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Chapter Text

Illusory flames spread throughout, dancing for a moment, then formed a boundary. A flash of light came, and that boundary had replaced the world for my Reality Marble.

My world — my one, singular ability — Unlimited Blade Works had been cast, replacing the dark night sky with a scene bathed in twilight.

We stood on a desolate land, the ground covered with weaponry as far as the eye could see. With a deep breath, I took sight of the golden Servant, his face twisted in a gruesome expression.

‘What does he think of this scenery?’ I pondered to myself before I said to him, “That’s right, I don’t create swords; I create a world containing an infinite number of swords. That’s the only magecraft allowed to Emiya Shirou.”

This world was Heroic Spirit EMIYA’s Noble Phantasm and the only weapon that I had.

A space where everything was there, yet at the same time was not.

The ultimate conclusion for one who lived as a sword their entire life.

For a single moment, the golden king glanced around, before he noted, “A Reality Marble? So this is your ability…”

Golden portals appeared behind his back, showing off more weapons from his treasury. Seven halberds, four swords, and three spears were aimed at me.

I took a step forward, and those very same weapons were stuck in the ground around me.

“Don’t be surprised; all of these are just fakes.” The very nature of my magecraft, the very nature of my ideals, were imitations. “As you’ve previously said, they are trivial existences.”

I reached my arms out, calling forth the very same weapons he aimed towards me. “However, there is no rule that says that an imitation cannot beat the original. And if you say that you are the original, then I shall surpass every one of your weapons and destroy your existence.”

In front of me was the Servant with thousands of treasures. With a deep breath, I moved forward and declared, “Here I come, King of Heroes. Do you have enough weapons in stock?”

With an arrogant grin, he scoffed, “Ha! You think too highly of yourself, mongrel!”

He stood proudly and without a single word or move, his treasures flew towards me.

Unabated, I ran across the desolate landscape.

His weapons were moments from skewering me — only for them to be deflected by my imitations.

The sound of steel smashing steel reverberated throughout the area as I made my way towards him.

He was brandishing a longsword.

“Hah!” I swung a sword identical to his towards his chest. Yet both swords shattered the moment he blocked my attack, their shards clattering against the ground.

The golden Servant’s expression soured. “You…! Don’t overestimate yourself, child!” he yelled, taking a curved sword from his gate—as I swung that very sword straight towards his neck.

“Tch!” He called for more swords to fire at me, and fearlessly, without an ounce of hesitation, I dashed forward.

Those volleys of swords were useless in Unlimited Blade Works as every sword he threw at me, I fired off in return. In truth, I was waiting for him to pull that… thing out.

A weird expression was on his face, as if he was contemplating something.

Hoping for him to have been distracted, I swung Kanshou at him, the black Dao cutting through the air, moments away from cleaving his neck.

He barely pulled a sword out of his gate to deflect my strike. And with a spike of rage, blindly swung his blades.

Those wild strikes were easily parried, letting me take a closer step and assuring my victory against him.

He grimaced, and our swords clashed once more.

The sound of metal against metal was deafening, but I knew it would end soon.

“Damn you, damn you, damn you!” he cursed. “To think that I would have to use that sword against you!” He raised his right hand. The sword that he now gripped was the monstrous sword, Ea.

But I had been waiting for that moment ever since I opened my Reality Marble.

“I won’t let you!” That moment had arrived.

With my sole, undivided focus on his right arm, I swung Bakuya, its movements like a snake.

Unlike just moments before, where the sound of clashing steel deafened the battlefield, I could now hear the sound of my sword cleaving through his arm.

A small thud came from the ground as his arm bounced off of it.

Victory was now assured. My body was not allowing my one chance to end in failure; my arms swing towards the King of Heroes’ neck—

Only for him to jump back, barely avoiding decapitation with his retreat.

He retreated even further before looking at his bleeding neck.“In this moment… you are stronger,” he admitted defeat.

“You’re not getting away!” I yelled, unable to hear what he said; I had to put all of my effort into ensuring his defeat because I knew that if he regained his composure, all of my efforts would have been for nothing.

“Damn!” He knew that I could still reach him and so he pulled out a sword to block me.

However, I was faster. And so, my sword was just moments from reaching him.

Yet… before I could finally defeat him, something inexplicable had happened.

White, holy light, which seemed to have originated from the lake, had stripped away the hill of swords.

Unlimited Blade Works, which was already beginning to fade, was smashed open from a powerful surge of magical energy.

Did the activation of Saber’s Holy Sword destroy the bounded field? Or was it the holy sword’s activation that depleted Tohsaka’s magical energy?

Still, that changed nothing; my blade was still on course to pierce the golden Servant.

However, in the moment that Unlimited Blade Works fully collapsed, a black void, big enough to completely engulf a person, appeared before me. “Ah!” What was that thing?

“What!?” The void was right where Gilgamesh’s severed arm used to be, and it expanded, completely engulfing him.

I stood there, shocked at the event that had just taken place before taking a few steps back.

Thankfully, the void had begun shrinking rather than expanding further.

Since Saber had used her Noble Phantasm, it was likely that the Grail was vanquished, so was this void a response from the Grail?

It was shrinking, so it was unlikely to become a problem.

“Huuuuu…” I exhaustedly breathed out. “It’s… over.”

With everything done, I let the twin swords dissipate.

I could barely move, but I was now able to rest—

Only to have my forearm be wrapped up in chains.

I gasped. The chains had come from the void, trying to pull me into it.

I could barely move, and my feet helplessly slid on the ground.

“Does the Grail not know that a Servant is incapable of functioning as its core?” the King of Heroes asked as he pulled on the chain.

“Ahhh!” The chains squeezed around my arm, and it felt like my arm was going to rip off. “Are you trying to take me with you?!”

He scoffed, “Ha! As if I have any intention of being engulfed!” Arrogantly, he ordered, “Stay where you are, you fool. At least until I’m able to pull myself out!” As if I was going to let him do that!

“You…” I tried to pry the chains off of my arm, but these were the very chains that had shackled Berserker, so it was unlikely that I could remove them.

He would escape and continue with his plan to cull the populace if I stayed still, and so, I let myself be taken by the void.

“Huh?!” The golden Servant sounded exasperated. “You foolish, foolish ingrate!”

At least the world would be saved by my act of self-sacrifice.

And so, without an ounce of regret, I threw myself into the void, closing my eyes in acceptance of my impending doom.

I heard an object cleave through the air, but once I opened my eyes, all I could see was darkness.

I fell, fell, and fell. It was as if I had jumped into a bottomless hole.

But after around a minute more of ‘falling,’ a loud sound of shattered glass assaulted my ears and a bright light had filled my eyes, only for all of the stimuli to disappear from my senses, as if they had never existed in the first place, and a scenery that I’d never once encountered had taken place.

In place of the black void was a desolate, rocky wasteland with colossal spiky terrain poking from the surface. The sky was bleak and dark; dark-red clouds looked down upon the rugged terrain.

As for me…

“Ahhh!” I was falling towards the ground at terminal velocity. And where I was about to crash into the ground was someone who stood with an apprehensive body language.

“Move away!” I warned them as I Reinforced my body to brace for the fall.

There were around 4 seconds before I would make impact.

He looked up — their appearance was that of an average-looking young man — and his eyes widened, his mouth dropping as he saw me.

Did he not hear me? Why wasn’t he moving?

“Please get out of the way!” I yelled at him, hoping that he would heed it this time.

I twisted my body in the air, changing my trajectory even if just by a miniscule amount to avoid hitting him.

It wasn’t important that I landed properly, for his safety was more valuable.

“Ahhhhh!” he screeched, before finally moving out of the way.

There was only a second now, but that was enough time for me to contort my body and land on my feet.

I crashed down, and it felt like my legs were moments from snapping.

The ground below me had cracked during my landing.

It took a second for me to actually start moving my legs, and it was surprising that my body had rejuvenated during the time that I was stuck in that void.

Wait, speaking of weird terrain, where was I?

“A-are you okay?!” a concerned voice, likely the boy’s, interrupted my thoughts.

Hypotheses weren’t going to land me any concrete answers. And it would be more fruitful if I asked him where we were.

“Yeah, I am,” I eased his concerns. “Say… do you know where we are?” I asked immediately.

His eyebrows raised, and his eyes seemed to be saying ‘how do you not know?’

“I think we’re in Mato.”

‘Mato’, as in Mato for 魔都 ( Demonic Capital?)?

Was it referred to as such because of the landscape?

But before I could think about where I was, the ground crumbled just beside me, and out came a monster that I’ve never seen even once. It was far bigger than anything I’ve seen, including Berserker. Its muscular body was black, though its face was white with the texture of its skin seeming to be more like muscle fibres.

I looked back to the boy behind me as I shouted, “Run!” But before I could even finish talking, he grabbed my wrist and began dragging me away.

Was he trying to save me?

He turned his head and looked over his shoulder so our eyes would meet. “We need to run away from the Shuuki until the Demon Hunters rescue us!” he cried between shallow breaths.
“Look in front of you!” I yelled as I saw a ‘Shuuki’ swinging towards him.

“Trace on.” I pulled the twin blades from Unlimited Blade Works and dashed in front of the boy, hoping to block the Shuuki's arm.

It did not matter if I was revealing the secret of magecraft. It was all going to be worth it if it could save someone in need.

“Haaa!” But its arm was cleaved as its trajectory met the edge of the Yin sword, Bakuya.

Before I could even question its toughness, my body instinctively moved in for the kill, jumping up and slicing its head off.

It's chopped up body ignited in blue flames.

That was something worth asking, but protecting the other guy was more important.

I turned back towards him. A Shuuki was about to crush the boy flat like a pancake.

It was too far away for me to attack the Shuuki.

And so I used all of my leg strength to push the boy to the side and prevent him from being harmed.

Managing this feat with mere seconds to spare, I raised my (Reinforced) right arm in a defensive posture.

Crack!

“Ahh!” With a disgusting creak, my arm felt like a sledgehammer had smashed down onto it, pushing me down along with it. I couldn’t breathe. My lungs had been cleared of air. And as I tried to force a breath to expand my lungs, I could see the white-faced abomination preparing to crush me.

Only for me to see the Shuuki being completely cut in half.

“Oww…” the boy voiced out from beside me.

A Shuuki with chains connected to its spiked collar shoved the bisected corpse away and dashed to cut away more of them.

“What?” I asked in exasperation. That thing was attacking the other Shuuki?

The chained monster turned towards me, and I heard a woman’s voice above it, “You… you’re kind of durable. To think that a man could survive an attack from a Shuuki.”

The origin of the voice was a beautiful woman that had been on the Shuuki’s back, tightly gripping the chain. Her hair was an unusual tinge of silver, and she wore a black, militia-like uniform.
“Stay close, I’ll dispose of them,” she declared, brandishing her sword. The sword’s experiences revealed to me that she was-

“Victims of the Mato Disaster,” she referred to us. “You are in safe hands, for I am the Chief of the Demon Hunters’ Seventh Unit, Kyouka Uzen.”

“Ah!” The Shuuki that she was riding had been hit by another one on the head, and its eyeballs exploded out of its sockets.

I stood up. “Trace… on,” I pulled the twin blades from the Hill of Swords.

But before I could swing my blades and help her, Kyouka had already chopped the offending Shuuki into pieces.

That assured me that she could fend for herself, but what about the boy?

She had been standing in front of us, trying to protect us from a horde that had at least twenty of them.

Taking a deep breath, I stood next to the boy, making sure that he wouldn’t be harmed by anything that targeted him.

“Uzen-san, I’ll help you protect him,” I declared as I flourished the two swords.

“What are you saying?” she asked rhetorically, as if she had taken my words as a foolish joke. She turned towards us, towards me. “The Shuuki are not to be trifled with, and that’s especially the case for men like you tw-” She looked at the two blades that I was brandishing.

However, as she looked in awe at Kanshou and Bakuya, a Shuuki bellowed a low, guttural roar, and charged towards her.

“Uzen-san, behind you!” I warned her as I dashed in to intercept it, leaping five metres in an instant.

I swung Kanshou to cut the swinging arm off, and Bakuya's horizontal trajectory cut it in half. Not even a moment later, it burst into more blue flames.

“How…?” Uzen questioned, but this wasn’t the time. After all, the number of those white-faced monstrosities were increasing by the second.

There were far, far too many to realistically clear out. My magical energy had barely returned since my fight with the King of Heroes, and I didn’t know what other abilities Uzen had.

“Tch… we should run,” suggested the grim-faced Uzen. “And you,” she pointed her fingers towards me, “You’re a man, so how do you have such powers?”

What did my gender have to do with anything? But that aside, her physical abilities far surpassed the realm of normal humans, so it was likely that she knew of the occult. However, I wasn’t going to reveal it, especially in this situation. And so I ignored her question and asked, “Shouldn’t we be retreating first?”

“Indeed, let’s go,” she said as she hit a Shuuki with her hilt, then hopped on its back. It was then that a spiked collar appeared at the base of the monster’s neck. She ordered, “Hop on, you two.” Whatever she had done had released some magical energy.

Was what she did a spell? I’ve heard of the existence of Domination Magecraft as a passing word from Tohsaka, but I heard no aria when she performed her ‘spell.’

But I asked no such question; I had no intention of interrupting her. Kyouka Uzen’s eyes showed nothing but her utmost focus on retreating for our safety.

Holding tightly onto the Shuuki’s back, I could see numerous Shuuki following behind us, along with a couple charging next to us.

“Dodge to the right.” The Shuuki followed her orders, avoiding a charging Shuuki from our left.

A monstrous grunt rumbled behind us and I looked back to see a Shuuki leaping from above!

“Uzen-san, a Shuuki jumped up from behind us!” I warned her.

“Speed up,” she ordered, but the Shuuki that she was controlling didn’t comply.

The Shuuki was just a second away from landing on top of us.

“What are you—?” Uzen asked as I lifted her up, taking matters into my own hands. I grabbed her and the boy, who yelped as I threw them into an area that didn’t have many Shuuki. Once they were in the air, I jumped onto where they landed—

—Only for the Shuuki that had leaped to bash the side of my chest, knocking some air out of me and tossing me to the side, where a horde of Shuuki waited to mutilate me.

I had very little magical energy remaining, and though I could clear a majority of them, my death was practically assured.

But that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t die gallantly, of course; the more Shuuki I cleared out before my death would increase the chances of Uzen and other guy’s survival.

“Trace on!” I pulled a sword from the hill of blades. It was the unbreakable holy sword of King Roland, Durandal.

My last stand had started before I even landed on the ground as I slashed at the outstretched arms of the Shuuki in the ground.

“Haaa!” In a single second, multiple limbs, torsos, and heads had been separated from their bodies.

With each moment, I hacked away, driving the immeasurable numbers down.

With each breath, I received a new bruise, gash, laceration, and tear.

With each passing second came the next, and soon, I would pass on to death.

I had no regrets, for I had saved two people before I died.

Battered and bruised, I failed to block an incoming attack from behind, slamming into the ground.

There was a ringing in my ear that had masked the sound of everything else, but even with my blurry sight, I could see it roaring as it swung its arm down like an oversized sledgehammer.
And just as it was an instant from crushing me, something fast had obliterated it away.

I tried to look at who, or what, did that, but I couldn’t move a single muscle.

As my eyelids slowly closed, as I slowly lost consciousness, I wondered if those two were safe…

“Ugh…” I opened my eyes to the sight of a white ceiling. I looked around and observed that I was in what looked to be a hospital bed.

“Where—?” A headache had coursed through my skull, as if the top of my head was pierced by a long nail.

The pain reminded me of those monsters in that strange place. And it reminded me of the silver-haired girl and that boy with black hair.

“Are Uzen-san and that guy alright?” I could not help but ask myself. If I had been saved, then surely those two were also rescued.

Using my elbow as a support, I sat up to properly observe the room.

It seemed to be an infirmary, with white halls, white blankets, and a desk to the left which had some apples and bananas on it.

I contemplated eating one, but I did not feel hungry; instead, I felt tired, as if I had stayed awake for several consecutive days.

And so I lay down and closed my eyes.

“The boy is stable, and aside from some bruises and sprains, he seems to be alright,” a feminine voice said. Were they referring to me?

A firmer voice added, “Kyouka said that he fought off around a hundred Shuuki before he passed out.”

How much time had passed? If I remember, I woke up earlier and decided to rest again, but there wasn’t a clock in the room last time I looked.

I was already awake, so faking sleep was just going to be a waste of time.

Opening my eyes, I expected the sight of nurse attire or a white coat. It appeared that my expectations weren’t met.

In place of the normal medical attire was a young-looking girl in a schoolgirl uniform and a well-endowed woman with an attire similar to Kyouka’s. However, her attire was far more revealing, especially with her chest.

“Oh, and it seems that he’s awake,” the younger girl declared.

“I shall inform the other chiefs, Mother,” the ‘older’ woman said as she walked away. Wait, ‘ mother ?’

The one who looked to be a schoolgirl looked no older than 15.

There were far more important questions to be answered though. “Umm… Where am I?” I asked.

“I suppose you don’t know.” She scratched her head. “You’re in the infirmary of Unit Ten’s Headquarters.” It was something related to the ‘Demon Hunters’ then.

“Unit Ten… of the Demon Hunters?” I asked for confirmation.

She raised one of her eyebrows, “I guess you can say that.”

There was a brief silence between us. The ‘young’ woman broke it. “Anyways, how’d you do it?” she asked with no context.

“Did what?”

“Kyouka Uzen told me that you slaughtered at least a hundred Shuuki before you passed out from exhaustion, boy. How could a man like you do that?” 

What was it about gender? Uzen asked me this back then, but even this girl?

Kyouka had a special ability, but the boy — who I assumed to be normal — didn’t question it, and when I revealed my own, they focused on my gender rather than the fact that a person was even capable of doing such a thing. It was obvious that something weird was going on.

It was just going to be a waste of time if I tried going about my question indirectly. “What’s so important about me being a man?” I asked. 

She looked at me with a serious expression. “Everything! Men can’t receive abilities from the Peaches, so you may just as well be an anomaly!” She lectured as though I were a child.

I couldn’t help but ask, “Peaches?”

“Yes, Peaches. You know, the ones growing on Mato, pink and shiny peaches?”

I didn’t know what expression my face had contorted into, but I was sure it was showing features akin to an idiot.

“Seriously? You know nothing about them?!”

“No. This is the first time hearing about the—”

The door opened. “Mother, the boy has been summoned to face the Chiefs at the assembly,” the girl’s daughter interrupted.

The girl sighed. “Good luck to you, boy,” she said with a toothy grin.

Her cheer did nothing but worry me.

Still, I likely had no choice but to follow the younger(?) woman. “May I ask your name?” I inquired as I was about to leave the room.

She answered, “I am Fubuki Azuma, Unit Nine’s Chief.” As we walked down the corridor, she said, “And your name is…?”

“I’m Shirou Emiya. By the way, do you know who nursed me? I remember being battered and bruised before I passed out.” Whoever healed me deserved at least a thank you.

“That would be my mother, Tobera Azuma. You were just talking to her.”

Was she referring to the girl who looked younger than me? “The one in the infirmary?”

“Yes.”

We came to a stop at a double door. “Await your name… Shirou Emiya.” She walked into the room, leaving me alone in the hallway.

Was it my instincts? My heart was beating fast, as if I was in danger. No, I had to be imagining it; it would not make sense for them to save me only to harm m—

And then I remembered Heroic Spirit EMIYA.

It didn’t annoy me when I thought about him — not anymore. He wanted to save others, and because of that, he suffered.
No, I felt pity that his ideals let him down such a path. And because I pitied him, I would do my best to go farther than he ever did in life.

My ideals were fake, but that did not matter.

Solemnly remembering that man, I was brought back to reality by a voice. “Enter, Shirou Emiya.”

I took a deep breath. Through ruminating, I had calmed down, but that didn’t mean that all of my worries were gone.

I opened the door, and inside was a room with a C-shaped table, at which sat nine women in the same uniform I saw Uzen wear — with Uzen herself seated at the third-most right,  and Azuma seated farthest to the right. There was also Tobera, who stood at the left corner, facing me behind the other ladies.

But that aside, seeing Uzen sitting there made me happy as it meant that I was able to save her, and a light smile spread across my lips.

Considering their seating arrangement, it seemed that they wanted me to stand in the middle of the room so they could all see me.

I took another deep breath, and steeled my mind. These people saved me, so anything they were going to ask, I would answer truthfully.

“Shirou Emiya, I am the Commander of the Anti-Demon Corps, Ren Yamashiro,” the woman in the centre seat introduced herself. “We have heard of your commendable actions told to us by the Unit Seven’s Chief, Kyouka Uzen.” She smiled sweetly. “However, we wish to ask how you were able to use an ability.” 

“I…” I hesitated to answer. Was I going to reveal the presence of  magecraft? Uzen herself had used magical energy, so they likely knew of it, but the wording was the confusing part; they’ve been saying ‘ability’ as if that was its own jargon. 

Yamashiro kept her smile. “Then let me ask you this question: did you gain your abilities through the consumption of the Peaches?”

That was an easy question to answer. “No.”

Why did the majority of them show shock at that?

Since they were asking me, maybe I could ask something back?

“May I ask a question?”

“You may.”

“That boy, the one with Uzen-san, is he alright?” Uzen’s presence told me that she was alright, but I had not seen him.

Yamashiro looked at Uzen, who answered, “The boy you refer to, Yuuki Wakura, is fine.”

My lips curled upwards at that.

I had another question. “Yamashiro-dono, since you and Tobera-san were talking about the Peaches, may I ask what they are?” Surely they weren’t referring to the fruit, right?

Her eyebrows raised in curiosity. “I’ll return the question. Do you know what Mato is?”

“Aside from it meaning ‘Demon Capital,’ I have no idea.”

“Then may I ask where you were raised?”

Why would they ask that? “Fuyuki City, Oita Prefecture.”

“Fuyuki City, Oita Prefecture?” she repeated.

“Yes.” What were they trying to confirm?

Yamashiro picked up a black rectangular board, only to turn it towards me and show that it was a screen. Was that a tablet? I’d never seen anything like it before.

“Shirou Emiya , Fuyuki City does not exist. And we’ve searched in our database for anyone who looked like you while you were recovering.” She pointed to the tablet, the screen saying ‘N/A.’ “I’m afraid to say this, but you technically do not exist.” 

That made no sense. I was in Fuyuki just a while ago!

“What do you mean? Days ago, I was just at Ryuudou Temple in Fuyuki.”

She had to be lying. This had to be a joke of some kind.

Their faces were dead serious, but this had to be a prank.

Trying to calm myself down, I took a deep breath.

Yamashiro then asked, “Can you tell me what date it is, Shirou Emiya?”

There was no reason to lie. “Back when I was in Ryuudou Temple, it was February 16, 2004.”

“It’s June 19, 2020,” she corrected me, showing the date on the tablet.

She stood up. “I sensed no lies when you spoke, so I shall share my hypothesis: Shirou Emiya, you are from an alternate version of Japan.”

I was speechless. There was so much that I wished to ask, but it felt like asking would only confuse me even more.

I looked around at the other Chiefs. Their expressions were neutral, but the atmosphere in this room felt heavy.

“Now that you’ve gained a possible explanation for your presence here in Mato, what do you plan on doing?” she asked. “I shall grant your wish, so long as your request is attainable and reasonable.” It’s likely that she would request something in return. “In exchange, you have to work for us. You will be here in Mato, where you will join us, the Anti-Demon Corps, to save normal humans from the Shuuki.”

This was a perfect deal. If I join them, I would be able to save others.

“I ag—” Before I answered, EMIYA’s existence came to mind.

What I was doing now was practically the exact same as he did. His existence was a warning.

“Will I be forced to kill others?” I asked.

“You will exterminate Shuuki, who are mindless beasts that harm others.”

“No, I’m referring to humans.” There was a lump in my throat. “Will I have to kill other humans?”

Yamashiro smiled. “Rarely would the Anti-Demon Corps combat humans. However, in the event that we have to, then you can apprehend them instead, so long as you are able to.”

Most of my doubts were now cleared.

“Now, what is your wish, Shirou Emiya?”

I was going to ask for them to send me back to Fuyuki, but considering that no one ever suggested bringing me back to my version of Japan — assuming Yamashiro’s hypothesis was even correct — it was likely that they couldn’t.

“I want to be an Ally of Justice; I wish to save everyone,” I said with no hesitation.

“A good wish.” She walked over to me and offered her hand. Her beauty rivalled that of even Rin. “I shall inform you of everything that could be important for your work later.”

She turned around, facing the other Chiefs.

“Stand up, all of you; we shall judge what unit would suit Shirou Emiya most.” 

They did so, their expressions hard. 

“You will be the first man to be officially part of the Anti-Demon Corps, Shirou Emiya,” Ren declared. “And I have high hopes for you.” Her face looked so, so beautiful as she smiled. “Now, I think that Emiya-san would fit in Unit…”

Chapter Text

“I think that Emiya-san would fit in Unit…” she paused, “Ten.” She looked back onto the other chiefs and elaborated, “That is, Shirou Emiya will be the third member of my unit.” 

“Commander, I have a question,” said a girl with short blonde hair as she raised her hand. 

“Yes, Tenka?” Yamashiro looked back.

“May I ask why Emiya-san will be placed in Unit Ten?”

With a relaxed smile, Yamashiro answered, “It’s because I personally wish to tutor Emiya-san on how the Anti-Demon Corps and Shuuki work. After a week has passed, he will act as a supplementary member for any unit so long as he is available.”

As Yamashiro was explaining, I caught the sight of Tobera on her tiptoes, whispering something to Fubuki. It was a sight akin to a daughter gossiping to her mother, but from what Fubuki said, it was the other way around.

Honestly, I had seen stranger things. 

I had nothing to do with their conversation though, so I looked back to Ren, and as I did, she announced, “Emiya-san, since you currently do not have an identity, we will be leaving Mato in order to forge you a registration certificate.” 

I nodded. “Yes, Yamashiro-san.” It was surreal to know that I had no identity, but the fact that there were no records of me or Fuyuki solidified Yamashiro’s hypothesis. 

Besides, said hypothesis was believable: I had been sucked up by the Grail before I came to Mato, so the Grail could have transported me here.

“Ah.” I quietly grimaced. I remembered Rin as I thought of the Grail. And with my thoughts of Rin came thoughts of Sakura, and especially Fuji-nee.

Knowing that I had left them — even through means beyond my control — made my heart ache. 

Just a few days ago, Rin and I had been sitting over a hill on a grassy field, with Rin leaning against me, looking up at the clear winter sky. I remembered the cold breeze, along with the strange sense of serenity as I confessed to her.

Just knowing that I was likely to never meet her again hurt my chest more than when Lancer pierced my heart with Gae Bolg.

Though, it brought solace to know that letting myself be taken by the Grail had prevented Gilgamesh’s escape, and in turn, ensured that the Fuyuki had been saved.

Tobera approached Yamashiro with an easy-going gait. “Hey Commander, I’ve been wondering about his abilities,” she said, pointing at me. “And I’m pretty sure that everyone else has been wondering the same thing.”

From what Fubuki had said, Tobera was supposed to be far older than she looked, but I doubted it with the way she was acting.

Then I thought of Ilya, which… yeah, maybe she really was . 

“Indeed, I am curious as well,” Yamashiro — was I supposed to call her Chief or Commander? — affirmed. “I suppose that it would be far more convenient to note his abilities now rather than later.” She looked at me. “Very well, Emiya-san, would you mind showing us your abilities?”

I mentally sighed. I had been expecting something like this. “Not at all, Yam— Commander .” That was something I was going to have to get used to. 

Fubuki raised her hand. “I wish to spar with him, Commander,” she said. “I think it would be best to see him in action.”

Well, that was a surprise. I had pegged her as a “silent observer” type. Was she actually a thrill-seeker?

Yamashiro nodded. “You may, Fubuki. However, it’s his choice.” She turned to look at me, as did the other chiefs.

They all had stern expressions, but even I could see from the glint in their eyes that they wanted to see me to accept.

Thinking about it, getting familiar with the abilities of a Chief could prove useful; Yamashiro did say that I was going to be working with everyone once I was done being lectured. And so I nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“Good.” Yamashiro stood up and began to walk out of the room. “Bell, come with me.” A blue-haired girl followed. “Everyone else, go to the area just in the front yard.” With that, she departed, along with her companion—Bell, apparently.

It was at that moment that I realised Ren Yamashiro was a cruel woman: she'd left me in a room full of total strangers.

“Geh.” I made an uncharacteristic sound, and the Chiefs — along with Tobera — turned to look at me.

This was horribly awkward. In fact, this may as well have been the most awkward moment of my life. Sure, this situation was like the first day in a new school where everyone had to do a self-introduction, but this was worse. Back then, I had the luxury of knowing that everyone else didn’t know each other, but this was absolutely different.

My thoughts of my first day in high school gave me the idea of introducing myself, but it seemed that I had an EX-rank in Instinct as I knew in the back of my mind that attempting that would make things worse.

I took a silent breath. “Fubuki-san, where exactly is the front yard?”

“Follow us. I doubt that the commander wishes for us to stay here; that would be a waste of time,” she said matter of factly with a stern expression.

I nodded before I began following them. Every one of them had a serious expression, almost befitting of their titles as Chiefs. They walked with poise, like the choreographed marches of soldiers.

And then there was Tobera, who was walking right next to me with an easygoing smile. “Don’t even think about holding back, Emiya; Fubuki will make short work of you if you do,” she warned.

I could only give a short response. “Yeah.” I hypothesised that the others were wary of me, and so they chose to keep their distance. 

She smirked. “What’s the matter, kid? Having second thoughts?”

“Well… I suppose I’m distracted by how serious they’re acting.” 

“Oh, is that so?” Tobera asked.

I quietly nodded.

“Oh, beats me. They’re usually quite the rowdy bunch.” She quipped with a self-satisfied smirk before she let out a giggle, patting me on the back. “Goodness, kid. They must really not like you.”

“No,” a voice interrupted our chat. “Contrary to what the former Commander said, we do not hate you, Emiya-san.” It was Kyouka Uzen, her hand on her chest. “In fact, I’m thankful that you saved me.”

I simply shook my head in response. “It was nothing at all, Uzen-san.”

“Hmph, you did well,” a blonde woman interjected. Her brash and aggressive voice fit her appearance, with her uniform worn in a way that was similar to delinquents. “By the way, I’m Mira Kamiunten, Chief of the Second Unit. Oh, and just call me Mira. I'm more used to being called by my first name.”

She pointed her thumb to the other Chiefs. “The Commander ordered us to shut our mouths, but since we’ll be working with you soon, it’s best to introduce ourselves to each other.”

I nodded and tried to introduce myself, “Right. I’m Shir—” 

“We know that already,” she interrupted, before walking closer. Mira held her hand out as her lips curved into a wide grin. “I’m excited to see you in action, Emiya.”

I nodded as I took her arm for a handshake. “Yeah.”

It seemed that the ice had broken as more of the chiefs introduced themselves.

The most senior-looking member of the Chiefs had approached me. “I’m the Vice-Chief of the First Unit, Riu Myouga, young man,” she introduced herself, before introducing a young, brown-haired girl, “and this is my disciple.”

Said girl bowed. “Nice to meet you, my name is Konomi Tatara. I’m the First Unit’s Chief.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tobera whispering something to Fubuki again.

I took my eyes off of the mother and daughter, and looked toward a doorway which the others were already going through. I followed suit, taking a deep breath.

Again, it was a rocky wasteland that met my sight, but before that was a barrier that had enclosed around the whole building. It was obviously a Bounded Field.

I felt like asking about it, but my curiosity could be sated later.

Commander Yamashiro was talking to Bell and a girl with blonde, wavy hair. It was likely that she had been waiting for us. Next to them was the edge of another, smaller barrier that was around thirty metres in diameter. It was likely the area where we were going to spar.

The Commander turned to us with a smile. “Good. All of you are here. Ginna has just finished constructing the barrier, so you came at the perfect time. Fubuki, you’ll be entering first. I’ll just be explaining what Emiya-san will be doing.”

“Understood, Commander.” the buxom woman responded as I walked over to Ren and waited for her instructions.

“Though this is a spar, you don’t need to hold back as there are two healers here,” she said, pointing over to who I assumed was Ginna and Tobera. She continued, “The spar is finished when either one of you is unable to fight back. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Commander.” I took a deep breath as I walked into the barrier.

As my finger passed through the barrier— “Ahh!” A sharp burning feeling made me take a step back.

What kind of barrier was this? It didn’t seem to harm Fubuki, so I assumed that it was completely fine to enter it. Though I supposed that it was stupid of me to just assume everything was fine.

“Ah, Emiya-san,” came Yamashiro’s concerned voice from behind. “Tobera-chan, Emiya needs some healing!” she shouted.

I turned around to the sight of Tobera. “The heck happened to you, boy?” she asked.

Where did she even come from? I couldn’t even hear her footsteps.

 Frowning, I answered, “It’s my finger — it got burned as I was entering the barrier.”

A feeling of annoyance bubbled from within me as I looked at the singed digit.

“Don’t worry about it, kid, I’ll heal you,” she comforted, but that wasn’t why I was so annoyed. 

No, I was annoyed that I had inconvenienced someone because of my foolish mistake.

“Ah,” I audibly gasped as I sensed the flow of Od converge into an orb around Tobera’s hand, with the energy originating from throughout her body. Was Tobera’s innate ability the manipulation of Od?

The skin of my finger blistered in an instant, its red, bubbly form making a stark contrast with my unblemished skin, but the blister subsided as quickly as appeared, with the fluid being absorbed into my skin. And in just a blink of an eye, my finger looked as it always had — as if it had never been marred in the first place, leaving no feeling of pain except for the feeling of guilt.

“Thank you, Tobera-san,” I said with a sad smile.

The young-looking girl brushed it off, “Don’t worry about it, kid. In fact, you should have been warned by Ren.”

Yamashiro looked onwards with her usual smile. “Ah, I suppose it was an accident.” Laughing it off, she said, “I apologise, Emiya-san.”

For some reason, Tobera’s expression was grim, as if she was upset with Yamashiro. However, I ignored it as I apologetically shook my head. “Don’t worry about me, Commander.”

Yamashiro then looked over her shoulder, her eyes locked onto the blonde girl behind her. “Anyways, Ginna, where’s the brush and paper?”

“Ah, here it is, Commander!” Ginna(?) handed said items to the commander.

Swiftly, she gave me the brush and paper. “Sign your name here, Emiya-san.”

I did as she asked, recognizing the other names already written, except for ‘Varvara Pilipenko,’ ‘Tenka Izumo,’ ‘Bell Tsukiyono,’ and ‘Yakumo Ezo.’

I handed the paper back, and Yamashiro glanced down at it, a single eyebrow raised. “Huh, I thought your name was ‘Shiro,’ meaning white,” she commented as she giggled.

Her comment immediately reminded me of EMIYA, whose hair had turned white as a result of his overuse of magecraft. I scratched the side of my head. “There’s nothing white about me, though,” I responded before I looked at Fubuki who quietly stood inside the barrier, waiting for me. “I’ll be heading inside now.”

“The match starts when Ginna says so,” I heard Yamashiro say from behind me as I stopped in front of the border. Carefully, I pushed my index finger in, and once I knew that it was actually safe to enter, I went inside.

My eyes became transfixed on Fubuki's weapon the moment she summoned it. It was a long spear with its bladed part being cross-shaped, looking like a ‘Jumonji Yari.’ It was longer than even that of Cu Chulainn’s Gae Bolg. As I studied it, I learned two things: its name was Sunset, and it had the ability to change its length at the user's command. 

“The match starts in 5…” I heard an unfamiliar voice, likely Ginna’s. 

The image of a gun’s hammer firing off activated my magic circuits.

“—4…”

“Trace…” What tracing was optimal, I wondered. Sure, I could use Kanshou and Bakuya, but those short swords were disadvantageous against her spear.

“—3…”

I had to trace a weapon that could be effective against her. The best chance I had at beating her, I concluded, was by bombarding her with ranged attacks.

“—2…”

With my battle plan laid out in my mind, I quickly reinforced my entire body. Compared to even two weeks ago, my reinforcement had dramatically improved, but I knew that it was still far from perfect.

“—1…”

“...on.” I traced the metallic, black bow of EMIYA, holding onto it with my left hand, with my other hand already finished drawing it with a traced arrow.

“—Start!”

The sound of bellowing wind came after I had fired off the arrow.

Clang!

Its sheer speed had covered the distance in less than a blink of the eye, aiming for her face, but as I had expected, she easily deflected it with her spear.

I drew the bowstrings four more times in quick succession; two aimed straight for her, while the other two curved and tried to reach for her sides.

I had to keep going on the offensive; it was unlikely for me to win once she was only five metres from me.

She stopped to defend herself from the onslaught of arrows that came her way, swinging in a wide arc at the arrows that came directly at her. Each of the arrows that I fired off were precisely aimed; they were not going to miss, yet a calculated leap forward had allowed her to easily dodge them.

I took a deep breath as I continued onwards to my plan. With her airbourne and incapable of dodging, I fired off countless arrows as I moved back. She could block and parry them, but my arrows were powerful enough to slow her down.

Fubuki’s eyes widened, but not out of shock — no, her eyes widened to grasp more information, to make a perfect reaction. Fubuki’s grip on her spear tightened, and with a flick, along with an inward flex of her wrists, began twirling it with practised ease; it spun so fast that a current of air had completely changed the trajectory of the arrows.

Just as I was about to trace another arrow, she aimed her spear at me—

Every drop of sweat rolling down my forehead seemed to freeze, and my skin prickled into goosebumps. I could easily tell what this feeling was: my instincts were warning me of danger.

—and rapidly extended its length in an attempt to stab through my stomach.

Crack!

I heard the crumbling of stone behind me as I dove away and rolled back up, drawing my bow. Meanwhile, Fubuki slammed her spearhead into the ground beside me, using it as an anchor to swiftly pull herself forward and further increase her already inhuman speed.

By the time I was ready to fire, she was already next to me, swinging her spear with a cold expression. My eyes — widened in surprise — rapidly observed every detail of her swing, and in an act of desperation, I dropped my arrow and used the frame of my bow to block her spear.

This may have been a spar, but with how she moved and attacked, someone may have thought that she was genuinely trying to kill me. Though in hindsight, firing off supersonic arrows wasn’t the best idea for a simple spar.

“Haaa!” I exhaled as I shoved away her spear in order to safely trace a new weapon. Fubuki skillfully used my own momentum against me by grabbing my bow, quickly spun around in a counter-clockwise direction, and extended her left leg, striking my shins. As a result, I lost my balance and fell face-first onto the rocky ground.

“Tra-ouch…” was all I could mutter as I quickly used my arms to try and push off of the ground, only for Fubuki to take a step on my back, pressing me down, and a moment after that came the chilling sensation of battle-warmed steel as it made contact with the back of my neck. 

“You did a great job, Shirou Emiya,” the threateningly sweet voice of Fubuki echoed in my ear, along with the unintelligible clattering of the others. 

“To think that I had to use half of my full power… it’s of little surprise to me now how you cleared out hundreds of Shuuki even while in an injured state.” The heavy feeling on my back disappeared as she took her foot off of me, and I turned to face the purple sky.

“And we have a winner! It’s the Chief of Unit Nine, Fubuki Azuma!” Ginna exclaimed with utmost glee, as if she had just watched the finale of a tournament.

Fubuki offered a hand to help me stand up, and I took her offer with no hesitation. I tiredly exhaled as I wiped drops of sweat off my eyebrows.

It was as I had predicted, I lost the moment she reached me.

Looking over to the crowd, I saw Ginna and Tobera running over to us, with the others walking behind them.

With sparks in her eyes, Ginna joyfully held her hands out. “Wonderful match, Fubuki-sama, Emiya-san!” Soon, a viridescent light had emanated from Ginna’s fingertips, and with it came a feeling of rejuvenation.

“Thank you, Ginna,” Fubuki and I said, almost at the same time.

The blonde girl just showed a self-satisfied smile as she shook her head. “You don’t have to thank me! It’s my job as the referee to make sure that participants recover after a match.” And with an ink brush on Ginna’s hand, along with an expression that teemed with enthusiasm, she made a strange request, “But may I please have your autograph?!”

I glanced around, looking for solace in the peculiar question before I finally made eye contact with the girl. “Sure, I guess?” I awkwardly answered before I took her brush and began writing my last name, ‘衛宮,’ onto the paper.

Ginna did a slight bow before joyfully walking away before Ren walked over to me and commended. “You were doing well, forcing Fubuki on the defensive. Though, the moment her spear charged towards you, the pressure you put on her vanished.”

“Yes, Commander,” I said in agreement. 

Ren whispered something to Ginna before she came closer, and the blonde girl nodded before going over to the other Chiefs, where they began to head back to the building. “I suppose that it was to be expected. Very few would assume that Fubuki’s Sunset is capable of changing sizes.”

That was the issue: I did know that her spear could do that. My plan had been to barrage her with arrows and force her to defend in an attempt to prevent any time for her to go on the offensive, but Fubuki targeted the window of time where I was drawing back in order to catch me unaware. It spoke to how skilled she truly was to formulate such a plan so quickly.

 She hummed for a moment. “Is your ability the creation of bows and arrows?”

I shook my head. “No, Commander. I can create most forms of weaponry, provided that they aren’t too complicated.”

“Define ‘complicated’.”

“Modern weaponry like guns are almost impossible for me to recreate.” Technically, I could trace a gun by meticulously tracing all the parts and combining them, but a simple rain of traced projectiles was far easier and more effective than doing that. 

“I don’t think you’d need a gun with the archery you’ve just displayed.” She chuckled for a moment. “Anyways, it’s about time that we provide you with an identity.” She turned back to the others and signalled for me to follow her.

We made our way back inside before we rounded a corner, a section of the building I hadn’t walked around on, until we reached a peculiar sight. It was a crack that floated in the air, revealing the world outside; sunshine emanated from the rift in space, revealing the blue sky. 

With my gaze transfixed onto the… crack of reality, I heard Bizen’s cheery voice before us, likely on the other side of the room. “Here’s your handbag, Ren-sama,” she said as she walked over to the Commander.

“Thank you, Ginna,” she said before looking back over her shoulder to me for a moment. “Follow me through the gate, Emiya-san. And don’t worry, it’ll be safe,” she said with her ever-present smile. “Actually…” She grabbed my arm. “I can just help you cross through.”

The glare of the morning sun quickly made me raise my free arm in order to cover my eyes. A few seconds later, once my eyes were adjusted to the new levels of light, I looked around to realise that we were standing on what seemed to be temple grounds.

“Yamashiro-sama!” a voice from around a corner spoke, before a girl wearing a shrine maiden outfit came from said corner and spoke, “We weren’t informed that you’d be exiting Mato. Is there anything urgent?”

The girl’s gaze wandered onto me for a moment before Yamashiro greeted her, “Good morning, Aiko.” She spoke with a unique quality, like an endearing queen voicing out to their loyal subjects. “There’s no need to be so alarmed. We just happened to be leaving for the city hall.”

The girl, Aiko, politely bowed her head before she asked, “Shall I call for the limousine?”

The Commander looked over to me, likely for input, but I decided to keep my mouth closed. “No need, Aiko. We’ll just be using public transport. Oh, he and I will be going as soon as possible; if I remember correctly, the bus arrives in exactly twenty minutes, so we’ll be going now..”

The girl bowed as she wished Yamashiro a safe trip before walking away. “Let’s go, Emiya-san.”

“Yes, Commander.”

And so we began to walk. From what it initially looked like, we arrived somewhere more rural, with the lack of houses and the tight street that curved to the right on a hill. There also happened to be a few girls who were chatting to each other as they walked to the shrine. The moment they saw Yamashiro, they asked for autographs on the cases of their phones.

The Commander happily allowed it, signing her surname before wishing them off. The girls did so as well. 

However, during the small talk between the Commander and those girls, I caught them stealing glances over at me a few times, particularly my face.

“Do I look that unusual?” I grumbled before taking a deep breath.

“Is red hair common in your world?” asked Yamashiro as we continued to walk.

“No,” I answered. “Though, not many people paid attention to it.” A sudden realisation led me to ask, “Wait, didn’t the captains have colourful hair as well? Take for example: that girl with the blue hair—Bell, right? She had blue hair.”

She cutely held her hand under her chin, likely in contemplation, before she interjected, “I suppose, but that particular brand of hair is only normally present in girls.”

That made me turn my head in confusion. “How so?”

“Before the arrival of the Peaches, everyone had relatively ‘normal’ hair colour. Japanese, like most Asians, mostly had black and brown hair. Westerners were more diverse with their colour, having black, brown, and blonde hair—with redheads being more uncommon.” She paused for a moment before continuing, “Anyways, since the Peaches only affect girls, any changes that may occur are reserved for girls.”

That made sense. Except for the fact that there were ability-granting Peaches that only worked on women. Though, I suppose that it was less questionable than the Moon—at least, from what Rin told me.

…

“Okay?”

Was she saying something?

“Emiya-san?”

“Yes, Commander?”

She seemed concerned.“Is everything alright?” she asked. “You were spacing out.”

“Oh, was I?” I failed to notice. I was just reminiscing about the recent, yet distant past. “I’m sorry for worrying you, Commander.”

“Don’t worry about it, Emiya-san,” she eased. “Anyways, I was just wondering about the differences between our worlds.”

“Oh.” The differences between worlds… “There’s not really much right now; Japan seems like Japan — albeit lacking Fuyuki City.” Aside from the fact that I was somehow transported seventeen years into the future of an alternate worldline, there weren’t that many differences.

“I suppose that you miss Fuyuki?” she asked.

Fuyuki was Fuyuki. I held dear memories in it, but those were because of the people I interacted with. I was like anybody else in that regard, at least in my opinion; the where wasn’t important, and instead, it was the who were in it. “I do,” I answered with a low, contemplative utterance.

Neither of us said anything after that. Instead, the restrained buzzing of cicadas echoed in our ears, informing me that it was just the start of summer. Well that and Yamashiro did say earlier that it was June 19, so it was indeed the start of summer.

It was slightly off-putting; I was shivering in the cold, winter night just days ago, but now it was already summer, where the bright, beaming light of the morning sun shone down to the world and cascaded off to a warm yellow light.

We didn’t talk anymore for a substantial while after that. Instead, the both of us just appreciated the surrounding sights.

The bus was already there when we reached the bus stop. The text displayed on the side of the bus, just above the doorway was quite peculiar. “No undesignated man allowed entry,” I read it out loud.

“Don’t worry about it,” Yamashiro said as she took a step in the bus, addressing the driver, “Ma'am, he’s with me.” It was then that she urged me to enter, to which I did.

“You’ve caught a fine one,” the driver said, talking to Yamashiro, who was tagging on with a card that she had pinched from her wallet.

I raised my eyebrow in confusion as Yamashiro chuckled in her own elegant way. I looked around, looking for two free seats. It was a weekday considering that there were some schoolgirls sitting here and there. It was only after a few seconds of looking around did we find a couple of free seats at the back, to which we hurriedly sat. “So,” she started, “As I said earlier, we’ll be going to the City Hall to give you an identity.”

“Right. By the way, what’s the name of this city?”

“Kyoto.”

“Oh, Kyoto. I’ve never been here.” To be honest, I’ve never really gone to other cities before. The only time that I did was when I went with the archery team to Souya and watched them. Though, I suppose that I never went sightseeing there.

She hummed to herself as she muttered, “To think that Kyoto would exist even in your own world…”

Right. I had forgotten about that. If Kyoto existed within another worldline but not Fuyuki, then did that mean that Kyoto had enough importance for the Root to make sure that it existed? Or was it just pure coincidence, and that there were worldlines where the opposite was true?

It was entertaining to ponder, but it wasn’t like it was going to matter whether the latter did or didn’t happen; I was somehow sent into this world because of the Void of the Grail, and that was that.

“Say, Commander?” I looked away from the window and back to the girl next to me.

She was watching what seemed to be a recording of dogs through her phone. They seemed cute. “Hmm?” she quickly responded.

“Is the existence of Shuuki hidden from the public?”

“Nope; they’re quite infamous. It’d be a fatal hazard if there was a threat that only one percent of the population knew of, anyway. Is there a reason why you’re asking?”

It wasn’t going to hurt answering truthfully, right? “Back in my world, anything related to the occult was hidden from the public. I was just wondering if it was the same for this one.”

“I suppose providing you a brief history lesson wouldn’t hurt while the bus takes its time.” She quickly put her phone back into her bag before she began. “Around the 1960s, Gates opened up throughout — and only in — Japan. The country at first was wary of the gates, and for weeks nothing happened in relation to them, so they proceeded to send people on expeditions through them.”

I raised my hand for a question. “How did the world react?”

“The Gates were hidden from public view for around two months. Those who saw their initial inceptions were asked to keep quiet. They followed nicely. Japan sent the expeditions out of fear, actually—fear of other countries taking curiosity with the Gates that appeared exclusively on Japanese soil. Hours after the initial expedition started, they saw a cluster of trees with shiny pink fruit. They took a great many of them for sampling. One of the expeditioners—a man—was particularly hungry as well as curious and so consumed one. He commended the taste, citing it as the best food he had consumed, and had suggested that the others should take a bite. They did so, but when it came time for the three out of the twenty expeditioners—the women—to have their turn, something strange happened.”

“They obtained abilities, huh?”

“Precisely. The first one—the grandmother of Fubuki Azuma—gained the ability to accelerate her time, even travel at speeds well beyond sound. The second one gained the ability to fire off energy blasts from wherever she wanted. The third gained the ability to see a day ahead into the future.”

“What happened then?”

“Six days after the discovery, the third woman—now referred to as ‘Seer’—discovered that an invasion of ravenous monsters would come the following day. The country prepared a military force outside of the Gate, but they were mostly unable to even damage them. Only the ones who received the blessings of the Peaches were capable of harming them.”

She stopped for a moment. “Ah, I said that it was going to be brief, but at this point, I won’t even reach the point where Japan was declared as the most powerful nation in the world—despite its lack of nuclear warheads.”

I protested. “It’s fine with me, Commander. Besides, you have a good voice, I don’t mind if you go in-depth.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Emiya-san,” she said with a sweet smile that quickly dispelled. “Still, I can’t take too much time explaining the history of what happened. The casualties were numerous, and the world began paying attention to Japan once more. The peaches were then quickly distributed and the original three were tasked to form a military group. That’s how we, the Anti-Demon Corps or Mato Defence Force came to be. Any other questions so far?”

Besides the interjecting questions I asked earlier, I had understood everything that she said. “Not really.”

“Then I shall continue. I’ll briefly talk about the Shuuki.”

The next thirty minutes went by in a flash, and almost as if everything had all been planned, Yamashiro’s ‘brief’ lessons ended just a minute before the bus stop.

All in all, she had talked about the Shuuki, the types of workers for the Anti-Demon Corps, and even the potential work I would be doing.

Once the bus had opened its doors, we exited the vehicle. The city hall was just across the road, but we had to walk slightly further away over to an intersection just a quick walk away.

As we were waiting for the pedestrian traffic lights to turn green, Yamashiro fashioned her almost-perpetual grin as she said, “Time flew by so quickly.” She glanced over to me. “It must have been because I was talking to you, Emiya-san.”

“I didn’t exactly talk much,” I mumbled. “In fact, the only time I said something was to ask another question.” That was the honest truth. She spent half an hour reciting the history of the world and I listened attentively in turn.

“That’s completely fine; it was the best use of the time we had traversing here,” she eased. “Besides, it was nostalgic for me. It’s the chief’s job to inform new recruits, and believe me when I say you’re a good listener.”

“Isn’t that just normal though?” I asked. “If you’re going to ask someone something, then it’d just be really rude to not listen.” I knew I was awkward when it came to social matters, but anyone who did such a thing was worse than even I was.

The light from my peripheral vision turned green as a series of quick, beeping noises reverberated out to the wide roads. “Indeed,” she said, continuing our conversation as we crossed the road, and into the city hall.

For a government building, it was slightly lacking in bustling crowds. Today being a weekday likely had something to do with that, though, and it was good as it meant that there wasn’t going to be a gigantic line.

We headed over to a clerk, who not long after greeted us. “Good morning to you tw—Yamashiro-sama?!”

 “Good morning to you, too,” Yamashiro replied nonchalantly. “I want them to obtain an identity document,” she requested.

“I’ll do my best, Yamashiro-sama. Please wait over those seats over there,” the girl said with conviction.

It seemed that calling Yamashiro popular was a severe understatement.

Not even a minute later a woman came rushing over to us with what seemed to be a folder in her hands.

“Good morning!” she greeted with a wide, almost forced, smile. “This person wants an identity certificate, yes?”

Yamashiro nodded in response.

Not wasting a beat, she opened up the folder and took a sheet of paper. “Please input your information here.”

It was mostly straightforward. I had done this around ten years ago with my old man. Though of course, he had written  all of it for me. I changed the year of my birth to 2002; if I had put in 1986 instead, that would have meant I was already in my early-30s.

“Commander, what should I put for Home Address?” I asked Yamashiro.

“Just put in ‘Mato, Anti-Demon Corps HQ’.” And that I did, quickly scribbling it down.

Everything was smooth sailing after that. Once I was done and had given the sheet of paper back to the woman, then I provided my fingerprints, and shortly after that my photograph.

Minutes after the picture taking, we were back in our seats, waiting for my identification card. Back in Fuyuki, it may have taken a couple of days before I actually would have obtained it, but this wasn’t Fuyuki, nor was this even the same decade, so that may have changed something.

It was either that or Yamashiro had something to do with it. As I had found out earlier, she was quite famous, so it was likely that her presence would affect the time it took for things to be done.

“Yamashiro-sama, yo— his ID has been completed,” the woman's voice cut through the silence with a stutter.

That was good. Waiting around had bored me. Yes, I knew that obtaining an identity was important, especially for someone who came from a different world, but I couldn’t help it.

Yamashiro thanked the woman before standing up, prompting me to stand up as well. “Let’s go, Emiya-san. ”

“Now that that’s over with, will we be going back to Mato?” I asked with a sense of enthusiasm.

“Unfortunately, no.” That did not sound good. “You require a bank account, and a few more things; we still have places to go.”

“Ah.” 

This was going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

“Are you sure of your choice, Emiya Shirou?” EMIYA asked as he and I stood upon his hill of swords. The haze was nowhere to be seen; the same could not be said for the gears in the sky. Gone was his usual sneer; instead, a sombre look was on his face. It was weird to see him look at me with anything but contempt, but I supposed that it was because of how hostile he was during the events of the war.

“Yeah,” I answered with no hesitation. “Do you have a problem with it?” But before he could even consider an answer, I said, “If you do, then I suggest you don’t say anything because I won’t be listening to whatever you have to say, regardless.”

He looked away. “No. It’s not my choice to make.”

“Then why ask me?”

He began walking over to the edge. “Because I wanted to know your answer.”

“What?” I asked as my eyebrows raised, incredulous. “What did you just say?”

He looked over his shoulder with a frown. “I took you for an idiot. I didn’t expect you to be deaf as well.”

I approached him as I sighed in exasperation.

He then sat down on the very edge of the hill, looking over what seemed to be an endless expanse of yellow fog. “It’s odd to think that I was once you.” He didn’t say it with any contempt. In fact, with how absently he gazed down into expanse, it seemed like he was asking it to himself.

“I just hope that I don’t become as bad-tempered as you,” I said in response.

EMIYA’s gaze swept over to me before he snickered. “You already are.”

I sat next to him as I retorted, “Like hell I am.”

Never once in my life since the incident at Ryuudou Temple did I think that I could be around him, acting cordially. Though, I had understood why the moment I blinked, as when I opened my eyes, the sight I saw wasn’t the sea of mist and the monolithic gears stretched across the sky, but the darkness of night.

“I figured… it really was just a dream, huh?” I muttered under my breath, raising myself up. I immediately stood up and walked over to the door and swung it open. I walked down the hallway.

I had lost my morning routine ever since I came to Mato. I’d usually be cooking or exercising right now, but I didn’t feel like doing those things. I just felt like walking around alone with my thoughts.

An exhausted voice pierced through the silence. “Eh? Emiya-sama, why are you awake?” It was Ginna, though she looked tired. “I’m sorry if the futon wasn’t comfortable. I assure you that we’d have a proper bed for you next time you sleep.”

“Huh? Just call me Emiya, Bizen-san. And don’t worry about the futon—I slept fine. I just usually wake up early.”

“It’s 3:30 in the morning, Emiya-sa—ahem. But still, you should take better care of yourself.”

Oh. That was early. “I’ll take that into account tomorrow then.” I didn’t feel like sleeping anymore. “Ah, does this place have a dojo? I usually do some exercise after I wake up.”

“Sadly we do not,” she paused to yawn. “But we do have a gym just over there—go down the stairs; the gym is just next to it. It hasn’t been used in a while though.” She pointed over to the door just at the end of the corridor to the left as she yawned. “I’ll be going now.” She began to walk away.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem like it was too far away.

“Have a good rest, Bizen-san.”

“Yes…”

She mumbled something about paperwork as we walked our different ways. Anyways, three-thirty, huh? It was two hours earlier than usual, but I supposed that this wasn’t the ‘usual.’ In fact, if anyone considered the situations I was put through recently as the ordinary then that person would be the unusual one.

“In fact, they’re probably insane,” I happened to voice out loud as I walked down the stairs and opened the door for the gym.

Inside was a room full of exercise equipment; there were benches, dumbbells, barbells, and weights on one side of the room. On the other side were some pull-up bars, treadmills, bikes, and other exercise equipment I wasn’t sure of the name of. It was a place perfect for weight training, but a past classmate apparently had seen no results and almost got injured during exercise. A friend of his then proceeded to admit that he knew nothing of the proper form.

So as eager as I was at trying new things out, I refrained from using them. Though I had to pause even the callisthenics as I could feel the dust in the soles of my feet as I took my first step inside the room.

Ginna did say that it hadn't been used in a while. How long was that while?

There was no helping it; I would have to clean this room before I did some exercise. Besides, I liked cleaning. Not as much as cooking, but I did enjoy it, especially the sense of satisfaction that I got once I noticed the difference.

I scouted the room for a broom, but there was only a mop. Mopping without getting rid of most of the dust usually resulted in unpleasant results—I knew that from experience. I continued my search, and when it proved fruitless, I simply Traced one.

Sweeping was finished in no time, but the tiles weren’t glimmering yet so I disposed of the dust and rested the broom against a nearby wall, before mopping every nook and cranny.

And so I mopped, mopped even more, then kept on mopping. The movements were rhythmic, and it only took two steps at most to move someplace else once the area I was mopping was spotless.

Just as I was about to walk someplace else, I lightly bumped into the wall before I realised that I was already finished. Perfect. Now I had to wait for it to dry.

As it turned out, it took longer for that to happen than it had for me to sweep and mop. Thank goodness that water wasn’t like paint.

When it was finally dry as a bone, I started off with some push-ups.

I spent around an hour in the gym, after which I took a shower as I was drenched in sweat. I realised that I had forgotten to bring clothes and so I just traced a bathrobe. There were some near the lockers, but they were too small for me.

Speaking of sizes, I had grown around five centimetres in height. Tobera said that it happened during my time recuperating. It was apparently because of how her ability worked. The Life Force—that was what it was called—she provided me apparently worked by accelerating life processes, so it wouldn’t have had an effect if I was already the tallest I could be. Though, that just meant that I was supposed to be taller were it not for the abuse I placed on myself.

It was great. I wanted to at least be as tall as Issei was, but now I was taller than him.

Speaking of Issei, I wondered how he was doing now? Hopefully he wasn’t complaining about the frequently broken equipment in Homurahara Academy. I also hoped that he and Tohsaka would get along.

I felt compelled to chuckle at the unlikely thought, but a tight feeling in my chest prevented me from doing so. Must’ve done too many push-ups earlier.

Sighing, I opened my closet to the sight of clothes that Ren had helped me buy yesterday. They were mostly just simple t-shirts, some jackets, and other more fanciful clothes—the type that someone like Tohsaka would buy—which Ren had convinced me to also pick.

There were likely no days for me to ever use them considering that they didn’t look the most comfortable. I wore a pair of trousers and picked a random shirt for the day.

I usually would be making breakfast around this time, but I had no permission to do that. Speaking of which, a quick check from my phone—that Ren had gifted me—informed me that it was just a quarter of an hour past five o'clock.

Maybe I should have heeded Ginna’s advice.

Deciding to practise a little magecraft, I sat on the chair and let my hand hover over the table.

“Trace on.”

My magical circuits activated before the information contained within my arm quickly flooded my mind: both my upper and lower arm increased in length by two centimetres, the humerus, ulna, radius, carpals, metacarpals, and phalanges were all in perfect condition.

Magical energy permeated throughout my right arm, all of it going into the bones. I took a deep breath before I proceeded with my attempt at Reinforcement. I had gotten better at it during my time in the war, but I was far from perfecting it. Extreme focus was a necessity.

I began pouring magical energy into it. Slowly. As meticulous as possible.

My eyes were trained onto my arm even before I opened them. It felt… secure. The bones were as strong as titanium, but even with the satisfaction of a flawless Reinforcement, it felt uncomfortable. My bones had gotten stronger, but only my bones; my muscles were unchanged, meaning that only my durability had improved. Once I was able to flawlessly Reinforce the muscles in my arm I had to then learn how to flawlessly reinforce my ligaments. It was like reaching the first summit only to realise how much more there was to go. Though, it wasn’t like I was complaining. An improvement was an improvement, after all.

It just meant that I had to deliberately hold back on Reinforcement until my ability to do so for all body parts caught up. Still, the sky was the limit.

Another hour passed. I had attempted to replicate the process for my left arm, but it wasn’t as effective as the earlier one, no matter how hard I tried.

I thought about trying again, but the sound of footsteps offered some distraction and I looked outside to see who it was.

“Ah, good morning to you, Emiya-san,” greeted Ren. She was still in her pyjamas. Despite seeming like she had just woken up, she looked as beautiful as she did yesterday. “Did you sleep well?”

“Uh, yeah. Good morning to you too, Commander. I slept well, so no need to worry about that.”

She smiled sweetly. “I’m glad to hear that,” she responded. “Rest assured that you’ll have a proper bed set up later. Other bases will be informed of that too.”

I didn’t really mind whether I slept on a raised bed or a futon to be honest. It didn’t really matter as long as it wasn’t freezing. “Thank you, Commander.”

“Would you like some cereal?” she asked. She began to walk toward a cabinet, and I followed her. “Normally, Ginna and I would be making breakfast, but I doubt that she’ll be waking up anytime soon. She had to do some paperwork last night.”

“If you don’t mind, can I cook breakfast then?” I asked suddenly. I liked doing general housework, but I loved cooking the most out of all the other activities. Besides, it felt like the right thing to do in order to pay back the hospitality that I’d been provided.

She blinked, possibly in surprise, and then asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” I wasted no time responding to her question. “Besides, it’s the least I can do.”

“I’ll take you up on the offer then, Emiya-san,” she said, looking me straight in the eye. A second later she giggled, as if she found my face funny.

“Is there something wrong?” I questioned with a brow raised.

She cleared her throat. “No. It’s just that I realised you’re more suited to this world than I realised.”

My head tilted in confusion.

“Anyway, it’s nothing.” She quickly changed topics. “I’ll entrust you to the kitchen then. I’ll leave you to your work, as I still have to feed Kaname and Miyabi,” she said, walking over to a nearby room through the hall.

Kaname and Miyabi were her two dogs. She had briefly talked about them yesterday. I hadn’t met them yet, as they’d been asleep by the time we had arrived, and I wasn’t all that good with pets, anyway.

I walked to the refrigerator and opened it. It was filled to the brim with ingredients, to my surprise; there was a surplus of vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, and even tofu neatly stacked for easy preparation.

It took me no longer than three seconds to know what I would be cooking for breakfast: salmon would be the main dish.

I first poured some sake, mirin, and soy into a bowl before marinating some fillets of salmon in it. I then preheated the oven before cooking some rice with the rice cooker.

Over the stove at medium-high heat was a pot of water with some dashi. While waiting for the broth to simmer, I quickly cubed the tofu and put it into the broth along with some wakame. Down went the stove to a low heat. Then I put some miso paste onto a ladle and slowly put it down to submerge in the broth slightly, letting it be dissolved into the substance. There, the miso was now done. Though, I kept it at low heat just to make sure it was warm for when we actually ate.

Anyways, cooking the miso soup should have been enough time to let the oven preheat. I placed the marinated salmon fillets over a baking rack. Halfway through their cooking process I would have to apply some of the marinade again for added flavour and to ensure it didn’t become dry.

That was something to do for later though; I still had the tamagoyaki to cook. I quickly beat the eggs in a bowl, adding a bit of mirin, sugar, and soy sauce. Now, with a tamagoyaki pan, I added a miniscule amount of oil and began pouring the egg. And once the egg mixture was set, I folded it over itself. I repeated this for a while until I poured all of the eggs.

And then… I was supposed to do something else. What was it again?

“Emiya-san.”

Ah yes, do the Emiya. It was the last thing I needed to do, wait—

Quickly I turned my head to the source of the sound. It was Ren, with her usual smile, though she looked much more curious.

“Yes, Commander?” I asked before remembering to continue on with the cooking.

“It’s just that you seemed so focused.” She hummed to herself as she asked, “Do you like cooking?”

It was just now that I remembered what I had to do. “Yeah,” I answered as I opened the oven and brushed the salmon fillets with marinade. “The salmon should be done in five minutes,” I muttered. “But yes, I enjoy cooking. It’s calming.”

“Is that so?” she murmured as distant barking echoed from a few rooms away. Though I hadn’t actually seen them I could imagine them cheerily playing with each other, running around the wooden floorboards.

“Everything else seems to be done,” she remarked. “I’ll help you with the plating.” Crouching down, she got some platters for the teishoku.

“Right. Thank you, Commander.”

She scooped up some rice as I filled two bowls with the miso soup, and I would have gotten three had Ren not said that Ginna was waking up late. The salmon had just finished cooking right after we placed the rice, the tamagoyaki, and the miso soup on the platter, and so I took them out of the oven. As I placed both platters on the table, Ren had filled a jug with water and brought along two empty glasses.

With all of that out of the way, we sat down and before we ate we closed our eyes and thanked , “Itadakimasu.”

Ren took a sip from the bowl of miso soup and seemed pleased with herself, then she tried out everything else. Her expression widened into a grin. “This is good.” She praised me. “It’s definitely a great way of starting the day.”

I was glad to see her enjoying the meal. “Thank you for the praise, Commander.”

She mildly shook her head. “No, no,” she said. “Thank you for the delicious meal.” It really wasn’t much, but I was definitely happy that she seemed to like it. It reminded me of the times when Kiritsugu enjoyed my cooking, back when he was alive and when I was in Fuyuki. “I wonder, what made you start cooking in the first place?”

I smiled and thought back to my youth, back when times were much simpler: Kiritsugu was sitting near the dining table watching me read a cookbook and following each step of it to the letter in order to avoid doing what my father had just done: nearly burning down the kitchen.

“My adoptive father once tried to cook—it did not end well.” That was a great understatement. “The first time I cooked, it was all because of necessity. But when I saw his reaction to my cooking, I was inspired to cook more.”

There was just something about the pleased look on his face as he ate my cooking that brought a smile to mine. Kiritsugu looked like he could have died of bliss, had he not looked melancholic most of the time. It was the primary motivation for expanding my culinary talents.

“Your father must have been ecstatic whenever he ate your cooking.”

I quietly nodded as I continued reminiscing.

Ten minutes later, we were done eating and I washed the dishes—I requested it—so that Ren could play with her dogs. She had asked me to meet her in the garden after I was done and since there wasn’t really anything else that I had in mind, I just proceeded to head to where Ren was.

It was currently 7:30am and yet looking through the window it seemed more like dusk than morning. Actually, if I remembered correctly, the sky seemed as bleak as it was earlier when I had initially woken up, but that was a question for another time.

I was greeted by a tranquil sight as I came to the garden. Verdant grass and trees unbefitting of a place as desolate as Mato lay before me. Ren was sitting under a tree watching Kaname and Miyabi run around and play, a serene expression on her face.

“Sit where you like,” she said, noticing my presence.

I sat myself down just a metre away from her. Kaname and Miyabi were staring at me, panting as they walked over to me.

“Kaname and Miyabi wish to say hello,” Ren introduced them as they slowly walked ever closer to where I was.

“Uh, hi…” I hesitantly stretched my arms out to pet them. The black dog—I couldn’t distinguish them from their names—playfully hopped over to meet my finger while the lighter one kept a bit more distance, as if they were taking turns to greet me. I looked at Ren like a lost puppy as I hesitantly voiced out, “Miyabi…?”

Ren shook her head. “That’s Kaname,” she informed me.

“Oh.” Great, I now looked like an idiot. “Sorry, Kaname,” I apologised as I gently patted her head, the texture of her soft, fluffy fur greatly indicative of her health. A moist feeling then suddenly came over the palm of my hand, and I pulled my arm away out of reflex. “Ah!” Afterwards she bolted forward and hopped onto me, forcing me to lay on the grass as my face was mercilessly licked.

It wasn’t the most unpleasant feeling, but I had very few interactions with animals (aside from Fuji-nee), so being slobbered on wasn’t something I was comfortable with. I heard Ren laugh at my expense as Miyabi barked and jumped onto me as well and then joined her fellow beast in licking me.

She was not hiding her amusement as she made a remark. “Ha! Both of them really like you, Emiya.”

That was clear to me, especially as someone who was being actively smothered by their affection.

I sensed a familiar sensation from them but I ignored it in order to plead.“Please get them off me,” I requested, frowning with my eyes tightly closed to prevent any saliva from entering them.

“But you seem to be enjoying it,” she responded, joy clearly evident in her voice.

Ah yes, I was pleading, practically begging for her to take them away. Of course I was loving this experience. “Please don’t joke around, Commander.”

“Alright, I’ll call them off.” I opened my eyes in delight to see Kaname and Miyabi still treating me like a bone and it would have been haunting had they not looked as cute as they did. “Kaname, Miyabi, come back.” And two oppressive weights on my chest disappeared like they were never there.

I wiped the drool off of my face as a heavy sigh escaped my lips. I had voiced it out quite loudly, too. I couldn’t help but make my feelings show.

“Are you mad at them?” she asked with an indecipherable smile.

I shook my head in response to her question. “No, Commander. They just surprised me, that's all.” That, and I wasn’t the best with animals. “I’ve never had a pet dog before so their… playfulness shocked me.”

“I understand.” Ren nodded empathetically. Her smile widened as she teasingly said, “You can just say that you’re scared of them.”

I sighed at her response but chose not to say anything else.

Quickly changing the topic, I asked about something that I had noticed earlier while I was being licked at like a popsicle for puppies. I sat up and said, “Anyways, Commander, I just noticed that the two of them are emanating magical energy.” Indeed. As faint as it was, I knew that they were releasing some of it.

Ren tilted her head in confusion before she remembered about our conversation last night. “I remember now; you mentioned that you could sense those who have consumed peaches from the energy you sensed.”

“Yes. Have they consumed them?”

Ren nodded. “They have.” She then stood up and ordered her dogs, “Go back to your rooms, okay?” She was giggling as she petted them, then her eyes traced over to me with a glimmer of mirth. “Emiya here seems to be scared of you two.”

I wanted to deny what she said but I was too busy wiping the dogs’ drool off with a sheet of cloth that I had Traced. The fabric soon faded away as blue light, leaving only slobber to be pulled down by gravity onto the ground.

“That aside, I called you here to show you around the Headquarters. What better place to start that than here in the garden?” she asked rhetorically. Assuming that if it wasn’t just for how scenic it was, then it was because it was at the rearmost part of the building.

I pushed off the ground to stand then I followed her. At first we had a minor stroll through the garden, which was far more spacious than I had initially assumed. Each and every section was well decorated, and foreign trees were spaced out, all with their own environmental preferences. There could have been people who had powers relating to the growth of flora, but still, I could only imagine the time and resources needed to construct the garden and grow its contents.

I asked a few questions as we went along as I found some specific details like the ponds and small waterfalls genuinely fascinating. That, and I thought that it would have been too awkward had I not responded. Besides that, the garden was extremely tranquil, and because I savoured the moment it took a little over fifteen minutes to finish our tour around the garden. Yes, just the garden.

As we headed back inside, I thought that it would only be polite to open the door for her. “Thank you,” she said softly as we walked through the halls.

We reached the bottom-left corner of the building—assuming that the front entrance was the front—where a staircase was, along with the gym nearby.

“Next we have the gym. Oh, and mind yourself, I presume it’s quite dusty; we haven’t used it in about… two months?” she said, almost disappointedly. “Oh? That’s surprising,” she murmured as she opened the door to see that everything inside was pristine.

Smiling at my handiwork, I informed her, “I cleaned it earlier before I worked out here, Commander. I hope you don’t mind.”

She beamed at me. “The gym looks great!” she said. That response made my smile widen. I felt the walls close in on me as she walked up just a ruler’s length from me.

And then she made a baffling remark. “Many women would find your cooking and cleaning to be worthy of a husband.”

That came out of left field, and I felt my face flush both due to her proximity and her words.

I took a huge step back. Struggling to find the right response, I finally said, “Ah—uh, yeah. Thank you for your praise, Commander.”

Ren had a wide-eyed expression as she observed my reaction, and I could tell from just the way her expression became smug that she was going to tease me. Her mouth opened, and I let my eyebrows droop in anticipation of the vile words that would soon come from her mouth.

Surprisingly enough, it never came, and instead she expressed worry. “Are you alright, Emiya?” she asked. “You seem to be mad at me.”

My response came so fast that not even Lancer would have been able to react to me. “No! Not at all, Commander!”

Ren breathed a sigh of relief as she wore an unpleasant smile. “That’s good,” she said sympathetically. “I can’t have you be scared of me like you are of Kaname and Miyabi.”

She thought I was scared of them?

I wasn’t one to actually respond to such childish remarks, but she said them with such a straight face that I couldn’t help but feel like she actually thought that. There was a sharp intake of breath before I let out a fake laugh. “I’m assured that you will never live that down.” I cursed underneath my breath.

“An astute observation, Emiya: I will not.”

Wonderful. My commander just happened to be the teasing type.

Her index finger ran across the bench next to her and she looked visibly impressed at the lack of dust. Then her gaze transfixed itself onto mine. “Since you’ve already been here, it’s pointless to give you a tour of the gym.”

Half an hour passed just from touring the Headquarters, and it showed just how large it truly was. Honestly, I expected more rooms to be in need of cleaning, but the caretakers were greatly effective in keeping every room clean. That aside, I now knew where the janitor's closet was. There were far, far more than just brooms in there; there were also some chemicals that I’m not sure I’ve ever used before.

We arrived at the second floor’s lounge — there was another one on the first floor — and Ren comfortably sat herself down on a long, brown sofa. Judging from how it sheened, it was probably made of silk. Ren took out her phone. “Try out your uniform, Emiya. It’s in your room,” she said.

“My room?” I asked in confusion. She had to be referring to the ones they were wearing yesterday, the black military-like tunic. “I don’t remember there being any uniform earlier though.”

“I put it there while you were cooking earlier.” That explained it. “I wanted it to be a surprise but there’s been signs of Shuuki activity, so I suggest you hurry up.” She took out her phone and began to leisurely watch what seemed to be animal videos. She wasn’t wearing her own uniform so wasn’t she supposed to be hurrying to wear hers, too?

I quelled my desire to vocalise my own thoughts for my own safety and the floor made the sound of pitter-pattering as I ran through the corridors and into my room. Just as she had said, there was a uniform waiting for me. Primarily black, with red streaks and minor golden fabric adorning it for contrast. It was a uniform not unlike the ones they all wore yesterday.

The sight in the mirror was strange. I scoffed at my own reflection. I wasn’t a stranger to wearing uniforms—I was a high school student just a few days ago—but it felt… otherworldly for there to be a force that dealt with something as abnormal as the Shuuki, and for me to be a part of them.

“It really is weird.” I could not help but mutter to myself.

Sighing with a determined look, I buttoned the cuffs of my new clothes and exited out of my room to find Ren looking out the windows to the hall.

She showed a smile unlike any I’ve seen on her. With her strong posture and focused gaze, she had a commanding smile, one that I would expect to see the King of Heroes himself don. “Let’s go,” she said with a tone that demanded reverence.

A nod was all the response I could muster from the change in atmosphere. The air seemed to still, the domineering power of each step she took freezing the atmosphere itself. She was breathtaking. My new shoes made a resounding sound as they struck the floor, clear for anyone to hear, yet even that was overpowered by Ren’s quiet utterances.

“Usually, units stick together as they exterminate the Shuuki so teamwork is prioritised during a new member’s initiation. It is primarily for safety, but also to cultivate camaraderie and trust with their peers.” She paused for a moment, likely deliberately. “But that will not be the same for you; as you’ve shown that you’re competent enough.”

She displayed a confident, almost cocky glee to her. “Worry not, Emiya. Should complications arise a flick of my wrist would clear them out. You’re in safe hands.” Practically demanding nothing but a yes, she looked over her shoulder and stared into my eyes and asked, “Do I make myself clear?”

She really was intense when she wanted to. I nodded, a bead of sweat dripping down on the side of my head. “Understood, Commander.”

“Good. Let’s head off.”

I headed off to where the sightings were riding a motorcycle with Ren flying just above me like how heroes in TV shows would, levitating off the ground like the concept of gravity hadn’t existed for her.

The terrain was rough and rocky. The tires made a humming sound as the vehicle sped through the rough terrain. Had it not been for the fact that the vehicle was made specifically for traversing in such an environment I was sure that I would have been sent tumbling off the bike thirty seconds ago.

Her voice was clear despite the whistling of the passing wind. “They were last observed seven kilometres south of the headquarters. Assuming that they haven’t moved, it should take less than four minutes to make contact with them.”

I could see nothing in particular even with my reinforced eyes pedantically searching for movement a couple of kilometres away. All that I could make out was an endless expanse of dark, ashy rock and the occasional monolithic spires protruding from the ground.

One could say that I was eager—eager to dispose of the Shuuki; so much so that it bordered on a cruel sense of great anticipation, resulting in a mirage, where for one reason or another I imagined a glimpse of something black perched on the spiky structures which was gone as soon as I blinked.

“Emiya, are you okay? You’re looking quite tense right now,” Ren questioned, her face mired with a faint hint of amusement. “You’re not getting nervous, are you?”

“No,” I refuted, smiling meekly at what I presumed to be a joke. In truth it was the opposite; the whole moment seemed perfect for me, as if I had happened to find what I had been searching for.

“Rejoice, young man.” Kotomine Kirei’s words echoed in my mind.

I sighed. Truly, how hypocritical I am.

Not long after we were met with a clearing, gone was the sound of tires rolling through pebbles that I had gotten used to, the silence now a void. It was like the calm before the storm; the moments giving off the sense of peace when it was anything but.

My gut-feeling did nothing to assuage my suspicion.

“Get ready.” Ren abruptly stopped as I felt a rumbling in the vehicle while I drove full-speed across the open field, disappearing from my vision in the blink of an eye like a blur. A sharp crack had sounded down below me and the black figure of a hand yanked the front wheel and made the vehicle flip forward, sending me flying into the air.

My brows furrowed. I was aware that the Shuuki were capable of burrowing down the ground to hide and erupt back up (my first encounter with them was through one of them rising from the earth), but they had sprung up like they were expecting someone to be there. That implied the capacity for planning, and that unnerved me.

I contorted my body sideways to look down at the ground and ready myself for a safe landing. The view wasn’t a pleasant sight. I saw the horrifying sight of numerous Shuuki erupting from underneath with their hands outstretched into the open air ready to catch me and tear me limb from limb.

My sharpened instincts moved me. Two words escaped my mouth. “Trace...” The aria spoke to my soul and my mind conjured the hill of blades.

The muscles in my arms and hands braced for the mass that had yet to weigh them down, my hands partially closed for the space of the handles. “...on.”

I chose the white and black daos. In a moment it was not air that my hands gripped, but the leather hilts of Kanshō and Bakuya, their weight all too familiar in my hands. A shower of disembodied limbs dropped down from the sky as I cleaved through the initial group all too easily.

I had a feeling that would change sooner than I would have preferred.