Chapter 2: Slice of (Life) Shirotsume
"You kids stay safe, y'hear?"
"You've got it! Thanks, Gramps."
"Thank you, Mr. Miyagi."
We waved goodbye to an elderly man, tugging on the reigns of his horse and moving his carriage along. We'd run into him on the road after dealing with the Steel Sabre Bandits, and he was kind enough to give us a ride to the nearest town. Initially concerned about what the two kids were doing on their own, especially after seeing Erza's current state. The moment we got a bed, we were ditching those bandages.
Speaking of which. We were dropped off at a town called Shirotsume. It was a small town in the countryside surrounded by mountains, the most notable location being Mt. Hokabe. How did I know this? Mr. Miyagi told me! Let me tell you, that guy can ramble when you got him talking. The information was appreciated, though.
"Shirotsume..." I glanced at Erza. The redhead stared at the town with a look of awe. I smiled.
"Surprised?"
"Yes... I've never been to a place like this before," she muttered in a hushed voice of awe. "All of these people... they seem so happy."
"Yeah," I really couldn't begin to fathom how she was feeling. I didn't go through half the shit she went through in both my lives. The least I could do was alleviate the pain. "Let's go explore, yeah?"
"Yes!" Erza bobbed her head with a smile, and I felt my own grow just a little bit more.
We made our way through town. Of course, we earned some stares from the occasional passerby. After all, seeing two kids wander around without their parents is rather concerning, but hey! What do they know? These kids can beat up grown men with magic superpowers! Take that, law!
Besides. The law in general in Earthland on what kids could and couldn't do was rather loose, with 10% of the populace being able to use magic and joining guilds at a young age. Fighting dangerous monsters, criminals, and dark guilds. When a kid reached a certain level of maturity, where their magic grew strong enough, say 10 to 11, they were given free rein to apply for guilds and gradually work their way through the more dangerous jobs as they started from the ground up.
In a way, I likened it to Pokémon.
I took all the jewels out of my pocket and began counting them. Looting bandits had their perks. We had approximately 100,000 jewels to our name. Searching through my memories helped me understand that the currency operated similarly to Japan. Luckily I knew how yen worked. Which means we around roughly... 600 hundred dollars in USD? I think? Whatever the case is, I'm lucky I studied this stuff before I ended up here... or else we'd be completely fucked otherwise. I'm like 95% sure Erza doesn't know how to manage money. Don't think Rob taught her that.
"What are you doing?" I glanced at Erza. She was giving me a curious stare. I huffed.
"Counting our money. We're under a strict budget right now until we make it to Fairy Tail, so we have to be careful with our money." she nodded in understanding. So that was good, at least we were on the same page.
"So... what do we do?"
"Well..." I glanced up at a nearby shop labeled Hearts Kreuz. The name rang a bell... it was the name of Erza's base armor. From Taruko's memories, it was one of the biggest clothing distributions in Earthland. Selling non-magical and magical clothes alike, they were known for their quality work.
"Me and my friend are just looking for the kids' section." I jabbed a thumb at Erza, "Can you show us where it is?"
"Of course. Just take a left there, and you'll be well on your way!"
"Thanks."
We followed her pointed finger and arrived at the kids' section. I shuffled through various clothes... in the girls' section. I was earning stares from some of the women in the store, but I ignored them in favor of getting clothes for Erza. Speaking of which...
"What are you doing?"
I gave her the side-eye. She was staring at me like a curious puppy. Good Lord, I'm not gonna survive this level of cuteness...
"Getting us clothes. You especially... you can't go walking around in that."
Erza blinked, glancing down at the tunic a size too big for her, and the tattered dress that lay underneath. She yelped when a stack of clothes was shoved into her hands. "Try those on."
She stiffly nodded as I nudged her into the changing booth. I made sure to grab clothes that were cheap, but still fashionable. I wasn't dirt poor in my previous life. Moderately well off... but me and my family still had to be careful of our budget. So I knew my way around managing my money.
I hummed a tune, Snow Fairy to be specific, as I grabbed some clothes from the boy's section. Some jackets, shirts, pants, and shoes. Despite Fairy Tail being medieval-ish, I had to admit, that Earthland had an impeccable fashion sense. Seriously, I'd have killed to have some of the outfits the people had here back home.
Praise be to Mashima for great character design and fashion sense.
"... Taruko? How is... this?"
I perked up, turning to look at Erza and pausing. She wore a white blouse and blue button skirt that stopped at her knees, with black kneesocks and brown boots. She was busy inspecting herself and spinning around to notice me going into cardiac arrest.
CUTENESS OVERLOAD! ABORT NOW!
"... looks good on you," I muttered stiffly with a strained grin. Erza beamed softly, then frowned with a thoughtful look.
"Hardly suitable for combat, though." she mused, humming.
I snorted, rolling my eyes. "Well, it's more for comfort than anything else. They aren't meant to aid in combat. We can look into armors later, though... why don't you try on the rest, set apart what you like and don't like."
She nodded and retreated into the clothing booth. I stepped into my own and undressed, throwing on a quick outfit and checking myself out in the mirror. A high-collared red jacket with black trim with two pouches on either side and two laces attached to the back. A white shirt with a red pattern styled like a Y, baggy green trousers with a pair of pouches, and black combat boots.
...for some reason, this outfit is reminding me of someone, but I can't put my finger on it...
X-X-X-X-X-X
In another universe...
"ACHOOOOOO!!!"
Aboard the Edens Zero, a thunderous sneeze echoed through the entire ship. Within the command room, Shiki groaned and sniffled, rubbing at his nose with a small pout.
Rebecca shot the black-haired teen a worried look. "... you okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I think someone is thinking about me..."
Happy tilted his head. "I'm pretty sure the expression is talking about you..."
A pink-haired teen, who was lounging in one of the seats, suddenly narrowed his eyes. "I sense a disturbance in the force. As if a reference to another series was being made right now."
"... What?"
"It's just Elio being weird again. Ignore him."
X-X-X-X-X-X
Oh, well!
Folding my set of clothes back up, I stepped out of the booth to see Erza patiently waiting for me. She turned to me and blinked. "You're done already."
I smiled wryly. "Yeah, I'm fast with this kind of stuff."
"I see," Erza hummed, trailing behind me as I made my way back to the counter, where the retailer patiently waited.
She noticed us approach and smiled warmly. "Find everything you're looking for?"
"Yeah, lot of good stuff." I nodded, placing our things on the counter.
The woman began placing our stuff in some plastic bags, humming. "That'll be... 5,000 jewels."
I forked over the cash and she handed me our bags. She bowed at the waist with a pleasant voice, "Thank you for shopping at Hearts Kreuz, have a wonderful day, and we hope to see you again."
"Hope you have a good day, too."
"She was nice," Erza commented as we stepped out of the store.
"Good customer service." I nodded in agreement.
We walked down the street in silence, taking in the sights and soaking up the peaceful atmosphere. Which was a godsend, considering we were fighting for our lives a couple of hours ago.
"... you seem used to this."
I gave Erza a glance and shrugged wordlessly. "Well, yeah. I got dragged around to go shopping with my sister and friends back at my old village. When you're dealing with girls, you tend to pick things up."
Erza blinked, staring at me and silently raising a brow.
I grinned sheepishly and corrected myself, "Most girls,"
Erza smiled and looked down at the bag in her hands. "I haven't had such pretty looking clothes before. I'd like to go shopping more if I ever get the chance,"
Way to backtrack. Then again, she does canonically have like, entire suitcases worth of different outfits and gear. If Erza wasn't set on the path of a Wizard, I'm pretty sure she'd end up becoming a model.
I ruffled her hair, earning a quiet squawk from her. "I'll take you shopping as many times as you want when we have the money to afford the stuff."
"Mm."
The smell of food drifted into our nostrils. We perked up, and a loud growl akin to a ravenous bear echoed through the streets. I glanced in Erza's direction to see her face slowly turn as red as her hair.
I smirked. "Hunger is the enemy~"
She pouted at me and I let out a soft chuckle, pushing her towards the restaurant. "C'mon,"
We ended up finding ourselves inside of a restaurant known as Bluegarden. We booked ourselves a table and were currently looking over the menu. I already knew what I was going to get. Lemon pepper wings, fries, and a cola. It's been... who knows how long since I've had fast food. They didn't really have this stuff back at Ginger Village either, as far as my memories go. Well, they did, but the dishes weren't that popular.
The village specialized in more traditional Japanese style dishes. And while that was fine, I liked to indulge in fast food every now and then, so you'd bet your ass I'd be chowing down on this stuff!
I lowered my menu to see Erza staring at her's with an intensity that made me think she was trying to burn a hole through it with her gaze alone. It made me smirk in amusement.
"Erza?"
She looked up at me, blinking. I tilted my head. "You okay?"
"Yes," she trailed off, her eyes falling back to the menu, "... there's just a lot of options. How does anyone eat all of this?"
I was almost tempted to say 'ask Natsu'.
"Why don't you try this?" I tapped at a section of her menu.
"...bur...ger..." Erza murmured with squinty eyes.
A young girl around our age, maybe a year or two older, wearing an apron with the words 'Bluegarden' plastered over it in bold blue walked over to our table. She wore a practiced smile and had wavy dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "Welcome to Bluegarden! My name's Becca, what can I get for you?"
"I'll have your lemon pepper wings with a side of fries, and a cola. She'll have one of your burgers and fries." I replied easily. Becca wrote it down swiftly and nodded. I threw another order in for the hell of it. "Oh, and a vanilla and strawberry cake for dessert."
"You've got it! We'll be right back with your food shortly~!" Becca winked at us and walked away with a pep in her step.
... okay, seriously, why does she look so familiar? Getting the same feeling when I put that outfit on back at the Heart Kreuz.
"Vanilla and strawberry cake?" Erza murmured softly in confusion.
"You've never had cake?!" I feigned surprise, placing a hand over my heart. "Well, prepare to have your life changed forever!"
"Surely it isn't that good..."
A few minutes later, Becca returned with our food. She bowed with a smile and waved goodbye, walking off to serve other customers. As I stared at the food in front of me, my hunger suddenly became much more apparent. I rubbed my hands eagerly, muttering a brief prayer before digging into my food as if I hadn't eaten in weeks!
In the midst of satiating my ferocious appetite, I noticed Erza hadn't touched her food yet, only stare at her plate. I stopped what I was doing and eyed her, befuddled. "Aren't you gonna eat?"
She flinched, "O-Oh! Yes... thank you for the food."
Erza hesitantly grabbed her burger awkwardly. Mainly because she'd never held one before, so I had to help her hold it properly. Then I made the motion of bringing towards my mouth and biting into it. She stared at me for a moment and then looked at the meal before her. After a moment of hesitation, she brought it to her lips and took a small bite.
Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.
"So good!"
"Right?!"
"It's as if the Gods themselves forged this meal!"
"I wouldn't go that far."
A healthy blush spread across her face as she took another bite, a squeal of delight leaving her lips. The stoic image I'd associated with Erza was replaced by a girl that was quite literally kicking her feet over a simple cheeseburger.
I didn't dare ruin the moment. It was absolutely adorable, and any chance to have Erza act our age was a chance I'd snatch up without a second thought. After what she endured, she needed this type of positivity.
I wish phones existed here, I'd so be taking pictures right now...
As I chewed on a fry, her burger had suddenly vanished from her hand. Ketchup stains and crumbs were smeared across her lips, and the redhead looked gravely disappointed at the sight of her burger no longer being in her hands.
I huffed out a small chuckle and grabbed a napkin, reaching across the table and wiping her face clean. "You don't gotta look so sad about it. You only ordered the one burger,"
I slid her plate of strawberry cake in front of her, smirking. "Here, try this."
Erza blinked as expressively as a girl with one eye could, eyeing the fluffy looking cake with curiosity. Slowly, she grabbed a fork and gently stabbed it into the dessert, scooping a large piece and taking a bite.
Erza suddenly went catatonic.
X-X-X-X-X-X
"I'll be in and out quickly, you can wait out here."
"Okay."
I stepped inside of a book store as Erza stood guard outside. Not that she had to, but I'd let her settle into her knight persona. No need to ruin her fun.
The store had a very rustic feel to it, with books as far as the eye could see. I took note of the specks of dust that were building up on some of the shelves. The place smelled like a mix of smoked wood and the barest hints of mint. An odd concoction, but I wouldn't say it was a bad smell. It could certainly be worse.
"Hey there, kid. Welcome to Tyson's Book Trade, where we have every book under the sun," I turned around to see a large, muscular man in his forties with short black hair and a spikey beard. That must've been Tyson, "What can I do for ya'?"
"I need some spell books," I answered him, looking around. "Me and my friend can use magic, you see. We plan on joining a guild, but we could use some polish on our skills, so anything can help."
"A pair of fresh Wizards, huh?" Tyson scratched at his beard, frowning. "Normally, I wouldn't be keen on handing off spell books to kids... even if you can use magic."
His eyes dropped to the sword strapped to my waist. "... but somethin' tells me you ain't any ordinary kid."
"So do you got any?" I crossed my arms with an arched brow, neither confirming nor denying his assessment.
"I do. You and your friend a swordsman? Or is it just you?"
"We both use swords, yeah."
"Mm. You'll want these then." Tyson grabbed two books from the back shelf, and handed them to me.
I flipped them over, eyeing the covers. 'Sword Magic for Dummies' and 'Sword Saint Battle Arts: Way of the Sword'.
I focused on Sword Saint Battle Arts and paused, eyeing the apparent author of the book.
Jin Miyamoto.
My breath hitched as the image of a cocky boy with silver hair and a wise old man with crimson eyes flashed in my mind for the briefest of moments.
I nearly dropped the book before I gathered my bearings.
"Any swordsman worth their salt would give that book a read," Tyson crossed his muscular arms and nodded. "The other is apparently some retired old swordsman from some far off village. I know nothing about swordsmanship, but I gave it a read out of curiosity. I can say with absolute certainty that he knows what he's talking about."
I didn't doubt it.
I let out a breath and nodded, looking up at Tyson. "Got any spell books on Wind and Spatial Magic?"
Tyson nodded silently and went to grab them. "Looking to learn Requip? I admit, it's pretty popular amongst you Wizard folk."
"Well, if you had your own pocket dimension where you could store various items in and take them out whenever you want, wouldn't you want to use it? That's basically a portable storage."
"True that," he chuckled, handing me a 'Wind Magic for Dummies' and 'Spatial Magic for Dummies' guidebook. Starting to think these guidebooks are all just one big series for the standard magics. "Here you go."
"Thanks. How much?"
"First time customers get 10% off, store policy." Tyson shrugged his shoulders with an easy-going smile. "4,500 Jewel."
I nodded without a fuss and handed over the money. He gave me 500 jewel back in change and I pocketed the money, tucking the stack of books under my arm. "Have a good day, kid. And stay safe out there."
"Thanks."
I nodded and made my way for the door.
"... say, I'm curious. What guild are you and your friend thinking of joining? Blue Pegasus is only a couple of days of travel away from here if you don't cut through Mt. Hakobe."
I shivered at the thought of Blue Pegasus' guild master before peeeing over my shoulder and shooting Tyson a smirk. "Blue Pegasus? Nah, we're joining the best guild in the country."
"We'll be joining Fairy Tail."
I stepped out of the store without another word to the man. Erza was still dutifully standing outside, watching a pair of younger kids playing soccer or something. She looked at me, her expression stoic. "Did you find what you need?"
I nodded. "Yep. Let's go."
X-X-X-X-X-X
I let out a deep breath, collapsing onto my bed and peering out the window. The sun was beginning to set, so Erza and I went ahead and booked ourselves a room at a cheap motel. To say the receptionist was shocked to see two 11 year olds walk inside and ask for a room for two would be a disservice. They looked very tempted to escort us out and 'call our parents', but the weapons we carried and Erza's fierce glare was enough to cow the poor fellow into submission.
Absolutely crazy, getting punked by a little girl half your age. Wouldn't let that shit happen to me, though~
Erza went off to take a shower, though I hadn't heard the water turn on yet, so I think she was still trying to figure out how it worked. In the meantime, I decided to sit up and skim over the books I'd bought.
Spatial Magic and Sword Magic needed no explanation. Requip was a very convenient magic to have, and several Wizards used it. I likely wouldn't be able to develop something special like The Knight, but it'd still be useful to have in case I ever need to pull out a new weapon in the event I'm ever disarmed.
Sword Magic was a Holder Type Magic. You used a sword as a medium to perform various spells and magic techniques. Technically, I could already do this. The guidebook was mainly informing me of proper ethernano control and basic applications of sword arts and kenjutsu, both of which I already knew thanks to my mom.
The thought of her made me grimace. I had my own magic already, my mother's primary magic... Blades Magic. As I summoned a glowing sword made of ether into my hand, all I could think about was her... and what I lost. It might have been stupid of me, and it was probably the effects of my childlike mind, but I didn't want to use it.
When I fought Rakkör, I had no other option. I needed an edge to fight the guy. But whenever I think of using Blades Magic, I end up thinking of my parents and I just... the emotions are too overwhelming. I don't like it.
Maybe I'll try and dabble in it, but I don't know if I'll ever put my focus into it.
Wind Magic. There wasn't really a logical reason behind why I chose this magic out of all the other elements like fire or water. I liked wind. It was a cool element. I feel like it was really underrated in comparison to the other three. And when I thought of what I could do with Wind Magic, I thought of Aang and Yuno as primary examples of the wicked stuff I could pull off.
Plus, I wanted to fly. Seriously. Who wouldn't want to fly? Hell, I'll settle for making a damn nimbus cloud!
My attention finally landed on Sword Saint Battle Arts. I held the book gently and ran my fingers across the surface of the cover. Jin Miyamoto... he was the grandfather of a childhood friend of mine, and an exceptional swordsman. I'd go as far as to say that he could possibly beat my mom in a battle of raw skill and technique; and she was the greatest swordswoman I knew.
Sword Saint Battle Arts, or rather, the Sword Saint Style, derived from the Miyamoto family. As I cracked open the book and skimmed through some of the pages, I read that, according to old legend regarding the origins of the style, it was derived from a powerful dragon simply known as... Kurnugi.
There was no information about the beast, but, according to the book, the ancestor of the Miyamoto Clan, Musashi, would challenge this dragon to a duel every month, as the sun rised over the mountain peaks of what would later become Ginger Village. Musashi would always lose the confrontation, but would return stronger and a bit more skilled each time. With every loss, Kurnugi parted a bit of advice to the swordsman, and so, these duels and teachings eventually culminated in Sword Saint Battle Arts being born.
The rest of the book detailed advanced sword forms and techniques, as well as the fundamentals of how Sword Saint Battle Arts worked, but I wouldn't be reading over that right now.
'I'll get to it at a later date,' I closed my eyes and snapped the book shut, exhaling through my nose and grabbing the Spatial Magic guidebook instead. However, before I could even open it-
"KYAH!"
I flinched slightly as I heard Erza's startled shriek and the sound of running water. I felt sweat rolled down my cheek.
"... you okay in there?"
"Y-Yes!"
A/N.
Second chapter has been revised. I'm not gonna go and rewrite EVERY chapter. Just the ones I fee need it.
Yes. For those that read the original version of the chapter and those didn't catch the reference, the outfit Erza wears is based off Artoria's casual clothes. Likewise, the outfit Taruko briefly puts on is a reference to Shiki from Eden Zero, as you see from their brief cameo.
Who is Elio? Don't worry about it. Maybe you'll find out one day. Consider it a sneak peek/prelude to something should I ever decide to go through with it.
And yeah, Tyson is a reference to Tukson from RWBY.