Chapter Nine: Step One
The fading embers of the forge's flames flickered in the dim light of the shed that was a shared space between the two Emiya children. Shriou made swords, Yuri refined metals. As far as anyone else was concerned, Shirou had an interest in reenactments or cosplay; the rumors were a little mixed, according the Shinji. Yuri had gone as far as acquiring some replicas to sell the illusion.
The earthen walls were meant to keep the magic from bouncing around and out of the place for her mother, or at least that was what Miaya had said. Suffice to say, Yuri was eager to practice magecraft in the shed, even expanding the place to accommodate their shared disciplines.
It also kept in the heat. Even in in the full swing of winter, the Emiya workshop was barely kept from a sweltering heat inside due to some of Yuri's own works hanging in the room. Strings of solid brass beads, marked to store the outpouring of warmth coming from the forge, keeping it for later use.
Standing in the workshop, Shirou gave his latest creation a couple of practice flourishes. A freshly created work, it hardly amounted enough to be classified as more than a most basic of Mystic Codes, but it was something that could work in a pinch. Something he could replicate at will. Even more easily than most, as it was something he had made with his own hands.
Ignoring Yuri floating about three feet off of the ground, he figured he'd leave her to her meditations and get started on his exercise routine. Sixteen kilometer run, a hundred push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and squats later, he stretched out in the yard. Nothing too fancy, though he had gotten more than a few strange looks when he described his routine to people at school.
After all, to the rest of the world, Shirou Emiya was an ordinary high school student.
By the time he returned to the workshop, he took up his creation and took a basic stance and drew back the imaginary gun hammer that primed the gears of his mind and body, heat blooming across his body.
For a few years now, he had been working on this particular project. He would never be a proper magus, and arguably, he never wanted to be. But if he intended to keep up with Yuri in their pursuit of being Heroes of Justice, he would need to be stronger.
He had never told Maiya or Yuri the details this particular technique, and if had, they would have pointed out the dangers of piggybacking his nervous system on his magic circuits. The explanation he had given was that it was some homework from Lincoln. It even had the benefit of being somewhat true.
Simply put, he would reinforce his body. View himself as the weapon, starting a repeating feedback loop that would steadily escalate. Breaths acted as a bellow, feeding the flames, and mana through his body, focusing like a forge and suffusing his cells until it reached scorching heights…or until he burst into flames.
For a hot second, he stood there, sighing as he stood up and jogged out of the workshop and over to the decorative pond, hopping in with a burst of steam accompanying the splash. Sayuri barely opened an eye from her own position of meditation, shaking her head with exasperated fondness.
Mr. Lincoln suspected there was a fire elemental of some kind in his family tree, which could explain his unusually high fire resistance. Fire-resistant did not mean fireproof, however, so he still had some first degree burns from the experience. Sitting in the pond for a minute, focused on self-repair until a towel was thrown at his head.
"Maybe we should try quenching oil sometime instead of the pond," said Yuri, throwing him a towel. "Comfortable?"
"Not really."
"Here." She offered a hand and helped haul him out of the pond. "I should warn you that it's nearly time to work on breakfast."
"Right. I guess I better get on that." Shirou groaned and ran the towel through his hair. "I really thought I had it that time."
"If it were easy, it wouldn't mean anything to you." Yuri scrunched her brows, pensive. "Have you considered giving yourself a break?"
"I have to believe I'll get it, and sooner rather than later."
"Don't believe in yourself. Believe in me who believes in you!"
Shirou squinted at Yuri, standing over him, fists against her hips and a smug grin on her face.
"…You stole that one from Guren," Shirou wryly observed.
"Does it make it any less valid?" she asked back. "I'm not saying you should give up. We both made that promise. Together. So if you ever find yourself wanting to be a little selfish and do something for yourself, do it for me. In turn, anything I do for my own sake, I'll do it for you."She laughed to herself. "Equivalent exchange."
Taiga's voice rang out across the property, "Shirou! Yuri!"
Yuri twisted around to the sound of their teacher's voice. "Speaking of equivalent exchange, sounds like I need to head the tiger off at the pass."
"She sounds chipper this morning," Shirou noted, finishing drying off.
"Should give you plenty of time to get things ready."
Shirou shook himself off and gathered himself up, heading for the shower at a clipped pace. Not many could hold their own in the dojo with Taiga, and just because Yuri volunteered for the duty on a regular basis didn't mean he should leave her hanging a moment longer than necessary.
[EoBS]
Homurahara Academy quieted in face of Sayuri Emiya's approach. A couple of years of her attendance had solidified her enigmatic presence, only amplifying as puberty struck. Some students wore dreamy expressions as Yuri passed. A few cowered in terror, offering her a wide berth as she passed directly down the middle of the hall, and all but fleeing in her wake.
"Jeez," Yuri grumbled lightly. "You'd think they would have gotten used to me by now."
Almost forgotten despite walking right next to her, Ayako stifled a laugh
"You threatened to shove kids into trash cans," she said. "And actually followed through. Is it any wonder that that's the reception you get?"
"I did warn them of the dangers of calling me a Nazi entailed." Yuri blew a strand of hair from her face. "And it's not my fault they didn't listen."
Ayako shook her head, smiling in spite of herself. "Well, as long as I don't have to field your admirers and would-be suitors, then we're fine."
Yuri playfully bumped her shoulder against Ayako's and said, "Hey, don't knock yourself. Some of those guys were after you, you know."
One in particular that she could name, but wouldn't. He had kept his silence on her secrets thus far.
Ayako scoffed, unconvinced. Hardly surprising when she was constantly in the company of some of the most popular kids in the school. While hardly lacking in looks herself, if you were asking Yuri for her opinion for that sort of thing, it was more common to be compared to the leading contenders on the not-so-secret underground newsletter and the accompanying top-ten list they had on the most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes.
Mentioning this, of course, would go against the spirit of both underground nature of the newsletter and any progress made in bolstering the other girl's confidence. So instead, she asked, "How's the Archery Club holding up?"
"It's good. Between me, Shirou, and Shinji, I think we might have a shot at the championship this year."
"Make sure to remind Shirou to meet up after the clubs let out." Seeing it was time to part ways, Yuri gave the other girl an exaggerated salute. "Well, I guess I can catch you later."
Letting Ayako go her way, Yuri marched on down the hall. The latter half of the school day was mostly over by now, and some of the after-school clubs were gathering to meet up.
She had been part of the Kendo club for a spell, but had wanted to expand her horizons. That she had nearly sent another kid to the hospital by accident may have also contributed to her departure.
She had originally thought of making a Paranormal Investigation Club, but that was nipped in the bud pretty quick. For starters, the idea was to keep the idea of magic hidden. Actively seeking it out would compromise that, and the fact there was a high likelihood of running into an actual supernatural threat was all too high to consider dragging the uninitiated into the thick of things, despite any efforts to obfuscate.
After that, she considered something involving community service, but the idea was to not encourage and enable Shirou's endless desire to help. And he needed to conserve his energies for where it was going to count for the most.
Instead, the Creative Writing Club was put together, with the thinly veiled bent towards the investigative end of things. It had taken a considerable amount of fast-talking to even get it off the ground, and then she had to find some willing participants. Mister Kaneki had volunteered to be their advisor.
Sliding the door aside, the slam of the door announcing her arrival. As expected of anyone spending time in proximity with Yuri, her clubmates were thoroughly inured to her antics. Inside the room were Monika, Natsuki, Sayu, and Daisuke were all gathered around the table, their writing pieces out already.
"Has Kaneki-sensei dropped in yet?"
"A little while ago, actually."
"Eh, I'll catch him next time."
Original, fan-fic, a repackaged work from public domain, or something kind of in-between those spheres. Literary analysis, discussion of tropes, trends, clichés. Movies, shows, and even video games were brought up as a medium for story-telling. Any other, finer points of vocabulary, sentence structure, and penmanship, and of course, explorations of language itself were all under the auspices of the club.
Sitting down, Yuri took in the rumble from the Heavy Music club a couple of rooms over. None of them particularly minded. In fact, they found it helped set the mood. An opinion that was not shared by the Light Music club a couple of rooms over the other way.
[EoBS]
Ayako reflected on the strange position she had grown into over the years. She was the one common thread that tied many otherwise disparate and occasionally competing groups. Mediating between Yuri and Rin, or Rin and Shinji. Seeing that they were all among the most popular kids on the campus, those who weren't scared off by her association with them often thought of her as the avenue to make contact.
Walking out to the archery range, she found Shirou, as per usual, hard at work cleaning up with Sakura, with Shinji slouched against the wall with a half-empty water bottle hanging limply in his hand.
"Working hard or hardly working, Shinji?" Ayako called out.
Shinji preened a little "With how industrious these two are, someone has to supervise so they don't go overboard."
"He was short of breath earlier," said Shirou. "Sakura made him stop."
Shinji grimaced as attention was drawn to his weak constitution. Whatever sympathy Ayako had was counterbalanced by the fact that he could probably do with some blows to his ego every once and again. It helped keep it manageable.
"Oh! By the way…" Ayako fished out the most recent letter and chucked them at Shinji, hitting him square in the head. "For the last time, I am not your secretary."
Rather than be offended, Shinji replied, "You should consider one of your own, then." He caught the letter with his foot and plucked it up, turning it over in his hand.
Rolling up her own sleeves, Ayako shook her had and grabbed a broom. "How do you even manage dating so many girls without collapsing? You can barely manage a kilometer run before you're about ready to drop."
"Trade secrets, dear Ayako." He winked and pulled the letter open, read through it once, then twice, then wadded the letter up and chucked it into the trashcan. "Another for my record, I suppose. Don't worry. I'll make sure to offer a formal rejection as gently as possible."
"Don't you usually take them for a couple of outings before rejecting them?"
Shinji sipped from his water bottle. "No, this one was a prior liaison. She was simply asking for a greater commitment than I could reasonably reciprocate."
"Wouldn't want to cut into your playboy routine, would we?"
"Why, Ayako, is that jealousy?" he questioned with a great deal of pompous exaggeration. "Tut-tut. Such behavior is unbecoming of a lady like yourself."
"Shut it, Matou."
"Alas, you remain resistant to my charms," Shinji gasped, clutching his chest in feigned hurt.
"With how much time I spend around you, I think I'm pretty much immune."
"Can we please keep working?" Sakura interjected, politely as ever.
Taking the out for what it was, Ayako grabbed another broom. Knowing Shinji, he would manage to keep talking until well after they should have all gone home without ever saying of merit, and yet irritating her in every way imaginable. If she had known what she was getting into when she had first befriended Rin, and then the Emiyas and Matous...she probably still would have done it. Hindsight was of no help in this instance, though that might have been for the fact that she saw more of the human side of her friends rather than the fabricated image they put out or had built around them by their peers.
It had gotten annoying after puberty kicked in, with various admirers coming to her. For pointers, for introductions, or ferrying letters. Even this wasn't completely awful, and Yuri had turned it into a game, with Ayako being the referee in a duel of sorts between on got the most confessions, date offers, and other overtures of amorous intent turned down in a given school term. Sakura had managed to escape scrutiny, if only by fear of Shinji's influence. Whatever older Matou sibling lacked in physicality, his mind covered the gap and then some, and few were willing to test the limits of what he could accomplish without lifting a finger.
That was if Sakura ever gave another guy the time of day. Her crush on Shirou was so blatantly transparent it was a wonder no one had called either of them out on it.
Putting those thoughts out of mind, Ayako fell into the rhythm with the three of them.
Sakura eventually looked up at the clock, and then turned to Shirou. "Senpai, we can handle the rest. I imagine her club has already finished by now."
"Ah. Right. Best not to keep her waiting."
Shirou quickly finished the length of floor he was working on and passed the broom to a recuperated Shinji, and then grabbed his stuff before darting off.
What are they up to? When the possible idea popped into her head, she deliberately chose to ignore it and fight the blush off her cheeks. No sense in feeding the rumors any more than were already being fed.
[EoBS]
Sayuri bobbed her foot up and down, waiting for Shirou to join her at the school gate.
"Kept you waiting, huh?" Shirou asked, striding up to join her.
Yuri rolled her eyes and smiled. "Come on. We want to get into position before sundown."
Night was falling. And it was time to get to work.
A/N: There. Finally got this off my hard drive. We're finally closing on the events of canon – sort of. But before *any* of that happens, we'll be doing some distinctly non-Holy Grail War, urban fantasy shenanigans, and some other spin-offs that feed into the big showdown down the line.
If you recognized a name or two from other franchises, that was deliberate. Partially because this project is a crossover event of epic proportions (though it will remain primarily be based the Nasuverse), so a few more familiar names seemed appropriate. Mostly, I was beginning to come up short on the sheer number of names I needed to come up with for everyone who was going to cross paths with our heroes.
As per usual, Questions? Comments? Concerns? Speculation for what is to come? As always, constructive criticism is always appreciated.
Until next time!
Winterman, out.