Major General Koichiro Hazama considered himself a pretty decent person, all things considered. As an officer of the JSDF, he prided himself in the knowledge that he was doing his duty to keep the peace. While he knew that some government officials were corrupt and didn't do anything other than line their pockets, he refused to have anything to do with those practices. Indeed, had he done so, he would've made it to his position years ago. That he'd gotten to Major General just last year wasn't a stain in his eyes. It was a testament to how he dedicated himself to his duty.
Duty, loyalty, and honor. Those three values were what he prided himself on.
Knowing that, it would come as a surprise that Hazama would even argue against a superior officer, especially when it came about due to his orders.
"Sir, with all due respect, I believe that whatever is in Fuyuki can be left to the local police. We need the JSDF here!" His frustration was becoming more evident by the minute.
The Lieutenant General in front of him didn't budge, even if his eyes told anyone looking that he felt the same as the man in front of him, "Hazama, look, I get it. Trust me, I really do. But these orders? They came from the top, and whatever reason you're being sent there is something I don't even know."
"All the more reason for us to stay here! Sir, if we're not being told why we're moving over two hundred men, I think we should wait to receive some confirmation that this isn't some mistake." Hazama all but shouted at him. Really, it was ridiculous. Why would one sleepy town need over two hundred JSDF personnel?
"Normally," his commanding officer started, "I would agree with you. Except that I already did that. The order was given at midnight, and was supposed to be carried out by three in the morning."
The man leaned back in his chair, tiredness obvious throughout his form, "If I hadn't waited, we wouldn't exactly be speaking right now." He sighed as he picked up his coffee cup, staring almost wistfully at the lack of coffee in it, "And what did it get me? Nothing. I wasn't told anything other than to do my damn job and follow orders."
"...I don't like this, sir."
"You've made that clear, Hazama. Unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do other than to just follow the script."
A beat.
"Sir!" Hazama saluted with a bit less anger than before. If his CO couldn't do anything, then being angry at him would just be a waste of time. Still, though everything left a rather bitter taste in his mouth, he would follow his orders, both spoken and unspoken.
His first orders were easy enough to complete. The unspoken ones? Going to be difficult, he expected. After all, all of these men would be under Hazama's command, and he'd be responsible for keeping them safe from the one man that probably had everything to do with this.
Emiya Shirou.
Hazama frowned as he was dismissed. Emiya was, despite having saved numerous people in Ginza, a civilian. He had no ties to the JSDF, so it made things suspect when they were being sent to provide him help.
It went without saying that Emiya was powerful. They'd watched him jump from buildings, fire arrows the size of spears, and save countless lives in the process. This, to others, would make the person in question a trustworthy individual.
To the military? No, it didn't. Or it shouldn't. Power was not the all-encompassing criteria for a person's trustworthiness. Nor could a set of actions. While yes, Emiya saved people, could anyone really say he was doing it for the sake of it?
Many, including Hazama himself, were skeptical of Emiya's actions. Almost nobody did things without reason. Those that did were more often than not a bit touched in the head. Even if the reason was simple, such as it being a fight or flight response, it would be understandable.
Emiya didn't show any of that. He had pushed himself into harm's way, killing or incapacitating countless enemies in his wake, and had asked for nothing in return.
Until now, that is.
Which brought forth the unspoken orders he was given: find out whether the attack on Ginza was nothing more than an elaborate ploy by Emiya, or someone he knew, so that he could gain political favor, and subsequently supplies to further his own agenda.
It was a fairly solid line of reasoning, and one that those up top carried. Especially when he'd heard the rumors that the Prime Minister's own daughter was once rescued by Emiya in the Middle East.
Whatever the case, Hazama was sure he'd find answers when he talked to the man himself.
For the longest time, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
Sure, I knew that I didn't want to become Archer. I knew that I didn't want to become as disillusioned, or as cynical, as he was. I didn't want to follow a path that forced my ideals to betray me, leaving me to suffer on that hill of swords.
Due to this, I didn't know where to go, or what I should do. That changed when Rin asked me to come with her to the Clock Tower. I suddenly had a direction, a path that diverged with the one Archer took.
I took that path seriously. I studied, almost as hard as Rin, day in and day out. The inner workings of the Association weren't easy to get a hang of, but I did. Eventually, I caught the eye of Lady Barthomeloi. I got dragged into Policies after that, but I became an Enforcer for it. One of the Queen's at that.
I did a lot during that time. I hunted down Apostles left and right. I took down rogue Magi from the Americas to mainland Europe. I placated wraiths, culled loose experiments, saved countless lives.
It gave me a sense of peace that I never thought I'd find.
I thought to myself that I had avoided Archer's fate. That I'd found the life that he and I wanted. Where our actions were nothing more than good.
Except, I hadn't.
Because throughout it all, there was one constant that Archer and I shared: though we saved thousands, maybe millions of lives, we couldn't save the ones that mattered the most.
The iconic red bridge of Fuyuki felt even larger than usual, with him being the only person on it. In the distance, he could hear emergency services' sirens go off, rushing all through the city. Yellow police tape covered a significant portion of the city, and police were working overtime to ensure the safety of the citizens.
All of that, because of a bomb threat by a terrorist, phoned directly to the Prime Minister himself.
Shirou didn't regret making that call, nor did he regret calling that favor from one of the most politically powerful persons in Japan. After all, none of what he said wasn't true.
Namely, that an incredibly deadly mass murderer, is likely to strike again soon. That bombs were planted underground, ready to go off at any moment. That the sheer volume of explosives would likely cause a small earthquake. Of course, only two of those were connected. The mass murderer in question had no idea about the bombs.
Shirou idly fingered the trigger in his hands. When he and Rin first petitioned the Clock Tower to dismantle the Heaven's Feel Ritual, the first thing they did was inspect the site. What they found was a near literal mountain of explosives, all of them, from what he could tell, dated back to the late 90's.
All of them were placed in a way that would cause a small seismic shift, small being relative. The shift would dislodge the natural pathways of the leylines of Fuyuki, rendering the Heaven's Feel inactive. Moreover, they were protected by some type of self-contained Bounded Field, so that if one of them were to be destroyed, all of them would trigger immediately. That went the same for any method of moving, tampering, or whatever they could think of. It was designed in a way that it would go off regardless of what happened.
Only one person could, and would, have done all of that in Fuyuki's history.
Kiritsugu Emiya.
As much as Shirou wanted to keep the idea of his adoptive father being a hero, albeit one who failed, he couldn't deny that this was too much. While they were essentially after the same thing - the dissolution of the Holy Grail War - the bombs were placed underneath several locations that would almost guarantee heavy casualties, had they gone off unnoticed. The ones that they were most worried about were those beneath the mountain that housed the local temple.
Still, after three years, only now did they manage to get started with dismantling both the bombs, and the Heaven's Feel, with no small part being the financial, political, and somewhat personal help that Lord El-Melloi II provided.
Now, he held in his hand a method to undo everything that they had been working on. All to save Sakura.
I h̵ave no regrets, this is my̶ only path.
His thumb firmly pressed downwards.
Raiga Fujimura was old. He'd been in charge of the Fujimura group for over forty years by now. He'd inherited the seat from his own mother. He still remembered back in the day, when the Fujimura were less a yakuza group, and more of a charity in the wake of the Second World War.
He also remembered the frustration of his mother from the lack of help from the government. Fuyuki hadn't really suffered from direct fighting against the Americans, but they had nearly collapsed due to the economic drain in the wake of the war. Nobody thought to provide the sleepy little city any help. The people of Fuyuki, with Sayuri Fujimura at the helm at a time when females in general were discriminated against, took it upon themselves to help the town.
The Fujimura were created to help people. They were meant to settle disputes that arose within the town, disputes that would normally be handled by the local government. Housing for the homeless, food drives for those who couldn't afford food and jobs for the jobless.
Things were looking up. Fuyuki started to grow into a proper city.
Then, his father disappeared.
It was out of nowhere. Their father hadn't joined the war effort due to a leg injury he had suffered before the draft. He instead focused more on his family, and Raiga could still remember his father teaching him the intricacies of shoji when he was younger.
When he disappeared, some would think that he had just eloped with some other mistress of his. Raiga and his mother, and indeed, most of the Fujimura group, knew different. Sato Fujimura was a family man, first and foremost. Nobody who knew him would ever think of him having a mistress in the first place.
Secondly, he'd left his glasses behind. Sato couldn't see beyond a few meters without his glasses, and would never leave home without them. That was the main reason why he and his mother didn't stop looking for him for years on end. Looking through records, interviewing witnesses. No stone would be left unturned, not with the might of the several hundred member large Fujumura group.
It led them to what most would consider a century-long conspiracy. Dozens of missing persons, dating back to the reign of Emperor Meiji. Mysterious foreigners settling in at the far edges of the city's forest. A Christian church built with funding straight from the Vatican, despite being in the center of the European theater of war. All of them pointed to three families.
Tohsaka. Matou. Einzbern.
This is what eventually led the Fujimura to become more and more yakuza-like, and eventually a true yakuza group. Fear. Fear against what those three could do. Fear against what they already did.
Raiga would form the family into a true enforcer group. People in Fuyuki respected them not out of fear, but out of respect. They still settle disputes now and again, but these days, they also hold a near monopoly on the black market within the city and their neighbors. Weapons, drug trade, all of it regulated by the Fujimura.
All of it to defend against what three families could do.
It came to a head in 1994, when Raiga met Kiritsugu. When a series of murders happened within the city, with the serial killer still unknown. When more and more disappearances kept happening. When a JASDF fighter jet came into the airspace of Fuyuki. When said fighter jet disappeared, apparently suffering some horrifying death from what recordings the group could find.
When the fire engulfed the heart of the city.
Raiga knew the three families were the cause of it. Especially when the Magus Killer came into his office with a child and a smile on his face, albeit the empty eyes still gave him away. He didn't bat an eye when Shirou was adopted. He didn't bat an eye when, years after Kiritsugu had passed, he had spied the young Emiya fixing a bike.
Fixing a bike that had glowing blue lines going through and from the boy's arms. Shirou never did manage to find out the old man had seen him; Raiga could be quite sneaky when he wanted to. Still, seeing all of that, Raiga was sure of one thing.
One day, something in this city was bound to be unleashed. He thought it was seven years ago, when the disappearances started up again. But no, now, he was sure it was today. Now, the moment he was waiting for, the chance to finally get revenge on whatever took his family from him all those years, was within his grasp.
Raiga only needed to be patient.
'What's another few years, eh?'
Slowly, he took a sip of his now-cold tea.
BOOOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOOOM!
And then he was scrambling to his feet as the entire Fujimura compound awoke in a flurry of panic. Raiga tore open the door, seeing dozens of his men running towards the building that held the armory.
"Boss!" One of his higher-ups ran up to him, gun already in hand.
Raiga nodded, calm in the face of the storm. Looks like patience does pay.
Dozens of people scampered about as the explosions rocked the city. The police were in a flurry of activity, firefighters blaring their sirens alongside ambulances. A terror attack. Those were the shouts that echoed throughout the crowds.
Shirou watched calmly. The bombs may have caused a significant amount of destruction, but he was sure no one was near the blast radius. No, he was focused on one thing, and one thing only.
The Matou household.
He could see it now, the Bounded Field of the household. He watched as it flickered almost imperceptibly. It wouldn't be long now. Shirou started his trek towards it, eyes cold as steel.
Arrows crashed into the roof of the Victorian era home. Calling them arrows would be doing them a disservice, though. They were as long as a man was tall, and thick as a forearm.
Hundreds of insects too large to be natural came out in droves. They were killed by even more arrows, smaller this time, piercing through them. Some died through the shockwave from the sheer power of said arrows.
The Enforcer jumped. His feet landed on wood. He looked left, right. A hallway. From what he could glean from the book, Sakura should either be in her room, or the…pit room.
He started running as more insects spilled from every crevice in the hallway. Swords spawned into existence, each roiling hot. They shot forward at rapid speeds at the insects, bisecting a significant, but ultimately useless amount.
He kept running, using Structural Analysis to look for Sakura.
'There.'
A presence in the next room. He burst through the door, and he stared in disgust. It wasn't Sakura.
"Shinji." Shirou spat out.
"Emiya?" Matou Shinji stared at him in confusion, "What the fu-" He didn't get to finish before Shirou's fist came flying in his face. There was a satisfying crunch as the blue-haired man's nose broke, and he was knocked out.
Shirou picked up the man like a sack of potatoes.
Shinji was a deplorable, despicable and all-around unpleasant human being. No one could deny any of that. That's why he wouldn't kill him, not yet at least.
Killing him would be too damn kind.
He found the closest window and threw the unconscious body through it. Shinji would live. A few broken bones, hopefully forever paralyzed with how he threw him, but live nonetheless.
Shirou continued to run through the ancient home, still spamming swords as the swarm of bugs came after him. He Reinforced his fist before punching through a wall. Then another. Then another.
Once again, he found a presence in a room. He burst through the wall one last time. His heart wrenched as he saw the state Sakura was in. Naked, and curled up on bed, seemingly not even noticing him as he came in.
Shirou didn't need to figure out what had happened.
It also made it very, very hard to not go outside and kill Shinji.
"Sakura," He whispered as he approached. No response. Soon enough, he was close enough to realize that she was unconscious. He knelt down next to her, and grabbed a tag prepared by Zelretch beforehand.
"You'll be fine."
He didn't know who he was trying to convince more, the unconscious girl, or himself.
Placing the tag on Sakura, he watched as she burst into golden motes of light, transported to a safe place. He didn't have time to ponder anything as countless bugs flooded in the broken wall.
"Emiya." A warped, garbled voice sounded from within the swarm, "What have you done with my granddaughter." The bugs formed a facsimile of a hunched, human form. Shorter than himself, the figure seemed to hold a cane, it too formed of bugs.
"Matou Zouken, as per the power vested in me by the London Clock Tower, you have been branded a Sealing Designate. Surrender, or face consequences." He barely kept all the disgust out of his voice. It was a close thing.
The bug-form didn't have facial expressions, but the body language was still there. Shock?
"Me? A Sealing Designate?" The voice didn't come from the figure, now that Shirou paid attention. It instead came from everywhere. It made the hair at the back of Shirou's neck stand up.
"Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before the Mage's Association came after me," It was disconcerting. Shirou mentally prepared a dozen or so blades, each ready to explode in fire if necessary. Said bugs started to skitter around a bit more, as Zouken continued.
"Though, you'll have to live long enough to do so."
A tide of bugs rode over him, unholy screeches of all manner of empowered familiars filling the house. Shirou didn't hesitate to launch his weapons. Swords lit up in flame spawned into existence, shot forward, exploded, and got replaced by their exact copies.
The explosions were enough to create a small opening to the back wall, where Shirou launched even more swords at. The wall collapsed like paper. He didn't hesitate to jump through.
He didn't know if he was surprised or not that the bugs didn't follow him outside. Even though the world now knew of Magecraft, Zouken still followed the idea of keeping it secret. Or perhaps, he didn't even know the secret was out.
Regardless, Shirou didn't look a gift horse in the mouth as he ran faster and farther. He didn't doubt for a second that if given even the slightest of chances, Zouken would probably drown him on dry land.
He pulled out another detonator. He hesitated to press it. Another reason why the bombs would have killed more innocents than not when they were initially found was they didn't just target the main convergence points of the leylines. They targeted all of them.
Which included both the Matou, and the Tohsaka mansions, both near residential areas.
He theorized that Kiritsugu decided that both families were more than a little important to the supernatural aspects of the city. Even should the other bombs have gone off and shifted the leylines, the two of the three families in Fuyuki would most likely be able to fix them given enough time. It would have rendered all the work done to end the Grail War useless.
With one last breath, even as he kept on running, Shirou steeled his nerves once more and pressed.
One last explosion echoed through the chaotic, early morning of Fuyuki.
Elsewhere, a certain magus was planning out what to do to a certain Enforcer when a figure materialized right in front of her, the sound of explosions still echoing.
"Emiya Shirou, I am going to kill you." Rin calmly spoke to air as the bare, unconscious figure of Sakura was laid on her front lawn.
A/N: To that one guy in the reviews that thought that this was dead, here's a new chapter lmao.
To anyone interested that hasn't seen it, I posted a new story, a rewrite of Slipstream - an Overwatch/Fate crossover. I'm also setting up a thing where patrons can donate but I'm not allowed to say on this site. It'll probably be up by next week, along with a new Oregiaru/Re:Zero crossover for those interested. Moreover, while I go into a bit more detail in the A/N of Chronal Disassociation, just know that this chapter length will most likely not stick, and will probably go down to 2k-3k words per chapter. To those disappointed with that, I apologize.
One last thing: how the fuck do you guys still keep finding this story? I haven't updated since 2017 and I still get new views on this thing.