Breaking (into) the Law
Inside the Fuyuki-City police-station, detective Osaki Koyo was just leaning back in his chair with a cup of tea, enjoying a small break from his work, when suddenly no less than fifteen reports were thrown onto his desk. Before he could protest or inquire what that was about, the perpetrator had already walked on.
On the pile, a note had been placed, displaying the words 'catalogue them, please'.
Osaki grumbled under his breath, but he couldn't bring himself to be truly upset anymore. This was hardly the first time such a thing had happened, or the second, or the tenth, or even the hundredth time. Complaining about it was just a waste of energy.
His colleagues, lazy as they were, were hard enough to convince to even write the reports. Having them also catalogue said reports was probably a step or two too far. They usually left that to Osaki, and he, knowing that if he didn't do it, no one would, had long since accepted it as part of his duties.
He wasn't going to do it now however. After his break was over, he had to meet with his partner, Yomaura, in a private room, to discuss the vigilante-case with her.
Technically speaking, he still had ten minutes of his break left, but he was no longer in the mood, so he quickly drank his cooling tea, returned the cup to the kitchen, and then made his way over to his Kouhai.
He found her inside one of the small, soundproof rooms that were scattered throughout the station, serving as spots where officers working on 'delicate' cases could get some privacy. Yomaura was standing in the middle of the room, busily writing away on a whiteboard, while on the table to her left all evidence they had collected over the past weeks was displayed in neat piles.
Stepping inside, the first thing Osaki did was lock the door and lower the lamellae, to make sure no one would see or hear a thing of the upcoming conversation. After that, he walked up to his partner and looked over her shoulder at the whiteboard.
There wasn't much writing on it yet, but Yomaura had summarized their main theories about the vigilante as well as the most important questions.
He was sad to say there were far more of the latter than the former. In fact, it could be said that they didn't have an actual theory at all yet, only guesses and hypotheticals.
The vigilante was like a ghost, entering and leaving places without leaving a single piece of evidence behind. Not a drop of blood, piece of fabric, or discarded weapon with fingerprints could be found at any of the crime-scenes.
With no physical evidence available, they had no choice but to resort to pattern-hunting. Pattern-hunting meant that they would look at all instances of the vigilante's crimes, so all the cases of the past weeks, and try to find a recurring factor that would perhaps grant them insight into who the vigilante was and what his motives were.
Before they could start with that however, there were several other things that needed to be done.
"How do things stand with the gang that the vigilante attacked a week ago?" Osaki asked, deciding to get that out of the way first. "Is their arrest guaranteed?"
He had only been able to follow the case peripherally, so he wasn't as informed as he should have been. From what he'd heard though, things weren't looking all that well for that gang.
"Yes, Senpai, they are definitely going behind bars." Yomaura confirmed, smiling victoriously. "With all of the drugs, illegal weapons, and information they had in their base, there was never any chance that they were going to get away."
"Excellent. It seems we can add a few dozen more to the massive list of arrests we've made over the past month." Osaki allowed himself a small smile as well. "I wish we could have made those arrests without the help of a vigilante, but I'll take what I can get."
"I'll say! I am very glad these people are off the streets." Yomaura's smile fell as she spoke those words. "I hope they'll be going to prison for a very long time. In fact, I hope they'll never get out again."
"Oh?" Osaki lifted an eyebrow at the radical statement. "Any particular reason you wish to see them receive life-sentences?
"You… You should read the report of what the leader has told us during his interrogation." She replied tersely. "Apparently, that man was a veteran in the gang-business, and he has the cruelty and ruthlessness required to make it big in those circles. What he and his underlings have done over the years… It's horrible."
"Would this particular leader also be the one who was wounded so gravely by the vigilante?" Osaki asked, having just remembered that little fact.
"Yes, and I definitely understand now why the vigilante was so aggressive with him." Yomaura replied. Digging up the report of the interrogation from one of the piles on the table, she handed it to him. "Read this."
Osaki did as he was told and read the report. Within seconds, he was frowning heavily. A scowl joined the frown after he'd finished reading the first page, and his teeth had gritted by the time that he arrived at the end of the report. It was just that bad. He had seen his fair share of brutality during his job, but this was definitely one of the worst cases he had ever seen.
Yes, this would be cause enough for a spirited individual to beat the perpetrator half to death.
"This indeed puts the vigilante's actions in a different light, a far more sympathetic light." Osaki allowed, before giving her a stern look. "But you understand the vigilante is still breaking the law?"
"I do, Senpai." The redheaded woman nodded quickly, smiling reassuringly at him. "I would never think otherwise."
"Good. Then let's carry on with the matter at hand."
"Yes, the vigilante himself." Yomaura turned back towards her whiteboard. "As you can see here, Senpai, I have made a list of things that were the same or at least comparable on the vigilante's crime-scenes. It is entirely possible I have missed things though, so let me know if you see anything missing."
"I will."
"Thank you. Now, the first recurring factor I wish to discuss is the one we talked about before, that being the short-circuiting of the power networks of the criminal bases, often through one power outlet, which was then left as a molten mess of plastic and wires."
"Did we find a power outlet in such a condition in the apartment complex of the last gang we arrested?"
"No." The word was uttered with no small amount of frustration. "In that apartment complex, all of the outlets were melted, all of the cables too."
"All of them?"
"Yes, all of them. According to the tech-guys, it's like an enormous current was forced through the network at once, overloading it completely. They said it is not unlike what happens when a building is hit by a direct lightning strike."
"Lightning strike?" Osaki repeated with a raised eyebrow. "I suppose there have been a lot of storms during the past month, so it could be that the building was struck by lightning. Also, it was an old building, so the network may not have been isolated properly."
"That seems to be general consensus among the tech-guys, though it remains odd that the vigilante arrived precisely when the lightning struck. He must be extremely lucky for that to happen."
"Did he really arrive precisely at that time?"
"The gang members we interrogated confirmed that there was a loud thunderclap the same moment that the lights went out. They also claim that right after that happened, when they were confused and shocked, the vigilante attacked, taking advantage of the chaos."
"The vigilante must really have the Devil's luck then." Osaki concluded, and Yomaura nodded in agreement. "It's almost uncanny just how well-timed that lightning-strike was."
"Oh, you don't even know the half of it." The redheaded woman made an attempt at an amused smile, but considering she wasn't amused at all, it fell rather flat. "The lightning strike also ruined the gang's plan."
"Their plan?"
"Yes, their plan to fight the vigilante. They put lights everywhere around their base in order to see him coming and had armed men standing constantly at the ready to attack and kill him once he was spotted. I don't know how much success they would have had with such a tactic-"
"Probably not that much."
"-But we'll never know for sure, as that lucky lightning strike ruined their plan before they had a chance to implement it."
"Oh, that is uncanny alright." Osaki repeated, and this time, he meant it completely. Before, it had been an interesting note that a lightning strike had occurred precisely when the vigilante had attacked the gang. Something that was extraordinarily unlikely, but not impossible.
Now, it was straying more and more towards a point where, if this was a film, they would discover that the vigilante was actually a wizard or something.
But that was impossible, surely?
"Further similarities on the crime-scenes were the efficient and ruthless way in which the criminals were taken down, the fact that all fights occurred during the night, and the complete lack of any kind of blood, hair or other kind of sample from the vigilante himself, or herself I suppose." Yomaura continued, evidently no longer in the mood to discuss uncanny lightning strikes.
"Wasn't there also a theory about the vigilante using a ranged weapon of some kind?" Osaki inquired, happily going along with the change in subject.
"Indeed, Senpai, several gang members we arrested told us that they were knocked unconscious while the vigilante was nowhere near them, leading us to believe that a ranged weapon was used."
"If we can trust the words of criminals."
"Only coherent and reasonable statements were included in my reports. I did not listen to either insults or rambling." Yomaura declared promptly, puffing up her chest in pride.
"If you say so. While we're on the subject of interrogations anyway, were there any points of comparison among the statements given by the criminals?"
"There were. They all declared that they barely had time to defend themselves against the assault, and that they couldn't even begin to use their weapons before the vigilante was upon them. We do have one case though in which a criminal claimed he hit the vigilante with a bullet, but that guy was proven to be high that night, so that was not valid."
Osaki nodded in agreement. Generally, one didn't collect witness-statements from people who were under the influence of drugs, and since the vigilante had clearly not been struck with any kind of bullet, at least as far as they knew, there was nothing to corroborate the man's story either.
"That's all I have. Most criminals went down too fast to notice anything useful." Yomaura finished up her report, before she sighed deeply. "Really, why does mister Vigilante have to make it so difficult for us?"
That got a laugh out of Osaki.
"Well, Yomaura, perhaps that's because we're trying to arrest him?" He said after he'd gotten his laughter under control. "People generally don't come to us to be arrested out of their own free will."
Yomaura pouted at this laughter, before smiling as well. "It would be nice though, if they did come to us."
"It would be nice indeed." Osaki agreed.
Because Yomaura was right. This vigilante was making things very difficult for them. He had kept his looks hidden, his voice hidden, and his motivations were completely unknown as well. The only thing Osaki and Yomaura knew with some certainty was that the vigilante was oddly short, as most criminals who had actually seen him had remarked they were a lot taller.
It wasn't much to go with, and as a result, Osaki had only one half-serious theory, one that didn't hold much water at all, but did fit the evidence to a degree.
He hadn't shared the theory with his partner yet, but perhaps it was time he did, if only to have her shoot it down.
"I suspect the vigilante is from Fuyuki-City and is in fact a teenager or a young adult." He stated bluntly, before waiting for his partner's opinion.
His sudden statement earned him a surprised look, followed by a contemplative one. For a few seconds, it remained silent, as the redheaded woman went over the evidence in her mind…
"Aha!" Yomaura exclaimed when she managed to connect the dots. "So you think that the lesser height, as well as the seeming inability to travel beyond Fuyuki-City's boundaries and the loss of temper displayed against the leader of the last gang, indicate a younger age?"
"I do." Osaki nodded. "I mean, if they don't have a driver's license and are too young to leave the city without a guardian, it makes sense that they only operate within Fuyuki-City."
"Good enough for me. So now we'll just have to check every teenager in town." Yomaura said, starting out with a smile, but ending in a frown. "There have to be hundreds if not thousands of teenagers and young adults in this city alone, Senpai, how are we ever going to find the correct one?"
"By applying a few filters." Osaki replied, giving her a reassuring smile. "The vigilante must be in peak condition, intelligent, and very involved in the safety of the people. I am willing to bet there are very few teenagers who fit that description, and it is those teenagers we must find and investigate."
"I'm on it." Yomaura nodded sharply.
"Do remember though that we'll have to be subtle about this." Osaki cautioned her. "The existence of the vigilante must not become publicly known, by the orders of the superiors."
"Yes, I know, they want to continue stealing the vigilante's glory." Yomaura sighed. "I'll make sure not to step on any toes."
"I like to think it is because we do not wish to grant vigilantes any fame and because we want to avoid copy-cats, but yes, what you said it also correct." Osaki admitted, feeling a bit despondent that Yomaura's reason was likely the main one.
"I understand, Senpai. Not a word of this will leave my lips."
Emiya Shirou was once again spending his time working on a problem that had been caused by someone else and should have been fixed by someone else. The story of his life, really.
Very dramatic words to describe his current situation, which, to be honest, wasn't all that exciting. He was just helping Ayako and Sakura out with a small issue of theirs.
That small issue being a school party that had gotten slightly out of hand, or rather, very much out of hand.
To recap, the school that Ayako and Sakura attended had allowed the students to have a party the previous evening. Ayako had immediately declared her intentions to go the moment she heard of it and had convinced Sakura to go as well through excessive use of puppy dog eyes, which turned out to work surprisingly well on the plum-haired girl.
According to what the brunette had told Shirou, the music at the party had been good, the dancing had been fun, and the drinks had tasted acceptably. All in all, a succeeded event.
Perhaps a little too succeeded. By the end of the night, the school had been a total mess, as students who were normally forced to be extremely uptight were finally allowed to go wild and then really went wild.
Naturally, the school had placed the responsibility of cleaning up the mess with the students who had attended the party. On itself, that was very much doable, especially if every student pitched in, but since the party was over and the normal school-attitude had returned, including the infamous group-work rules, Sakura and Ayako had seen no other choice than to ask Shirou for help if they didn't want to be the only ones doing the clean-up.
They had been very contrite about it, apologising profusely, but Shirou had waved those apologies away. Helping people was what he did, and there wasn't much else to do on a regular Saturday anyway.
So the three of them had gotten to work early in the morning, and continued working hour after hour, steadily chipping away at the mess.
Every now and then, other students came by to help out, though they never stayed very long, to the girls' great irritation. More than once, Shirou had to restrain Ayako when she wanted to unload on some poor fool who had called it quits after barely ten minutes of helping.
In the end, the lion's share of the work had to be done by the three of them.
Well, four actually, though the last person wasn't exactly contributing much, despite having been present for almost the entire day.
"Don't just stand there staring at nothing, Emiya." A voice called out to Shirou, who had slowed down a bit. "Would be nice if you finished today at least, so stop loitering!"
The owner of the voice was Matou Shinji, Sakura's older brother, and a strange person if Shirou had ever seen one.
Shinji had shown up not long after they had begun their task that morning, and was sticking around even now, several hours after midday. In all that time, he hadn't been useful at all, instead spending his time smirking and making snide remarks.
Shirou had tried several times to get him to tone it down, but without any success. On the contrary, Shinji seemed to like it when Shirou told him off, and the blue-haired boy had spent most of the day following the redhead around, not discouraged by either lectures or being ignored.
By the time they were finished with their task, it was almost evening, and still Shinji was standing behind him, still with an enigmatic smile on his face.
It was only when Shirou was about to leave that Shinji finally showed some seriousness. He placed himself directly in Shirou's path, studied the redhead for a few seconds, and then laughed out loud, as if Shirou had told him a particularly funny joke, before slapping him on the shoulder.
"You may be an idiot, but you sure do good work." He proclaimed, throwing his arms out as if he were giving a grand speech. "I can see why Sakura values you so much. I like you, let's be friends."
"…Very well, let us be friends then, Matou-san." Shirou replied, smiling slightly. The boy was odd, but not too bad, as far as he could see, and them being friends would please Sakura if nothing else.
And just like that, Shirou and Shinji were friends.
Papers and reports laid strewn about through the guestroom of the Emiya-estate. Plans, folders, and books were stacked high in all corners. Amidst the chaos, the owner of all these objects sat, having closed his eyes to think properly.
At the evening of his death, Kiritsugu had asked three things of his son. To become a hero, to learn to save himself, and to save his adoptive sister from the Einzbern family.
That sister was Illyasviel von Einzbern.
She was Kiritsugu's true-born daughter, the one he had fathered with his wife Irisviel and the one he had been trying to save since the end of the Fourth Grail War, until his failing body eventually gave out on him.
It had been one of Kiritsugu's biggest regrets that he could not free Illya from the clutches of the Einzbern, who had been and probably still were doing terrible things to her to prepare her for the next Grail War, in which she would be sacrificed to become the Lesser Grail, just like her mother before her.
Seeing his father's pain, Shirou had promised to save Illya, and he was fully intending to make good on that promise, both for his father's sake as well as for Illya herself.
Making a plan to get her out of the Einzbern-castle had been one of Shirou's main priorities over the years, both when his dad had been alive and after the man's death, but even after all that time, he hadn't gotten much further.
The Einzbern-castle was located in Germany, in a forest far away from any kind of civilisation. Even though he knew the exact location, getting there without being noticed would be difficult, to say nothing of actually getting into the castle itself.
The Einzbern-family was one of the oldest Magus-families of Europe, famous for their, now long lost, ability to use the Third True Magic. Though they had declined in power in recent years, they were still incredibly influential in almost every corner of the Moonlit World. Their constant creation and sale of excellent Homunculi and their aptitude for Alchemy made them respected and revered everywhere.
As such, their castle was one of the grandest and best-defended places in the world. Numerous Bounded Fields, Homunculus-guards, well-trained Magi, and countless other deterrents and defences surrounded the castle on all sides, making getting in by force almost impossible.
His father may have been able to pull it off narrowly in his prime years, with a lot of assistance, resources, a few insiders, and months of extensive planning, but those years had been far behind him. After having been maimed by the Grail, Kiritsugu was no longer able to get past even just the first layer of defences.
Not that Shirou had been able to do any better. He had been just as stuck, not seeing any way how he, an untalented spellcaster without influence or friends, could ever manage to best a family like the Einzbern.
But now he had Mjolnir on his side, and that changed everything.
Saving Illya was not unfeasible goal anymore. In fact, Shirou was pretty sure he could go to Germany this very moment, attack the castle, and manage to get in relatively unharmed through the enhancements and abilities he'd gotten from Mjolnir.
One of the most convenient abilities for this particular mission would be the Magic-Resistance he had gained. He'd first been made aware of this by Mjolnir, and when testing it, he had found that low-level spells and Bounded Fields indeed did not seem to affect him, while higher level Magecraft was diminished in effect.
While it wasn't high enough for him to completely ignore every Bounded Field surrounding the Einzbern-castle, the diminishing effect would greatly help him nonetheless.
He'd also gotten another skill, one that was less immediately useful but had immense potential if it ever grew in power.
Authority.
The ability to bend Reality, to a certain extent, through sheer power of will. An ability that had been possessed by the gods of old, and now also by him, Emiya Shirou.
Though again, it wasn't really useful yet. The mention of Shirou possessing the ability to use Authority might call forth great visions of him annihilating and erasing everything in his path with a mere thought, but truth be told, he could do barely anything at all with it at the moment.
When attempting to use the skill for the first time, it had taken an enormous amount of willpower just to light a match. That was not to say it wasn't amazing, considering it had cost him no Magical Energy, no mysterious power, or anything else, it was just that it would take him years before he would have mastered Authority enough to use it in battle, so it wouldn't help him against the Einzbern. Not if he wanted to save Illya within the coming decade.
A more immediately useful skill was Regeneration, discovered when Shirou was testing the limits of his durability and had managed to cut himself with a knife he had imbued with Magical Energy and the mysterious power.
The knife had ended up piercing the skin on his upper arm, making a small cut. He had expected Avalon to take care of it, but before the legendary sheath could even get started, the wound had suddenly closed already, far faster than it should.
Yes, he just said Avalon. The legendary sheath of king Arthur was still inside of him and still very much active, or at least as active as it could be for someone who was not King Arthur herself. It had been there ever since Kiritsugu had saved him from the fire.
Shirou had actually been a bit concerned that Mjolnir might not like the presence of the sheath, but he had worried for nothing. The hammer and the sheath did not seem to have any problems with each other's presence, instead striking up a friendly relationship.
It was good to know the important weapons in his life were getting along.
So yes, Avalon had been very helpful to him. It was a mystical weapon forged by the Fairies after all, capable of healing even the most grievous of wounds, though it seemed Shirou might not need that anymore.
A quick inquiry to Mjolnir had confirmed he did in fact have a natural healing factor and regenerative abilities now. A discovery that had both gladdened and concerned him.
Gladdened, because it was yet another boon for him and his ambition to save everyone.
Concerned, because the only other beings with natural, powerful healing factors that currently existed were Dead Apostles, Demons, Types, and other generally unpleasant species. Shirou did not want to be associated with them in any way, and the fact his Regeneration worked completely differently from the abilities of the aforementioned monsters would probably not matter much to Magi.
As there was nothing he could do about it however, he just resigned himself to the fact he now had powerful regenerative abilities.
That he could now heal himself didn't mean he would discard Avalon of course. As said before, it was a mystical and mythical sheath with great historic and practical value, an EX-ranked Noble Phantasm. Even if he no longer needed its healing, it could still help him remain on the right path by virtue of being the manifestation of the Everdistant Utopia.
So he would never discard it, no matter what. He would only part with it if he ever met Arturia and she wanted it back.
Back to Illya. His Magic-Resistance, Authority, and regenerative ability coupled with his already known powers, would make invading the Einzbern-castle… well, not easy, but certainly doable.
The problem was no longer getting inside. The problem was what he would do after getting inside.
It wasn't so much convincing Illya to go with him, as according to their father, she hated it there with a passion, but it was more that the prospect of having to escape successfully with a far more vulnerable person with him seemed daunting. One mistake on his part could easily cost his sister her life.
Not to mention, even if he successfully took Illya out of there, it wasn't like the Einzbern were going to lie down and give up as soon as they were gone. The family was old, rich, and influential. At their call, a worldwide search would be initiated right away.
Shirou wasn't at all confident he could deal with that. With possibilities like tracking spells and Scrying, Shirou had better make sure first his house was an invisible and invincible fortress before attempting anything, especially since his father, and by default, Shirou himself, would be prime suspects if Illya went missing. Enforcers would be knocking on his door the very next day if he wasn't careful.
It didn't help either that Fuyuki-City would be one of the first places they would investigate, since the only use Illya had in a Magus' eyes was to serve as the Lesser Grail.
All in all, saving his sister might be feasible on itself, but keeping her with him and making sure she had a comfortable and happy life would be impossible. He would need to amass a lot more power before he could do that, so that was what he would do.
He shouldn't take too long though. His sister needed him.
'SCREE! SCREE!'
Shirou was roused from his introspections by a sudden flash of light, coupled with a screeching alarm, coming from a Runic Array that had been drawn on a piece of paper stuck to the wall.
That Runic Array was of Shirou's own design, sort of, with the purpose of spying on the police station. It was connected to a similar Rune that Shirou had drawn on one of the doors of the police station, and it was set to trigger when the number of people in the station dropped below the number he'd set for his break-in.
That might not sound like a very complicated Array, but it had been very hard to make nonetheless, especially since Shirou still did not have any good books on Runes in his possession.
What he did have however, was the internet.
Shirou wasn't a technical genius or anything, but he knew his way around computers well enough to use the internet with some proficiency, and it was on the internet that he had found a Rune-translator-site, for those interested in the tongues of Old Norway and Denmark.
Thanks to this site, as well as a few similar ones, Shirou had been able to slap together an Array that was adequate for spying on the police station. It wasn't great, but it was functional, and that was enough.
Though of course Mjolnir had decided to lend a hand and had given him the perfect version of the Array, miles better than his own, as 'a reward for his hard work'.
Ever the practical man, Shirou had accepted the improved Array and had cast it over the police station, set to off when the number of people inside was adequately low.
That moment had arrived at last, and Shirou wasn't planning on losing the opportunity.
Fifteen minutes later, Shirou was standing on the roof of a small shop across from the police-station, looking at the building he was about to break into with cautious eyes. He had 'liberated' the floorplans of the station from the archive in the townhall some time before and had carefully memorised them, but this mission nevertheless promised to be the most difficult one he'd undertaken so far.
He had to avoid being seen, but he couldn't fry the circuits in the station; He had to interrogate the criminals locked up in there, but he needed to keep them relatively silent; He needed to avoid the cops, but he couldn't take them down, as they were just people doing their jobs.
In other words, stealth was key, and being spotted even once would put an end to the whole mission.
He couldn't put it off though. There was no telling how long the criminals smelling like Magecraft would be kept in the police-station before being transferred to prison. It might be now or never for all that Shirou knew.
As such, he would break in now.
Shirou raised Mjolnir into the air, channelling the mysterious power through it to call upon the mist and the fog to rise throughout the city. White and dense mist came forth at his call, spreading through the streets and concentrating itself around the station.
When it was thick enough to easily hide a person from view, Shirou launched himself at the building, flying up towards the seventh floor, remaining unseen in the dense fog. He went that high because security seemed a little laxer at the higher levels, which was perhaps only natural. It wasn't like criminals could fly after all.
He landed next to a small window, just large enough for him to enter through. The camera watching this particular window was easily fooled through a small application of the mysterious power, practically looping the footage by messing with the electric signals. It was very subtle, easily missed if you did not study the cameras very closely, which Shirou assumed nobody was doing.
He dealt with the lock on the window by Reinforcing it until it soundlessly broke, allowing Shirou to enter the room behind it. Not sticking around to take a closer look at the room itself, he opened the door leading to the hall and walked to the stairs to get to the cellblocks, taking care to 'fool' any camera he came across before it could catch sight of him.
The holding cells were located on the third floor, so that was where he had to go.
Shirou sneaked down the stairs, constantly keeping watch for guards or wandering officers. For the first three flights however, he encountered no one, to his relief.
Things would only get more difficult from here on however, as the way to the holding cells would lead him directly through one of the busiest rooms of the building; The central detective area on the third floor, where all detectives had a desk and shared information about their cases with each other.
He would have to be very careful to not be noticed, perhaps create some kind of distraction too, just to be safe.
Nodding once to himself, Shirou continued making his way down. He rounded the first corner of the stairs…
…And came face to face with an officer going up those very same stairs.
Said officer had just been in the middle of yawning when he noticed the intruder standing in front of him, causing him to freeze for a second. Shirou could clearly see how the eyes widened and the mouth remained open, but also how the man inhaled deeply in preparation for a cry for help.
Before he could make a sound however, Shirou promptly grabbed him by the throat. He then forced eye-contact between them, and immediately Hypnotized the man.
"You will be silent and follow my commands." Shirou whispered, his voice echoing menacingly as the Magical Energy reverberated in it.
The officer ceased his struggles at once, and Shirou let him down again, before deciding he might as well profit from this development.
"How many people are present on the third floor right now?" He questioned the officer, still using Hypnosis.
"I don't know the exact numbers." The man replied, rubbing his throat, which was already starting to bruise. "I can tell you it is less busy than normal though, as many officers and detectives had to work overtime during the last weeks and are now taking some well-deserved time off. Even Osaki and Yomaura have gone home for today. Heh, guess that proves they are just human, like the rest of us."
Shirou nodded at the information, before ordering the man to follow him as he continued his way down to the third floor. Once they arrived at the door of the staircase, behind which the central detective area was located, he halted again.
"Open this door and hold it open of a while. Let me look into the room behind it." He commanded the officer, who immediately moved to obey, opening the door to allow Shirou a look.
From his hiding place in the shadows, Shirou keenly observed the area, taking careful note of the people present, as well as the hallway that he would have to reach if he wanted to get to the cellblocks, which was located to the left of his current position.
"Go to the cellblocks and see if there are any officers or detectives there. After you're done, report back to me." He told his temporary sidekick once he'd had a good look.
The officer nodded, before walking through the door, while Shirou slunk back into the shadows again. It did grate him that he had to Hypnotize and use an innocent man like this, but the officer wouldn't be hurt, and it was the most peaceful and painless option available, so he carried on.
A few minutes later, the man came back, reporting that there was only one detective still present in the cellblock, who was currently questioning one of the criminals.
"Excellent work." Shirou praised, before giving his next set of orders. "I want you to walk into the central detective area, and 'accidentally' turn off the lights. Make sure to apologize profusely but keep the lights turned off long enough for me to slip by unnoticed. After that, follow me again."
"Ah, I'm sorry, but in this building, nobody can shut down all the lights in a large area by themselves, that is impossible." The officer said. "For safety-purposes, the light-switches that connect to different lamps in the room are placed far away from each other. I can however darken the part between here and the cellblock if you want?"
"Very well. Do that." Shirou nodded. "Good luck, eh, dude."
"Mino Masuhiro." The man said, before he went back into the central detective area. Only a minute later, people suddenly cried in shock as a part of the lights went out.
Shirou immediately entered the central area and sneaked to the door of the cellblocks, quickly slipping inside, before waiting for Mino to join him.
He didn't have to wait long. Mino arrived a few seconds later, and then led him to the room that held the only detective present in the cellblocks, who was currently interrogating a prisoner.
A prisoner smelling like Magecraft.
Shirou smiled under his mask as he realised that. This would be two birds with one stone. Shirou could neutralise the detective and interrogate the criminal at the same time. What a lucky break.
As he prepared to go inside however, Mino suddenly spoke up unprompted.
"If you're going in," He said, a faint note of hope in his voice that took Shirou aback to hear. "Can you perhaps do something about that guy in there, Kurata Shojiro?"
...Alright, that was weird. People under Hypnosis were supposed to be in a trance, only able to follow commands. They weren't supposed to ask for favours, and especially not with an actual inflection in their tone.
Strange indeed, just like the question itself.
"Why?" Shirou asked, somewhat harsher than intended. "Do you need him silenced?"
If it turned out that Mino was corrupt and wanted Shirou to silence someone who could potentially betray him, then Mino would wake up the coming morning with an enormous headache and an irrepressible urge to confess his misdeeds to the other officers.
"No, I don't have anything to do with him." Mino denied promptly. "It's just that we don't have much evidence on him, as he was picked up a few dozen yards away from the main hideout of his gang. Now he insists on being an 'unfortunate victim of circumstances', which is complete nonsense of course. It was enough to significantly delay his trial though, as well as giving his lawyer something to work with. He might even walk if nothing happens, so again, can you do anything?"
"… I'll see what I can do." Shirou murmured, going over his options in his head. Eventually, he settled on just planting a 'suggestion' in the man's mind to get him to confess his misdeeds, just like he did with Sawachika. If this Kurata truly was innocent, he would have nothing to tell the cops. If he wasn't, then the truth would come out and he would go behind bars, where he belonged.
His plan made, Shirou promptly entered the interrogation room, coming face-to-face with two men, one young and one elderly.
"Excuse me. What is the meaning of this?"
"It's you, you fucking bastard!"
Was said by the detective and the crook respectively. Before they could continue, or worse, try to flee or raise the alarm, Shirou looked both of them in the eyes and spoke:
"Remain quiet and do exactly as I say." And with that, he now had three people under his thrall.
Shirou then directed the detective as well as Mino to stand guard outside of the room and deter anyone from entering, while he turned his attention towards Kurata, who was impassively staring at him, the Hypnosis still in full effect.
"Where did you recognize me from?" He asked first, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"You are the guy that knocked me out and called the police on me." The thug responded. "You came out of nowhere and beat me so hard I had a headache for three days straight."
"I see, my apologies." Shirou muttered, feeling somewhat guilty for that, even if the man was a confessed criminal. "Tell me everything about yourself, your criminal activities, and your accomplices. Include even the parts that might seem unimportant to you."
The man promptly obeyed, telling Shirou about his criminal past. He covered everything, from the moment of his birth to the moment he got kicked out of his family's house.
"I mean, that kinda hurt, but things were simpler back then, better, cheaper, easier." Kurata sighed nostalgically. "Just me and my friends, working together. We weren't rich, or particularly powerful, but we were happy."
"What happened?"
"Some guy approached us. He offered to pay us big for any person we could abduct and bring to him without it causing too much fuss. So we brought him some people, and we got paid. With that money, I got us to the top of Ise's food chain. Ise is our hometown by the way, don't know if you've heard of it."
That sounded very similar to Sawachika's story, and the rest of Kurata's tale wasn't any different either. Both men had profited from the stranger's money, lived the good life for some years, and then had everything fall apart around them when the police and rival gangs suddenly cracked down on them with a vengeance.
The only difference was that Kurata had no idea how the downfall could have happened, and as such did not bear any grudges against his mysterious benefactors, who, in his case, had been a blonde, Southern-European woman, instead of a black-haired Southern-European man. That was the limit of what Kurata could tell him about the Magi though, even after Shirou removed every memory-block he could find.
Finished with his interrogation, Shirou reapplied those memory-blocks and added a few of his own, along with a small suggestion for the man to confess to his misdeeds at the earliest opportunity.
Leaving Kurata sitting at the table, Shirou returned outside, where Mino and the elderly detective were still waiting for him. After commanding them to take him to more criminals, Shirou took the time to carefully alter their memories as well. The detective would only remember talking with Kurata for hours on end, until said criminal suddenly started confessing as if Satan himself was making him do so, while Mino would only remember being restless, accidentally turning off the lights once, and eventually assisting the elderly detective with the questioning of Kurata.
In total, Shirou interrogated three more criminals smelling like Magecraft, bringing the total number of criminals interrogated to five if one counted Sawachika. Those criminals were all very different people, yet their story was the same every time.
A band of relatively successful but small-time criminals with a lot of ambition would suddenly be visited by a mysterious stranger. The stranger offered them money in exchange for services, somehow managing to convince all members of the gang to accept their offer, even when that went against their characters or morals.
Those services were always the same too: to abduct people who would not be missed and sell them to their 'benefactor'. The gang members, now working for the Magus, would find themselves rising to the top fast, through both money from the mysterious stranger and, more notably, through a series of happy 'coincidences' that were most likely orchestrated by the Magus as well.
After a while of being at the top though, the gang would inevitably fall hard when rival gangs and the police would suddenly make major headway in opposing the formerly so powerful gang. Most of the members would be scattered and arrested, and the few that escaped would flee to other cities.
It happened in Hikone and in Ise, and in Inuyama, Urayasu, and Iwakuni.
Whoever those Magi were, Shirou had to admit they knew what they were doing. They had struck so many places, yet the mundane authorities practically had no chance of ever finding them, let alone arresting them, while the Magus Association did not know about their practises and would not care even if they did.
As such, it fell to Shirou to deal with them, and to do that, he would have to visit the aforementioned cities himself, to search for clues about the Magi. It shouldn't be that hard, mostly. Four out of five of them were close enough for him to reach in little time, but Hikone, home city of Sawachika, was too far to visit in one night. He would have to think of something to get to that place later.
Another matter he had been curious about was why the crooks had all chosen Fuyuki as their new place of residence, when some of their home-cities were so far away.
The criminals had had no answer for him when he asked, except that 'it had felt right', which indicated the use of even more Hypnosis, though the why of it remained yet another mystery for the redhead.
As there were no more criminals smelling like Magecraft for him to interrogate, Shirou would not find the answer tonight however, and it would be best if he left the station as soon as he could.
He politely said his goodbyes to the men who had led him around, before walking to the nearest window without bars, opening it and flying away at top speed, remaining unnoticed to any prying eyes because of the fog that was still around the station.
He landed in his backyard a few minutes later, and promptly put away his vigilante outfit in his shed, before he returned to his house proper, changed into his pyjamas, brushed his teeth, and dropped himself onto his futon.
It was already very, very late, and Shirou was honestly tired, but sleep eluded him. His mind was still whirling with the information he'd obtained, and he was unlikely to fall asleep for at least another hour. Chances were that he would oversleep too the coming morning.
If that was the case, then Sakura would have to prepare breakfast, for the first time since Mjolnir had arrived, and she would have to wake him up as well.
It somewhat grated him that it was necessarily for her to do all that work, but, if he was honest, being roused by Sakura was certainly not the worst way to wake up.
In fact, it was one of the best he could imagine.
The sunrise was stunning to behold, the birds were singing merrily, the dew on the grass leaves shone with light, and the sky was breathtakingly blue.
Though Sakura had been never a person who cared much about nature's beauty, she had to admit that today, even she was almost tempted to stop and smell the roses and to appreciate the view that this wonderful morning could offer.
For some reason, nature really seemed to be showing off today, and Sakura wondered why that was.
Then again, it might be that she was just imagining it. She had heard somewhere that a good mood could make you look upon the world with rose-tinted glasses, so perhaps that was what was happening to her now.
Or was it being in love that gave you those rose-tinted glasses?
Either way, it applied to her, for she was both in love and in an excellent mood.
In fact, those things were connected. The reason she was so happy was because the one she loved was happy, happier than ever before even.
Sakura had known Emiya Shirou for several years now, and in all that time, he had seemed… sad.
Yes, permanently sad was probably the best description of her Senpai's general mood. He almost never laughed, barely smiled, and did not seem to enjoy anything at all, unless his actions benefitted other people. He had been sad, and that in turn had made her sad as well.
Lately though, her Senpai had improved. He suddenly laughed more, truly smiled during random moments like a normal person, and even made new friends in Ayako and her brother, as well as Ryuudou-san.
Something was making him happy, and Sakura couldn't be happier about it herself. She was falling in love with him all over again, and it made the world shine like never before in her eyes.
Entering her Senpai's house, which also seemed to shine brighter than ever, Sakura made her way over the kitchen, fully expecting to find him hard at work already to prepare breakfast.
She was very taken aback however to find that the kitchen was empty, and that her crush was nowhere in sight. For the first time in weeks, her arrival preceded him waking up.
In other words, breakfast was hers to make today.
A smile came to her face at that conclusion, and she happily clapped her hands, before scurrying to the kitchen to make a meal.
She took out the pots and pans required and turned on the stove. Humming a merry tune, she cut the vegetables and put the meat in the pan, carefully tending to the cuts of beef until they were nicely done. Then she added the vegetables and prepared a few rice bowls as a side dish.
Eventually, all that was left was to let the food warm up a bit more on the stove, giving her some time to wake up Senpai.
Sakura quickly went to his bedroom, where she found him on his futon, which relieved her a bit, as the past three times she'd woken him up, he'd been sleeping in the shed.
She stepped inside his room, intending to shake him awake and tell him that breakfast was ready. Half-way to his side though, she stopped moving, looking intently at his form and especially his face.
Her Senpai was asleep on his futon, looking completely peaceful and relaxed. His face was perfectly calm, with not a wrinkle or frown present. He had always been handsome in her eyes, but like this, it was even more accentuated.
A minute went by like this, with Sakura staring intently at her crush, unable to move or even just tear her eyes away. Was it just her, or had he actually become more handsome all of a sudden?
It had to be just her, right? Surely, it wasn't possible for him to get more handsome overnight, especially since he already was so handsome to begin with.
She began breathing a bit more heavily, hands grasping at her sides as if trying to grab something. Standing so close to her Senpai, the reaffirmation of her crush on him hit her like a truck. Her mind played back all the highlights of their relationship, with her body refusing to move an inch.
Then, almost involuntarily, though she did not truly try to stop herself, she took a step in his direction, and then another step, and another. She eventually made it to his side like that, kneeling next to him and bowing her head down, her eyes fixed on his lips, the blush on her face increasing until her face resembled a tomato.
She was so absorbed in the view that she didn't even notice that the Crest-Worms didn't give a twitch, despite her obvious arousal.
Her mind was empty, her focus only on what was before her. Had Sakura been thinking straight, she would have been appalled at her own actions, but for some reason, she couldn't stop herself from bowing her head lower and lower...
Until she kissed him.
It was only a chaste kiss, nothing more than pressing her lips to his for the slightest of moments, but it was enough to make her knees weak and make butterflies flap around in her stomach. Even that small sign of affection was amazing-
…?
She shot up, her hand smacking against her lips as the shock at her own audaciousness hit her. She hastily stumbled a few steps backwards, the last few seconds playing over and over in her mind.
She had just kissed her Senpai!
She! Kissed! Senpai!
What?! WHY?! What on Earth had possessed her to do that? She wasn't some creep who would kiss people while they were sleeping, that was incredibly inappropriate.
'But you liked it.' A small, treacherous part of her mind whispered. 'Admit it, that felt really nice.'
Well, yes, it felt very nice, but that was not important. She couldn't just take advantage of her crush in his sleep! What if he had woken up when she had her head above his? What would he have thought of her? He would have thought her a creep and a pervert, that's what!
Rapidly shaking her head to dispel any thought of her first kiss, she set to completing the task she came here to do, shaking her Senpai lightly to wake him up.
"Wake up, Senpai." She said with forced calm. "It's morning."
With a small grunt, he awoke, blinking blearily as he looked at her. It did not take him long to figure out what was going on, and he gave her a smile, which made her heart flutter even more.
"Good morning, Sakura-a-a-a." He said, interrupted by a large yawn that he covered with his hand. "Let me guess, I overslept, and you had to do all the work?"
"I-It's not a problem, Senpai." Sakura protested, her instincts to reassure him temporarily overwriting her embarrassment. "L-Like I said before, I should do some work around here too."
"Well, thank you very much then." He said, standing up and placing a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "I am very happy to have you as my friend."
Well, that brought the memories of the kiss back right away, and his hand on her shoulder only exacerbated the issue. Feeling another massive blush come up, Sakura stuttered a quick thank-you, before fleeing back to the kitchen, hoping the embarrassment would be gone by the time her Senpai would join her.
In her haste to flee her Senpai's room though, she completely missed him pressing a finger against his lips, wondering about the strange, but not unpleasant tingling he felt there, as well as what Mjolnir was so amused about all of a sudden.
In the meantime, Sakura had returned to the kitchen, where she continued cooking in an attempt to forget about what had just happened. It didn't work, but with a massive exertion of her iron will, she at least managed to get her blush down in time before her Senpai joined her again.
Without her needing to say a word, he started setting the table, preparing the dining room for the appearance of the Hungry Tiger, and Sakura sighed in relief at the respite she was granted.
The relief became even greater when the aforementioned Wild Beast showed up a few minutes later, providing a sufficient distraction for her embarrassment to not be noticed for a few more minutes, which was the time she needed to completely vanquish it.
By the time they all sat around the table and had begun eating, Sakura was back to normal and ready to join the conversation again.
"The weather has been really weird for these past days, hasn't it?" Fujimura-Sensei huffed, bringing the subject to the weather, which Sakura was perfectly fine with. "Storms appearing out of nowhere, and disappearing just as fast, random rains all the time, clouds circling around like the wind is just a suggestion, and that heavy fog that came out of the blue last night. I do not like it; this could potentially injure someone. Maybe even me!"
That last part was said in such a whiny, theatrical voice Sakura could not suppress a few giggles, while Shirou cracked a smile, which, at second glance, appeared oddly brittle.
"Ah yes, I have noticed the same." He said, and for some reason, a muscle below his eye seemed to be twitching. "Fuyuki-City sure has to deal with a lot of strange things these days, doesn't it? The vigilante, and the strange weather…"
"The vigilante is indeed very odd." Fujimura-Sensei nodded, before holding up a finger. "But let's not delude ourselves. This weather is probably an effect of that Global Warming-thing that's in the news so often these days."
"…Probably." Shirou nodded after a moment.
"Uhm." Sakura raised her hand slightly to ask a question. "What does Global Warming mean?"
"Global Warming is the effect of the increased air pollution, Sakura." Senpai promptly explained, even as Fujimura-Sensei gave her a weird look for not knowing. "Simply said, it's what happens when all of the pollution in the air prevents the warmth on the Earth from leaving into space, which results in higher average temperatures. This can have disastrous outcomes for the climate and the weather patterns, often resulting in freakish occurrences such as the storms of the past weeks."
"Correct, Shirou." Fujimura-Sensei sighed, having gotten over her surprise. "I guess it's just the Earth itself expressing its unhappiness with us. Can't really blame it either. I would try to destroy humanity as well if I was her."
"I suppose it is slowly becoming a fight to the death for the Earth." Shirou agreed.
"Heh heh, yeah." Sakura fake-laughed, feeling distinctly uncomfortable with the subject. Would it go over well with the other two if she explained that Mother Earth, Gaia, was in fact trying to destroy humanity?
Probably not. If she told them the truth, and by some miracle, they believed her, Fujimura-Sensei would probably just have a panic-attack, while Senpai might try something stupid like appeasing Gaia. That did seem like something he would do.
Not that it would work of course. Humans couldn't communicate with Gaia, and even if they could, beings like Primate Murder would not take kindly to it at all.
So she kept quiet. She kept quiet about the truth of the world, and smiled peacefully whenever she was looked at.
She was getting very, very good at that; Smiling without meaning it.
Hurried footsteps echoed through a dark and deserted hall in an ancient castle, only lit by torches. It was very late at night, at a time where only owls should be out and about, yet someone was clearly still awake and moving inside the stone walls.
That someone was a man, young and handsome, on his way to the well-lit room at the end of the hall, where his companions were waiting for him.
On itself, that wasn't necessarily anything strange, a man wishing to join his companions, even if it was late at night. Maybe they just wanted to drink together, or they were working together on a project that was due tomorrow, or something similar.
That it took place inside a massive castle was admittedly odd, but even then, a number of logical explanations could easily be found that would make this scene a very normal one.
This was definitely not a normal scene however, for this man was not a normal man.
This man was a Magus. A practitioner of Thaumaturgy. A worker of Miracles. He was a man of Magecraft, and so were his companions.
In other words, nothing about them was normal. Nothing at all. Even the upcoming meeting was about something… unusual, to say the least.
Entering the room that was his destination, the man, Joseph Balefor, quickly swept his gaze around.
It was a very luxurious room, even to the standards of Magi. Expensive paintings hung on the walls, intricate tapestries had been placed next to them, numerous pieces of indiscernible modern art were standing around on pedestals, and the furniture was undoubtedly top-notch.
Furthermore, a warm fire, obviously magical in nature, burned in the hearth, and five comfortable and no doubt ridiculously expensive armchairs were set in a half-circle around it.
Four of the five chairs were occupied, by Balefor's companions, each one of them wearing clothes and jewellery that cost more than the Japanese average yearly salary.
Balefor was clad much more modestly in comparison, but that was only because he had just come from his Workshop. He too possessed fine clothes and jewellery, he had just chosen not to wear them at this point in time.
"Ah, Joseph." The oldest man present, a fine-looking gentleman with blonde hair and a face that was handsome for his age, said in a welcoming tone, his grey eyes containing nothing but mirth and joy. "Do come in, but close the door please, the cold is getting in."
The man who had spoken to Joseph was named Richard Burgon, the 'leader' of their little club. He was also the founding member, alongside one other, and he was someone Balefor had no choice but to obey, usually.
"Of course, Lord Burgon." Balefor simpered, before closing the door and taking his place next to the hearth.
"You are late." The woman on his right, Meire Palerna, sniffed, not appearing at all happy with the delay.
She was a beautiful woman, and she knew it too. With her light-blonde hair, sharp cheekbones, cute button-nose, full lips, and unmarred skin, she would be considered an ideal beauty in almost every country on Earth.
Too bad her personality was atrocious.
"We are here to discuss the recent happenings in Fuyuki-City, right?" Balefor asked, ignoring the woman, to her obvious annoyance. "I don't mean to be rude, but I was in the middle of something, so I'd appreciate it if we could get to business now."
"Indeed." Burgon said, still smiling kindly as he motioned for Palerna to calm down. "I apologise for calling you away. You weren't working on anything too important I hope?"
Yes, he had in fact been working on something important.
He couldn't just say that though.
"No, don't worry." Balefor lied, waving his hand as if to brush away any possible mention of inconvenience. "It was not very important. We have many research-specimens in stock for if it fails, so I can redo it as often as I need."
"Having plenty of resources is such an amazing thing, is it not?" Burgon chuckled in agreement. "Why, one could say that it is-"
"Alright! Enough idle prattle!" Allesandro Alva rudely interjected, his normally olive skin red in agitation and his handsome face set in an expression of impatient rage. "I myself do in fact have more important matters to attend to, so say your piece and say it quick, Burgon."
Alva's temper had always been short, as was typical of Southern-European men, but Balefor noticed it seemed extra short today for some reason.
"I would very much like to 'say my piece', but it was not me who called us all together, Allesandro, my friend." Burgon answered, aiming his smile at the irate man. "Oliver was the one who did that."
Oliver Waudenstad looked up from his papers when his name was mentioned, his bald head shining in the light of the fire, making his beady eyes and shifty smile stand out even more. Balefor had realized early on that the man, who looked quite rat-like, was not entirely right in the head, but Waudenstad was intelligent, driven and meticulous, as well as relatively trustworthy, so they kept him around anyway.
"Hm, yes, thanks." Waudenstad muttered, his tongue coming out to wet his lips several times. "Hm, it would seem that all of the criminals we sent to Fuyuki-City have been arrested by the police, hm, yes?"
It was silent for several seconds following that declaration, before…
"WHAT?!" Alva thundered in shock and dismay. "All of them?!"
"That is most unexpected." Burgon muttered.
"Did the Second Owner of the territory, that Tohsaka-girl, finally realize there were dozens of criminals with traces of Thaumaturgy on them inside her borders?" Palerna sneered, her face the picture of haughty annoyance. "Because if that is the case, it certainly took her long enough. We sent the first one to her city years ago."
"It does not seem like she was involved in their capture." Waudenstad said in a neutral voice.
Alva snorted, crossing his arms and assuming a look every bit as haughty as Palerna's. "Of course not. She's but a young, foolish girl without proper training. The idea she could be so competent is ludicrous."
"Be happy with that." Balefor himself snapped. "If she was smarter or more resourceful, she would never fall for our trap."
"Listen to young Joseph." Burgon laughed. "He speaks sense. If we want to succeed in our plot to get our hands on an excellent specimen that will not be missed by anyone of importance, it is needed for said specimen to be less than average in terms of intelligence."
"The fact remains however," Waudenstad interjected, his eyes shifting to look at everyone in the room at least once, "that our little moles have been caught, without any interference of the girl as far as I can tell."
"How then?" Palerna demanded.
"Publicly, they say it was through the brave and unrelenting efforts of Fuyuki-City's efficient police-force." Waudenstad chittered, with a small smile tugging at his lips. His words were met with raised eyebrows from everyone in the room, making the tug grow out to a real smile, however small.
"I didn't believe it either." He giggled. "So, I did some digging, and I found out through one of my sources that the police weren't responsible at all. It was a vigilante."
"A vigilante?" Balefor asked before he could stop himself.
"Yes, a vigilante." Waudenstad repeated, looking oddly excited at the concept. "And a surprisingly effective one as well. I would have thought someone like that would have gotten a bullet through the skull on their second try, but nope. This one has been going strong for almost a month now."
"And they are the one who has ruined our plan?" Palerna asked sceptically, to which Waudenstad nodded. "Who are they?"
"I have no idea."
Raised eyebrows all around once more.
"Tsch, it is not through any fault of my own." Waudenstad grumbled. "My spies and informants were not placed on the investigation, and the ones who are dealing with the case of the vigilante are not for sale for anything I could offer them."
"Aren't there any other options besides bribing them?" Alva asked, having calmed down all of a sudden. "Hypnotize them? Kidnap their family? Stage an attack to get rid of them? Something drastic."
Ah, of course. The prospect of senseless violence was enough to keep Alva interested and relatively calm, how predictable.
Waudenstad however already shook his head long before Alva was finished. "That would attract too much attention." He countered. "If this vigilante is in fact a user of Thaumaturgy, as I am suspecting at the moment, such a move could cost us dearly in the long term."
"Are we sure Tohsaka is not the vigilante?" Burgon asked.
It was silent again for a few seconds following the old man's question, and then everyone, Burgon himself included, laughed out loud at the idea.
"No, of course not." Burgon answered his own question, shaking his head mirthfully. "I would like to think even Asians have too much pride in their own crafts to waste Magical Energy on capturing mundane criminals."
"I concur." Balefor nodded. "Asians aren't very smart, but even they should be able to see the ridiculousness of such actions."
"The question remains however, what we will do next." Waudenstad interrupted, having long since stopped laughing. "We have been sending those criminals there in the hope that it would prompt the Tohsaka-girl to investigate and fall into our trap, but that plan seems to have failed."
"Well, yes, but it was a long shot anyway." Burgon countered, shrugging slightly. "We will have to try something else. It is not as if we're short on resources, are we?"
"No, we still have plenty of everything." Waudenstad replied curtly.
"Including research-specimens?"
"We have many gang leaders in our employ, and they provide us with a steady influx of test-subjects. The storage is full of them. Sure, we also sell large numbers, but we can cut the sales if need be."
"I am glad to hear it." Burgon smiled, before addressing the group at large again. "The matter with the Tohsaka-girl was a small setback, but ultimately means nothing in the grand scheme of things. We are still perfectly on schedule."
"But we will try again to obtain the girl?" Alva asked.
"Of course." Burgon nodded kindly. "Now, I have no concrete plan, and I don't think you do either, but that doesn't matter, for we are not in a hurry. Think about it over the coming days, and we'll see what we can come up with."
"Was that all then?" Balefor inquired politely, sensing the end of the meeting was near. "I don't mean to be rude, but I was working on the next generation of Chimeras to protect the castle, and I would like to get back to it."
"Of course." Burgon's eyes twinkled in mirth. "Far be it from me to try and obstruct hasty youths. The best of luck to you."
Balefor nodded once, before he rushed out of the room again, back to his laboratory, where he would probably spend the rest of the night working on his projects.
It wasn't very healthy to pull all-nighters like that, but he had no other choice. His dreams had been terrifying as of late, and they made him reluctant to fall asleep.
He didn't remember much of the dreams, but he did recall a single man with white clothes and a large grin on his face, making cut-throat gestures and silently laughing at him.
It was enough to drive him into a panic sometimes. He might not know the white-clothed man, but he was still scary, and sometimes, his face shifted into the face of someone else, a face that reminded Balefor far too much of someone he did know. Someone who was no doubt hunting him down even now.
But there was nothing to fear, surely? He was in Japan, thousands of kilometres away from London. There was no way his old enemy would be able to find him here.
There was just no way.
Thousands of kilometres away, in the heart of London, in a secluded room filled with furniture, papers and unfinished projects, a man sat in silence, not saying a single word, and not moving a muscle, despite the pen in his hand being poised for writing, hanging above a piece of paper with an unfinished text written on it.
He was supposed to be grading the tests of his students, who had probably all scored excellently again, but for some reason, he just couldn't keep his attention on that task.
It was odd really. Grading papers of the first-year students was something he could normally do in his sleep, but now it seemed nigh-impossible.
It might have something to do with the meeting he would have tomorrow with the esteemed elders of his family, during which they would snipe and scoff at him again for supposedly costing them their Crest, but those meetings, or their words, had never bothered him before. Not enough to make him restless like this.
Perhaps it had something to do with the lack of sleep he'd suffered over the past months then? Ever since Lord Balefor had been murdered by his rotten nephew, who had then stolen his Crest as well, he hadn't been sleeping enough. Instead, he'd spent many a night looking for clues as to where that damned Joseph could have fled to, as well as managing the efforts of the Enforcers with the same goal.
Putting the pen down, the man rubbed his tired eyes, close to deciding to just let it lay, both the grading and the matter with Joseph, and go to bed now. Nothing could be achieved if he was in a state like this.
Just as he was about to get up to make for his personal room to get some rest though, the door of his office opened and an Enforcer stepped through.
Rising an eyebrow at the development, the man behind the desk did not say a word, instead remaining seated and ready to accept whatever message the other man had for him.
"My Lord." The Enforcer said, giving a quick salute, before presenting a thick file. "We have found a clue as to where Joseph Balefor might have fled to."
The lord behind the desk blinked once, his sleep-deprived mind not catching up at first, before the penny dropped and he grinned widely, holding out a hand to accept the report.
Quickly flipping through the pages, the lord couldn't hold back a smile. This was excellent, there wasn't just one clue, there were dozens. Enough to even determine the country that accursed murderer had fled to.
Soon he'd be able to avenge his respected colleague. He only needed to go to…
The smile froze on his face, the widening eyes being the only indication of the shock coursing through his system.
"Sir?" The Enforcer asked, cocking his head to the side. "Sir, are you well?"
"Ahem, yes, I am." The lord nodded, snapping out of his shock. "Good work. Now, leave me."
The dismissal was abrupt, but the Enforcer didn't even bat an eye, instead making himself scarce immediately, recognizing his employer had nothing more to say to him.
After making sure the Enforcer was gone, the Lord buried his face in his hands in a gesture of desperation.
'Dear God, why that country again?'
And boom, done.
Another chapter full of good and less good times. A lot of POV's came up here, with all kinds of people hunting others and slowly closing in on those other people from all sides.
So yeah, I made five OC's, but don't worry too much about them, they'll die soon anyway without ever coming back except when mentioned in passing, nothing important.
And for anyone wondering why their plan of kidnapping Rin was so lousy, well, that's because those Magi are dumb. Okay, dumb is not the correct word, as they certainly have a certain amount of cunning and intelligence, but they are arrogant to the bone and do not have much grip on reality anymore.
They have grown fat and lazy on their continued successes, while expecting everything to go as they want. After all, the only ones they have to worry about are the Clocktower, which does not have much of a presence in Japan; Rin herself, who they consider to be an uneducated, Asian Hedge Mage; and any possible other Magi who want to take their research.
Hell, just realize that Rin would probably go straight to Kirei if she had found the crooks herself and you'll understand those Magi did not think things through properly.
Avalon and Mjolnir are becoming buddies in their shared mission to keep Shirou safe.
Also Shinji, just be patient with him.
Sakura gets a bit naughty with her sleeping Senpai, but both the wards around the house as well as Shirou's own divine presence keep the worms down.
Osaki and Yomaura are searching for their perpetrator, drawing all kinds of conclusions, sometimes even the right ones, if for the wrong reasons. Shirou will have to confront them sooner or later, so that's something to look forward to (or not, your own choice).
And for those of you who are wondering why Shirou is grabbing everyone at the throat, well, I have found that throatgrabbing is something all Asgardians gladly participate in, so now Shirou has picked that habit up as well.
Edit: Special thanks to hollowichigo12 for helping me work out ideas for this story. I had forgotten to add this at first, and that was not polite or gentlemanly at all, so here it is after all.
Ah well, cheers.
Ted.