Edit 3: Don't know why it is not showing up, updated the chapter with some grammar correction. Third time creating a completely separate file, hopefully Fanfiction doesn't bug out again...
Hello, finally got the third chapter done!
Very sorry for the lateness! We are soon approaching the beginning of the cano fate timeline with Shirou soon taking the spotlight, so things are about to get real folks.
These chapters so far could be considered as prologues i guess.
Beta read by NimtheWriter and D-Quarter005 (Co-writer)
-Fuyuki-
Some time had passed since Eto began opening up more to her new family. Outwardly, not a lot changed aside from the more active role Kiritsugu and Eto took in Shirou's magecraft training as well as Eto's new school life.
However, the atmosphere at home felt lighter and warmer now. Even Taiga noticed the difference — how everyone seemed more lively and content. None more so than Eto, who went from her former shy and meek self to becoming more cheerful and outgoing.
In the first few days following the revelation that she was a half-ghoul, Shirou had assaulted her with a wave of questions about ghouls and what life was like as a ghoul. Any fear or sense of caution he was lacking, he more than made up for in excitement and childish curiosity. Although she still found it somewhat off putting, she couldn't help but feel flattered and grateful.
However, Shirou never asked her anything about her family back in Tokyo. It seemed even he realized on some level that this was a sensitive topic. All the same, he found himself growing more and more curious until the day he finally broached the subject.
"You know, you've never told me anything about your family in Tokyo before Nee-san," he asked one early afternoon in the fall while washing dishes. Both Kiritsugu and Taiga had stepped out, so it was just the two of them in the house. Eto was sitting at the table in the living room, typing on a laptop Kiritsugu recently bought her.
As far as he knew, his adoptive sister had never brought up her family back in Tokyo or anything directly related to her life there. Same with Kiritsugu, who never revealed anything about Eto's past since the day he brought her home and said she'd be living with them. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that he knew little to nothing about her life prior to her arrival, not even her previous family name. He had only recently learned about her status as a half-ghoul.
Eto, who was struggling to find the right words to voice her thoughts, broke her attention away from the computer. "There isn't much to say, honestly," she replied with a shrug, before turning back to type a couple of sentences only to reread and delete them after deciding she didn't like them. "I don't have any memories of my parents. I was separated from them when I was still a baby and raised by a friend of the family."
These past few days she kept working on a draft of a story she had been developing, hoping to use events from her personal life but unsure where to start. "But if you have any questions to ask me, I'll answer them as best as I can," she added confidently.
"Really?" Shirou was slightly taken aback by how quickly she answered that question. Truthfully, he'd expected a vague answer or silence, given how she never liked talking about herself before. "Then let's start with your mother. What do you know about her?" His curiosity got the better of him, stopping what he was doing to take a seat at the table to listen to her story with bated breath.
Closing her laptop, she drummed her fingers along the casing and looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Well, as you know, I'm a half-ghoul. I actually got my human side from my mother," she said with a small smile, watching him scrunch up his face in concentration as he listened carefully - it was always a cute sight. "Her name was Ukina," she continued. "She died when I was so young that I can't even remember what she looked like - just bits and pieces. Most of what I know of her comes from what she left me."
Reaching into her book bag, she pulled out a worn, faded journal. The way she tenderly held and looked at it revealed how important it was to her. "This is her diary. It's thanks to this that I have some idea of the kind of person she was. Other than this, all I have are her books on magecraft. I know she was a practitioner, but I don't know if she was a proper magus or a spellcaster. Based on their quality, she had to have come from a magus family, but there's almost no mention of them in her diary so I'm not sure if she was on good terms with them or not."
Shirou couldn't help but notice how proudly and warmly she spoke of her mother. "You must really look up to her," he remarked.
"You probably think it's weird given I have no clear memories of her, but yeah, I respect her a lot," she replied, her expression softening. "She not only conceived me, something most would have considered impossible to begin with, but she even went to extreme lengths to make sure I was born healthy. Not many people could do what she did and I admire her for that. It's thanks to her stubbornness and strong will that I exist at all."
If he recalled correctly, both Kiritsugu and Eto had mentioned it was nearly impossible for humans and ghouls to have children together and even in the unlikely event that they did, the child would die in the womb. He couldn't imagine just what her mother had to do to make it possible. Even the old man said it would take nothing short of a miracle.
Watching the way she proudly held onto her mother's diary, he was struck by the realization that she had only mentioned her mother so far. It made him wonder what kind of amazing person her father must have been for her mother to fall in love with him. "And what about your father? What was he like?" he asked curiously. His older sister's smile vanished instantly at the mention of her father, making him wonder if it was a mistake to ask about him.
"I don't have a father…"
Shirou's eyes widened, "What do you mean? If you had a mother then you had to-"
She held up a hand to cut him off. "He may have helped conceive me, but I don't see him as a father," she said, shaking her head.
"Why?"
Eto sighed and leaned back. "It's a long story — one that I'm not sure you're old enough to understand."
"Really Nee-san? That's what you're worried about?" She almost fell over at his deadpanned expression. "I do all the cooking in this household…"
"Er… that's true," she relented.
"And laundry…"
"Um, yeah?"
"And cleaning since you and the old man can't stop breaking things…"
"Uhh…"
"And most of the grocery shopping since no one else seems to know how to pick fresh ingredients…"
"Okay, okay! I get it already!" she finally snapped, her face red with embarrassment.
Shirou's expression softened. "Is it something you don't feel comfortable talking about? Or are you afraid of how I'll react? No matter what it is, I'll always be on your side. I just want to know more about you is all."
Moments passed as Eto seemed to have an internal debate. Finally, she let out a relenting sigh. "You really are too stubborn sometimes, you know?" she said with a weak smile.
"Then you'll—?"
She cut him off again with a raised hand. "I'll give you a summarized version. And I don't want to hear about it again until I feel like bringing it up myself, understood?"
He nodded enthusiastically. "Crystal clear!"
Sitting up straight, she started drumming her fingers across her lap as she tried to think of what to say. "Let's see… where to start…" Finally, she seemed to come to a decision. "My mother first met my… father," she almost spat the word out venomously. "She first met him at a cafe he frequented where she worked as a waitress."
"Didn't you say ghouls can't eat or drink the same things humans do?" Shirou suddenly interrupted with a confused expression.
As if expecting his question, she merely chuckled. "That's true, but like most things in life, there's an exception. Ghouls can enjoy coffee the same as humans do."
"That's kind of random." His response made her freeze for a moment, her bewildered expression showing just how off guard he'd caught her with that comment.
"I mean, can ghouls eat kidney beans? Or tea?"
"Eh… no?" She wasn't sure where he was going with this.
"Beef?"
"No."
"Sugar?"
"I mean, if you mix it with coffee then I guess we can."
"Snails?"
"Ew."
"How is that worse than eating human flesh?" He asked genuinely, the entire string of questions throwing her off her initial wave of emotion as she found herself lost over what Shirou was trying to say. "Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, why coffee beans in particular? As far as I know, they don't contain human remains."
"I… I don't know." Honestly, it was a mystery she never really had the luxury to think about in detail. Given most of her time previously was spent trying to survive and release some of her stress through writing and not contemplating the truth behind coffee beans. "I'm not sure how that is relevant, Shirou."
"It is!" He slapped his hands on the table, his reaction catching her off guard, she never saw such a fervent look in his golden brown eyes that almost looked like they had a fire lit in them. "If coffee beans are truly the only thing you can consume then there must be a reason why! If I make a highly concentrated coffee cake or brownies, then they should be able to eat it, right?"
"No, they still contain ingredients like flour and—"
"Sugar, I know." He grabbed a pen and paper, writing down a list of ingredients and dishes — some of which disturbed even her. "Coffee beans can't be the only thing you can consume, the fact that it can be consumed means that there should be something inside making it possible — something we can add to other ingredients! I've heard that pork meat tastes like human flesh, maybe If I marinate pork meat in coffee roast and human blood… or better, blend them together then I can have you try—"
"ANYWAYS! Back to the previous topic," she continued, wanting to pull him away from whatever experiment he was planning on conducting on her.
"Oh right, you were talking about your father… can you also not eat chimpanzee meat since they are closely related to huma—"
"He was a regular customer," Eto cut him off. "And, my mother noticed how he would always sit in the same booth and order the same thing day after day: coffee, strong with no cream or sugar. According to her diary, he looked lonely so she tried to strike up a conversation with him one day."
"Woah, this is starting to sound like a romance novel." Shirou commented with an awed expression, having finally let go of the previous topic that made her shudder just to think about. A side of her brother she didn't want to bring out anytime soon.
"It does, doesn't it?" she agreed with a sad smile. "But it doesn't end like one. Apparently, her intuition was spot-on. The man had no friends or family whatsoever and was surprised that anyone would take the time to talk with him. As time went by, they got to know each other better and eventually even became lovers. Or at least, they thought they were getting to know each other."
"Huh?"
"I'm getting to it," she quickly added, noticing his confusion. "Eventually, my mother became pregnant with me and she… she did what she had to do in order to make sure I was born. But, she and her lover were both leading secret lives that the other one didn't know about…"
"Do you mean the fact that your mother knew magecraft?" he asked with concern.
Eto shook her head. "No, I don't think that was it. My mother, you see, she was an investigative journalist. She had been investigating various underground organizations with ties to ghouls and she was onto something big — something that went all the way to the top. But it turned out, that man worked for the very same organization she was investigating and when he found out he…" Her eyes hardened and her hands balled into fists. "He killed her and dumped me in the twenty-fourth ward; he sacrificed us just to save his own skin! The one good thing he did do was leave me in the care of a kind person but still—"
"Ward?" Shirou interrupted suddenly, hoping to take her mind off the topic. Already, he was regretting bringing it up, seeing how much pain it caused her.
"Right, you wouldn't know about that." Opening back up her laptop, she eventually brought up a map of Tokyo depicting various colored regions. "Tokyo is divided into twenty-three special wards and a number of municipalities. In some ways, you can think of the wards as independent cities. Some are more populated by ghouls than others based on the doves' presence."
He carefully looked at the screen before frowning. "Twenty-three? Then where's the twenty-fourth ward? I don't see it anywhere."
"Nice observation," she praised him gently with a tap on the nose using her finger — much to his dismay. "Hehe, well you see, the twenty-fourth ward technically doesn't exist; it's not officially recognized. It was created in the past by ghouls digging underneath Tokyo. Think of it as an underground city connected to tunnels leading to different parts of Tokyo."
"That sounds cool!"
"It may sound cool, but it was anything but that." She hesitated to go into details of the atrocities she encountered whilst there, a part of her seriously worried that the boy would actually try to go there and attempt to help everyone, a suicidal fool's errand at best. She was starting to understand his savior personality, the more time they spent together.
Not even being able to call it heroic, but borderline self-destructive.
"It wasn't the ideal place to live. Since it was underground, you never got to see the sun or feel its warmth. Many of the ghouls living there were either on the run or didn't have anywhere else to go. Others were simply too violent to live aboveground. In many ways, you could call it a city of outcasts where only the strong survive."
"Is it really that bad?" Shirou asked with a look of concern.
Eto nodded. "Most humans don't even know about it and the ones that do generally stay away. Even the doves don't go there unless they absolutely have to. It's a great place to hide if you don't want to be found." At this, she closed her eyes and sighed. "But that also means there's barely any food, which leads to a lot of infighting. And, of course, my so-called father never once came to help me out. If it wasn't for Noroi I wouldn't have lasted a week."
"You're sure he's still alive?"
'He better be,' she thought grimly. That man didn't deserve to leave the world so peacefully after all he'd done. "He's a coward; people like that don't die easily so he's definitely somewhere out there." Letting out another sigh, she gave a weak smile. "Anyways, that's enough about him."
Shirou nodded in understanding only to be struck by a sudden thought. "Wait, who's Noroi?" At the mention of that name, his adoptive sister's warm expression returned.
"He was my guardian back in the twenty-fourth ward. He looked kinda scary but he was actually very kind and peaceful. He always made sure I didn't go hungry and did everything in his power to keep me safe. He's the one who taught me how to read and write and…"
The rest of the afternoon flew by as Eto told stories of her life with Noroi.
{Break}
Spring arrived with a gentle whisper, heralding its presence with the soft rustling of budding leaves and the vibrant colors unfurling across the meadows. Nearly a year-and-a-half had passed swiftly with little to no change in the Emiya residence, the house remained practically the same other than the slightest visual changes as if stuck in time.
All of it except for a young boy sitting crossed legged inside the shed, his hair having grown to the point that even Taiga insisted on him getting a haircut and his overall height having grown ever so slightly.
"Hah, again."
Taking a deep breath, the redheaded child closed his eyes and concentrated on an image conjured by his imagination. "Trace, on." The two words leaving his mouth followed by the image of a gun's hammer being pulled. A trigger that served to activate what he previously never used, rather due to ignorance than anything else.
A mistake, or lack of oversight that made him turn his nerves into circuits through blinding pain.
Suffice to say, he didn't miss those days.
His twenty-seven magical circuits flared, drawing in mana and converting it into magical energy that flooded his body." This feels a lot better than before." he muttered while looking at his hands. The one who taught him how to use his natural circuits was his old man, but the one to forcefully activate them was none other than his sister, Eto. "The soreness is mostly gone and I don't feel any spasms."
It no longer felt like a hot iron rod was being pressed against his spine, no longer gritting his teeth and struggling to keep his composure at the sensation of the worst pain imaginable for long periods of time just to activate a nerve circuit.
Just the thought was enough to make him shiver, but he kept moving forward, especially now that he was using his natural circuits.. Though he still remained largely ignorant about just how many units of magical energy he produced. Kiritsugu mentioned it was around the same level as an average magus but could potentially increase in the future.
Yet despite all of that… he still made barely any progress with his magecraft.
"This isn't enough. I can't do it," he said, staring at the piece of pipe in his hand, surrounded by other PVC pipes which were either broken into pieces or turned to dust from his prior attempts. Remnants of his past failures that resulted in the pipe either crumbling apart or exploding.
"I better clean up before she comes by, she'll make my ears fall off with her nagging." As much as he loved his sister, she could be overprotective at times to the point of being nosy when he was practicing magecraft on his own. Not that he was angry with her, but it was more frustrating than anything else… he wasn't going to do anything stupid like put his life in danger anytime soon.
But this one remained intact, glowing with a vibrant green energy that shimmered across its surface. "After nearly a hundred attempts, this is the first one I've gotten right. A success rate of around one percent isn't exactly promising," he muttered to himself, feeling deflated by the numbers but knowing he couldn't change them. On the first day that he attempted to use his natural circuits after being taught how to access them, both his adoptive father and sister made a startling discovery — something he had suspected deep down but refused to acknowledge.
A truth that Kiritsugu mentioned with a tired face.
"I don't know how to tell you this," he mumbled with slight hesitation, "but you have no talent for magecraft."
His father's blunt words still stuck within his mind to this day. The man didn't even bother to mince his words or encourage him, going so far as to advise him to not bother having any plans of becoming a capable magus compared to people he dealt with in the past. 'I'll show the old man, it's not some lack of talent or incompatibility that will stop me from trying.'
Some time after he'd recovered from activating his natural circuits, Kiritsugu and Eto used a Consecration ritual to determine his elemental affinity — sword of all things. Strangely, it felt right to him for some reason though he couldn't help but notice the confused expressions on their faces. Apparently, his element was more than a bit unusual as neither of them had even heard of it before.
Kiritsugu explained that elemental affinities help determine compatibility. Spells that align with your affinity are naturally easier to learn and master than spells that fall outside it. As Shirou's element was abnormal, he could potentially learn and master spells that many magi would struggle with. But at the same time, he would struggle with many spells that most magi take for granted. To make matters worse, neither his adoptive father nor sister were aware of any magecraft that specifically worked with his element. The best they could do was have him practice the three basic spells they'd planned on teaching him from the start: Structural Analysis, Reinforcement, and Projection.
But even after more than a year of intense training, he'd made little to no progress on them, only managing his first success, which happened to be the pipe he currently held, after wasting hundreds of said items until now.
'But at least I know it's possible,' he thought, a small glimmer of hope cutting through his doubt. A part of him had started to fear that he truly wouldn't be capable of using a proper spell at first. What should have been the easiest spell, Structural Analysis, had been a significant challenge to even cast. It had taken him quite some time to grasp it, but he had persisted, using it frequently on nearly every object in the shed with various degrees of success that weren't something to be proud of yet.
"Is there truly no other way?" he asked while looking at his work that slowly started to lose the Reinforcement spell. Only a couple of seconds had passed, and it could barely be considered a success. "Is all of this just because of my weird elemental affinity? What about my origin?"
He still didn't fully understand the concept, but Kiritsugu described it as the driving force that defines a person's existence and directs their actions from the moment they are born. Everyone has one, he explained, and while it's possible to change your elemental affinity, your origin never changes.
His element may have confused his father and older sister, but his origin outright shocked them — or rather his lack of one. After countless days spent trying numerous rituals, scouring Eto's books, and even bringing him to see a specialist, they were forced to conclude one thing — that Shirou either lacked an origin or it couldn't be identified.
He still wasn't sure how he should feel about that...
"Let's try this again," Shirou said, moving on to the only remaining spell that he hadn't had any success with so far: Projection.
Also known as "Gradation Air," this particular spell allowed him to use his own magical energy to create and shape any object he imagined, a simple spell that was considered ideal for teaching beginners but useless for anything beyond that. The problem lay in the fact that the item didn't last for long, the world's corrective forces quickly breaking it down, and the fact that the item created was always vastly inferior to the original — in some cases, a mere empty shell. Cost-performance wise, there were better ways to use one's magical energy such as reinforcing an existing version of the same object. Even Eto seemed to have little to no use for it.
He looked at the table, seeing the kitchen knife he had brought along to sharpen after many months of usage. An idea flashed within his mind.
'I can give it a try. Perhaps it can help me?' He didn't have anything to lose. So without much hesitation, he went over and grabbed the tool, holding it firmly in his hands. 'It looks in good condition, but maybe I could have sharpened it better," he thought as he observed the blade, taking in every detail of its appearance.
Carefully placing it down in front of him, he shifted his focus to his outstretched, open palm. "Once more," he murmured, his still-active circuits channeling enough energy through his body. Once again, he focused his attention on the knife laying on the ground in front of him. If outer appearance wasn't enough, then he would look deeper to get a better understanding of the object he was trying to recreate.
'That knife, it was bought by the old man from a rundown shop near the mall. The old grandpa who made it was quite popular for his forging, having made each one by hand and letting people watch as he did so,' he thought, adding detail to his visualization. The phantom sound of the hammer striking the metal played in his mind. He pictured himself back at that place, but instead of standing outside, he imagined himself closer, almost as if he were the one holding the hammer and the metal tongs with the red-hot piece of nearly soft metal.
"A tool he created by the hundreds, nothing but a kitchen knife that anyone could buy for a couple of thousand yen. Yet regardless, he put as much care into each one of them, regardless of how many he made."
"..."
So absorbed in unraveling the knife's history, he failed to notice the magical energy gathering in his palm, taking on the shape of the knife in front of him as if in response to his observations.
'If I remember correctly,' he continued in his thoughts, "the old man said it was high carbon stainless steel. The wood, on the other hand, had a sweet smell when he burned it with his logo — alder, if I'm correct. Made using the standard measurements for a butcher's knife, not too big nor too small. Even I can hold it perfectly well with a single arm without using too much force just to try and lift it. Top-heavy enough that even cutting through bone turns out to be an easy task."
His magical energy slowly became more active, the phantom outline of the blade appearing both in his mind and in his hand. The boy didn't want to miss a single detail and kept trying to gather as much information as he could, even from the smell and feel of the steel.
The ringing of the forge as the hammer collided with the metal continued in his imagination. Simple movements done hundreds of times without exerting too much force, shaping the rectangular shape of the blade with a sizable tang where it would fit perfectly within its handle, big enough that it wouldn't break from a single day of usage.
The blade itself was quite new, only he had used it so far. Despite having a past as a mercenary and assassin as well as being a capable knife fighter, Kiritsugu turned out to be quite inexperienced when it came to kitchen knives. One time, he nearly cut off a finger just trying to dice an onion. Another time, he almost chopped the cutting board in half when he wasn't paying attention.
The phantom shape of the blade continued to solidify in his hands until it became translucent. From the wooden handle to the shiny carbon steel blade, it was now fully present and perfectly shaped, getting denser and closer to its actual appearance in reality, with even the tiniest imperfections and details fully realized.
A drop of sweat ran down his forehead, the boy's concentration reaching a peak as the projection within his hand continued to take form, resembling the original perfectly. Right as he was on the cusp of it, his attention slipped at the sound of the door behind him opening.
"Aah!" His eyes went wide, as the almost completed blade in his hand broke down into motes of blue light before disappearing completely.
"Shirou! It's time to go to school! We're going to be late!" It was none other than Eto. The young boy turned and found the girl now wearing Homurahara Academy's uniform, something she'd been looking forward to for quite some time. In fact, it wouldn't be wrong to say she was more excited about high school than she had been with middle school. Taiga had been very helpful in getting her caught up in all of the main subjects and then some, dedicating hours of her time to be her personal tutor and surprisingly doing a very good job at it. Now that he thought about it, it did make sense, since she was planning on becoming a teacher in the future, so for her, it was a sort of practice before becoming an actual teacher.
"You're practicing again? I told you that you should take some time to rest. You won't make any progress by pushing yourself too hard," she said, a frown on her face as she looked at the visibly tired boy surrounded by broken pieces of pipes and a knife on the ground beside him. "Even if you're only practicing basic spells, it's still unwise to do so constantly and not expect something to go wrong."
"It's fine, I can handle it, and the sooner I master it, the sooner I can use it to help people," he replied, with a determined expression.
"Again with that," the girl rubbed her forehead, this not being the first time Shirou brought up matters concerning his ideals and plans for the future.
"It's not wrong to help people," he added with a hint of stubbornness in his tone.
"You're right, but don't go being a hero and sacrifice your own safety and betterment," she said with a sigh. They had already had this discussion, and she could tell that the boy was not willing to back down anytime soon, much to her dismay. "Listen, we'll discuss this later. For now, go get ready, we have to leave in five minutes."
It looked like she was going to leave the room but stopped right at the doorway before turning back towards Shirou, looking at him intently for a few seconds. Her silence and stare made him wonder what she wanted. After a minute of this, he started to feel a tad uncomfortable.
"What?"
A pout formed on her face as she grabbed her skirt and did a small twirl. Her action was met with confusion, the young boy tilting his head, trying to decipher what his sister wanted. "Is the uniform ripped or damaged? I can stitch it up for you, though you might want to buy a new one," he said, about to retrieve his sewing kit. She stopped him, rolling her eyes.
"Not that! You should learn how to take a hint, Shirou!"
"Take a hint about what? You're the one being uncomfortably silent," he countered, causing her to hang her head and sigh in exasperation before stomping out of the shed.
'Girls.'
{Break}
(A few weeks later)
"Well done!" Hearing her teacher's approval, Eto smiled before heading back to her desk. She had been called in front of the class for a math-related question she managed to answer on her own.
She honestly didn't have much to worry about. As a first-year high school student, most of the curriculum in the beginning consisted of revision, which made it easier for her. "Now remember, class, this homework is due on Friday. Make sure you do your best, and if there are parts you don't understand, don't hesitate to talk to me." On cue, the school bell rang, indicating the end of the lesson. Eto quickly put away her books before grabbing her bag and walking out of the class without a word.
"Hey! Do you want to hang out with us after class?"
"There's a neat little karaoke we'll be going to together. Come on, want to join us?" one of her classmates asked, whom she recalled to be the class president as well. The girls were surprisingly social and welcoming to her, curious about her past and even complimenting her hair and looks. Though many of them grew interested when she mentioned that she had moved out of Tokyo, curious as to why she would leave such a wonderful metropolis and settle down somewhere so far away. 'If only they knew,' she thought.
Well, it wasn't like she could give them the details, so she lied and said it was because of her parents changing jobs. She supposed she could have told them that she was adopted, but ultimately, she decided it wasn't worth the extra attention it would bring her way.
"Sorry, Kyoko! I have to go back home early and look after my brother," she said to one of the girls, clasping her hands together with an apologetic smile, which made the other girl lose a bit of her smile but nod in understanding.
"That's fine, maybe next time. Oh, you didn't mention that you had a brother." Eto's eyes widened as she recalled that she hadn't mentioned Shirou before, having only spoken a little, mostly out of nervousness and unease at being in an unfamiliar environment.
"Oh… right… I forgot. His name is Shirou and he's my younger brother. He's usually really mature for his age, but he can be a bit clueless and helpless at times." She wanted to end this conversation already so she could get back home quickly, mainly to keep an eye on him due to his recent excessive use of magecraft. In truth, a part of her was afraid of what trouble he might get himself into if neither she nor Kiritsugu were around to stop him.
"And by younger you mean…?" Another classmate asked curiously, making her want to sigh.
"Five years, don't get any ideas."
"Oi, I was just being curious. Don't play the overprotective sister card on me."
"I'm not overprotective!"
"So you say."
Their little banter continued for a few more moments before they parted ways, both sides saying their goodbyes.
.
.
.
Walking down the street, Eto couldn't help but smile as she hummed a tune. Approaching an intersection, she turned left instead of continuing straight, which would have led her home. It had been a while since she last picked up Shirou from school — something she liked doing every so often, much to his dismay. "Hm?" Right on cue, a light buzz came from her pocket. Retrieving her flip phone, her eyes read the familiar number of her brother, though he wasn't one to call her often… "Shirou?"
"Nee-san, I'll be back a bit later than usual today, so you don't have to wait for me or come to pick me up."
"..."
Rather suspicious of him to have called her for such a thing at such a convenient moment. Doubts gnawing in her mind, she looked around, searching for a bundle of red hair hiding within the bushes. "You're not lying to me just because you're embarrassed about your big sister picking you up are you? And are you spying on me?"
"Ah, wait a minute Neko-san! I'll help you carry those!"
He was with someone, her ears picking up the voice of a woman in the background complaining about her back and needing to smoke.
"Sorry, Nee-san, I'm just helping this aunty I stumbled acro—"
"I'm still in high school! Who are you calling aunty!?"
That voice sounded rather familiar, even the name… though she couldn't recall from where.
"Then stop smoking! Someone your age shouldn't be doing that."
"Eurgh, shut up kid, I don't want another Taiga on my back."
Now it clicked, she was one of Taiga's friends who regularly hung out with the latter. Someone who she only met once by pure chance with her first impression being how different this person acted compared to the Tiger of Fuyuki. But wasn't her name Otoko or something?
"I can come over and help you, Shirou. We can walk back home together afterwards too."
"It's no problem, I'm just helping her get some cases of sake into her house. It'll only take a few minutes, I'll be back maybe half an hour later! Wah!"
"Hey, be careful where you step! Those are expensive… don't touch them!"
"Then don't throw your old underwear on the floo—" Without even giving her time to answer, he cut the line.
"..."
Just what was her brother getting involved with this time? A troubling thought crossed Eto's mind at the realization that Shirou was actually going inside a high school girl's house who for some reason had a case of sake… Maybe she had been reading too many romance novels lately, her mind kept creating ridiculous scenarios.
"Hah, calm yourself down, Eto. Shirou is still too young to be interested in such things with other girls." She said audibly, slapping her cheeks to get those funky thoughts out.
Then again, this was one of Taiga's friends, so maybe there actually was something to worry about…
"He'll be able to handle himself, I'll call him again in an hour if he's not home yet," Eto murmured as the sun set behind her, casting long shadows over the quiet streets. She made her way to her house and gently opened the door to find Kiritsugu alone in the living room. The former Magus Killer was vested in the same gray, kinagashi-style kimono he usually wore these days, his eyes closed. It looked as though he fell asleep while watching the news, the television still turned on with the news channel showing Tokyo-related events.
"..."
Her mood soured at the blurred images shown on the screen depicting a brutal conflict according to the police reports. But she knew otherwise, as the location was exactly around one of the areas where ghouls gathered. Such reports were getting more and more frequent, further worsened by the fact that this was just the tip of the iceberg as not everything was revealed to the news media.
"I hope Noroi is doing okay… " she muttered to herself faintly.
He was a capable person, able to handle and adapt to most situations presented against him. With her no longer by his side as extra baggage and a burden — he'd have an easier time looking out for himself.
"Enough of that," grabbing the remote, she changed to another channel before bringing her attention back to Kiritsugu. She wasn't blind to the fact that the old man, as Shirou liked to call him, kept tabs on the events in Tokyo for a reason.
'Is he also keeping a watch on the activities of the doves and ghouls?' It made sense that he'd be worried about the violence in Tokyo spreading to other areas, especially Fuyuki. Nevertheless, it was best to not focus on such things for the time being, she'd have ample time to do so later..
"You're back."
"—!" She flinched, caught off guard by her adopted father's words, the latter having woken up from his slumber. Though his eyes were still tired there was more life to them than his state this morning. "Ah, sorry, I didn't want to disturb your sleep."
"It's fine, I didn't plan to sleep here and was just resting my eyes for a bit. Guess I was more tired than I thought."
A yawn escaped his lips as he stretched before slowly getting up with a groan. His movements were sluggish, not nearly as energetic as they were around the time she came to Fuyuki. "Did something happen in school? You look a bit sad."
"Ah, no. It's just… I saw some of the news and it made me think of the people I left back in Tokyo." There was no need to hide such a thing from him, the truth of her emotions related to her past life, the place she once… and still considered partially as her home.
"Worried about the Commission of Counter Ghouls?"
"Partly, yes; if they knew I was here, nothing would stop them from barging in to take me away or kill me." Noroi once told her that many of the doves were well-intentioned, if misguided, individuals who just wanted to protect their families and communities. Others, he said, were comparable to executors from the church: brutal, efficient, and merciless killers who were driven to eradicate all ghouls. The one thing both groups often shared was the loss of a loved one to ghouls.
"They wouldn't spare you or Shirou, even if you're humans."
"I've handled worse entities in the past," he casually replied, and Eto truly wanted to believe that. But his degrading condition made it harder to keep that faith from dwindling by the day.
"You doubt me."
"I do… it's just, well… I also want to protect you two. I just feel that relying on my ghoul side and even magecraft just isn't enough. It's not just the doves that have me worried, but also others of my kind willing to hunt me down — like V."
A silence befell within the room, her words making the older man contemplate, scratching his chin while an idea formed in his mind.
"I won't hide this from you, Eto. But I doubt I'll be around for long enough to keep you two safe until you're capable. Shirou lacks a lot despite having a fair amount of circuits, but without a proper teacher, he's doomed to be at most a third rate. He won't achieve anything with the kind of progress he's showing and it'd be best if he wasn't so stubborn about it."
Stubborn, that was one way to describe her brother. Stubborn to a fault, to the point she genuinely worried about his future.
"I'll have to ask you to keep him safe in my stead, Eto."
She looked at him, "That goes without saying. That's why I need to get better, the way I am now is hardly enough."
"I know." He looked at the clock to see how late it was, noting it was only a short matter of time before Shirou got home if he hadn't already. "You have a lot of talent as a Magus, possibly even enough to get a sponsorship to study at the Clocktower. But time is not on my side and you're stuck with an awful magus."
"Awful magus?" The disbelief in her tone was clear. "Remind me again who's the one feared by many magi for going around and assassinating even those considered to be plenty powerful themselves? Noroi mentioned how you were also quite infamous with our kind for successfully hunting down ghouls without a quinque… how that's possible, I haven't even asked you yet."
"It's a long story, and I didn't just use regular firearms to deal with them. But that is something you'll learn later. And yes, I don't really see myself as a proper magus. The amount of spells I know is laughable; the ones I mainly used came from a part of my family's magic crest that no longer exists and I can't negotiate with the Clocktower to hand over the rest."
That piqued her interest, she never heard the details about his crest. Only having heard that it was destroyed before he even adopted Shirou.
"Regardless, that's not the main issue. You don't need a crest, your kagune more than makes up for it in terms of combat ability. The fact that you're a hybrid can be considered a blessing in itself with your ability to use magecraft in the first place. What I'm thinking about is something else entirely; something that may give you the edge you're looking for."
An edge? Various possibilities rushed through her mind and honestly, there wasn't a lot she could think of. The only idea was that Kiritsugu possibly found an actual teacher for her, yet even that idea got thrown away the longer she thought about it.
"Tell me, have you ever used a gun?"
"Huh?"
.
.
.
A few minutes later, the green-haired girl walked inside her room with a thoughtful expression. A lot went through her mind as she took a seat, opened her laptop, and stared at the white page filled with words and an unfinished paragraph. "I can't believe it's almost done," she whispered.
Her fingers tapped the keyboard, continuing from where she left off, writing paragraph after paragraph. Without paying any attention to the clock, an entire hour went by before she finally noticed how dark her room had gotten. Going over to switch on the light, she went to examine her basically finished work.
The 'small' story she had been working on for the better part of a year was nearing completion. It began as a collection of snippets back when she first moved to Fuyuki. Now, after many sleepless nights and countless hours of typing, it was nearly finished.
"I'll have to double-check everything for any errors, can't even hire an editor to help me polish this up." Her mouse scrolled upwards, going through the wall of text showing her past work. "Doesn't look like there's any grammatical errors… guess I can—"
"You forgot to add a period here and this phrase doesn't make sense."
"Wah!"
Eto jumped, nearly toppling out of her chair. The unexpected voice had come from right behind her. She was certain the door had been closed, not wanting to be disturbed in such moments when she was purely focusing on her writing. Frantically waving her hands, she managed to save herself from falling over at the last second, tightly gripping the edge of her table and looking at the intruder with shock.
"Shirou!?"
Her eyes caught the familiar redhead standing behind her, casually reading over her shoulder and humming with interest.
"So this is what you've been working on," he said, a hint of admiration in his voice. "I have to admit, I was curious. You'd spend hours on your computer and never give me any details." As he scrolled upwards, trying to see the first page, Eto reacted instinctively.
"Don't look!" she shouted, snatching the laptop away. Her heart pounded in her chest. It was a story she wanted to someday publish for many people to read. Yet, seeing her brother read the first line of her novel brought a wave of embarrassment, so much so that she wanted to bury herself into the ground and not come up anytime soon.
She quickly closed the device with an audible snap, making sure he wouldn't read any further.
"Eh? Why won't you let me read it? It looked interesting, and I'm curious!"
"It's not ready!"
"But you just said you were writing the last line or something," Shirou pointed out. "And it's not like you're trying to keep it a secret. You've told me about your book for a while now."
Eto's cheeks turned a deep shade of scarlet red. She couldn't deny his words. She did want his opinion on the story and to see what he thought about it. But now, when it came time to follow through, she found it harder than anything. "Still…"
"Are you afraid I'll laugh at it?" Shirou raised an eyebrow, frowning. "Of course I wouldn't do that, unless it's a comedic story. It's not a comedic story, is it?"
"It's not!"
"Then I don't see the problem!"
"You wouldn't understand, Shirou. This is my first work, and I'm just scared you won't like it and that I wrote something ridiculous."
"Says the girl who wants to publish her work and have possibly millions of people read it. Now suddenly, you're afraid of just me reading it? You're not making any sense, Nee-san." He spoke with a dry tone, throwing the thought she had right back at her and giving her a deadpan stare. Eto flinched; once again, she couldn't deny his words. Unconsciously, she hid her face behind her laptop and whispered,
"F-Fine, but don't you dare share it with anyone yet."
"..."
If, by some mistake, her manuscript were shared online and read by everyone in her class, she wouldn't hear the end of it. Eto still felt many parts of her story could be improved and rewritten. These thoughts brought up many scenes she had written in the past which her current self believed weren't up to standard. But her hands moved almost on their own, handing over her computer to Shirou — which ended up being a mistake.
He grinned ever so slightly with a hidden intent and slight mischief before taking it and quickly rushing out of the room. The way he ran away made her heart sink to the bottom of her chest.
"Wait, where are you going!?"
She only heard Shirou's footsteps heading toward the living room, loudly opening the door and being greeted by a familiar cheery voice. Her face went absolutely pale as she remembered they had a particular guest.
"Don't you dare show it to Taiga, you twerp!" She sprinted out of her room, almost contemplating tapping into her ghoul physiology to move faster. But it was too late; she burst into the living room to find Taiga and Shirou silently reading the first page of her story. Taiga looked up with twinkling eyes, an expression of wonder and disbelief.
"You actually wrote a whole book? That's amazing! This is like… almost three hundred pages! Mama is so proud!"
"Since when did you become a mother?"
"Let me have this moment, Shirou!"
Unable to face them, Eto, with a tomato-colored face, shut the door and retreated back to her room. Unfortunately, she could still hear them reacting to some of the scenes in her story with various positive comments.
"Just you wait, Shirou," she muttered. Her brother, despite being mature for his age, had moments of pure brattiness. And as his sister, Eto knew it was her mission to teach him a lesson sooner or later. She had been far too gentle with him this entire time!
"Kiri! Look what our daughter made!" Taiga's voice echoed through the thin walls.
"Our?"
"Not him too!"
That was it; she wasn't leaving her room anytime soon. With a sour face, she picked up one of her literature books and went back to her bed, hoping to ease her mind and patiently wait for them to be done. "Oh no, I need to get my laptop as well."
Unable to even focus on her reading, the young girl let the book fall on her face and tried to calm her raging emotions. Though strangely enough, her ears kept focusing on the voices and comments coming from the living room as the three continued to read her work and from that, her lips would occasionally twitch upwards with an ever so small smile.
{Break}
(A few days later)
"Where are we?"
Those were the first words that came out of Eto's mouth as she found herself standing in the middle of an empty, grassy field, surrounded by mountains; a long distance away from Fuyuki that it took over an hour to get to by car. With not a single trace of civilization anywhere other than a small warehouse and an old, abandoned well.
"Somewhere away from any prying eyes, in the middle of nowhere basically." Kiritsugu mentioned, now wearing his old black suit and tie that he hadn't worn for a long time. Having it on more due to a sense of familiarity of the person he once was, the mere sight of it bringing out an endless wave of memories the past him would have never associated with it. "The nearest town is an hour's drive away, and the natural landscape acts as an effective sound barrier. It's the perfect location to practice without the risk of drawing unwanted attention due to noise."
"What about Shirou?"
"He's more than capable of taking care of himself. I asked him to look after the house and that we'll be coming back a bit late. He already knows why we're here in the first place." He answered, grabbing one of the discarded wooden planks near the warehouse now covered in moss and vegetation, pushing it and other items to the side before entering the building.
While he did some light inspection, Eto on the other hand still had some questions. "He didn't ask why you were planning on training me with guns and not him?" She had seen how determined the young boy was to become better with his magecraft so that he could help people. So it made sense in her mind that he would also be very curious about what the older man was about to teach her.
'It doesn't take a mind reader to figure out how highly that brat looks up to Kiritsugu. I wouldn't be surprised if he's trying to walk down the same path as his old man.' A path that she knew was nothing but bad news for the boy, a path full of nothing but regrets.
"Hm?"
She saw the lights inside the building flicker right after her ears picked up the sound of a generator coming to life. She wondered if Kiritsugu also used this place for polishing his skills as the Magus Killer in the past.
"He didn't, surprisingly, the boy wants to focus on his magecraft and said he just wants to come someday to see how you'll perform. You might get yourself a spectator soon."
The possibility he was just searching for an opportunity to find more material to tease her with was not lost on the half-ghoul, her brother had become a bit too mischievous lately. Then again, he had a knack for getting under people's skin in her opinion; she didn't want to imagine how it would develop in a decade or two. 'What am I thinking? He'll most likely grow out of it.'
She coughed, pushed away from her inner thoughts by the heavy amount of dust in the air, "T-This place is a health hazard."
From the mold, to the spores in the air, to the thick cobwebs scattered across the walls and ceiling, it certainly wasn't the best place to be. "I refuse to have Shirou come here if he'll be spending any time inside. Add the stench of human waste and rotting corpses and you'll have a perfect replica of certain parts of the twenty-fourth ward."
"Heh, this might end up being his favorite place in my opinion. Knowing him, he'll stop at nothing to clean this place up." Kiritsugu noted something Eto couldn't argue against since she knew full well he was right. "But you're right, this isn't the best place to hold a conversation. Let's go outside again, we'll discuss more there."
The moment they walked outside, fresh air filled her lungs. Kiritsugu looked around and had her follow him towards the direction of the forest where there were signs of trees having been cut down before.
"So what exactly did you want to teach me? I don't know if I'm ready to use a gun yet."
It was a strangely unnerving feeling to use such a weapon. Even though her own kagune was by itself far more deadly than a regular firearm, she still didn't dare to underestimate the tool itself — especially in the right hand.
"Because you aren't," he answered, sitting on top of a rotten stump. Having already lit a cigarette, he exhaled a puff of smoke, a display that displeased her since she warned him to stop that habit of his. "When I was still active in my line of work, I had what you might call an assistant of sorts — Maiya."
Maiya… she never heard that name before.
"I rescued her from a war-torn land at a relatively young age. She was forced to be a soldier, fighting for her life constantly on the battlefield and used for pleasure by male soldiers when off the battlefield. I found her by chance and took her in, away from that life into something less… despicable. She was easy to teach, soaking up most of what I taught her like a dry sponge and soon became one of the very few people I genuinely trusted with my life. She died, unfortunately, a while ago."
Pity, that was the emotion that grew within Eto's chest. She had seen countless broken people with similar fates. Life was harsh, and if it weren't for Noroi, then other than death, she could have followed a similar fate.
Kiritsugu retrieved a handgun from his jacket, placing it on top of the trunk he sat on. She couldn't even tell what model it was, thanks to her lack of knowledge on such things.
"Before you even start shooting, you'll need to learn other skills as well. From setting traps to spotting and disarming them, studying your surroundings, blending with the environment, setting up a bounded field and disabling one. These are just some of the things I'll be teaching you."
"I need to learn all of that before even holding a gun?" A bit ridiculous in her opinion, she knew how to make a basic detection bounded field but was unsure how it would be helpful when learning to shoot.
"Using your gun should be a last resort, if all else fails. And to even reach your target in the first place without being spotted, there are important factors to consider. You didn't expect that I hunted down all of my targets just because I knew how to use a gun did you?"
At that, she blushed a bit, her reaction confirming his words. This led him to chuckle, making the teenage girl glare at him momentarily before scoffing.
"It's fine, I can understand why you would think that. But believe it or not, being the Magus Killer meant spending nearly ninety percent of my time strategizing, analyzing, laying traps and disarming them. The shooting part only happens at the very end if you've managed to reach your target without any hiccups. The worst case scenario is for you to be spotted and end up in a one-on-one battle against someone who can actually keep up."
"Did that ever happen to you?" She asked, growing genuinely curious about this aspect of his past life.
"Sure it did, I wasn't perfect by any means. Magus Killer or not, I had my fair share of slip ups or encounters with monsters and twisted individuals I would rather never face again if possible." His memory went to picture the face of a certain fake priest, a man whom he prayed Eto would never encounter.
"Alright, got it. I'll do my best."
He smiled at her determination, she had the will but now it was time to see whether it was strong enough to stay standing against his training. He lifted his arm, pointing at an empty bottle positioned on the other side of the field. "See that little thing? Bring it to me, if you can do that on your first try without any issues, then you'll be ready to immediately start learning how to handle a firearm."
"Eh, that's all?" All the talk and explanation of what she needed to learn made her initially weary of how long it would take her to reach his expectations. But if all he required her to do was just cross a field to retrieve a bottle, then maybe, she was overthinking things far too much. "The terrain may be a bit rough due to years of neglect and overgrown fauna, but it shouldn't be a probl—!?"
For a brief moment, her leg felt like it pushed against a wire before it snapped. A slight hiss followed that made her instincts go wild with dread. "Ah!" Without hesitating, she jumped away, diving to the ground as the spot where she'd been standing exploded, sending dirt and rocks flying everywhere, staining her clothes and face in mud.
"Hoh, so they're still active after all. Guess I didn't get screwed over after all by acquiring them all those years ago." Kiritsugu showed a light smirk on his face, taking another puff of his cigarette while Eto tried to pry off the dirt from her clothes.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, OLD MAN!?"
She had half the mind to grab him by the collar and rustle him up a bit. Her response only earned a side glance from the former assassin.
"What? I never said it was going to be easy."
Needless to say, Eto regretted not bringing any spare clothes… and she rather not try to wear projected clothing for obvious reasons.