[EMIYA SHIROU]
[THE GAMER]
[LV 27- 15000/26000]
[HP: 2700][MP: 35][MC: 27][ST: 920][SP: 11]
[STR: 45][DEX: 47][INT: 50][WIS: 33][CHR: 102]
It was supposed to be an average afternoon for Shirou. The quests around the shopping district had started to dwindle some. Maybe it had something to do with the time of the year or maybe there were other dynamics at play.
He didn't know. Suffice to say, he had more free time on his hands than he used to have.
However, this being him, the possibility of lazing around never even crossed his mind. He had stuff to do. The wide range of his Gamer powers meant that there was always something he could improve upon, a facet that he could explore.
Right now his next goal was taking the Cooking skill up to level 100 and see what would happen. Would it max out? Would it generate another skill like Extreme Pain Tolerance had done with Die Hard?
There were so many things he could try out that it was difficult to choose where to start from.
He didn't have any particular skill progression laid out for himself yet, but he had at least put down a tentative schedule. School in the morning, short Quests, mundane skills grinding in the afternoon, and lastly Mana Cores farming alternated with magecraft training in the evening, with the occasional foray at Saeko's place for undead cleansing.
He completely skipped on sleeping unless he needed to recover HP and even then a couple of hours would do. Stamina could be easily replenished by eating, making him basically unstoppable.
Of course, the entirety of his time was not just devoted to being productive. Setbacks still happened, and he somehow also got himself two girlfriends which he intended to care for at the best of his ability.
However, there were also unexpected circumstances he had to deal with, such as the Second Owner dropping unannounced at his house.
Tohsaka Rin approached the Emiya household warily. Though she did not expect trouble, one should use extreme caution when approaching another magus's territory.
Normally she would be more relaxed around a magus of Emiya Shirou's age but as a member of Soul Society he was a dangerous entity regardless of how advanced his magecraft was.
Meeting at her place would have been safer for her, but she couldn't pass on the opportunity to scout another magus's abode. Many things could be inferred about someone's personality just from seeing their living arrangements, and a vague psych profile was better than not psych profile at all.
His mansion was surrounded by a wall. Not so tall that it couldn't be climbed with relative ease, but tall enough that you couldn't see what laid behind it.
That wouldn't stop a magus from spying inside, but it prevented ordinary people from accidentally witnessing something they shouldn't.
She went to the gate and rung the doorbell. She didn't have to wait long. Small footsteps could be heard approaching from inside the house and a moment later the door was opened to reveal the diminutive form of Emiya Shirou, wearing an apron of all things.
"Tohsaka-san?" he asked.
"Good afternoon, Emiya-kun." she greeted politely. "I hope I'm not bothering you."
"No, not at all. Please, do come inside." he replied, gesturing of her to do exactly that.
"Thank you." she nodded, stepping inside the house where she exchanged her shoes with the slippers he provided.
"I wasn't expecting your visit. Sorry, I don't have much to offer in terms of refreshments. Would you like some tea?"
"Tea would be perfectly fine, thank you," she said politely while she followed him towards the living room. "And my visit was meant to be unexpected. As a landlord or sorts, I thought an inspection was in order."
Her first impression of his house whas that he was a warm, welcoming place. A stark contrast from her own abode which had the reputation of being a haunted house among the children of the neighborhood.
She did feel something when she crossed the threshold, though. A faint buzzing on her skin that an ordinary human wouldn't be able to detect. The telltale sign of an active Boundary Field.
"Ah, came to check whether or not my protections are up to snuff?" he asked. "Please have a seat."
"In a manner of speaking," she confirmed sitting at the table with her back to the door, just in case. "As the Second Owner, I must make sure that any magus on my territory isn't going to expose magecraft to the world."
"That's reasonable," Shirou agreed as he moved to the kitchen. There were various cooking utensil laid on the counter and several bowls of chopped vegetables. It seemed that she caught in the middle of preparing dinner. "Fortunately as a first generation I don't have any flashy mysteries that might accidentally get out of hand and attract attention."
"Hmm… regardless, better safe than sorry. I see you have a simple early-alert ward around the perimeter and nothing in the way of active defenses. I assume your Workshop is better protected."
"Trust me, Tohsaka-san. You'd be lucky to even find the place, much less break into it." he told her, as he brought back a tray with everything necessary to brew some tea.
"Oh, confident are you? Though I suppose the son of the infamous Magus Killer would have his bases covered."
"Ah ah. I see dad's reputation is still strong." he smiled ruefully.
"Indeed, he was quite the boogeyman. He disappeared and was believed to be dead at the end of the last Grail War, five years ago. To think that I had him living in my territory since then without my knowledge is quite discomforting."
"I imagine. Though it's my belief that he just wanted to live his last years in peace away from the Moonlit World, let me apologize in his stead."
"There's no need." she waved her hand in dismissal. He certainly was a polite little fellow. She knew would be hard pressed to find a magus that would bow his head so frequently. Pride run rampant among her fellow practitioner. She wasn't all that different in that regard either. "If anything, I appreciate you deciding to do the right thing and come clean with me. We might be magi but we Tohsaka are also entrepreneurs. We do appreciate reasonable straightforwardness in a business deal."
"You have my gratitude then," he told her, straightening his back and pouring her a cup of tea. "Speaking of business, did you manage to find anything about what I have asked?"
"Hmm..." she nodded, taking the cup to her mouth. It smelled delicious. A cursory examination revealed no traces of extraneous substances and she could detected not active magecraft either. She took a sip and discovered it tasted much better than any other tea she ever had. It was top quality stuff. "As you suspected, your father was involved with the Einzbern. Rumors have it that he even married into the family but I couldn't determine anything for certain yet. The Einzbern are a reclusive lot, even by the standards of magi so they weren't really available to answer any questions. What I do know for certain is that your father acted as their representative during the last iteration of the Grail War. Why he did not return to them at the end of it and faked his own death instead could be to any number of reasons, but since he failed his appointed task I suspect that he feared their retribution."
"That's one possibility, I guess," he sighed, drinking his own tea. "Please keep looking into it."
"Of course. On the bright side I have acquired some of the texts you asked me for." she told him, pulling three books out of her school bag and sliding them to him over the table.
"Did you have any trouble having them delivered?" he asked, examining them with an inquisitive eye.
"Not at ll. This is basic formalcraft and thus nothing anyone would make any fuss over. In fact I'm quite sure more than a few people were happy to make a profit out of such elementary material."
"Great. Thank you, Tohsaka-san."
"You are more than welcome, I assure you. I still have a few people who have to contact me back so chances are that I'll have more stuff for you in the near future, though I suspect this much will keep you busy for years to come."
"Probably," Shirou agreed. "Nonetheless, this much will already get me a long way."
"Excellent," she approved, finishing her drink. Then, I suppose my business here is done. Thank you for the tea, Emiya-san."
A few minutes later she left his house. This foray provided little useful information other than the fact that his place seemed to reflect his straightforward personality.
She didn't think that she would be having troubles from Emiya Shirou unless he was selected as a Master in the next Grail War. In that case, all bets were off but she had the advantage of knowing it would be happening and thus she could get the drop on him, if necessary.
She hoped such a scenario never came to pass. magus or not, Grail or not, she wasn't looking forward to harming a kid.
After seeing Tohsaka out, Shirou immediately deposited the books inside of his Inventory.
Finding Shirou's Workshop would be very much impossible for anyone, since he didn't have one worth being called that. He just used his tool-shed because it was separated from the rest of the house and the least likely place where anyone would disturb him.
Furthermore, thanks to his Inventory he didn't have to worry about having his research stolen or accidentally stumbled upon, therefore even without a proper Workshop his flimsy magecraft was even more safe than that of the most ancient lines of Magi.
He examined the books Tohsaka had given him. They were titled Fundamentals of Bounded Fields, Theory of Runecraft and lastly Spiritual Entities and their Attributes.
They were nothing more than a collection of esoteric knowledge without any shred of functional magecraft about it, but it was a start.
The next morning he would read them at school. His reputation and his grades were such that no one would bother him, even if he was saw reading random books during classes. Of course he would have to swap the covers with that of other books.
Reading about the actual supernatural was not something to be done carelessly, no matter how safe it would be to hide in plain sight.
He didn't want Tohsaka on his case more than she already was. He would rather keep an amiable relationship with the Second Owner. He had no intention of giving her any trouble whatsoever.
Somewhere on the opposite side of the world, a vast victorian mansion stood amidst a carefully groomed garden. It was obvious that its owners were extremely wealthy. The opulence was evident from miles away.
Inside this mansion there was bespectacled man who was wearing expensive if old fashioned clothes. Despite the late - or early - hour he made his way through the corridors with determined steps.
His name was irrelevant, his role in history altogether forgettable. He was simply a bearer of news.
As he approached his destination, his lacquered shoes clacked upon the marble floor, polished to the point of reflection.
At the end of the corridor he knocked upon a nondescript if sturdy wooden door and opened it after he heard the murmured invitation from the inside.
The study beyond that door was mostly shrouded in darkness, with only the moonlight outside casting any light within the room through the large windows.
The occupant of the room was seating upon an armchair with its back turned to the door. Just a pale hand could seen laying on the armrest, nursing a drink between withered fingers.
"Speak," the voice commanded, so feeble that it was difficult to hear even in the perfect silence of the mansion at night.
"There's been a development, sir" the bespectacled man replied. "Someone has been asking question about... that man."
The fingers tightened around the glass making the knuckles turn even whiter than they already were.
"Who?"
"Fuyuki City. The Tohsaka heir," the assistant replied. "There is a chance that Emiya Kiritsugu might still live."
A sound was heard that could have passed for a growl if it had come from a stronger person.
"Send him to me," the man on the armchair eventually said.
"Sir?"
"Send him to me! Send that damn brat to me right now!"
The assistant bowed in acquiescence and made to leave. He heeded his master's command. All he had to do was carry it out.
"Yes, lord El-Melloi."
In the week following her defeat at the hand of the younger woman, Taiga had been forced to undergo a strict training.
Well, forced wasn't exactly true. She did go looking for Saeko in order to be trained and that's exactly what got, but because she had lost their duel she still felt it wasn't her choice anymore.
She was Saeko's plaything, after all.
Taiga had no idea what that meant. At first she believed that Saeko would have subjected her to some perverted behavior, however did nothing to her other than running her through the ringer every single day.
She still had to teach her any actual swordsmanship on account of conditioning her body for the actual training, but she never overstepped any personal boundaries.
Needless to say, Taiga was anxious and expected the other shoe to drop any time. She had also the sneaking suspicion that Saeko was stringing her along on purpose.
She was actually right, but of course she had no way to prove it.
Saeko on her part was enjoying Taiga's evident nervousness. Unlike her usual prey, this one would not go anywhere no matter what Saeko did, therefore she had no reason to rush and she could savor all the nuances.
She couldn't possibly overstate how much of a turn on it was. She would do better to pay Shirou a visit as soon as the full moon phase was over otherwise she might just cut her game with Taiga short and jump straight to the main course.
That would be an unforgivable waste of a perfectly good meal. That specific tiger was nowhere near cooked enough for Saeko's tastes.
Their training continued long into the evening, until Saeko dismissed Taiga.
The school teacher returned home where she crumbled in bed like a ragdoll after stuffing herself with everything she could find in her fridge at home.
She couldn't even go to Shirou for dinner from how late she made it home. That was the part that bothered her most. Training like hell she could take, but skipping on her favorite cuisine was an anathema.
Still, there was nothing she could do but bear with it for the time being. Life could be unbearably cruel with her.
Then again it was a small price to pay for having an illicit relationship with her surrogate brother in addition to begrudgingly sharing him with another woman. The least she thought about the age difference, the better.
But Shirou was special, unique. He was worth the risks and the sacrifices. No other person in her life ever made her feel like she was irreplaceable, giving her the confidence and the courage to step into the Moonlit World and challenge someone like Saeko. With Shirou, everything appeared to be possible.
A sentiment that was clearly shared by Saeko if her willingness to push him in the arms of other women was any indication, though there was a chances that Shirou's seemingly endless stamina was also a good motivator for that choice.
What a situation. Just a few weeks ago she was a normal, if somewhat extraordinary, school teacher. Today, she was a shotacon who planned to take the fight to supernatural creatures dwelling into a separate dimension so that she could stand close to the man she was in love with.
Whew. Life was full of surprises, that much was certain.
She fell asleep dreaming of eating Shirou's food. It as perhaps the most normal thing about her.
While Taiga slept, Shirou sat in his Workshop grinding his magecraft. The procedure was to create a Nerve Circuit, run Structural Analysis on Saeko's sword, Projecting a copy of it and subsequently Reinforcing it.
Rinse and repeat. On average it took him a couple of nights to gain a level in everything with the exception of Nerve Circuits. That skill did not benefit from his Sword-affinity cheat but that was fine. It was the one he used most consistently since it was the backbone of all his magecraft.
Slowly but surely, all of his skills advanced. He was far from being done and it was far from being enough. He absolutely had to avoid a repeat of his encounter with the Wei Clan. Taiga's survival depended entirely too much on chance and Shirou knew better than count of blind luck twice.
When the sun rose an extremely sweaty magus made his way towards the bathroom to get cleaned up for the day.
Although Shirou did not need to sleep, the constant passing of the days without interruption was somewhat jarring and his perception of time was a bit off.
Ordinarily this didn't affect him much. He owned clocks for a reason, so he wasn't in danger of running late because of this.
However, his timing was off and as such he forgot that in the morning he wasn't the only person inside his house.
In the bathroom antechamber he disrobed as he was used to do, threw his clothes into the amper and slid open the door to the actual bathroom without a care in the world.
It was so that he found himself staring at the naked form of Shihōin Yoruichi who had just gotten out of the bathtub herself.
Her long hair, which she usually kept tied up, were undone, drenched with water and clinging to her equally wet body. Copious droplets of water ran down her her dark skin, from her neck to her abundant chest, through the valley of her breasts and down to the faint outline of her abs, proceeding further into the crevice between her legs, made all the more evident by the perfect gap of her chocolate thighs.
Her body had the right amount of tone to be look like that of a fighter and way more than the right amount of curves to make a man willing to die for her.
Goddess of Flash. They called her that in the Moonlit World because she was someone who specialized in high speed movements over raw strength. When he had been told, Shirou thought to himself that the Flash part of her moniker was quite appropriate considering the amount of skin she used to expose around him.
However right in that moment, Shirou realized that he had been incorrect. The balance of the scale about her wasn't tipped toward the Flash aspect, but decidedly more towards Goddess one.
Twack!
A sharp sound was heard ringing through the bathroom amidst the echoing of dripping water.
Shirou's eyes weren't the only things of his body that bulged at the sight of Yoruichi. Little Shirou (warning: misleading name) stood up so fast that it slapped against his abdomen with a the sound of skin hitting skin, and remained standing like a proud warrior of flesh and blood, ready to rumble.
This time it was Yoruichi's eyes that bulged out, just as a fierce blush spread across her face. She dove back into the tub, causing all the water to splash out onto the bathroom floor while Shirou simultaneously slammed the door close.
"I'M SORRY!" he shouted, feeling like his face had caught fire. "The door was unlocked! I didn't know you were inside! I'm so sorry!"
Meanwhile inside the tub, Yoruichi blinked. She was curled in two inches of leftover water with an arm across her breast and another between her legs.
Why the hell did she react like that? There was basically no inch of her body that he hadn't seen, no inch that she hadn't flaunted to make him uncomfortable.
She was being silly.
"Whoa, calm down," she told him, uncurling herself and stepping out of the tub. "It's nothing you haven't seen already. You just surprised me."
She made to open the door, but her hand hesitated to actually pull away the only thing standing between their naked selves.
She frowned.
Her heart was beating faster than normal and the heat on her face had yet to dissipate.
'Am I being self-conscious?' she wondered. 'That's ridiculous.'
She pulled the door open with determination and found the antechamber to be completely empty.
Wait, no. He was kneeling dogeza, with his head on the floor in prostration. He was still butt naked with the exception of a towel he had throw on his lap to conceal his manhood.
Yoruichi nearly burst out laughing at the display.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm apologizing!" he replied steadily.
"That's completely unnecessary," she reprimanded. "Look If you don't get up I'm just going to step on you."
"Please, do that if that makes you forgive me."
"Ok, now you're being ridiculous, Shirou. Come on, get up and look at me."
"I can't do that!" he protested vehemently.
"You have seen me naked before. Multiple times, actually."
"That is true but…" he hesitated and Yoruichi finally understood.
It wasn't that she was naked, but that he was. In such state he could not conceal the effect she had on him. Despite his peculiar involvement with Saeko, Shirou could be considered someone proper, if not an outright prude. He had a hard time - pun intended - reconciling how he was supposed behave with how his body reacted.
Yoruichi let out a soft snort.
"You don't have to be ashamed," she told him. "Come on, stand up and look at me."
"I refuse. Please, cover yourself and leave the bathroom."
"Listen Shirou," she said, putting her hands on her hips in a scolding manner, "either you stand up and look at me or I swear I won't wear a stitch of clothing around you ever again, regardless of who else is present."
"You can't do that!" he shouted, looking up in bewilderment, flushing neon red and then looking right back down. Yoruichi blinked at the speed of his reaction. Then she realized of which part of her anatomy he just had a good view of and joined him in blushing.
'Shit, what the hell am I? Some kind of maiden?'
"Trust me. I can and I will. So what will it be?"
Shirou whole body seemed to tense and Yoruichi felt a bit crestfallen. Surely her charm was sufficient to make a single man, no matter how young, to look at her.
Then she realized that it wasn't that he didn't want to look, but that he very much wanted to and it conflicted with everything that he was.
'Really, this guy. Saeko-chan really did hit the jackpot.'
She was just about to give up that he shifted his body and started to get back on his feet. When she realized that he was actually going to do it, Yoruichi's heart jumped into her throat.
'Honestly, what is wrong with me today?'
Of course regardless of how she felt in that moment she couldn't shy away. Not now that she managed to convince him to look at her.
He slowly rose to his feet, holding the towel in front of his body to protect his modesty. Then, as if he was undergoing the greatest challenge of his life, he dared to look up at her.
"Is this fine?" he asked challengingly, staring at her squarely in the eyes.
"Not quite. You've seen me naked plenty of times and I'm also naked now. Yet you seem insistent on covering yourself. That's a bit unfair, don't you think?"
"I don't think it has anything to do with being fair or unfair," he objected.
"You know, lots of guys would want to be in your place right now," she teased.
"I'm not them," he replied.
"... you're right. You are not," she sighed. "I'm sorry, did I make you uncomfortable?"
"I don't think anyone could be comfortable around you like this, Yoruichi-san."
She snorted, then laughed.
"Ah, Shirou. Ever the charmer," she shook her head. "Never mind then, let's just drop it for now."
She stepped past him and he didn't dare to turn.
"For now?" he asked.
"Well, of course. I do still think it's unfair that I never saw you naked. Some day I'll settle the score. Better keep your eyes open until that moment."
She unlocked and threw open the door that led to the outside corridor to walk out, only to find her way barred by someone.
Fujimura Taiga stood in the doorway, with her arms crossed over her chest and a sickeningly sweet smile plastered on her face, offset only by the twitching of one of her eyebrows.
"Taiga!" Shirou and Yoruichi both yelped.
"Why hello, Yoruichi. You too, Shirou," she greeted with false cordiality. "Go ahead and take your bath. Yoruichi and I are going to have a nice little chat, aren't we, Yo-ru-ichi-chan?"
"It's not how it looks like?" the tan-skinned woman said pitifully.
"I'm sure it isn't," Taiga kept on smiling. "So why don't you explain me in great detail how exactly it is like?"
Taiga reached out and pulled the bathroom door behind Yoruichi, closing the two of them out of it.
*Hisss!*
*Grrr!*
*MEEEOOW!*
*ROAR!*
Shirou walked into the bath, doing his utmost best to ignore the sounds coming from outside the bathroom, as well as the occasional shaking of the building.
They were just a product of his imagination. Maybe he was asleep and dreaming. At the very least he hoped he was.
He was a deluded fool, through and through.
XXX