Two people were walking towards school under the blue morning sky along the roads of the Miyama area at a calm but not at all slow pace, these two people were a young man with light blue hair which was accompanied by a red-haired boy.
Who were none other than Dan Mori and Emiya Shirou who were walking towards the Homurahara academy calmly.
'Mm, should I get a bike like in the old days?' The turquoise-haired boy thought with some nostalgia as he recalled his old bike in his old world. 'That way I can also carry Shirou faster'.
"Mori-nii." Shirou suddenly called out, attracting the attention of the aforementioned.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Asked the fallen god in confusion.
"It's about the martial arts you're going to teach me ... Are you really going to do it?" asked the red-haired boy, extremely serious about it.
"Shirou..." Mori said surprised by his younger brother's interest in Renewal Taekwondo.
Although the former Monkey King had told him that he would teach him a little, seeing the boy he saved so interested in regards to actually learning martial arts made him a little hesitant. Mori was not what we would call a master, unlike his grandfather Taejin who not only founded all that is known so far of Renewal Taekwondo, but also trained a bunch of South Korean soldiers for a mission in North Korea, called under the code word: "Operation Gilgamesh".
So, the young man had absolutely no experience as a teacher, however ...
Mori smiled slightly. "Sure, I should teach my little brother to defend himself a little."
"Really?! Great!" Shirou exclaimed as his childish face lit up with excitement.
The turquoise-haired boy couldn't help but chuckle due to the excitement the red-haired boy was showing so openly.
"Take it for granted, so from now on I'm your sensei, therefore you must do everything I say no matter how silly it is." Mori told him smiling with his arms crossed, scoffing a little at his new status as a teacher.
"As long as I don't have to meditate again." The boy muttered.
The former Monkey King smiled with amusement. "Hmph, you'd better get used to it because we'll be doing it a lot."
"Mori-nii!" Shirou complained grumbling about it.
"Hehehehe." However, the Fallen God simply engaged in chuckling to himself while his younger brother pouted.
Unbeknownst to either of them, their conversation was overheard by a young man a few meters ahead, however that young man seemed to not give it a second thought even though he was giving the turquoise-haired man a somewhat significant glance, or rather the way the latter was walking.
This individual was a young man a little taller than Mori, pale skin, short black hair and dark eyes. He wore the same uniform of the Homurahara academy, only unlike the Fallen God, this student had his brown jacket closed. His school bag was a black briefcase.
However, the most characteristic feature of that student was the impassive expression on his face, along with those empty eyes that could make anyone uncomfortable who is under his sight without exception ... Curiously, Mori did not seem affected perhaps because of the distance or perhaps because he was distracted with his younger brother Shirou, but unbeknownst to the blue-haired man, this individual was beginning to gain a certain interest in the former Monkey King ... Whether for better or for worse.
Unfortunately, this individual stopped focusing on Mori when he arrived at his destination, the Homurahara Academy. As the turquoise-haired man and the red-haired boy continued onward towards the elementary section of the academy, which was a few blocks ahead of the upper grade section.
As the individual passed the threshold of the facility, the school's doorman greeted him with a friendly smile.
"Good morning, Kuzuki-kun." The doorman greeted.
Kuzuki nodded at the greeting. "Good morning." He said in a dry manner, before continuing on his way to his classroom.
The janitor did not say anything about it, already very used to the way of acting of the adopted son of the head priest of Ryuudou Temple, in fact, for the janitor of the Homurahara academy he found somewhat refreshing such a serious attitude of a student like Souichirou Kuzuki third year ... In stark contrast to the Yakuza princess, first-year Fujimura Taiga.
The black-haired man continued his way to his classroom at a calm pace and without stopping, from time to time some students and teachers greeted the young man, and he greeted them back in a polite but somewhat curt or distant way, but no one seemed to care because it was already well known Souichirou's attitude at Homurahara academy since he entered his first year.
Finally, Kuzuki arrived at his respective classroom and sat down in his respective seat, which was one of the ones at the front of the class. The black-haired man then sank into his thoughts as he stared into the void without interruption.
A few minutes passed until a teacher entered the same classroom as Souichirou.
"Oh, early as always, Kuzuki-kun." The teacher greeted.
The aforementioned did not respond verbally but simply nodded emphatically to acknowledge his teacher's greeting. However, the black-haired man could only think of one thing.
'That guy ... He's just like me ... '
...
"And here we are." Announced the turquoise-haired man as he and his younger brother finally arrived at the elementary facilities of Homurahara Academy.
Both Mori and Shirou were standing at the threshold of the entrance watching as several children of similar ages to the red-haired boy being led by their parents into the educational facilities.
The elementary section of Homurahara Academy boasted large facilities, somewhat smaller than the high school section but still somewhat sizable. A lot of children were running around the corridors very happily along with several teachers very patient and happy to work with children.
This would be the new environment where Emiya Shirou would live for a year until she moved on to middle school. And not for nothing, but the red-haired boy felt a bit overwhelmed by this environment so full of children his own age. Tolerating Taiga's childish attitude was one thing, but having to be exposed to so many of his own age group made the boy a bit nervous even though the latter wasn't going to admit it.
"I guess I'll see you later." Shirou said looking at his older brother.
"Yeah, I'll try to pick you up as soon as I get out of class. So try to wait at the school where I can find you quickly." Mori told him in response. "Well, see you later, take care Shirou."
"Bye, Mori-nii." The boy said goodbye, watching as the turquoise-haired boy walked off into the distance until he could no longer see him.
Shirou stared at the entrance for a long period of time without entering, simply watching the other children who would be his classmates for a year come and go. However, his reverie vanished when the bell rang for everyone to go to class.
The red-haired boy sighed before he started to move towards the inside of the building to talk to the management about his status as a new student. However, it stopped him ...
"Moh! I still can't believe that Kirei had the audacity to change my school in the middle of the school year." Complained a high-pitched voice a bit irritating to Shirou's liking.
"Please understand Ojou-sama. Kirei-san surely did it for your own good, he believes that a change of environment can be beneficial for you after so many difficulties." A second voice spoke in a calmer and softer manner trying to appease the anger of the first voice.
The Emiya turned his gaze with some interest as to who the owners of these voices were. Then he saw them as a beacon.
"For my sake, he did it to annoy me!" exclaimed the first visibly annoyed voice that belonged to a girl about his age.
If it wasn't that Shirou was a boy, and the girl wasn't so irritating, the red-haired boy would have thought that girl was very pretty. She had splendid blue eyes that sparkled like a sapphire in the sunlight, which highlighted her porcelain-white skin. Her dark brown hair simply highlighted that fact even more by being tied in two high ponytails with black buns.
She wore the female version of the Homurahara Academy elementary school uniform. That uniform was composed of a white sailor shirt with red borders, a black skirt, white tights and black sneakers. In addition, he had a hat that matched the shirt on his head, a brown jacket on top of his shirt along with a second coat for a cold morning like that in red.
"Please don't think so badly of Kirei-san, Ojou-sama. He seeks the best for you as I do, as Tokiomi-sama's last wish ..." The second calmer voice suddenly died out. "Even if his methods are highly questionable." She said to herself with a hint of doubt.
The second voice belonged to a beautiful woman in her early twenties or so, the beauty of that girl made Shirou blush slightly when he saw her. She looked like some kind of princess under the impressionable eyes of the red-haired boy. She had dark as night hair held in a high ponytail along with a few locks falling in front of her ears like the standard hairstyle of Japanese women in the Heian period even though the woman didn't look completely Japanese, pale pearl-like skin along with blue eyes a little lighter than the girl's accompanied by a shade of red makeup on her eyelid as if to further highlight the contrast with her heavenly eyes. She was wearing the stereotypical French maid's dress that Shirou had seen a couple of times on television, a black dress with ruffles and white details along with black boots.
In the red-haired boy's eyes, that woman was beautiful but a bit odd. She bore some resemblance to the girl but they didn't seem to have a family relationship if the status of "mistress" and "maid" was any indication.
"See, even you doubt that fake priest!" Exclaimed the girl to her maid.
The woman sighed. "What I think or don't think is of no importance whatsoever, Ojou-sama. You should remember that for better or worse her custody is in the hands of Kirei-san by her father's will due to the ... Such a precarious state your mother is in." Then the maid gave the girl an affiliated and serious look. "Or are you telling me that you are going against your late father's wishes?"
Those words achieved their purpose when the little brown-haired girl flinched under the gaze of the older woman causing her to lower her gaze to the ground as a form of defense against that gaze but she still felt oppressed.
"No, I... I didn't want to ..." She began to babble uncontrollably, startling the red-haired boy.
Shirou could tell that the girl had a unique personality that made her seem very inflexible when something got into her head, but all that didn't seem to matter when it came to that maid who knew how to push the girl's right buttons so that she would do what she said.
Then, the older black-haired girl's hard stare was replaced by a softer, more empathetic one. A slight smile was present on the maid's face that attracted almost all of the redhead's attention, not because it would further highlight the beauty of said woman (Because it did), but because it reminded him of the smiles his older brother, Mori, did.
"Well then, I wish her the best for this day. I will come to pick her up punctually as always. Now, if you will excuse me I must hurry home to attend to Aoi-sama before she wakes up alone." The maid's beautiful smile disappeared and was replaced by a somewhat worried countenance. "You know she must not wake up alone."
The girl nodded emphatically, her childish face wore a distressed expression. "All right, I'll see you later, Anne-san."
The maid now known as Anne nodded in acknowledgement before retreating at a calm but not at all slow pace back the way she came.
The red-haired boy was surprised to have heard the maid's name, recognizing it as a non-Japanese name despite her Asian appearance. Perhaps she had foreign parents? Was what Shirou thought of as a possibility.
However, as the red-haired boy stood watching the girl's maid retreat, he didn't notice how the latter noticed Shirou's presence, which didn't do the little black-haired girl much good.
"You ... !" Exclaimed the girl pointing her finger at the Emiya in a rude gesture and nothing belonging to a young "noble" girl as the redhead had thought.
Mori's younger brother was startled when he was caught staring in a less than discreet manner and being greeted by a really annoyed look from the girl.
"Why don't you mind your own business!" The black hair exclaimed before retreating to go to class, not giving the redhead a chance to respond.
Shirou stood there perplexed by the "Ojou-sama's" explosive attitude, before sighing and running a hand behind his neck.
"That wasn't very classy." Said the red-haired boy with a bead of sweat before hurrying to the address, he was already running late for meddling in matters that weren't his.
Internally, Emiya Shirou wished he would never meet that lady again so that an awkward situation would not arise ... However, the boy would have to realize that from today onwards that sometimes things do not turn out as one aspires.
He could only hope that Mori would do better than him.
...
Fortunately, everything seemed to be going well for Mori so far.
After dropping Shirou off at the elementary section, it didn't take long for the turquoise-haired boy to make his way to the junior high section of Homurahara Academy. Upon arrival he couldn't help but be a bit amazed by the facilities, being somewhat larger than his previous school in his old world.
However, the former Monkey King couldn't just stand around contemplating the school as if it were the eighth wonder of the world for the whole day, so shaking off his amazement he walked inside the facility.
The corridors were empty because the classrooms were full of students as classes had already started. That didn't worry the fallen god much, since he had to take a test before he was assigned a grade in the academy and thus be able to go to his respective classroom.
It took him a while to get to the address due to the unfamiliar and new environment where he was but he did not have much trouble since he had asked for some addresses of those students or teachers that the turquoise-haired man met on the way.
When he finally arrived at his destination, he set out to talk to the secretary who was there doing her respective duties as part of the school administration.
"Uh, excuse me." Mori said announcing his presence.
"Oh, good morning. How can I help you?" Asked the secretary in a neutral voice.
"Well... I'm new and I'm supposed to take an exam or something." The turquoise-haired man explained.
As those words registered in the secretary's mind, her face lit up in understanding.
"Oh, right. The director wanted to talk to you, he must be waiting for you now."
"Then, let's not keep him waiting any longer." Said the former Monkey King.
The secretary nodded in understanding and led the young man into the principal's office.
The woman first entered the office to explain Mori's circumstances, then exited and allowed the aforementioned to pass and then she returned to her work station and left the rest to the director.
Upon entering the Homurahara academy principal's office, the fallen god encountered a young man, probably in his mid-thirties. He had hazel skin, short brown hair and matching eyes. He wore red square-rimmed glasses and wore a dark blue suit, with a white shirt, black tie and brown shoes.
"Oh, you must be Dan-kun, right?" Said the director as he acknowledged the incoming presence in his office.
Mori nodded in confirmation. "Yes, I have to take an exam, don't I?"
"Exactly, let's not put it off any longer." The man spoke, standing up. "I will find a teacher to take care of your test in a separate room, will you come with me?"
The turquoise-haired man simply nodded in response.
And so the headmaster of Homurahara Academy went in search of a teacher to take over Mori's academic attitude test, with the latter following close behind so as not to get lost.
They finally arrived at the doors of a classroom, where the former Monkey King realized that it belonged to the third-years. As the walls had windows, Mori was able to see inside where he noticed that several students were looking at him and whispering things that he could not hear from outside, but the fallen god guessed that it had to do with the fact that he was a new face in the facilities.
However, the young man only gave a cursory glance to the other students who in the future would become his possible classmates until his sight met that of a black haired man who looked at him with empty eyes, but even so the turquoise haired man was able to feel a certain intensity in his gaze. Something that made him a little uncomfortable, but still he did not move his gaze away from that individual, as if that person had something that did not allow him to stop focusing on him.
While all this was happening, the director had entered the classroom without taking into account the "staring competition" between the new student and one of the best students of the school, and simply entered the room to talk to the teacher to be in charge of the test to evaluate the knowledge of the turquoise-haired boy.
Mori kept looking at the black-haired boy for a long period of time without noticing the approach of the principal and the teacher who was in the classroom a moment ago.
"Well, Dan-kun. Shidou-sensei will be in charge of evaluating your academic attitudes." Announced the principal introducing the teacher next to him.
"It's a pleasure." Said the teacher.
"Eh?" Mori said confused for a second because he was spaced out because his concentration was on that individual in the classroom. But it didn't take him long to understand what was there. "Oh! Yes, of course! I'm under your care." Said the turquoise-haired man respectfully, bowing slightly.
"Well, let's not waste any more time." Said the teacher before starting to walk towards an empty room for the test, with a Mori a few steps behind him.
"I wish you the best, Dan-kun." Was the last thing he heard from the principal before he turned back the way he came to go back to his office.
Mori sighed internally. 'Well, here we go... I hope Shirou does well and makes friends.'
...
"Another transfer student in a week ... I hope it doesn't become too common this season." Said the elementary section headmaster to himself as he looked at Shirou's papers.
The aforementioned redhead sat in front of the principal's desk listening to what the man was saying in silence, just answering whatever he would be asked.
"Hm, well. I already know what class to place you in." Said the principal after finishing the administrative processes on his computer to then stand up. "Follow me, Emiya-kun. I think you will like this class." Said the man smiling kindly.
"Mmm." Shirou hummed in response as he also stood up.
The principal led the red-haired boy to his future classroom. When they arrived the principal called from the door to the teacher in charge of the classroom to talk for a moment about the circumstances surrounding the red-haired boy so that he could be let in.
After a short talk between the teacher and the principal, Shirou was now at the front of the class with all the eyes of the other children of the same age looking at him with childish curiosity as expected of seven year olds. The teacher stood next to the red-haired boy, then she proceeded to speak.
"Class, as you can see now, we have another transfer student in our classroom." The teacher announced.
'Another one?' Shirou couldn't help but think, he was a little curious as to who the other transfer student could be besides him.
"Well, it's time for our transfer student to introduce himself." Said the teacher gesturing for Mori's younger brother to take the initiative to introduce himself.
"Good morning everyone. My name is Emiya Shirou." The red-haired boy bowed slightly. "Please take care of me."
"Good morning! You can sit in the back, next to the other transfer student." The teacher instructed.
"The other transfer student?" Shirou repeated quietly before looking in the direction where the teacher pointed.
Only to widen his eyes in dismay, right next to where the only available subject in the room was casually standing was the girl he had seen that morning next to his maid and the one who had yelled at him.
The girl, who also recognized him, had an expression similar to his, but then it was replaced by an irritated look that made the red-haired boy somewhat uncomfortable and filled him with reluctance in wanting to sit next to the little black-haired girl.
"Emiya-kun, please take a seat next to Miss Tohsaka so we can start the class." Said the teacher.
With no other option, Shirou could only let out a defeated sigh before he started to head to his respective seat towards the girl who at least knew her name was Tohsaka now.
As he sat down, the black-haired girl was staring at him with an intensity that he thought if looks would kill, Shirou was sure he would have died at least eight times before even touching the ground. But in the moments when the redhead would look at her, Tohsaka would turn his gaze to the front so as not to make eye contact.
As if he was some sort of outcast.
Shirou sighed. 'What a good start... '
...
Mori hadn't done too badly in the test ... At least not that bad. He had only narrowly passed the level to be in second year, the same educational level he had in his old world, which was a certain relief for him, because he didn't want to repeat the first year.
So after taking the exam he was guided to his classroom, not realizing that on the way a certain person noticed him.
Fujimura Taiga could not help but be surprised to see the turquoise-haired boy passing by her classroom, and by the direction he was going, she realized that he was heading towards the second year classrooms which meant only one thing ...
Dan Mori would be her Senpai.
It took all of the Yakuza princess' willpower not to roar with rage at the revelation. Since she was a first year, naturally the young man would become her Senpai regardless of how much longer she had been at Homurahara Academy.
Worst of all was not that, but now there were the possibilities of meeting at the Emiya residence, but also at the school and possibly also on the way back to the Miyama area.
However, what really bothered her was ...
"Hey, I've never seen him before."
"Is he a new student?"
"I think so."
"I heard rumors of that."
"Hey, did you see his smile? He looks so fake."
"It's true! It's very dull, it looks untrustworthy."
"He looks cute, but he looks like a skinny guy."
Taiga had to recite the rules of bushido in her mind to calm her anger at the things her classmates were saying about Mori.
Because what really bothered her was that they were looking down on him, when the Fuyuki Tiger knew the turquoise-haired man's secret ... Mori was a warrior, a master in the martial arts, that was what every cell in her body was telling her.
A monster, he is a monster.
It was what her head was saying, and she as a proud swordswoman ... She wanted to face him with everything she had! But, the bastard had spurned her at their first meeting and that had devastated and enraged her in equal measures!
And like a tiger, she would not allow her prey to underestimate her ever again.
"Will you shut up?" Taiga said softly.
However, the effect of her words were such that it made the whole room, including the teacher fall silent. It was as if Fuyuki's Heavenly Tiger had roared to the four winds silencing all the mortals on earth.
"You ..." A girl started to say with a strained voice and sweating slightly, before putting on a teasing smile but it was still noticeable that she was nervous. "Don't tell me you like the new guy?"
When they heard that, the other classmates of the brunette started whispering among themselves regarding the new information, and the fact that Taiga wouldn't try to refute her classmate's words made them all the more excited.
"Like him?" the Yakuza princess repeated as if she was oblivious to the exact meaning of the word before speaking again. "Yes, we could say yes. I like him."
Those words made the womens in the room shriek, while the mens couldn't help but gasp in surprise at the man who had captured the heart of the great Fuyuki Tiger, something thought impossible.
"Yes, yes, I like it... I would like to kill him."
And all the excitement in the classroom was extinguished with those words coming from the Yakuza princess, who had expressed them with a neutral and disinterested countenance as if it was no big deal, but everyone could stiffen as they felt the pressure Taiga was exerting without her noticing, and she probably didn't care.
Even the teacher in charge of the class, the biggest authority figure at the time was starting to hyperventilate because of it.
"I'd like to face him and kill him with my torashinai. I want to feel the adrenaline bouncing in my veins as I hit him. The sweat pouring down from my forehead defeating him." Taiga raised her eyes to the ceiling.
I want to feel the ecstasy of facing someone with the power to kill me.
...
A memory from a few days ago revealed itself in the mind of the infamous Fuyuki Tiger.
"Mm? Taiga-chan, are you alright?" Kiritsugu's gushing voice pulled the young girl out of her thoughts.
This was a memory from a couple of days ago, during one of the private English lessons that the Emiya patriarch was giving to the Yakuza princess. That day, they were both alone because Mori and Shirou had gone out to get to know the city of Fuyuki a little better.
"You seem a little distracted, Taiga-chan." Kiritsugu said in a serious manner. But in spite of that, his concern was sincere because in the short time he had known her he had grown fond of his friend's granddaughter, because she reminded him a bit of his childhood friend, Shirley.
The young brown-haired swordswoman grumbled in her seat. "It's nothing."
"If it's nothing, then why do you look so upset?" Although the former Freelancer was perceptive, you didn't have to be a great genius to read the young Yakuza princess's feelings.
"Wah! Okay, I'm upset!" Taiga exclaimed angrily raising her arms to the sky.
Kiritsugu couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at the hot-headed attitude the Fuyuki Tiger had adopted without an apparent explanation, but as her tutor and Raiga's friend he had to inquire into the matter.
"And may I ask why?" The black-haired man said calmly.
The young woman focused her annoyed gaze towards the former Magus Killer, but he was not affected at all after having passed several hurdles in his life so far. But he had to admit that the young woman had a rather intimidating look and feared for the one who would try to woo the Fuyuki Tiger without speaking nicely to her.
"It's Mori! I still don't understand why he backed out of the fight! He has no pride as a warrior! I could see it, he was just as excited as I was! So why did he stop?!" Taiga roared her tirade in fury.
Kiritsugu was silent for a few moments to let his mind fully register the young girl's words, process them, analyze them and try to give her a proper answer for the furious tiger and not make the problem worse.
Why had Mori stopped? He wasn't entirely sure, but ...
"He may seemed to be hurt." Said the former Freelancer at last.
"Huh?" It was the smartest thing the brown-haired woman managed to say at the time.
"It may have been my imagination, but when he started to perform his attack he seemed determined, but suddenly ... It all went out. I may not be an expert in martial arts, but I know a little about combat and I managed to notice how Mori instantly lost his will to fight." Kiritsugu calmly elaborated, allowing Taiga's granddaughter to understand what he was saying.
"I ..." The young swordswoman hesitated for a moment, as she recalled the short fight she had with the turquoise-haired man. "Now that you mention it he seemed very ... Sad."
She felt it, as her determined aura wavered completely letting her see how vulnerable the young man was but Taiga had overlooked it due to the emotion of the moment. But she had disregarded her opponent's feelings, did she have the right to claim him now? She didn't know exactly but...
She really wanted to fight him.
"I can see that even knowing a little more about the situation, you still want to fight him, don't you?" More than a question, it was a statement made by Kiritsugu.
Taiga lowered her gaze, not out of embarrassment but because she was thinking things through very seriously at that moment.
"If every time he fights he hurts himself ..." Fuyuki Tiger began to say with unwavering resolve filling her voice. Then she looked determinedly at the Emiya patriarch.
Then, I just have to cure him with a different way of martial arts.
...
"Yes, I will kill him." Taiga declared again firmly, making the whole place even more tense. "Because in order to save him from his pain, I ..."
I must kill him.
Because that was the path she had taken.
...