"I think that Emiya-san would fit in Unit…" she paused, "Ten." She looked back onto the other chiefs and elaborated, "That is, Shirou Emiya will be the third member of my unit."

"Commander, I have a question," said a girl with short blonde hair as she raised her hand.

"Yes, Tenka?" Yamashiro looked back.

"May I ask why Emiya-san will be placed in Unit Ten?"

With a relaxed smile, Yamashiro answered, "It's because I personally wish to tutor Emiya-san on how the Anti-Demon Corps and Shuuki work. After a week has passed, he will act as a supplementary member for any unit so long as he is available."

As Yamashiro was explaining, I caught the sight of Tobera on her tiptoes, whispering something to Fubuki. It was a sight akin to a daughter gossiping to her mother, but from what Fubuki said, it was the other way around.

Honestly, I had seen stranger things.

I had nothing to do with their conversation though, so I looked back to Ren, and as I did, she announced, "Emiya-san, since you currently do not have an identity, we will be leaving Mato in order to forge you a registration certificate."

I nodded. "Yes, Yamashiro-san." It was surreal to know that I had no identity, but the fact that there were no records of me or Fuyuki solidified Yamashiro's hypothesis.

Besides, said hypothesis was believable: I had been sucked up by the Grail before I came to Mato, so the Grail could have transported me here.

"Ah." I quietly grimaced. I remembered Rin as I thought of the Grail. And with my thoughts of Rin came thoughts of Sakura, and especially Fuji-nee.

Knowing that I had left them — even through means beyond my control — made my heart ache.

Just a few days ago, Rin and I had been sitting over a hill on a grassy field, with Rin leaning against me, looking up at the clear winter sky. I remembered the cold breeze, along with the strange sense of serenity as I confessed to her.

Just knowing that I was likely to never meet her again hurt my chest more than when Lancer pierced my heart with Gae Bolg.

Though, it brought solace to know that letting myself be taken by the Grail had prevented Gilgamesh's escape, and in turn, ensured that the Fuyuki had been saved.

Tobera approached Yamashiro with an easy-going gait. "Hey Commander, I've been wondering about his abilities," she said, pointing at me. "And I'm pretty sure that everyone else has been wondering the same thing."

From what Fubuki had said, Tobera was supposed to be far older than she looked, but I doubted it with the way she was acting.

Then I thought of Ilya, which… yeah, maybe she really was.

"Indeed, I am curious as well," Yamashiro — was I supposed to call her Chief or Commander? — affirmed. "I suppose that it would be far more convenient to note his abilities now rather than later." She looked at me. "Very well, Emiya-san, would you mind showing us your abilities?"

I mentally sighed. I had been expecting something like this. "Not at all, Yam—Commander." That was something I was going to have to get used to.

Fubuki raised her hand. "I wish to spar with him, Commander," she said. "I think it would be best to see him in action."

Well, that was a surprise. I had pegged her as a "silent observer" type. Was she actually a thrill-seeker?

Yamashiro nodded. "You may, Fubuki. However, it's his choice." She turned to look at me, as did the other chiefs.

They all had stern expressions, but even I could see from the glint in their eyes that they wanted to see me to accept.

Thinking about it, getting familiar with the abilities of a Chief could prove useful; Yamashiro did say that I was going to be working with everyone once I was done being lectured. And so I nodded. "I'll do it."

"Good." Yamashiro stood up and began to walk out of the room. "Bell, come with me." A blue-haired girl followed. "Everyone else, go to the area just in the front yard." With that, she departed, along with her companion—Bell, apparently.

It was at that moment that I realised Ren Yamashiro was a cruel woman: she'd left me in a room full of total strangers.

"Geh." I made an uncharacteristic sound, and the Chiefs — along with Tobera — turned to look at me.

This was horribly awkward. In fact, this may as well have been the most awkward moment of my life. Sure, this situation was like the first day in a new school where everyone had to do a self-introduction, but this was worse. Back then, I had the luxury of knowing that everyone else didn't know each other, but this was absolutely different.

My thoughts of my first day in high school gave me the idea of introducing myself, but it seemed that I had an EX-rank in Instinct as I knew in the back of my mind that attempting that would make things worse.

I took a silent breath. "Fubuki-san, where exactly is the front yard?"

"Follow us. I doubt that the commander wishes for us to stay here; that would be a waste of time," she said matter of factly with a stern expression.

I nodded before I began following them. Every one of them had a serious expression, almost befitting of their titles as Chiefs. They walked with poise, like the choreographed marches of soldiers.

And then there was Tobera, who was walking right next to me with an easygoing smile. "Don't even think about holding back, Emiya; Fubuki will make short work of you if you do," she warned.

I could only give a short response. "Yeah." I hypothesised that the others were wary of me, and so they chose to keep their distance.

She smirked. "What's the matter, kid? Having second thoughts?"

"Well… I suppose I'm distracted by how serious they're acting."

"Oh, is that so?" Tobera asked.

I quietly nodded.

"Oh, beats me. They're usually quite the rowdy bunch."She quipped with a self-satisfied smirk before she let out a giggle, patting me on the back. "Goodness, kid. They must really not like you."

"No," a voice interrupted our chat. "Contrary to what the former Commander said, we do not hate you, Emiya-san." It was Kyouka Uzen, her hand on her chest. "In fact, I'm thankful that you saved me."

I simply shook my head in response. "It was nothing at all, Uzen-san."

"Hmph, you did well," a blonde woman interjected. Her brash and aggressive voice fit her appearance, with her uniform worn in a way that was similar to delinquents. "By the way, I'm Mira Kamiunten, Chief of the Second Unit. Oh, and just call me Mira. I'm more used to being called by my first name."

She pointed her thumb to the other Chiefs. "The Commander ordered us to shut our mouths, but since we'll be working with you soon, it's best to introduce ourselves to each other."

I nodded and tried to introduce myself, "Right. I'm Shir—"

"We know that already," she interrupted, before walking closer. Mira held her hand out as her lips curved into a wide grin. "I'm excited to see you in action, Emiya."

I nodded as I took her arm for a handshake. "Yeah."

It seemed that the ice had broken as more of the chiefs introduced themselves.

The most senior-looking member of the Chiefs had approached me. "I'm the Vice-Chief of the First Unit, Riu Myouga, young man," she introduced herself, before introducing a young, brown-haired girl, "and this is my disciple."

Said girl bowed. "Nice to meet you, my name is Konomi Tatara. I'm the First Unit's Chief."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tobera whispering something to Fubuki again.

I took my eyes off of the mother and daughter, and looked toward a doorway which the others were already going through. I followed suit, taking a deep breath.

Again, it was a rocky wasteland that met my sight, but before that was a barrier that had enclosed around the whole building. It was obviously a Bounded Field.

I felt like asking about it, but my curiosity could be sated later.

Commander Yamashiro was talking to Bell and a girl with blonde, wavy hair. It was likely that she had been waiting for us. Next to them was the edge of another, smaller barrier that was around thirty metres in diameter. It was likely the area where we were going to spar.

The Commander turned to us with a smile. "Good. All of you are here. Ginna has just finished constructing the barrier, so you came at the perfect time. Fubuki, you'll be entering first. I'll just be explaining what Emiya-san will be doing."

"Understood, Commander." the buxom woman responded as I walked over to Ren and waited for her instructions.

"Though this is a spar, you don't need to hold back as there are two healers here," she said, pointing over to who I assumed was Ginna and Tobera. She continued, "The spar is finished when either one of you is unable to fight back. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Commander." I took a deep breath as I walked into the barrier.

As my finger passed through the barrier— "Ahh!" A sharp burning feeling made me take a step back.

What kind of barrier was this? It didn't seem to harm Fubuki, so I assumed that it was completely fine to enter it. Though I supposed that it was stupid of me to just assume everything was fine.

"Ah, Emiya-san," came Yamashiro's concerned voice from behind. "Tobera-chan, Emiya needs some healing!" she shouted.

I turned around to the sight of Tobera. "The heck happened to you, boy?" she asked.

Where did she even come from? I couldn't even hear her footsteps.

Frowning, I answered, "It's my finger — it got burned as I was entering the barrier."

A feeling of annoyance bubbled from within me as I looked at the singed digit.

"Don't worry about it, kid, I'll heal you," she comforted, but that wasn't why I was so annoyed.

No, I was annoyed that I had inconvenienced someone because of my foolish mistake.

"Ah," I audibly gasped as I sensed the flow of Od converge into an orb around Tobera's hand, with the energy originating from throughout her body. Was Tobera's innate ability the manipulation of Od?

The skin of my finger blistered in an instant, its red, bubbly form making a stark contrast with my unblemished skin, but the blister subsided as quickly as appeared, with the fluid being absorbed into my skin. And in just a blink of an eye, my finger looked as it always had — as if it had never been marred in the first place, leaving no feeling of pain except for the feeling of guilt.

"Thank you, Tobera-san," I said with a sad smile.

The young-looking girl brushed it off, "Don't worry about it, kid. In fact, you should have been warned by Ren."

Yamashiro looked onwards with her usual smile. "Ah, I suppose it was an accident." Laughing it off, she said, "I apologise, Emiya-san."

For some reason, Tobera's expression was grim, as if she was upset with Yamashiro. However, I ignored it as I apologetically shook my head. "Don't worry about me, Commander."

Yamashiro then looked over her shoulder, her eyes locked onto the blonde girl behind her. "Anyways, Ginna, where's the brush and paper?"

"Ah, here it is, Commander!" Ginna(?) handed said items to the commander.

Swiftly, she gave me the brush and paper. "Sign your name here, Emiya-san."

I did as she asked, recognizing the other names already written, except for 'Varvara Pilipenko,' 'Tenka Izumo,' 'Bell Tsukiyono,' and 'Yakumo Ezo.'

I handed the paper back, and Yamashiro glanced down at it, a single eyebrow raised. "Huh, I thought your name was 'Shiro,' meaning white," she commented as she giggled.

Her comment immediately reminded me of EMIYA, whose hair had turned white as a result of his overuse of magecraft. I scratched the side of my head. "There's nothing white about me, though," I responded before I looked at Fubuki who quietly stood inside the barrier, waiting for me. "I'll be heading inside now."

"The match starts when Ginna says so," I heard Yamashiro say from behind me as I stopped in front of the border. Carefully, I pushed my index finger in, and once I knew that it was actually safe to enter, I went inside.

My eyes became transfixed on Fubuki's weapon the moment she summoned it. It was a long spear with its bladed part being cross-shaped, looking like a 'Jumonji Yari.' It was longer than even that of Cu Chulainn's Gae Bolg. As I studied it, I learned two things: its name was Sunset, and it had the ability to change its length at the user's command.

"The match starts in 5…" I heard an unfamiliar voice, likely Ginna's.

The image of a gun's hammer firing off activated my magic circuits.

"—4…"

"Trace…" What tracing was optimal, I wondered. Sure, I could use Kanshou and Bakuya, but those short swords were disadvantageous against her spear.

"—3…"

I had to trace a weapon that could be effective against her. The best chance I had at beating her, I concluded, was by bombarding her with ranged attacks.

"—2…"

With my battle plan laid out in my mind, I quickly reinforced my entire body. Compared to even two weeks ago, my reinforcement had dramatically improved, but I knew that it was still far from perfect.

"—1…"

"...on." I traced the metallic, black bow of EMIYA, holding onto it with my left hand, with my other hand already finished drawing it with a traced arrow.

"—Start!"

The sound of bellowing wind came after I had fired off the arrow.

Clang!

Its sheer speed had covered the distance in less than a blink of the eye, aiming for her face, but as I had expected, she easily deflected it with her spear.

I drew the bowstrings four more times in quick succession; two aimed straight for her, while the other two curved and tried to reach for her sides.

I had to keep going on the offensive; it was unlikely for me to win once she was only five metres from me.

She stopped to defend herself from the onslaught of arrows that came her way, swinging in a wide arc at the arrows that came directly at her. Each of the arrows that I fired off were precisely aimed; they were not going to miss, yet a calculated leap forward had allowed her to easily dodge them.

I took a deep breath as I continued onwards to my plan. With her airbourne and incapable of dodging, I fired off countless arrows as I moved back. She could block and parry them, but my arrows were powerful enough to slow her down.

Fubuki's eyes widened, but not out of shock — no, her eyes widened to grasp more information, to make a perfect reaction. Fubuki's grip on her spear tightened, and with a flick, along with an inward flex of her wrists, began twirling it with practised ease; it spun so fast that a current of air had completely changed the trajectory of the arrows.

Just as I was about to trace another arrow, she aimed her spear at me—

Every drop of sweat rolling down my forehead seemed to freeze, and my skin prickled into goosebumps. I could easily tell what this feeling was: my instincts were warning me of danger.

—and rapidly extended its length in an attempt to stab through my stomach.

Crack!

I heard the crumbling of stone behind me as I dove away and rolled back up, drawing my bow. Meanwhile, Fubuki slammed her spearhead into the ground beside me, using it as an anchor to swiftly pull herself forward and further increase her already inhuman speed.

By the time I was ready to fire, she was already next to me, swinging her spear with a cold expression. My eyes — widened in surprise — rapidly observed every detail of her swing, and in an act of desperation, I dropped my arrow and used the frame of my bow to block her spear.

This may have been a spar, but with how she moved and attacked, someone may have thought that she was genuinely trying to kill me. Though in hindsight, firing off supersonic arrows wasn't the best idea for a simple spar.

"Haaa!" I exhaled as I shoved away her spear in order to safely trace a new weapon. Fubuki skillfully used my own momentum against me by grabbing my bow, quickly spun around in a counter-clockwise direction, and extended her left leg, striking my shins. As a result, I lost my balance and fell face-first onto the rocky ground.

"Tra-ouch…" was all I could mutter as I quickly used my arms to try and push off of the ground, only for Fubuki to take a step on my back, pressing me down, and a moment after that came the chilling sensation of battle-warmed steel as it made contact with the back of my neck.

"You did a great job, Shirou Emiya," the threateningly sweet voice of Fubuki echoed in my ear, along with the unintelligible clattering of the others.

"To think that I had to use half of my full power… it's of little surprise to me now how you cleared out hundreds of Shuuki even while in an injured state." The heavy feeling on my back disappeared as she took her foot off of me, and I turned to face the purple sky.

"And we have a winner! It's the Chief of Unit Nine, Fubuki Azuma!" Ginna exclaimed with utmost glee, as if she had just watched the finale of a tournament.

Fubuki offered a hand to help me stand up, and I took her offer with no hesitation. I tiredly exhaled as I wiped drops of sweat off my eyebrows.

It was as I had predicted, I lost the moment she reached me.

Looking over to the crowd, I saw Ginna and Tobera running over to us, with the others walking behind them.

With sparks in her eyes, Ginna joyfully held her hands out. "Wonderful match, Fubuki-sama, Emiya-san!" Soon, a viridescent light had emanated from Ginna's fingertips, and with it came a feeling of rejuvenation.

"Thank you, Ginna," Fubuki and I said, almost at the same time.

The blonde girl just showed a self-satisfied smile as she shook her head. "You don't have to thank me! It's my job as the referee to make sure that participants recover after a match." And with an ink brush on Ginna's hand, along with an expression that teemed with enthusiasm, she made a strange request, "But may I please have your autograph?!"

I glanced around, looking for solace in the peculiar question before I finally made eye contact with the girl. "Sure, I guess?" I awkwardly answered before I took her brush and began writing my last name, '衛宮,' onto the paper.

Ginna did a slight bow before joyfully walking away before Ren walked over to me and commended. "You were doing well, forcing Fubuki on the defensive. Though, the moment her spear charged towards you, the pressure you put on her vanished."

"Yes, Commander," I said in agreement.

Ren whispered something to Ginna before she came closer, and the blonde girl nodded before going over to the other Chiefs, where they began to head back to the building. "I suppose that it was to be expected. Very few would assume that Fubuki's Sunset is capable of changing sizes."

That was the issue: I did know that her spear could do that. My plan had been to barrage her with arrows and force her to defend in an attempt to prevent any time for her to go on the offensive, but Fubuki targeted the window of time where I was drawing back in order to catch me unaware. It spoke to how skilled she truly was to formulate such a plan so quickly.

She hummed for a moment. "Is your ability the creation of bows and arrows?"

I shook my head. "No, Commander. I can create most forms of weaponry, provided that they aren't too complicated."

"Define 'complicated'."

"Modern weaponry like guns are almost impossible for me to recreate." Technically, I could trace a gun by meticulously tracing all the parts and combining them, but a simple rain of traced projectiles was far easier and more effective than doing that.

"I don't think you'd need a gun with the archery you've just displayed." She chuckled for a moment. "Anyways, it's about time that we provide you with an identity." She turned back to the others and signalled for me to follow her.

We made our way back inside before we rounded a corner, a section of the building I hadn't walked around on, until we reached a peculiar sight. It was a crack that floated in the air, revealing the world outside; sunshine emanated from the rift in space, revealing the blue sky.

With my gaze transfixed onto the… crack of reality, I heard Bizen's cheery voice before us, likely on the other side of the room. "Here's your handbag, Ren-sama," she said as she walked over to the Commander.

"Thank you, Ginna," she said before looking back over her shoulder to me for a moment. "Follow me through the gate, Emiya-san. And don't worry, it'll be safe," she said with her ever-present smile. "Actually…" She grabbed my arm. "I can just help you cross through."

The glare of the morning sun quickly made me raise my free arm in order to cover my eyes. A few seconds later, once my eyes were adjusted to the new levels of light, I looked around to realise that we were standing on what seemed to be temple grounds.

"Yamashiro-sama!" a voice from around a corner spoke, before a girl wearing a shrine maiden outfit came from said corner and spoke, "We weren't informed that you'd be exiting Mato. Is there anything urgent?"

The girl's gaze wandered onto me for a moment before Yamashiro greeted her, "Good morning, Aiko." She spoke with a unique quality, like an endearing queen voicing out to their loyal subjects. "There's no need to be so alarmed. We just happened to be leaving for the city hall."

The girl, Aiko, politely bowed her head before she asked, "Shall I call for the limousine?"

The Commander looked over to me, likely for input, but I decided to keep my mouth closed. "No need, Aiko. We'll just be using public transport. Oh, he and I will be going as soon as possible; if I remember correctly, the bus arrives in exactly twenty minutes, so we'll be going now.."

The girl bowed as she wished Yamashiro a safe trip before walking away. "Let's go, Emiya-san."

"Yes, Commander."

And so we began to walk. From what it initially looked like, we arrived somewhere more rural, with the lack of houses and the tight street that curved to the right on a hill. There also happened to be a few girls who were chatting to each other as they walked to the shrine. The moment they saw Yamashiro, they asked for autographs on the cases of their phones.

The Commander happily allowed it, signing her surname before wishing them off. The girls did so as well.

However, during the small talk between the Commander and those girls, I caught them stealing glances over at me a few times, particularly my face.

"Do I look that unusual?" I grumbled before taking a deep breath.

"Is red hair common in your world?" asked Yamashiro as we continued to walk.

"No," I answered. "Though, not many people paid attention to it." A sudden realisation led me to ask, "Wait, didn't the captains have colourful hair as well? Take for example: that girl with the blue hair—Bell, right? She had blue hair."

She cutely held her hand under her chin, likely in contemplation, before she interjected, "I suppose, but that particular brand of hair is only normally present in girls."

That made me turn my head in confusion. "How so?"

"Before the arrival of the Peaches, everyone had relatively 'normal' hair colour. Japanese, like most Asians, mostly had black and brown hair. Westerners were more diverse with their colour, having black, brown, and blonde hair—with redheads being more uncommon." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Anyways, since the Peaches only affect girls, any changes that may occur are reserved for girls."

That made sense. Except for the fact that there were ability-granting Peaches that only worked on women. Though, I suppose that it was less questionable than the Moon—at least, from what Rin told me.

…

"Okay?"

Was she saying something?

"Emiya-san?"

"Yes, Commander?"

She seemed concerned."Is everything alright?" she asked. "You were spacing out."

"Oh, was I?" I failed to notice. I was just reminiscing about the recent, yet distant past. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Commander."

"Don't worry about it, Emiya-san," she eased. "Anyways, I was just wondering about the differences between our worlds."

"Oh." The differences between worlds… "There's not really much right now; Japan seems like Japan — albeit lacking Fuyuki City." Aside from the fact that I was somehow transported seventeen years into the future of an alternate worldline, there weren't that many differences.

"I suppose that you miss Fuyuki?" she asked.

Fuyuki was Fuyuki. I held dear memories in it, but those were because of the people I interacted with. I was like anybody else in that regard, at least in my opinion; the where wasn't important, and instead, it was the who were in it. "I do," I answered with a low, contemplative utterance.

Neither of us said anything after that. Instead, the restrained buzzing of cicadas echoed in our ears, informing me that it was just the start of summer. Well that and Yamashiro did say earlier that it was June 19, so it was indeed the start of summer.

It was slightly off-putting; I was shivering in the cold, winter night just days ago, but now it was already summer, where the bright, beaming light of the morning sun shone down to the world and cascaded off to a warm yellow light.

We didn't talk anymore for a substantial while after that. Instead, the both of us just appreciated the surrounding sights.

The bus was already there when we reached the bus stop. The text displayed on the side of the bus, just above the doorway was quite peculiar. "No undesignated man allowed entry," I read it out loud.

"Don't worry about it," Yamashiro said as she took a step in the bus, addressing the driver, "Ma'am, he's with me." It was then that she urged me to enter, to which I did.

"You've caught a fine one," the driver said, talking to Yamashiro, who was tagging on with a card that she had pinched from her wallet.

I raised my eyebrow in confusion as Yamashiro chuckled in her own elegant way. I looked around, looking for two free seats. It was a weekday considering that there were some schoolgirls sitting here and there. It was only after a few seconds of looking around did we find a couple of free seats at the back, to which we hurriedly sat. "So," she started, "As I said earlier, we'll be going to the City Hall to give you an identity."

"Right. By the way, what's the name of this city?"

"Kyoto."

"Oh, Kyoto. I've never been here." To be honest, I've never really gone to other cities before. The only time that I did was when I went with the archery team to Souya and watched them. Though, I suppose that I never went sightseeing there.

She hummed to herself as she muttered, "To think that Kyoto would exist even in your own world…"

Right. I had forgotten about that. If Kyoto existed within another worldline but not Fuyuki, then did that mean that Kyoto had enough importance for the Root to make sure that it existed? Or was it just pure coincidence, and that there were worldlines where the opposite was true?

It was entertaining to ponder, but it wasn't like it was going to matter whether the latter did or didn't happen; I was somehow sent into this world because of the Void of the Grail, and that was that.

"Say, Commander?" I looked away from the window and back to the girl next to me.

She was watching what seemed to be a recording of dogs through her phone. They seemed cute. "Hmm?" she quickly responded.

"Is the existence of Shuuki hidden from the public?"

"Nope; they're quite infamous. It'd be a fatal hazard if there was a threat that only one percent of the population knew of, anyway. Is there a reason why you're asking?"

It wasn't going to hurt answering truthfully, right? "Back in my world, anything related to the occult was hidden from the public. I was just wondering if it was the same for this one."

"I suppose providing you a brief history lesson wouldn't hurt while the bus takes its time." She quickly put her phone back into her bag before she began. "Around the 1960s, Gates opened up throughout — and only in — Japan. The country at first was wary of the gates, and for weeks nothing happened in relation to them, so they proceeded to send people on expeditions through them."

I raised my hand for a question. "How did the world react?"

"The Gates were hidden from public view for around two months. Those who saw their initial inceptions were asked to keep quiet. They followed nicely. Japan sent the expeditions out of fear, actually—fear of other countries taking curiosity with the Gates that appeared exclusively on Japanese soil. Hours after the initial expedition started, they saw a cluster of trees with shiny pink fruit. They took a great many of them for sampling. One of the expeditioners—a man—was particularly hungry as well as curious and so consumed one. He commended the taste, citing it as the best food he had consumed, and had suggested that the others should take a bite. They did so, but when it came time for the three out of the twenty expeditioners—the women—to have their turn, something strange happened."

"They obtained abilities, huh?"

"Precisely. The first one—the grandmother of Fubuki Azuma—gained the ability to accelerate her time, even travel at speeds well beyond sound. The second one gained the ability to fire off energy blasts from wherever she wanted. The third gained the ability to see a day ahead into the future."

"What happened then?"

"Six days after the discovery, the third woman—now referred to as 'Seer'—discovered that an invasion of ravenous monsters would come the following day. The country prepared a military force outside of the Gate, but they were mostly unable to even damage them. Only the ones who received the blessings of the Peaches were capable of harming them."

She stopped for a moment. "Ah, I said that it was going to be brief, but at this point, I won't even reach the point where Japan was declared as the most powerful nation in the world—despite its lack of nuclear warheads."

I protested. "It's fine with me, Commander. Besides, you have a good voice, I don't mind if you go in-depth."

"Thank you for the compliment, Emiya-san," she said with a sweet smile that quickly dispelled. "Still, I can't take too much time explaining the history of what happened. The casualties were numerous, and the world began paying attention to Japan once more. The peaches were then quickly distributed and the original three were tasked to form a military group. That's how we, the Anti-Demon Corps or Mato Defence Force came to be. Any other questions so far?"

Besides the interjecting questions I asked earlier, I had understood everything that she said. "Not really."

"Then I shall continue. I'll briefly talk about the Shuuki."

The next thirty minutes went by in a flash, and almost as if everything had all been planned, Yamashiro's 'brief' lessons ended just a minute before the bus stop.

All in all, she had talked about the Shuuki, the types of workers for the Anti-Demon Corps, and even the potential work I would be doing.

Once the bus had opened its doors, we exited the vehicle. The city hall was just across the road, but we had to walk slightly further away over to an intersection just a quick walk away.

As we were waiting for the pedestrian traffic lights to turn green, Yamashiro fashioned her almost-perpetual grin as she said, "Time flew by so quickly." She glanced over to me. "It must have been because I was talking to you, Emiya-san."

"I didn't exactly talk much," I mumbled. "In fact, the only time I said something was to ask another question." That was the honest truth. She spent half an hour reciting the history of the world and I listened attentively in turn.

"That's completely fine; it was the best use of the time we had traversing here," she eased. "Besides, it was nostalgic for me. It's the chief's job to inform new recruits, and believe me when I say you're a good listener."

"Isn't that just normal though?" I asked. "If you're going to ask someone something, then it'd just be really rude to not listen." I knew I was awkward when it came to social matters, but anyone who did such a thing was worse than even I was.

The light from my peripheral vision turned green as a series of quick, beeping noises reverberated out to the wide roads. "Indeed," she said, continuing our conversation as we crossed the road, and into the city hall.

For a government building, it was slightly lacking in bustling crowds. Today being a weekday likely had something to do with that, though, and it was good as it meant that there wasn't going to be a gigantic line.

We headed over to a clerk, who not long after greeted us. "Good morning to you tw—Yamashiro-sama?!"

"Good morning to you, too," Yamashiro replied nonchalantly. "I want them to obtain an identity document," she requested.

"I'll do my best, Yamashiro-sama. Please wait over those seats over there," the girl said with conviction.

It seemed that calling Yamashiro popular was a severe understatement.

Not even a minute later a woman came rushing over to us with what seemed to be a folder in her hands.

"Good morning!" she greeted with a wide, almost forced, smile. "This person wants an identity certificate, yes?"

Yamashiro nodded in response.

Not wasting a beat, she opened up the folder and took a sheet of paper. "Please input your information here."

It was mostly straightforward. I had done this around ten years ago with my old man. Though of course, he had written all of it for me. I changed the year of my birth to 2002; if I had put in 1986 instead, that would have meant I was already in my early-30s.

"Commander, what should I put for Home Address?" I asked Yamashiro.

"Just put in 'Mato, Anti-Demon Corps HQ'." And that I did, quickly scribbling it down.

Everything was smooth sailing after that. Once I was done and had given the sheet of paper back to the woman, then I provided my fingerprints, and shortly after that my photograph.

Minutes after the picture taking, we were back in our seats, waiting for my identification card. Back in Fuyuki, it may have taken a couple of days before I actually would have obtained it, but this wasn't Fuyuki, nor was this even the same decade, so that may have changed something.

It was either that or Yamashiro had something to do with it. As I had found out earlier, she was quite famous, so it was likely that her presence would affect the time it took for things to be done.

"Yamashiro-sama, yo—his ID has been completed," the woman's voice cut through the silence with a stutter.

That was good. Waiting around had bored me. Yes, I knew that obtaining an identity was important, especially for someone who came from a different world, but I couldn't help it.

Yamashiro thanked the woman before standing up, prompting me to stand up as well. "Let's go, Emiya-san. "

"Now that that's over with, will we be going back to Mato?" I asked with a sense of enthusiasm.

"Unfortunately, no." That did not sound good. "You require a bank account, and a few more things; we still have places to go."

"Ah."

This was going to be a long day.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. As was the case for the first chapter, an immense gratitude to Pyromaniac101 for Beta-Reading.