Chapter 2: System. (22D/3M/24Y)

In my grasp was a kitchen knife the length of my entire forearm. Some might say giving a knife to a 7 year old is irresponsible—and they would be right, but Kiritsugu knows I can handle myself. And god forbid that man be allowed inside a kitchen, he'll just burn everything down without even doing anything.

With a thought, a surge of magical energy covered the sharp object before breaking down into wisps of light just as quickly. I winced at the sudden flood of information being inserted into my brain; its manufacturing process, material composition, and entire history before & after its creation, played like a film inside my head. The amount of detail being crammed into my head could easily incapacitate the average person, but not me.

[Skill 'Structural Analysis' has leveled up]

A translucent screen appeared before me. Upon reading its contents, a smile creeped its way onto my face, before dismissing the interface with a wave of my hand. It wasn't necessary as the System functioned with my thoughts alone, but I still did 'cause why not.

Sheathing the knife, I stepped off the stool I used to reach the counter top and returned to the living room. It had been an entire week since my Magic Circuits were opened, and Kiritsugu still remained in the dark about my newly acquired powers. I pondered about telling him at first, but ultimately decided not to.

After lowering myself on the floor, a single word rolled off my tongue: "System."

-Shirou Emiya-

Wanderer of worlds.

- An entity who've broken through another reality.

[You are gifted a System to aid in your journey]

Sword Incarnation.

- A sword given the form of a human.

[Boosted learning efficiency with 'sword' related skills by 800%. Lessened learning efficiency from any other form of magecraft unrelated to a 'sword' by 400%.]

Bearer of Avalon.

- You, who've become one with the sheathe of Excalibur, are blessed with great vitality.

[Increases Vitality by 3 per level up, and amplifies health regeneration by 800% for long as the Player has Avalon equipped.]

Saber-face.

- Given by an entity beyond Man's understanding for the fun of it.

[Those who possess this will bear a great resemblance to none other than Saber.]

Level: 3

STR: 0.7

VIT: 9.3

AGI: 1

MAG: 0.8

Points: 6

Skills:

Cooking (D - 1) - Reinforcement (E - 3) - Structural Analysis (E - 2)

Reality Marble:

Unlimited Blade Works.

Quest:

1,818 days remaining until the next quest.

A videogame-like interface, one that's invisible to everyone but myself, answered my call. Not in a million years did I expect to have a System after being reincarnated as Shirou Emiya of all people, but here it was. Like a child on Christmas eve, giddiness lingered over me despite spending an entire week familiarizing with it.

I went over this many times before, studying its features and understanding its effects on my entire being. First of: my body still functioned like normal; sleeping doesn't wisk away any injuries I've sustained, nor does consuming food quicken my regeneration. Second: a point in any parameter corresponds to a single person's. Meaning I, a seven year old, could easily outlast 5 people in an endurance race thanks to Avalon, the Everdistant Utopia.

As for how it was functioning at its maximum capability despite being separated from its rightful owner, King Arthur, I did not know. It probably had something to do with the System's mechanics if I were to guess.

'Skills' were self-explanatory; my abilities and mastery over them. [Saber-face] made my eyebrows rise, why in God's name is it there, was the almighty being who brought me just bored? Anyways, the 'Quest' at the very bottom would remain a mystery until 5 years later, so I can't do much except wait.

While recalling everything I knew about the System, the sliding door leading to the hallway opened, revealing Kiritsugu standing behind it carrying a folder and a small bag in his hands. He acknowledged my presence with a simple nod, to which I returned in kind, before placing the items on the table.

"What's that?" I spoke first, expressing my curiosity.

After making himself comfortable on the cushion, he replied while pushing the bag across the desk. "A new semester is starting in a few days, so I enrolled you to a nearby school and bought everything you needed."

Opening the bag, an arrangement of school supplies could be found inside neatly packed together. A groan almost escaped my lips after seeing them. The idea of reliving school irked me, but there wasn't much I could do to avoid it. I pushed the items aside with a sigh of acceptance, stood up from my seat, and strode towards the kitchen area.

"I'll start preparing lunch, are you fine with rice and omeletes?" I asked, yet received no response. I turned and saw Kiritsugu's unmoving form, a layer of mist seemed to cover his eyes. "Dad?"

Snapped out of his reverie, my adoptive father answers after a short pause. "Oh, sure."

Hearing his delayed response, my lips threatened to curve downward. Was the curse inflicted on him by the source all evil - Angra Mainyu - already taking a toll on him this early on? A weight pressed against my shoulders, causing them to slump. Despite my newfound ability, there wasn't much I could do to avoid his death. Avalon might help, but I doubt it'll do much apart from delaying the inevitable.

In the midst of preparing our afternoon meal, a System notification broke me out of my depressive thoughts.

[Skill 'Cooking' has leveled up]

'How in the—didn't it just rise a rank this morning?' One of the things I've had trouble wrapping my head around for the past few days was the fact that my 'Cooking' skill leveled up faster than my other skills. Why can't the others be that quick? Was this some sort of joke?

After eating lunch with Kiritsugu, I emerge from my home with a small box in my hand containing some food I've prepared prior. I left the periphery and stopped at a crosswalk, and after checking both sides of the road, making sure no heavy-vehicles blind side me to another world, I briskly crossed and entered a familiar residential house I've been visiting for the past few days.

Upon entry, an old man with whitening hair and a robust build for someone his age came into view. He was sitting on a wooden chair while his gaze ran through the newspaper in his grasp. The heels of my shoes produced a noise with each step, catching the man's attention. Hearing my approach, he lowered the papers and glared my in direction, a deadly glint flashing across his eyes. After seeing who it was that neared however, the threatening air around him was heavily subdued.

"Oh, young man. You're here again." He greeted the boy with a nod before pulling his eyes back at the newspapers, having grown used to the child's sudden unannounced visits. "Do you ever get tired of this, helping an old man like me?"

"Hello Soichirou," I bowed slightly then casually replied, "not really, and is it wrong to do so?" I placed the food container atop the table beside him and unwrapped it from its case. Unable to refuse the food's delicious aroma, he neatly folded the newspaper and took the box off the desk.

He devoured the meal like a starved beast, gaining a chuckle from me. The man before me was Tanaka Soichirou, a veteran who survived World War II before peacefully retiring in Fuyuki. I met him some days after settling into town, and it was through him that I discovered something important. As my growing anticipation reached its peak, a screen appeared in front of me.

[You have completed a side-quest]

A smile captured my lips upon seeing the System notification. I had learned about the existence of "side-quests" after I had cooked way too much food one morning and decided to hand it to Tanaka, who lived nearby and was coincidentally hungry at the time.

I went through a lot of trial and error figuring out the mechanics of these side-quests; ways to trigger it, and how to complete them. It was quite a simple system really, all I had to do was figure out what a person was having trouble with and provide a solution or finish the task for them, and my reward for doing so was experience points with its amount in accordance to the objective's difficulty.

For the next few days after that, I've done nothing but run around town, offering my assistance to anyone I've spotted encountering a problem to the best of my abilities, netting me with enough EXP to level up twice in just 2 days. Tanaka was one of the people who constantly gave me side-quests, providing a steady stream of experience points for me to harvest.

At first I felt bad at taking advantage of the old man's inability to cook for himself, then later realized what I was doing wasn't even harmful in the slightest, rather the exact opposite. He's received perhaps some of the best food he's ever had - his words not mine - for free, while I grow stronger in exhange, a fair trade in my opinion. Some people I've met around town had even given me some treats after recognizing my face, which I took without shame. An adult I might've been, but free treats were free treats.

"You know, kid," Tanaka gulped down the last parcel of rice inside the lunchbox and spoke to me, "Kiritsugu is really lucky to have a child as bright as you."

I let out a stifled giggle at his comment. If you consider having a broken child without an identity of his own, merely following the footsteps of the person he admired, which the original Shirou Emiya most certainly was, then I suppose Kiritsugu Emiya is a lucky man. Now however, with me at the helm, things wouldn't go as fate instructed it to.

The morning breeze brushed past my face as I stared at the monolithic structure that loomed a dozen or so meter from me. The chatter of children and adult alike flooded the surroundings, their voices blending into a mix of laughter and excitement as they waved goodbye to one another. At the moment, I was standing alone before a large metal gate which lead to the school my adoptive father had enrolled me in. Speaking of, Kiritsugu couldn't see me off unfortunately, but it mattered little to me.

I entered and walked into the enourmous gym that's the size of a basketball court the preschool of all things possessed, went through the arduous task of staying awake during the entrance ceremony, then entered the bustling halls of my new school and was immediately assaulted by a gaggle of kids asking questions about my unique appearance. Auburn was a rare hair colour in Japan, especially at a time when foreigners were few and far between.

Fairly certain the chances of you finding a ghost was higher than spotting someone who came from another country. Japan during the mid nineties were quite apprehensive towards anyone not of their ilk, but did not treat them harshly and gave them the minimum amount of respect.

It took the majority of my remaining will power to not tell them to screw off. I deftly weaved through the crowd of curious children and headed straight towards my classroom which was just around the corner. Around 15 other kids around my age were already inside, talking about various topics with one another.

My entrance went unnoticed, which I was grateful for, I'm afraid I might just start saying the most traumatizing stuff these toddlers had ever heard if they gang up on me once again. There were no desks specifically assigned to me, so I just took the empty seat at the very back and hoisted my bag at the side before sitting down.

Naturally, I felt out of place. I was a functioning member of society before waking up as Shirou Emiya, while my peers were talking about various television shows, favorite toys, and whatnot—acting like proper 7 year olds. I simply sat in the back and stared wistfully at the cloudless blue sky, plans for the imminent future brewing in my head.

Soon enough, after half an hour of waiting, a teacher dressed in casual garments came into the classroom and introduced herself to the crowd, then encouraged us to do the same with a kind smile of her face. Honestly, their names disappeared to the deepest parts of my brain the second they appeared, forever forgotten till the heat death of the universe.

Next, they spoke of their aspirations; some wanted to be astronauts, musicians, or professional sports players, the usual stuff kids wanted to be but failed to achieve later on in their life.

Truth be told, I could not be bothered to remember any of them. Disassociating myself might be the best course of action so I could focus more on training myself. Though my anti-social attitude might land Kiritsugu a few phone calls here and there from the school, my safety came first and foremost.

A young girl dressed in crimson passed through the busy halls with swift and elegant steps, an air of nobility shrouded her form, preventing anyone from halting her gait. Her hair, black as the night itself, were tied into twin-tails which complimented her soft features.

Rin Tohsaka, the lass in red, entered the large garden connected to the cafeteria with her gaze locked in front of her, silently passing by her fellow schoolmates who were interacting with each other.

Upon passing a certain tree however, her stride came to a screeching halt. Rin's teal eyes widen by a small margin as she felt an intangible force crawl up her skin. As the sole successor of the Tohsaka family's magecraft, she was taught in the art of thaumaturgy from a young age and was quite familiar with the peculiar sensation.

'A magus?' Rin thought while training her gaze in the direction of the strange phenomena, which felt awefully similar to a magus operating their magecraft. What were they doing inside a preschool of all places? she asked herself, and came to an answer immediately after; a rogue magus had probably kidnapped a child attending this school to conduct their sick experiments to.

Magi (plural of Magus) were an odd—nay, deplorable bunch, going so far as to commit atrocious acts to further their research on magecraft, indifferent to the lives they've ruined. And as the second owner of Fuyuki - a title passed onto her after her father, the previous owner, had perished - she had to enforce her authority and keep any rogue magus from creating chaos in her territory.

Steeling her nerves, she switched directions and went towards the origin of the disturbance to investigate. However, instead of her worst fears coming to life, what she found was rather mundane.

"You need something?" A boy with a head of red hair asked in a monotone voice, his eyes flashed with a hint of recognition for a brief moment upon seeing her appearance. He was in a seated position, back resting against the sturdy tree, with a pair of chopsticks stuck betwixt his fingers.

"You…" Rin looked down at the item in his grasp—a pair of lunch boxes filled with an assortment of home-cooked meals that released a delectable scent, making her mouth water.

"You want some?" The boy spoke after seeing her stare at his meal - breaking Rin's train of thought - and extended the container in his hand towards her. "Take one, I don't mind."

"Can I?" She responded, wholly tempted by the sweet aroma. 'No wait, what am I doing!' She quickly snapped out of her trance and asked the boy: "You, who are you!"

The redhead merely raised his brows at her question before dropping his arm, calmly placing the lunch box atop his lap, and shifted his legs to a more comfortable position.

"Aren't you supposed to introduce yourself first?" He returned with a grin that irked her more than she thought for some unknown reason. She stilled upon registering his words, a bit embarrassed by her blunder. She was raised better than this, how can she make such a simple mistake?

"I-I am Tohsaka Rin from class A-1." she said while planting her hands on her hips, trying her best to project an image of superiority, intentionally ignoring the stuttering of her voice. The boy was utterly unimpressed by her act, finding it amusing more than anything.

"Emiya Shirou, class B-1. Nice to meet you, Tohsaka." The young girl recognized the name, he was one of the smartest bunch in the whole school, quite mature for his age, and was favoured by many teachers. "So you want one or no?" He said, pushing the savory delight right in front of her once again.

Rin was about to refuse when her stomach let out a loud rumble in protest of her thoughts, causing Rin's face to be dyed cherry-pink with imaginary steam wafting off her head.

"Don't laugh!" She exclaimed, sending the boy a glare that promised violence, completely forgetting about her purpose of coming here in the first place.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Shirou openly chuckled, fueling Rin's piling embarrassment. Deep in his mindscape, he desperately fought off the urge to ruffle the young girl's head.

She let out an audible "Hmph!" before swiftly turning around and walking away without taking a piece of the boy's food despite his openhanded offer.

"Your loss," he shrugged, "you should be more honest next time!" The redhead hollered, his voice echoing throughout the coutyard. In response, the girl in red glowered in his direction just as she was about to turn a corner in. As Rin disappeared from the boy's sight, he let out a relieved sigh.

"That was close... I did not expect her to be here." Shirou whispered to himself while staring at his lunch box. The idea of him being the same preschool with none other than Rin Tohsaka, one of the 3 heroines from Fate/Stay Night, never crossed his mind. So it caught him by surprise when she decided to appear out of nowhere.

Throughout their entire interaction, a cold sweat trickled down his back. The Tohsaka heir had almost caught him using magecraft, but thankfully, he managed to pull the conversation elsewhere before she noticed anything odd. Children are generally pretty easy to distract with other things.

He lifted his legs, revealing a pair of sharp sticks hidden underneath, something most people would discard if found on the side of the road. However, these weren't ordinary tipped sticks, but deadly weapons capable of penetrating flesh with little effort.

How can a twig do so? some may ask. The answer was quite simple—magecraft.

[Skill 'Alteration' has leveled up]

A weak smile made its way across Shirou's lips, his excitement about leveling up one of his skills dampened by the fact he almost got found out due to his carelessness.

Altercation, the ability he'd successfully learned earlier today, as the name suggests, lets him transform and reshape any object within his grasp to however he sees fit. Much like Structural Analysis, Alteration was a skill that stemmed from the only magecraft Kiritsugu had ever taught him; 'Reinforcement'.

He rejoiced at the amount of skills he's picked up over a short time frame. All that was left now was a single skill to complete Shirou Emiya's original skill-set, that being 'Projection', or 'Gradiation Air' as some called it. It was a practice involving the materialization of an object based on the caster's imagination.

While it might sound powerful at a glance, the summoned object would shatter if struck or once a certain amount of time had elapsed, so most magi deemed it useless. With Shirou Emiya's Reality Marble however, Projection became capable of replicating even the most powerful of weaponry mankind had ever seen.

'Honestly, if not for the System, I doubt I'd even have half the skills I have now.' When he first started learning Reinforcement, he struggled to even comprehend the process in manifesting it, until the System registered it as a skill, that is, flooding him with enough knowledge to be considered an amateur of the craft. And with each level up, even more information about the specific ability enters his mind, filling in the blanks.

The System he possessed made learning things way easier, and Shirou was forever grateful for its existence.

"Well, let's finish this up." Shirou Emiya quickened his pace and finished eating his food a few minutes later before making his way back to his classroom.

END.