Shirou trudged through the gravel towards the construction site, the minerals crunching underneath his shoes. Only half of the building was completed before construction was terminated, giving the place an even eerier look. It was as if the place was a remnant of an older japan rather than the modern metropolis it was.
The air reeked of negative emotions so strong he could practically taste it. Whatever curse that's here wasn't going to be some run-of-the-mill monster, knowing his luck.
He kept his eyes peeled as he approached the building. As he understood from the report, the capabilities of the cursed spirit were unknown. Not knowing what to expect, he decided to play it safe first.
The outer area of the construction site was relatively open with few places to hide. The only things that could serve as hiding spots were a few construction vehicles and some concrete materials. He kept himself positioned away from those spots with his back slightly turned. If there was one thing he could confidently believe in, it'd be the fact that a dangerous creature wouldn't hesitate to attack its target if it sees their back.
His hands remained at his side and he kept his posture loose, but ready. His energy continued to flow freely as if he were not worried about a potential attack. Surely the cursed spirit wouldn't hesitate to ambush him?
He kept walking towards the building, keeping his senses trained on the potential ambush spots even as his eyes remained on the entrance to the building.
Still, nothing. No attack. Which either meant that the curse was smarter than he thought or it had left and what he was feeling was just the remaining vestiges of its presence.
...Yeah, no chance it would be the second option.
"Just can't be easy, huh?" He sighed as he reached the entrance. What awaited him inside was darkness, as if he was about to step into another world.
Steeling his nerves, he strolled forward and entered the unknown.
Nanami watched Shirou disappear into the building and the tiniest of frowns appeared on his face before relaxing. He was a man who was cool under pressure. You had to in order to be in this kind of work. However, that wasn't the case when he was supposed to be looking after another. Overseeing the life of another... is a responsibility heavier than any other.
Perhaps that's what separated an ordinary guy like him from the stronger grade 1 sorcerers. Most of them wouldn't bat an eye if a student died under their watch. As messed up as that was, he couldn't blame them. Getting hung up over every death would only torture your soul in a prison of your own making.
...Except for Kusakabe. He has a pretty good heart no matter how many times he'd deny it or complained about his duties. They were alike in that sense.
"Nanami-san," Ijichi began, bringing him out of his musings. "Are you going to go in?"
"I told the boy that he'd need to exorcise this cursed spirit on his own," Nanami responded.
"Y-yes, I'm aware," Ijichi played with his glasses nervously. "But you can't keep an eye out for him from here, yes?"
"That's true," Nanami acknowledged as he kept his eyes firmly on the entrance. "But I can't get envolved just yet. If the cursed spirit senses the presence of two jujutsu sorcerers, it'll probably attack immediately. That'll defeat the purpose of having Emiya-kun proving his strength."
"I-I see..."
"And besides," He continued as he leaned back against the car, turning his eyes upward to gaze at the sky. "Gojo is giving him his seal of approval. As much as that idiot gets on my nerves, sometimes he does understand what he's talking about. He won't endorse a student unless he knows they can handle it. Probably."
"Probably?!"
Yeah, probably. It actually was difficult to get Gojo's acknowledgement on anything since he was capable of mastering anything he bothered to try. So if Emiya was capable of doing so then there had to be something there. Hopefully.
"In case there is an emergency and something goes wrong," Which is usually what happens. "I trust you have a hospital booked nearby just in case?"
"Yes, I do," Ijichi pulled out his phone, his glasses catching the light from the device as he scrolled through it. "Booked privately through the usual channels. No questions will be raised, of course. Ah, but there is a slight problem."
Nanami glanced at Ijichi, the supervisor fidgeting nervously under his look. "Problem?"
"Yes, well, medical history, so to speak," He cleared his throat. "Emiya-kun doesn't appear to have any records. No medical history to speak of."
The blonde sorcerer narrowed his eyes and hummed. "No medical history at all?"
That wasn't good. Certainly wasn't the end of the world, but it did make the lives of medical professionals difficult. Normally it wouldn't matter because Shoko could just use reverse cursed technique to heal wounds, but for sorcerers who couldn't make it back to jujutsu tech and had to seek treatment at a hospital it could be an issue.
Things like what your blood type was or if you had any adverse affects to certain medications could be the difference between life and death. They'd need to bring that issue up once things were settled.
"It seems to be the case. Quite a conundrum," Ijichi sighed as he shut off his phone. "I don't know exactly where Gojo-san found Emiya-kun, but it's strange that he doesn't have any information to speak of. It's as if he's a ghost in the machine, so to speak."
Nanami sighed, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Remind me to tell Gojo that he needs to fix this issue. We can't have a sorcerer operating without some form of identification."
"Ah, well, of course," Ijichi nodded in agreement, ever a stickler for the rules. "I'm sure we can get this all sorted out. If we go through the official channels it shouldn't take too long to create an identity and-"
Ijichi's assesment was cut off as the sound of a large crash reached their ears. The supervisor squeaked and stumbled against the car in shock while Nanami's hand swiftly reached within his coat to pull out his trusted blade. Returning to look at the construction site, the pair found themselves staring in shock as they saw the form of Emiya flying up in the air as if he had been blasted out of a cannon.
"If possible, never fight your enemy in their own territory. It is often where they are at their strongest."
His father exhaled, a cloud of smoke filling the air and Shirou fought the urge to tell him to quit. He tried plenty of times before and for as stubborn as he was on certain things, Kiritsugu could be even more so.
"Only do so if you have the offensive capabilities to destroy the entirety of their base," His father continued on. He tapped a small rectangular object sitting on the desk. "I don't care how you do so, but I would personally recommend using C-4 explosives. They're compact and can be snuck anywhere onto things like planes, cruise liners-"
Yeah, he wondered if his adoptive father realized just how crazy he sounded sometimes.
After wandering into the building, it really didn't take long until he was attacked. If he hadn't been on guard he probably wouldn't have reacted in time, especially considering where the attack came from.
No sooner had he reached the center of the building did the curse struck. There was a pulse of killing intent from below him and he instantly was on guard. The concrete beneath him rippled like liquid and he could sense an incoming attack. With zero hesitation, he pumped cursed energy into his feet to reinforce himself as the earth shot upwards and blasted him upwards.
He felt the wind rush past his face as he soared through the air before reaching the peak. As he felt gravity begin to pull him back down, he quickly righted himself and stared down at the cursed spirit below him.
The monster had crawled out of the ground, materializing like a monster from the depths of hell. Immediately the area darkened even further as the negative energy intensified.
It was as grotesque as the image he conjured up when he thought about what a 'cursed spirit' would look like. It had a humanoid body that was approximately around 190 cm. Nothing particularly unusual until you took into account of its other features.
Where its head should have been was the upper half of a jackhammer. Instead of arms, it wielded two circular sawblades marred with rust and dried blood. Instead of feet it had what appeared to be pistons meant to crush objects with great force.
A fearsome body to be sure, but what really made it dangerous was-
The cursed spirit let out a shrill cry somehow despite having a jack hammer for a mouth. As it pointed up at him with one of its saw blades, three steel beams began to groan before they began swinging towards him at high speed.
Shirou summoned Kanshou and Bakuya to his hands as he prepared to meet the threat. He twisted his body midair to avoid the first beam, feeling it fly past his back. As the second beam was upon him, he brought his sword up and masterfully deflected it away. For the final beam, he twisted his body to avoid it before letting his feet catch onto its surface. The material brushed against his heels as he slid down it. He channeled energy around the soles of his shoes, lest they burn away from the friction.
The cursed spirit reached towards him once more and his eyes widened as its chainsaw hand morphed into a nail gun before firing. He flipped off the beam, blocking several shots that came close to his vital points.
His feet barely touched the ground before the curse was charging at him, its other buzz saw whirring and grinding against the ground and causing sparks to illuminate the area. It fired at him with its nailgun as it closed the distance. He deflected the shots once more as it got within melee range.
Shirou eyed the saw as it was swung around in a halphazard strike. Ducking under it, he brought Kanshou up and sliced its arm off. The creature let out a hiss as its limb fell to the floor uselessly before it brought its other arm around. The nailgun quickly morphed back into a saw as it moved towards his head. Shirou quickly brought his blade up to block the strike.
His hands tensed as he gripped onto the blades tightly. Sparks flew dangerously close to his eyes as he locked blades against the saw. It was stronger than he thought, but not dangerously so. He had already gotten rid of one arm so he should be able to easily-
The sound of another whirring blade reached his ears and his eyes widened. He quickly disengaged just in time as another saw came around to bisect the spot he was just in.
Shirou eyed the newly formed limb with surprise.
"That's... some impressive regeneration."
So a cursed spirit wouldn't just die from multiple wounds. It needed to be an irrefutably fatal one. Risky, but certainly doable.
The creature crouched low and prepared to charge forward but Shirou was faster. Hurling the blades in his hands, the married pair flew towards the creature and force it to raise its guard and defend. As it swatted the projectiles out of the air, Shirou traced another set and was already upon it. Dropping his center of gravity as he got close, he slid along the ground and brought his blades around to slash the legs of the creature.
It let out a howl as blood spurted from its legs. His strikes hadn't cleaved straight through, but it had taken a good chunk out of them and caused the creature to begin to struggle to remain upright.
Spinning to his feet, he quickly charged once more and brought both of his blades back before thrusting. The cursed spirit attempted to spin around in order to respond to the attack, but it couldn't turn quickly enough due to the damage on its legs. With a look of determination, he felt the blades enter the creature and pierce it from behind.
The cursed spirit could do nothing but stiffen in pain and shock as he twisted the blades to both sides and rip it apart. With a shriek of agony, the spirit's top half was separated from its bottom half and fell to the floor as a messy fountain of blood came from its severed torso. Shirou stepped to the side as the blood spurted towards him, landing on the floor with a sound similar to the pitter-patter of rain.
Shirou let out a calm breath and eyed the creature as its top half began to flounder on the floor. The cursed spirit let out a cacophony of sounds that were nonsensicle and unintelligible, but there was still meaning in them in the form of pain and suffering.
He never loosened his grip on his blade, but he couldn't help but think about the creature as it wept in a pool of its own blood. With its saw blades for hands, it couldn't even push itself around to face him. It was like a newborn baby struggling to so much as move with its limbs.
If cursed spirits were born from the negative emotions of humanity... then he supposed that it was only natural that they'd both be so similar when their life was threatened.
It was kind of sad...
...But that was their nature.
Shirou gripped his blade and stood over the curse. His eyes reflected pity, but there was no mercy to be found within his gaze.
Still, as he raised his blade in preparation for the killing stroke he found himself uttering words for the creature.
"Be at peace."
He didn't know if those words meant anything to it. An instant later, his sword pierced the creature's head and it went still. After slowly removing the blade, what remained of the spirit began to dissolve into goop.
Stepping back and making sure he didn't get any of the gunk on his shoes, he let out a sigh of relief and dismissed his blades before heading towards the exit.
All in all, the fight hadn't even lasted three minutes. It was a testament to his skill and experience in fighting otherworldly opponents that allowed him to be so decisive against the monster. Not to mention that it didn't seem to boast much intelligence for planning, instead relying on its instincts to fight. Still, he doubted future encounters would go so smoothly. They rarely ever did in his experience.
He did his job. Now all he had to do was see if he passed.
Nanami had wanted to charge right in the second he saw Emiya get blasted into the air, but the young man had descended back down with a pair of swords (where did he even get those?) and looked as if he had things handled. The boy hadn't panicked, and when Nanami realized that then he came to the conclusion that it'd be useless for him to worry.
No young sorcerer could remain calm and respond so fluidly in such a situation, which meant that the boy had seen his fair share of combat and had the experience to match. So when he disappeared back into the building, Nanami decided to just wait it out with his blade in hand just in case.
The sounds of combat rang from within the building. Some screeches, the whirring of a chain saw, then silence. Such was the case for most jujutsu battles. They were relatively short and quick, but when you were the one fighting it often felt like hours.
Ijichi was panicking right beside him, a bead of sweat falling down the side of his brow as he eyed the entrance nervously. The poor man had always been a bit of a worrywort and even weaker of body. The man looked as if he'd pass out from the stress.
He gave the man a pat on the shoulder, rousing him from his panicked state. "Ijichi-san, please start the car. If Emiya-kun is hurt, we'll need to head to the nearest hospital."
Ijichi swallowed and nodded, regaining his composure once he was given a task to focus on. "Right... right, of course." He quickly circled around the vehicle and opened the door before ducking inside. Nanami could hear him fumbling with the keys for a moment before the car started up.
Returning his gaze back to the entrance, he made the decision to check out the scene for himself. The sounds of battle had stopped, but that didn't indicate whether or not Shirou was alive or dead. It may very well be the case that he exorcised the spirit at the cost of sustaining grevious wounds. If that was the case, he couldn't forgive himself if he let the young man die while he sat outside twiddling his thumbs over whether or not he should intervene in this 'exam'.
But just as he was about to make his way towards the building, Shirou appeared from the entrance looking none the worse for wear. The two of them locked eyes and Nanami's shoulders sagged slightly in relief as Shirou raised a hand.
"Nanami-san! I exorcised the cursed spirit!"
Ijichi poked his head out from the car and let out a sigh of relief. The pair watched as Shirou jogged over and Nanami quickly moved in front of him.
"Are you hurt? Do you feel strange at all?" Nanami questioned as he scanned Shirou's form for wounds or any abnormalities. Other than some slight scuffing, it appears that the boy wasn't hurt at all.
"Ah, no. I'm perfectly fine. Other than being a little jittery from the adrenaline, I'm alright- Ah, I won't need the first aid kit, Ijichi-san."
Ijichi had popped out with a first aid kit and had begun frantically making his way over to Shirou's side. Seeing as how he was uninjured though, the supervisor gave an apologetic bow before ducking back inside the car with the bag.
Nanami remained silent as he stared at Shirou with a look that was something akin to... respect? Shirou couldn't really tell. He was just as hard to read as his own father had been.
Eventually, Nanami nodded and gave the boy a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. "Well done."
From how stiff the action was and from how awkwardly he did it, the action was a bit foreign to him. Still, it wasn't a bad feeling. He appreciated the sentiment behind it.
"Thank you, Nanami-san," Shirou smiled and gave a small bow before he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Ah... is it safe to assume that I passed?"
Nanami blinked before letting out a small huff that may or may not have been reminiscent of a laugh. "Yes, you passed. It seems Satoru did actually see something in you after all. I didn't think that'd be the case... but I'm glad I was proven wrong."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. After scrolling through it for a moment he put it back in his pocket before continuing. "I'll have your recommendation done in two business days at the very most. I'll send the details to Gojo... and a copy to you, Emiya-kun, as I give it a 85% chance he'll forget to hand it in to Principal Yaga."
Shirou awkwardly laughed. "Does no one trust Gojo-sensei or something?"
"In matters out of fighting? Not particularly," Nanami said without hesitation. Shirou felt a bit sorry for blind-folded teacher, but there couldn't be smoke without fire, right? Maybe he really was just that irresponsible? "I don't mean to shake your faith in the man, Emiya-kun. You can make your own conclusions after you spend enough time with him."
Nanami checked his watch and nodded. Good. They finished the job in an adequate amount of time. Beyond satisfactory, actually. He initially expected to be here for around twenty minutes after reviewing the layout of the area, but he was more than happy to be proven wrong.
He opened the car door and got in. "Come. I'll have Ijichi-san drive you back. We can stop for food on the way back if you are hungry."
Shirou nodded and ducked into the vehicle, shutting the door behind him. Normally he'd usually just cook for himself but he didn't want to be rude by turning down Nanami's offer. It wasn't as if he was averse to takeout either. He'll just consider it a small treat for a job well done.
"So? How was your little excursion?"
Nanami's face twitched as he stepped out of the car, seeing the bane of his existance already waiting for them like the spectre of death. Scratch that, he almost wished it was the spectre of death that had been waiting for him instead of this manchild.
"It went well," Shirou reported after swallowing the bite he had taken out of the small burger they had gotten from a Mcdonalds they passed on the way here. He himself wasn't preferential towards fast food outside of small things like coffee, but he supposed it was only fitting to get something a kid Shirou's age would probably eat. "Nanami-san said he'll put in a recommendation for me."
Gojo's shit-eating grin nearly made Nanami retract his promise, but he held strong. He was better than that.
"Is that so? Well, I never had any doubt," Gojo nodded, obviously pleased with himself. He then began eying the burger in Shirou's hand. "Mcdonalds? Did you get any for me?"
Shirou scratched his head. "I think Ijichi-san got you nuggets."
"See, that's why you're my favorite, Ijichi-kun!" Gojo gave the supervisor a thumbs up, causing the man to bashfully look down and accept the praise as if he had been awarded a priceless treasure. Guess the man didn't receive complements often. "And you too, Nanamin. Knew you'd pull through for me."
"I didn't do it for you. Emiya-kun made it on his own merits," Nanami retorted after walking back from throwing his wrapper in a nearby garbage can. He gave a small nod to Shirou. "You can go on ahead, Emiya-kun. If I remember correctly, you'll be starting classes tomorrow. It's prudent to get as much sleep as you can.
Gojo gave a sagely nod. "Yup. Classes start at 8 tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll come get you myself! I need to come up with a way to introduce you to your fellow students!"
Shirou gave a confused tilt of the head at that. Did there really need to be any thought in an introduction?
"Ah, okay," He slowly nodded, deciding to just roll with it. He turned to Nanami and Ijichi, giving each a bow. "I will see you later, Nanami-san, Ijichi-san."
"Of course. Have a good night, Emiya-kun."
"T-take care, Emiya-kun."
Nanami gave the young man a bow of his own alongside Ijichi's own awkward one. As the redhead disappeared into the campus, Ijichi took it as his cue to leave as well. He handed Gojo his own box of chicken nuggets, to which the man excitedly took like a four year old, before saying goodbye to both of them and leaving.
"So?" Gojo began as he opened the box and began grabbing the nuggies. "What did you think of Emiya-kun?"
"He is both skilled and strong," Nanami's brow twitched as he watched Gojo throw a nugget in his mouth and begin loudly chewing. "There was only one curse, but it was a grade 1. I initially decided to observe from a distance and only step in if he showed signs of being defeated."
"I'm guessing you just stood by, huh?"
"What do you think?" Nanami grumbled.
Gojo swallowed the nugget and gave a small cackle. "I bet you just stood there with your hands in your pants all cool in the beginning, but as soon as the fighting started you got all worried and wouldn't let go of that blade of yours, right? Am I right? Tell me I'm right."
Nanami glared and he could feel the beginning of a growl forming in the back of his throat as Gojo's laughter continued. Still, the white-haired man eventually stopped and let out a relaxing breath.
"Well regardless, thanks for the assist there, Nanamin. Seems I was right to trust in your assessment skills."
"...Don't mention it," Nanami sighed, shaking his head and ignoring the improper usage of his name. "Continuing on... the boy's condition hadn't changed since the beginning to the end of the fight other than some light bruises that'll heal by tomorrow. Maybe in two days. I'm sure your six eyes could tell you that."
"Yeah, his cursed energy wasn't in too much flux. Kid has got some good control over himself."
Most newbie sorceres had little control over their cursed energy. It often took a week or two in order to learn how to stabilize it and keep it calm on a daily basis, but to keep it calm during and after a stressful situation like fighting often took close to a year after multiple encounters with life and death situations. Negative emotions were oh so fickle, after all.
So Shirou's composure was already beyond a first year. That was a promising sign. That meant they didn't have to focus so much on certain subjects since it seems he has things pretty much down already.
"So his combat skills are good enough for an average grade one curse," Nanami continued on, thinking back to the event. "Composure... maturity... I'd say he has mostly everything he needs to be a good sorcerer. I plan on putting this in my recommendation, so you can read it later."
"Boo... are you trying to escape the conversation already?"
Nanami ignored Gojo's pouty face and continued on. "I actually want to discuss something else with you. It has come to my attention that Emiya-kun... doesn't have any government identification."
Gojo paused. "Really?"
"Yes. Ijichi-san was looking up medical records for him just in case he got injured and we needed to go to a hospital," Nanami explained, noting how even Gojo himself seemed surprised. "Did... you not know?"
At least Gojo seemed to have the decency to look a bit embarassed. "Well... c'mon... I didn't exactly expect the boy to not have anything to his name! Cut me some slack! Although... I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
Nanami would have smacked him upside the head if it wasn't for the fact it wasn't physically possible. "Gojo... you took the boy in. Where exactly did you find him?"
Gojo looked as if he was contemplating whether or not to tell him... before eventually just shrugging.
"He came out of a hole."
Nanami stared. "...A hole? Like in the ground?"
The strongest sorcerer shook his head, and though Nanami couldn't see his eyes he could tell from the way his mouth had settled into a thin line that he was uncharacteristically serious.
"No... like a hole in space."
Shirou's back hit the mattress and he stared up at the ceiling, few thoughts flowing through his mind. Lifting an arm, he sniffed and cringed at the scent. Well, he had worked up quite the sweat in a dirty construction site. It was only natural, he supposed.
His neck craned towards the bathroom and he sighed. His body was telling him to lie down, but he really needed to get clean.
"Maybe in ten minutes..."
So he laid there on the bed, the seconds ticking away as he stared at the ceiling. After battles he rarely had any thoughts in his head. His father had told him that it was the body's method of preserving energy after a fight by shutting off the fight-or-flight instincts. You didn't want your body thinking it was in a stressful situation when you were trying to rest, right?
While his thoughts weren't on the battle with that freaky curse earlier, it was on something else far more important. Something he had just gotten around to focusing on now that he had a moment to himself to recuperate.
He thought of his adoptive sister, wondering what happened to her. She had vanished after being sent off by the Holy Grail Ritual and he had no idea where she could have gone. Hopefully it was a place that she would be safe in and one where she'd be able to make many friends... but the fact that he had arrived in a world like this didn't make him so sure.
There was no way she was sent here as well, right? In this world of curses and bloodthirsty monsters... there was no way the Holy Grail would send her here...
For that matter, he had no idea why he was here. He wasn't the target of the ritual and he would have thought that he'd have perished at the hands of Angelica after she shattered his reality marble using the strongest weapon of the King of Heroes. He could remember feeling his body grow weightless as his thousands of swords were ripped apart and scattered into nothingness... and he could feel himself being swallowed up and torn apart by that vortex of power.
Could it be...
Enuma Elish, the ultimate noble phantasm of King Gilgamesh, was a weapon that symbolzied Genesis. It brings back the primordial forces that ripped apart the heavens and the earth, forcibly recreating a hellish environment that nothing could withstand.
Was it possible that the blast had forcibly ripped apart space and time... and sent him here into this world? Into a different time?
Or it was just as likely that he died and his soul reincarnated. That was possible.
...But how would that explain the vestiges of Archer that cling to him?
He reached out with a hand and clenched it into a fist, feeling the remnants of Archer's memories flow through him just like when he had fused with the class card. The card itself was gone... but his soul still remembered many of Archer's memories and all the information engraved into it. While he wasn't as strong as when he had the card, the quality of his technique and energy had become a bit more polished compared to before he slotted the card.
So alongside saving Miyu... at least there was something else that was good that came out of that whole debacle.
There was also the matter of the energy that swirled throughout his body. It was no longer the od of a mage that was generated by magical circuits, but the cursed energy found within sorcerers. While there was a small difference between the two, energy was energy. His ability to manipulate magical energy within his body seemed to translate well to manipulation of cursed energy.
He didn't understand why his body had undergone this transition from magical energy to cursed energy, and he could only guess it was to simply fit in more with the rules of the world. Still, it was just a guess. Greater minds than him on the subject probably would have been able to figure it out but that wasn't his area of expertise.
Finding the energy, he sat up and prepared to take a shower. He needed to push those thoughts to the side. Pondering about things you couldn't change would just keep him awake. Gojo had told him that classes would be starting early tomorrow morning and that he'd come get him, so he decided to take Nanami's advice and retire early.
As odd as it was to be starting some form of education again... it was kinda nice. His old memories of his school life had nearly faded from his mind with all the chaos that happened recently so it'd be nice to make some new memories again. It was like a do-over of sorts.
Just as he was stripping down and about to step into the shower, he paused when a sudden thought occured to him upon his eyes glancing at the discarded clothes.
"Oh... I don't have clean clothes..."
He needed to go shopping later.