Summary: Just because he's in a younger body, Muramasa never stopped being an old man. To hear someone else calling him by the name of "Grandpa," though (and in another language as "ông nội") — well. It's a ticklish feeling.

Note: This was inspired by the joy I felt when I first found out Muramasa became playable in FGO JP in 2021, and the legitimate relief and surprise I got when he came home in NA to start off 2023 for me two years later. Considering as of this note's writing (Jan 1, 2023), I'm recovering from contracting COVID-19 (I still dunno how I got it when I was disinfecting everything in the house after my parents got it), it feels nice writing about a grandpa that reminds me so much of Shirou and my passed ông ngoại.

Content warning for Shimosa spoilers by the way! You've been warned!

The theme for this chapter is Brave Shine by Aimer, the second opening to ufotable's Unlimited Blade Works anime adaptation. Because when it comes to the first "Shirou-face" in FGO, I gotta go back to the classics to match, right?

Please enjoy!

Day 54: Grandpa

There were a lot of things Senji Muramasa had left behind when he went back to the Throne of Heroes with Shimosa's resolution. The memories of the screams in that flaming castle, the kids that he took in for a time — he could remember faces, but not names anymore — even some of the expressions of his allies at the time. All he had left was his name, his strength, and the memories of two women.

One female Miyamoto Musashi, and the other one Chaldean "Master" calling herself Vy Duong.

Musashi was someone he knew he couldn't forget, what with her swordsmanship and drive to protect the kids from the demonic Seven Swordsmasters. Even as a vagabond, she had determination, and his tired old mind couldn't deny that from her.

Vy, on the other hand, struck something in his weary heart. What was it again?

Even when floating in the space that the Throne of Heroes gave him, reminiscing like any other spirit, he could still vividly recall the shock on her face when he came out of his hut to berate her and Musashi for intruding on his workshop. Back then, with the red sky and the bright red moon hanging above them, Vy could've been a little girl with how she acted. Any other person would've been fooled with how she fidgeted in place. Her brown eyes had widened to the size of plates when taking him in. Not even Musashi screaming out "GRANDPA?!" in her own weird getup fazed her, because all Vy did was clasp her hands together in front of her chest, meeting his gaze as though she had seen a ghost.

"Shi…rou?" was all she said then amidst Musashi's fumbling. Some kind of hope surfaced in her voice. "Shirou?"

Even though the name should've been something foreign to the Heroic Spirit Muramasa, the vessel Muramasa took up to use in his manifestation stirred, making his anger melt away in an instant. "…How do you know that name?" left his mouth in a voice that was so much younger than anything he could ever remember since his creation as a Heroic Spirit, the blood starting to roar in the back of his ears as he took in Vy's figure in return. A weird combination of white and black. Some long white shoes that came up to half of her calves and matching gray socks of some kind. When he took a few steps closer, Vy didn't even flinch when he took a lock of her long hair in his hands, his brain searing the feeling of soft silky brown strands slipping through his fingers into what little memory the Counter Force would allow him to have. "Have we met before?"

It was thanks to their close proximity that Muramasa could remember the hopeful light dying from Vy's brown irises past her weird eyewear of glass lenses as she ducked her head, and when backing away from his reach, he could still remember the glimpse he got of the green ribbon holding up some of her hair. "…No," she said, eventually looking up at him with a tiny resigned smile. "I just thought… I just thought you looked like someone I knew by the name of 'Shirou.'" With a giggle, she put a hand to her lips, her rapid blinking of her eyes making her look like she was about to cry. "I'm sorry for mistaking you as someone else."

The heart inside Muramasa's body nonetheless ached.

"This 'Shirou' of yours, Vy."

Even when he couldn't recall the names of the kids sitting around him, the little girl and her toddler brother stopped their breakfast preparations as he opened his mouth, just as the Master he was addressing blinked. "Mm?" Vy paused mid-bite of her riceball when the words left Muramasa's lips, the grains sticking to her cheeks making her look more and more like a child to match the kids with each passing second. "What about him, Muramasa-san…?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm asking. I want to know what he's like. You keep looking at me like I'm him," Muramasa elaborates, the wry smile on his face undeniable as Musashi begins to choke on her own mouthful of rice at Vy's side. "And there's gotta be a reason you called me by his name when we first met, right?"

"O-Oh, that." An embarrassed flush of pink climbs up Vy's neck past her weird clothes as she raises a hand to pat Musashi's back, easing her fingers down the vagabond's spine to ease her coughing. "It's kinda a long story, Muramasa-san. How much do you want to know?"

"As much as you can give, Vy," Muramasa replies smoothly, the smile on his face turning into a smirk as he catches Musashi's eye. "He's gotta mean a lot to you if you keep looking at me like I'm him in every other aspect."

"Ooh, ooh, onee-chan!" The little girl put her hand up in the air. "Is this 'Shirou' person your lover?"

"N-No!" Vy bowed her head to hide her reddening cheeks, muttering something under her breath once Musashi stopped coughing. "Not like that, sweetie… to me, with his red coat and white hair, Shirou is…" She gulped. Then, to Muramasa's surprise, she smiled past the curtain of her long brown hair. "Shirou is my Hero of Justice."

The heart in Muramasa's vessel skipped a beat.

Why did that phrase sound so familiar?

"The thing is, if he was here, he might just bonk my head because he doesn't like that title all that much," Vy laughed, brushing some hair back behind her ear as she put her half-eaten rice ball down into the lap of her skirt. "But he was one of the first heroes that came to my aid when I started my journey, one of the first people I really got to know and fight alongside." A gentle sparkle emerged in Vy's brown irises, accompanied by what Muramasa could only summarize as fondness and sheer affection. "He taught me how to defend myself when I was nervous about facing battle; cooked a lot of my favorite foods when I was down; protected me when I was scared; and—" Vy took a breath to steady herself as she put a hand to her heart, her expression content. "He even hugged me when I was crying and unsure of where to go. Even when we couldn't save absolutely everyone on our journey, he still humored me by trying to do so with me." With one more giggle for good measure, Vy closed her eyes, smiling for the world to see. "For one of the first heroes I ever got to meet, even if he hated being called one, he's one of the best ones to me because he cared for a lonely little girl's feelings. Because he was there and helped me. Swords and all, cooking and all, despite carrying his title of 'Archer.'"

Well. That explained everything aside from how hard his vessel's heart was pounding. Muramasa found himself smiling before he could stop himself.

Is that how he felt too? When he was alive?

Musashi's gaze seemed softer too as she regarded Vy with a pat to her knee. "He sounds like an amazing person, Vy."

With an equally gentle smile in Musashi's direction, Vy laughed a laugh that had Muramasa's heart skip again. "He is, Shii-chan, I don't lie! Whenever you come by and visit Chaldea for real, I'll introduce you! Shirou is an amazing person and an amazing cook!"

"But does that mean he's really not your lover, onee-chan?" the little girl spoke up suddenly again, a curious finger hanging from her bottom lip as her toddler brother burped from over her shoulder. "With the way you're talking about him, he sounds like he is!"

"A-Ah…" Just like that, Muramasa could see a crack show in the atmosphere Vy had made. "And s-see, the thing is, sweetie, he really really isn't! I-I'm still single, plus he's more like a big brother or another dad to me!" Vy reinforced with a flushed face, the fondness on her face evaporating for embarrassment and surprise. Then, to Muramasa's surprise, she ducked her head, scratching at her cheek. "I… I think I have someone else in my heart, anyways…" Under her breath, Muramasa could vaguely make out her lips murmuring, "Maybe someone in lots of green who chews on mint…?"

Mint? Green?

Hm.

Then there was audible shaking of a katana pommel. "…Who do I need to decapitate, Vy?" Musashi said immediately, in an uncharacteristically low voice too. "Just give me the word and I will swing."

"N-No, Shii-chan! No decapitation, and no swinging! Big Robin's fine!"

"Aw!" Then, in a more fitting voice, Musashi went on with a teasing, "So the lucky man's Big Robin?"

"M-Muuu… he's a green Archer and he's the biggest one I've seen in my heart! Sue me for the lack of original nicknames!"

Muramasa decided to give Miyamoto Musashi a few more points of approval. It would make his job from the Counter Force a lot easier to accomplish if she could see what he was struggling to find.

Another memory Muramasa could recall was a peaceful moment between fights with the Seven Swordsmasters. Vy was sitting out on the balcony of the hermitage he had with the kids back then, staring up at the night sky (that wasn't blood red for once in this whole mess) while humming something to herself. With her hands folded in her lap, it would've looked like she was praying. Or thinking. Either or.

As peaceful as she looked, she couldn't sit there forever. She looked far too lonely like that, especially for a girl her age.

"Vy," he called out. "Dinner's ready."

"Okay," she murmured, not turning her gaze away from the bright white moon. Her fingers unconsciously clenched at the hems of her skirt, wrinkling the fabric as she went on with a softer, "I'll be right there, ông nội—" She stopped.

Muramasa blinked. "…Ông nội?" Did he hear that right?

Vy blinked too, cutting herself off from saying anymore with a loud squeak. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth not even a second later, and it took a few moments for her to turn her head. "Um." Her voice cracked past her fingers as she shyly peeked at him through her hair. Some strands fell past her shoulder, just in time to barely hide the first peek of pink starting to climb up her neck. "That… I-I wasn't meaning to say that."

Muramasa took a deep breath. Even as a Servant summoned into the body of a man way younger than his mind, the Counter Force at least gave him some language comprehension. "Grandpa?" he translated instead, pressing one palm against the underside of his chin in confusion. The wry smile on his face hurt his cheeks as he went on with a lighter, "Not that I mind, considering the kids, but wouldn't that title be better for your actual grandfather, Vy?"

Vy still shut her eyes and turned her head away from him. "In any other case, yes." Then, to Muramasa's surprise, she shook her head vigorously, reaching up to tug at one end of the green ribbon keeping up her hair. "But… not this time, Muramasa-san. Not with you."

"Why?" left him in a huff, and Muramasa couldn't miss how young his voice sounded again as the word echoed in the air. This wasn't their first meeting — Senji Muramasa knew what kind of person Vy Duong was at this point. But for his vessel to emerge again… Was his vessel just seeing something in Vy that he wasn't? Was that why?

"The thing is, ông nội is the name I knew for my paternal grandfather," Vy elaborated, tilting her head up towards the sky. Her answering smile appeared subdued in the moonlight. "And unlike the rest of my family, I never got to meet him. I only know him from stories — nothing more, nothing less."

Muramasa froze. "Did he… did he die?"

"A day after my big brother was born," Vy said, unknowingly confirming the dark icy pit starting to emerge in Muramasa's stomach. "I don't know what his cause of death was in the end. All I know is that unlike my ông ngoại, my paternal grandfather who practically raised me with my paternal grandmother, bà ngoại, and my own parents, I didn't have anyone I knew to call ông nội. So, hey. Even if you're not the Shirou I know…" Vy still raised a hand to brush some hair behind her ear, turning her head to look up at him with warm brown eyes. "You still feel like someone I can trust, Muramasa-san. Someone I can call ông nội and believe it." The giggle that comes out of her mouth is equally as quiet and heartfelt as the girl herself. Heck, it doesn't even stop her from hiding her smile with a corner of her sleeve — the sound of her subsequently muffled laugh merely accentuates the gesture in sincerity. "The cooking definitely helped your case, and besides! You keep claiming you're an 'old man' anyways, so why not call you 'Grandpa'? The title is the most respectful one I can come up with!" With one more giggle, the hints of her smile look all the more bright against the moonlight. "And it's the least I can do for an old craftsman who took in Shii-chan and me when we needed help!"

"…Is that so."

"I definitely think so!"

"…I see." Muramasa moves his hand to his own mouth, and his fingers graze his cheeks that are stretched in an unconscious smile of his own beyond his control.

Is this how you started liking her, Emiya Shirou? Just listening to her confide in you? Sincerely seeing you as a hero?

His vessel had no answer for him. The thrum of mana in his veins from his vessel's heart, on the other hand, was warmer than before.

In what felt like years later, Muramasa reached out to the light that showed up in the horizon and didn't mind the pull that came with it. He was at least being pulled away from the Throne of Heroes for a good reason this time. His form was solidifying, his feet could touch something other than clouds, and once he blinked his eyes open, he could see brown irises and a familiar green ribbon. He doesn't even register his mouth moving to say his summoning line when his mind automatically forms her name in his thoughts.

Vy.

Over Vy's shoulder, he could make out Miyamoto Musashi with her mouth wide open as her hands left the pommels of her swords, a ginger-haired man in a green cloak blinking nearby as he uncrossed his arms past his chest to stare incredulously (maybe that was the famous "Big Robin" Vy kept blushing over), matching the gaze of a nearby blond woman in all blue (and was that the King of Knights his vessel kept thinking about?) and then there was a distinct loud clatter of metal falling to the floor. From the corner of his vessel's eye, Muramasa could see a silver-haired, tan man in red robes fumble with his arms in a different corner of the room — wait.

Wait.

Was that red-wearing guy the man Vy called "Shirou" too? Why was his back uncomfortably itching all of a sudden from just looking at him?

In the end, Muramasa found his gaze eventually coming back to the short brunette girl staring up at him.

Even in a pink cardigan and long cream colored skirt, Vy hadn't changed, her long hair held up in a ponytail by a pink lotus-green ribbon clip instead of the plain green ribbon he remembered. When meeting his eyes, bright amazement shone in her brown irises past her glasses. That same sparkle.

"…Ông nội?" she whispered, nearly echoing their first meeting in Shimosa all over again. Just like back then, she clasped her hands together in front of her chest, a half hopeful, half worried voice coming out of her mouth as she went on with a quieter, "Do you remember me?"

Shouldering his white haori, Muramasa and the vessel he inhabited both came into sync for the first time when he smiled. "…Kinda hard to forget a clumsy girl like you, Vy," he teased, taking some delight from reaching over with his free hand to gently bring it down on Vy's head in a chop motion and hearing her squeak in surprise. "You cheeky brat. Summoning me after all the hell you put me through in Shimosa, and then calling me 'grandpa' like it didn't happen with that kinda face? On the start of the new year too?"

"I-In my defense, Douman was the bastard who started it and a lot's happened since—" Vy squeaked louder once he chopped her head again, getting pained tears in her eyes as she covered her head with both hands. But she was still looking up at him with that same warm sparkle in those brown irises. "Muramasa-san…"

"Sheesh, don't cry on me just when I get summoned, Master." Muramasa rolled his eyes, ignoring the shocked stares of the other Servants (and that vagabond in Musashi — why did she look like she was cooking up some trouble with that growing grin on her face?) from afar in favor of letting his haori sit on his shoulder and opening his arms. "C'mere, you brat."

The answering smile was worth its weight in molten gold once Vy ran over to literally barrel into his chest, slender arms wrapping themselves around his middle not even a second later as a nose pressed into his shoulder. "W-Welcome to Novum Chaldea, ông nội," is the warm whisper muffled into his skin, something distinctly wet starting to seep into his one sleeve. "And welcome back."

With the same wry smile, Muramasa felt his vessel's will move his arms for him, enclosing the tiny girl in the hug she wanted as he rested his chin on top of her hair. "I'm back, Be Vy," he says finally, not minding how young his voice sounds as the mana in his vessel's veins thrum. With her calling him ông nội, the name of "Be Vy" sounds right rolling off his tongue to match. "Since it took you this long to get me here, we have a lot of work to do."

"A-Aye!"

Not even putting on all black seemed to dull Vy's spirits a few hours later. "Everyone, this is the new Saber that'll be joining us for the Lancer quests!" Her introductory hand-gestures were a bit too silly for Muramasa's tastes, but he still tucked his hands into his haori sleeves from his Second Ascension. Had to keep up the image somewhere. "Let's all work well together!"

"What Be Vy said. I'm the new Saber, Senji Muramasa," Muramasa said smoothly, meeting the shocked eyes of Musashi and the King of Knights with a smirk. "I'm just an ordinary blacksmith, but as a Pseudo-Servant in the body of another Master from another time, suppose I can at least imitate the ways of a warrior too." Taking a moment to stare at the King of Knights in particular, he formed a katana in his right hand to bow his head with for extra respect. "Looking forward to fighting with you all."

The metal gauntlet that reached over to him and extended an open palm was all the more familiar when he raised his gaze to meet emerald green eyes. "Then, as the Grailed Saber of Chaldea and the leader of this team," Arturia Pendragon murmured with what looked like a fond tear in her eye, "welcome to the party, Muramasa. I'm Saber Arturia Pendragon, and I'm glad to have another pair of helping hands when it comes to saving humanity and our Princess."

Muramasa grinned, reaching up to take Arturia's hand without hesitation. "Same here, King of Knights." In more ways than one.