in my dreams with sister I'd practice some of the different martial arts, I'd learned. Mostly we had practiced Judo and Karate, but once we were up to a satisfactory point for the adults, we'd learn how to do Jujutsu. We had to wear protection and be safe in what we aimed for in Karate. But in the dream training, I didn't have to hold back at all.

It put into perspective how dangerous a kick could be when I reinforced myself and didn't hold back. I shattered the bones of one of those skeleton warriors like it was a dropped plate.

As part of going to Mitsuzuri's, Justeaze seemed on good terms with Tohsakas' guardian, even though Tohsaka would always complain about him. I didn't know how to feel about it because Tohsaka is smart enough to pick up on something wrong with someone, but Justeaze seems fine with them. I'll just have to monitor that man to make sure he's not up to something.

Though I hadn't been able to show off my friends to Kiritsugu, he still seemed happy about me going out to play with them every once in a while, so I considered it a win.

During our time together, the girls and I got to know each other better.

Mitsuzuri was like me in that I learned martial arts more for someone else initially. Though I'd found I actually enjoyed all the different martial arts and training I've done, where she started more out of wanting to follow what her family has done. She was surprisingly girly, with some things she did outside of martial arts that weren't at school.

Tohsaka and Mitsuzuri were the closest out of all of us, but I think that was more because their personalities worked well together as both hardworking people who kept to their word. Both got along enough that even without sharing hobbies before we started sparring, they were friendly.

Most of the time I would talk with Mitsuzuri about different martial arts or about what happened in school.

Asking Makidera about her family, we found out they own a store called Eichouan which is a big deal, apparently. They mostly sell Kimino's made by other with her family having a long history in it, which is why her parents expect so much and are so strict.

Both Makidera and Tohsaka we found out had a thing for being interested in pretty things. While Tohsaka I'm sure I saw her drooling over some of the jewelry Justeaze would wear in her ears whenever she dropped me off to meet with them all, Makidera just liked things that sounded or looked pretty.

I got along with Makidera, the least out of all of them. Usually we would butt heads because she was being annoying or she would get upset by me doing better at her in a contest. So I tried to have any time where I competed with her to avoid the headache.

Thankfully, outside of that, she was fine. She just had her moments.

With Tohsaka looked after what she derided as a fake priest, we learned he was called Kirei Kotomine. Apparently, Kotomine used to be an apprentice of her dad before he died.

A lot of the friendship between me and Tohsaka would be a constant shifting of competition, teasing and being confused by the other. Both Makidera and Mitsuzuri kept laughing at us because we kept surprising each other. While Tohsaka would always think of stuff, I'd never be able to come up with and surprise me. I'd say things out loud that I'd normally keep to myself, to my friends.

I'd always get weird looks from my friends, but I think they were used to it at this point. Sometimes Tohsaka would give me this worried look, though I wasn't sure why.

Both Tohsaka and I would spend a lot of time together in class just by being ahead of the others. Usually when finished, we'd go around helping others. Our progress was so impressive by the end of the year that the teacher consistently praised us.

It was only later that we found out what happened to Tohsaka's parents.

Tohsaka, it turned out, was like me. She didn't like to talk about it, but apparently both her parents died in the fire. It made me feel sick for the rest of the day afterwards and even after that, I still felt guilty afterwards about it. To think one of those people I left behind in the fire were her parents...

I owed Tohsaka even more than her letting me be her friend.

After that conversation, I spent some time learning what I could about flowers from my sister. Eventually I wanted to learn Magecraft with the flowers, but for now I just wanted something to give to the graves of those who died.

Hopefully, the flowers would guide them to a brighter future, like it did for me.

Most of my training for the year had thankfully turned out well.

Reinforcement and Structural Grasp had slowed in the amount of improvement I made. I was running out of things I could reasonably do without expanding my knowledge first.

My curses I had instead focused more on expanding the broadness of what I could do with them rather than learning something different. Most of my focus was trying to make Retribution work with things that weren't just injuries, Misfortune to be more specific in what form it would take and Paranoia in what I would nudge the person cursed to be focused on.

The fundamental problem I ran into Retribution with eventually is that even if I made the curse less specific, the effects varied a lot. The harder it was for me to understand what it was reflecting, the less effective it was. That wasn't even including how expensive it was on magical energy based on how much mystery that was being reflected. So if I underestimated an attack that hit me and it's reflected automatically, it'll drain me dry in one go.

I guess I need to find a way in that case to figure out how much it costs for Retribution on something before I use it. And make it have a second additional part for the spell to be completed instead of having it activate automatically and knock me out or worse.

Misfortune thankfully was a lot easier, even if it made me feel the worst to use. While inconsistent in timing, it was relatively simple in its use. To get the magic to work, one only needed intent, energy, incantation, and eye contact. Initial uses of Misfortune taught me that taking advantage of when opportunity came up was very useful. But while the more specific types of this curse were extra expensive in comparison, they were a lot easier to take advantage of.

Those curses that made weapons fail when they were needed or caused something in the terrain to go wrong were the most consistent and useful. Longer lasting curses were kind of wasteful for me since I don't think I'd ever do that.

Initially, I had a plan for using Projection, then using Alteration on the hollow object before adding a property based on one of my Curses. But It was a lot harder than it looked, and usually they were still not very sturdy. The good thing about them at least is that since they were incomplete, adding things into them from Alteration was a lot easier compared to anything else.

The best I got with working on all these together was giving the curse of Retribution to something like a dagger. But it would only work if the dagger broke, and even then it would just destroy part of the weapon they were using unless it was thin enough.

Though it hurt an enemy once when they broke it with their hands. So there's that I suppose.

Most of my focus on the Paranoia curse was to use it as a distraction. Long-term paranoia wasn't something I'd ever want to do, but the short-term distraction of someone was perfectly fine. The trick was to invoke a strong negative emotion through words. The curse was more about having someone trap themselves in their own mind. According to Justeaze, masters of this spell could make others see things conjured up by their own mind that weren't even real or feel things that weren't physically there.

I wasn't even close to that level of skill. The best I could do was associate feelings of danger with a word or object. Good for distractions, but that's about it.

Reinforcement for a quick way of closing my wounds was a lot less of a success, unfortunately. I just didn't have good enough knowledge of my body at all levels. Whenever I reshaped my flesh, there was always something wrong or not quite right that would cause problems later on, even if otherwise I would have lived.

My knowledge of guns had expanded pretty well over the course of the rest of the year. I could put together most completely disassembled guns, maintain and even know the proper shooting procedure for them. While I hadn't been able to shoot a lot of the heavier duty guns just by the fact I was too small, I at least knew how they worked. It was amazing how many types of guns and explosives the old man knew about.

Kiritsugu had me memorize different people, businesses and locations that I'd be able to gain more weapons like this. Though I was surprised that Taiga's grandfather was on the list! Apparently, he's some sort of organized crime leader who also keeps people safe?

I just took what Kiritsugu said at face value. Taiga's family were all good people, so I'm sure there was a good reason he did what he did. I'd have to ask him about it next Christmas.

My family had all done different things over the course of the year, too. Kiritsugu had struck up a friendship with old man Raiga and a man called Ryuudou. It was nice though odd to see him getting along with other people after seeing Kiritsugu only really interacting with me, Justeaze or Taiga. Raiga and Ryuudou had a very intense rivalry between the two of them that made the competitiveness between me and my friends pale in comparison, but they both seemed to enjoy it a lot so I said nothing about it.

Justeaze had taken to expanding the shed we had behind the house in between her teaching of me or her travels. I'm not sure how she did it, but there was now a multi layered basement underneath the shed that was fairly large. She had things like one of those fancy English gyms, a different layer with a pool and secret separate rooms for both me and her she called our Workshops.

While she was away, she expected me to put all my notes, training and research in my own Workshop room. The gym and pool I used almost daily to help with my fitness. The more healthy I was, the better my reinforcement would work.

While I would make sure that the flower garden outside of the shed was in good health, I'd think over what Justeaze had told me the day before Christmas. Apparently next year when Justeaze was ready, she'd start teaching me how to make Mystic Codes.

I hoped Justeaze would teach me about magical healing before then so I wouldn't be struggling with Reinforcement instead...

Christmas I had been looking forward to the most by the end of the year. Makidera and Mitsuzuri with their families didn't celebrate, but I got them some gifts anyway with the help of Kiritsugu and Justeaze.

Makidera had been given a set of different wind chimes, as well as her own equipment for practicing martial arts with us all that Justeaze had helped me with buying. I gave Mitsuzuri a stuffed toy dog of a Shiba, with a matching hair clip.

Since Tohsaka and I both celebrate Christmas, I thought it'd be great if she could join us. I know she didn't celebrate it with her guardian in any way that left her happy. It took a lot of pleading with Tohsaka to get her to agree for her to coming on Christmas. Tohsaka was being weirdly embarrassed about it. But eventually I got my way.

This year, it was going to be a lot bigger on Christmas day. We had Ryuudou with his son who I'd meet for the first time, old Raiga, Taiga's dad who I'd weirdly never met, Taiga, my family, and then Tohsaka with Kotomine.

Before the day, I worked with Justeaze on the food, cleaning up the house and making sure everything was going to be perfect.

Justeaze had helped organize and had told everyone when to show up for the day. We had packaged and set up all our gifts, ready for the day. The other guests had arrived and settled in the garden where we had a couple of seats and tables set up considering it was such a beautiful, clear, sunny day.

The only person missing was Tohsaka and her guardian. I'd politely excused myself to wait at the front door just in case they might have gotten lost, but Kiritsugu had come with. I tried not to show my excitement too much, finally he could meet my friend!

It was as we waited patiently on the front porch that I saw Kiritsugu go still and pale as if seeing a ghost. Confused, I follow his eyesight, only to spot both Tohsaka and her guardian. Waving towards them, I try to catch their direction.

"Hey Kiritsugu, that's them." His head turns to look in my direction with a unsettled look.

"Shirou, I think you should go inside." He said. Placing himself in front of me, he gives a stare in their direction. Having noticed us both, the priest smiles a much more genuine smile than I've ever seen from him. Tohsaka tries to march ahead of Kotomine even as she gives a concerned look in my direction.

"It's fine, old man. That's just my friend, Tohsaka, and her guardian."

"Tohsaka huh, so it really is them then." Kiritsugu sounds defeated but doesn't make a move besides keeping in front of me. I don't know what's up with his reaction, but it's making even me nervous.

"Welcome to my home Tohsaka, I'm glad you could make it." I said. Peering around the side of Kiritsugu, I give a smile and wave in her direction since I can't bow like this and it's informal, anyway. Giving an exasperated involuntary smile back, she gives a bow in our direction.

"Thank you for having me." Polite to a fault, her bow is perfect.

Kiritsugu and Kotomine size each other up after the introduction for a long pause, making both me and Tohsaka uncomfortable. While Kiritsugu only looks more on edge, Kotomine, I don't think I've ever seen happier.

"Still alive I see, Kiritsugu." With a voice dripping in deep amusement, Kotomine gives a formal bow.

Kiritsugu gives a slight nod, his icy stare unfaltering. "Indeed. Merry Christmas." With a finality to his tone, he turns on his heel before ushering me in through the door, allowing Kotomine and Tohsaka to follow in.

I share a confused glance with Tohsaka.

What is going on here?!

End of Chapter Two:

Hey everyone! Thanks for all of you who took the time to read this, and especially those of you who gave your support. Also thank you for the person who pointed out my misspelling of Taiga's last name. The previous chapter should have been changed to reflect this. Also a change on the appearence of the red marks on Shirous hand from the previous chapter.

Things involving differences in how history should normally be will generally be intentional though for the purposes of this fic. Though I love any theories you all might have.

In other thoughts on this fic:

On one hand I wanted a bit of a showcase of the ways Shirou in this fic is different to his main self instead of just throwing a already made character with no build up. But I definetly also don't want to have the younger years of Shirou drag out for too long. Future chapters will definetly have things slow down a little bit more, and have a fair bit more action compared to how it's been so far.

Let me know on if y'all think it's going too slow or fast for your tastes. Otherwise I'll try to keep my updates around once every one or two weeks with around the same word length I've been kind of keeping too. Personally I like longer fics so I thought I'd do it myself.

Regardless, take care.

Till next time.