Chương 8: Chapter 8: Ayako
Beta read by Shigiya
A very late Merry Christmas to y'all and happy holidays. Wanted to post this yesterday but couldn't finish it as I barely had any time for myself to begin with.
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-Fuyuki-
Dear Shirou,
It has been a long time since we last exchanged any electronic mail with each other, I hope you are doing well.
Much has happened during these last few months. I have recently taken up the practice of "Marathons" and I really enjoy it now; this past Sunday morning, I ran five kilometers in about seven minutes—which is quite an improvement from my previous times. Though I did cause a bit of panic in my house when my family noticed my absence. An absurd idea of me getting kidnapped spread around before Clown appeased their worry.
Though my sister did look quite disappointed at my return.
It was quite an enjoyable sight. I wish I had taken a picture.
Aside from that, nothing much has changed in my day-to-day life. The same old routine, learning more theories, practicing my magecraft, and socializing with new… "friends". I must admit that I have begun to miss our time together, though it may have been short—I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I am curious if you have received those books I sent you. I borrowed them from my sister without her knowledge, so you will find detailed notes on even the most basic of spells. She may be a demon in human form but Marjatta can be quite studious when it matters.
Please do send more news of yourself. I worry about your well-being after you have mentioned about your past tendencies to convert nerves to magical circuits. I will not lie and say that I did not get the sudden urge to travel to Japan, locate your house, and burst inside to give you a few deserved slaps to the face and put you in a chokehold.
Furthermore, I want to congratulate you for finally getting into your next phase of education; high school. Life can be unpredictable at times, and it may throw a lot at you this upcoming year. Be sure to stay vigilant and not accidentally use your magecraft in public like that knife incident.
I hope to hear from you soon.
With love,
Luviagelita Edelfelt
PS: Send me more news about Tohsaka. I find it greatly entertaining to know how far that brute is willing to go to maintain her princess persona—unlike the real deal like me. Ohohohohoho!
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"She still isn't letting go of that knife thing isn't she? And was it really necessary to add the Ojou-sama laugh in the letter?"
Early in the morning, when the sun peeked over the horizon with the sound of birds chirping and a cool breeze blowing through the forest near his house, Shirou woke up well before his usual time.
He had done so many times before, he could easily sleep a few hours a day. But today was different—it was his first day as a high school student at Homurahara Academy. He got out of his small futon he added to the shed—as he tended to fall asleep here more often than not—and went to the window.
Sakura would not come today due to her having an equally important day in her final year in middle school, Taiga as well. He made her a bento yesterday, though knowing her, she must have devoured it yesterday.
Shirou felt a little anxious when he finished reading Luvia's letter.
Knowing her so far, he knew how serious she could be with her words. And having their Edelfelt heiress suddenly appear in front of his house just to slam his back on the ground due to his past action was very likely.
Especially when it came to those books, he once jokingly mentioned how there wasn't a library made for magi here in Fuyuki. Suddenly he found a few black limousines parked in front of his house a few days later with rows of suspicious-looking men in black suits delivering many briefcases into his home. Ever since that day, Fujimura-san somehow got the wrong idea and mentioned how he was proud of him for becoming the boss of his own gang. It took half a day to convince his guardian that he wasn't trying to become a Yakuza.
His thought went back to the last part of the letter, where it mentioned Rin. To be honest, Shirou barely even talked to the Tohsaka girl in middle school. The most they did was a normal greeting and a few 'congratulations' from here whenever he aced an exam in a particular subject. Though he sensed more malice than respect in her tone whenever they interacted.
He knew about her status as the second owner of Fuyuki from both Kiritsugu and Luvia, basically confirming her family's history as a mage. He never approached her on this matter, finding no use to take an unknown risk with her involvement. Everything was going fine for now and he would rather keep it that way.
"Alright, I'll need to get ready for the day… where did I put my uniform?"
After finding his new uniform and putting it on, Shirou looked in the mirror. He had grown slightly height-wise, but he still was a centimeter or two shorter than Issei. His body was more fit, thanks to the many exercises and kendo training he performed in the dojo. His many night outings helped him as well to keep a strong physique and stamina.
'I'll have to do a patrol tonight…'
Fuyuki wasn't that big of a city, to begin with, so there wasn't much going on in terms of crimes. The last time he had to intervene was when he saw some muggers stealing a drunk man's wallet in an empty alley. He quickly took them out with a few moves, and had to go to bring both of them to Fujimura-san's men who brought both of them, ironically, to the police station. They may be the local mob, but they took the people's safety extremely seriously in their territory.
"Hmmm, it's becoming worse," Shirou said as he stared intently at a strand of his hair.
The auburn-colored hair—treading on the bright red side—was a defining trait of himself. A few months ago, he noticed a few changes amongst his locks; white strands. It wasn't anything alarming, a few white hairs here and there was normal. But now… there were much more than a couple of strands, and a small part of the hair near his left eye became completely white.
Many laughed at him for that, calling him an elderly just to mess with him.
He couldn't help it. Shirou took his diet seriously and made sure to always consume every kind of nutrient his body would need. Cooking a variety of dishes from different cultures and adding an equal amount of different fruits and vitamin pills just to be sure. So it wasn't like he was lacking anything.
He got his answer after Taiga forced him to a doctor, as she was worried that he was having an unknown disease. Fortunately, it wasn't anything like that and was something much more simple. According to the doctor, this was a clear sign of stress.
Everything became clear to him that moment, he regularly pushed his body to its limit and sometimes beyond it just for his training and magecraft. Nearly every night he would have his body heat up and feel like he was dropped in boiling water due to his overuse of his Magical Circuits.
He ignored the pain, as it was nothing compared to creating a makeshift circuit. And the frequent sleepless nights must have contributed to his accumulated stress over time and caused his hair to immaturely lose their pigment.
"I wonder if I should use some hair coloring? I'll ask either Fuji-nee or Sakura for any advice. But I don't mind it that much, so maybe I'll just leave it as is."
Not wanting to meddle with this issue too much, Shirou went back to his room in order to get ready for his first day of high school. After a shower and putting on his new uniform, Shirou locked the door to his house before walking away.
"Ah, if it ain't Emiya-kun!" A voice called out to him, looking beside the road at an old stand, Shirou saw an old lady greeting him. With a small stature, wrinkled face, white face and hunched back, she looked to be around her eighties in his opinion—Shirou never asked.
"Kobayashi-san! You're opening early as well?"
She was a vendor of vegetables and fruits, operating near the road for a decade. He would sometimes do his grocery shopping here when she was open. The woman merely opened the store occasionally but couldn't do it every day due to her old age.
"Boredom affects the elderly as well as children, staying cooped up in my house for so long gets unbearable at times. At least now I get to talk to people and hear any interesting news that spreads around the neighborhood."
"Any particularly interesting news?" he asked.
The old lady put on a contemplating face, trying to recall something.
"Ah, I remember!" she exclaimed. "A few days ago, a young man came to my stall and complained about his work, something about building a new museum or whatever. Some fancy foreigner will be going to Fuyuki to display some of his collections of artifacts and other junk."
This was interesting, Fuyuki wasn't a bustling city with that much to do for fun. Most people who came here either to find a place of retirement or because of how cheap everything usually was. Shirou got curious about such a place and decided that he would pay a visit if he passed by the area.
"Alright boy, you need to hurry up for your first day of school. Don't want to be late, don't we? Leave this old hag alone for now, furthermore, I'll need to drop some vegetables off to Mackenzie-san… his wife isn't feeling that well lately."
Giving her a bow, Shirou continued to head toward Homurahara Academy. It took about thirty minutes before he reached the gates filled with various decorations and a large banner with the words, "Welcome first years!" written on full display.
Unlike his last school, there weren't any blooming Sakura trees anywhere near. The entire premise was surrounded by pine trees just like the area around his house.
Since he was a bit early, there weren't that many students around the school. The few that arrived just sat on the benches around and chatted with their friends. Some helped out with the decorations and a few even helped the first years to find the location of the gymnasium where the ceremony would be held.
He wouldn't lie and say that he wasn't feeling a bit nervous on his first day as a high school student. Despite being a Magus who practiced a craft which made him flirt with death on more than one occasion—he was still a teenager at heart. So many uncertainties and worries were popping out in his mind and plans for his future.
So for now, it was best to take a deep breath and just push on. As he closed his eyes, his ears picked up a pair of footsteps approaching him from behind.
'Is it Issei?' he wondered.
Shirou found it to be another person entirely. A young woman with aqua eyes and long wavy brown hair in a two-side-up hairstyle, which consisted of part of her being made into twin tails tied with black ribbons. Someone familiar he knew for years yet barely conversed with at all.
"Good morning, Emiya." she greeted him cheerfully.
"Ah, good morning to you as well, Tohsaka." Shirou didn't expect to see her this early as well. "I hope you're doing well."
"I'm doing fine, a bit excited for our first day in Homurahara. By the way, I always wanted to talk to you about something but didn't get the opportunity to do so in the past. Did something happen between you and Matou Shinji?"
Her question came as a surprise to him. Why would she care about their affairs, to begin with? In fact, before the whole fiasco with Shinji, Shirou heard from the boy how he once tried to approach the girl but was immediately rejected. So it wasn't like she cared about him, and again, they barely talked so it wouldn't be because of either of them.
"Why do you ask?"
Rin squinted her eyes a bit, "Just plain curiosity, that's all. You always used to hang out together and to suddenly see both of you act like strangers was quite odd I must say."
True, ever since that incident, he and Shinji never truly got back together as friends. Despite that, he made sure to keep an eye on the Matou siblings and see if Shinji learned from his warning. Fortunately, he stopped hitting Sakura but still kept his rude personality but he was used to that.
Shinji despised him, that was for sure. How this didn't affect Sakura's regular visits to his house was a mystery in itself.
"We just had some disagreements." This was all he could say without wanting to go into the details.
"Care to share some of the details?"
Maybe telling her a bit wouldn't hurt, it wasn't like this was a secret as even Issei saw how Shinji acted toward Sakura.
"Shinji's been acting aggressively towards his sister. I tried to talk to him about it but he didn't seem to realize his mistake nor was willing to listen to reason… so I left him with a warning if he continued."
"..."
Rin went all quiet, tilting her head downwards for a bit.
Shirou noticed her behavior and spoke up.
"You alright, Tohsaka-san?"
"Huh?"
"You got distracted there for a second, everything alright with you?"
That same smile came back on her face, Rin waved her hand, "No, no, it's nothing. I'm glad you tried to talk some sense into him, Sakura deserves better. I hope things work out between them in the end, Emiya. See you later, I should be going for now."
Giving him a quick nod, she walked inside the school and already started to attract some attention from a few of the male population. Rin was quite outgoing to say the least, already starting to talk and laugh with people she just met so easily. He wouldn't be surprised if, in the end, she ended up becoming the idol of their class.
"I see you had the misfortune of meeting the snake." This time another voice spoke beside him.
"You're still on about that Issei?"
"Why do you act as if I'm the one in the wrong here? I'm telling you, something just isn't right with that girl, her mannerism and attitude as a whole feel so… wrong! Like a snake trying to act like a friendly puppy! Did you see how she adopted the idol persona back in middle school? She's going to do the same here and prey on the innocent and the naïve!"
Shirou shook his head at Issei's way of describing Rin. If he hadn't learned from Luvia the type of person Rin, allegedly, was—then he would have waved his comments to the side. From what he read, the Edelfelt kept calling the girl a brute gorilla with no class.
"You're being paranoid," Shirou said jokingly, only to have his shoulder grabbed by Issei and be shaken around.
"Not you too! Don't tell me she managed to get you infected with her lies and fake persona as well?"
"Oi, let go! You don't need to shake me!"
He honestly couldn't see it with Rin's cheerful and kind attitude, but he wasn't willing to find out.
"Come on, let's go to the gymnasium and get a seat in the front row while we still can."
He broke his friend's hold before running inside the school.
"O-Oi! Wait up for me, Emiya!"
{Break}
-Afternoon-
The ceremony wasn't anything special, the same talk about the school's system, its curriculum, rules, and so on. Some of the students went forward to give a few speeches as well as the principal and Taiga.
Honestly, she was the most memorable of everyone on the stage. Trying to act serious at first before immediately breaking character and returning to her energetic and cheerful self that caught the attention of every single student. Everyone listened to her attentively and laughed at every single of her jokes. Many even cheered when she announced her position as the homeroom teacher for certain class groups and a regular English teacher for every first year.
He was just happy that she didn't wave at him from the stage and call his name out loud.
After that, the rest of the day was rather lackluster, to say the least. He saw Shinji amongst the crowd, already flirting with some of the girls. Shirou made sure to keep his distance and just keep his matters to himself. Issei already got acquainted with everyone, including last year's student council members. He really was dead set on becoming the president.
"Hmm, what club should I join?"
Just like in middle school, every student was required to join an extracurricular club activity and he didn't know what to choose.
"There is no 'going home club', I don't think I'm that dedicated to joining the track club or the baseball one." He was scouting through the list they were given at the end. Each club had different hours of activity, some ran for an hour a day while others could last till sunset at worst.
"Haa… I don't know what to choose. Maybe I can ask Fuji-nee for some advice."
He continued to walk at the side of the road, knowing that he had to work his shift today at Copenhagen as Neko-san received a new batch of coffee and tea—so it would be a busy day today.
Crash!
"Kyah!"
To his surprise, one student in front of him fell down from her bicycle as her front wheel broke. The redhead girl fell onto the concrete floor with a pretty nasty fall that had her tumbling against the ground—leaving behind a nasty wound.
Being the kind person he was, Shirou didn't waste any time and rushed toward the girl.
"Hey, don't touch your wound, let me help you!" He stopped her from getting any infection from the bleeding injury.
He didn't have any medical supplies on him, so he brought out his unopened bottle of water and washed away any sort of dirt and debris from her knee.
"Ah, fuck! It stings!" The girl screamed as she clenched her teeth from the pain.
"Sorry, I don't have any alcohol on me to help clean the wound." Maybe he could bring her to his workplace and have her rest there till Neko-san could give her a ride back home if she is unable to walk. "Can you walk?" he asked, ready to help her if she couldn't.
Hearing his words, the redhead tried to stand up but spazzed as she felt an immense pain coming from her ankle.
"Ouch! I think I did more than injure my knee… this ain't good."
"You can't stand at all?"
"I'm afraid I can't… damn, talk about my first day at high school and I'm already bleeding—kinda makes me worry about the future if this is a sign of bad luck," she said light-heartedly, trying to stay positive despite her bleeding knee. "Don't worry about me, I'll call my parents, they'll come and pick me up in no time!"
No, that wasn't acceptable.
He didn't know where her parents might be now, but they wouldn't arrive in just five minutes of the current traffic jam going on. He couldn't leave her all alone on the side of the street while she couldn't even stand let alone walk somewhere with shade.
"I have a place I work close by, it's called Copenhagen, I'll take you there and treat your injury. We can wait for your folks there." he proposed. The place was just around the corner, and it wouldn't even take five minutes to reach it.
"What?... I guess that works. But I'm kinda…" she pointed at both her knees and ankle—showing how they would be unable to walk in the first place. "You're out of luck man, I can try hopping if my other leg isn't busted as well. But you'll have to give me a ha—WOAH!"
She was startled when Shirou around her legs and back without saying a word and picked her up in one swell swoop.
Was this the legendary princess carry she read from those romance mangas? It didn't feel that amazing as she expected it to, only relieved her from some of the pain.
'It still feels nice.'
"Ehhh… you're quite forward their, buddy."
Shirou smiled awkwardly, trying his best to not touch anything he shouldn't be touching, "Sorry, this was the best way I could think of to not aggravate your injury. You obviously can't walk, so I'm not going to ask you to risk another fall by hopping around."
Well wasn't he a sweetheart.
"You know, it's kinda weird to be held so intimately by a guy who I don't even know his name and just met a few minutes ago. I could be in the middle of getting kidnapped by someone working with sex traffickers and will have to fight for my life in order to escape your evil grasp before going to report to the police. Given how I don't know your name, it would be hard to report you."
"..."
Shirou was speechless.
Was he in danger of getting arrested here? The boy never expected to end up in such a case from just helping someone near the road. It wasn't like he could just drop her to the ground and wash his hands of this situation.
"Hahahaha! Your face! I'm just messing with you!"
Shirou relaxed hearing that, though also feeling a bit miffed from her 'joke'.
"That wasn't funny, you nearly made me feel bad for helping a fellow redhead."
"Heh, I was just trying to see what kind of guy you are. I'm Ayako Mitsuzuri by the way, a first-year and future best archer in all of Japan!" she exclaimed loudly, puffing out her modest chest in pride.
Shirou was finding her attitude to be quite similar to Taiga's. Expect maybe a bit tamer than his guardian but still a very spirited one. He didn't notice her back during the ceremony, but then again, there were hundreds of students amongst the crowd.
"Well this must be an honor, I'll probably have to take a picture of this moment to brag about in the future." he joked. "My name is Shirou Emiya, I still haven't decided on which club I would join yet, so I guess you can see me as a regular student."
They both continued to hold a conversation as Shirou continued to walk through the streets. They did get a few weird looks from the general population, Ayako didn't seem bothered by their reactions and even found the whole thing a bit funny seeing Shirou blush to some of the comments.
It didn't take long for him to reach Neko-san's place, entering the bar as a chime rang from the door.
The owner was inspecting the label of some of her stocks. There weren't many customers present, only a single office worker sitting alone in the corner.
As Otoko turned around, the only reaction she showed was an exhale of smoke from her cigarette.
"Emiya-kun… do I need to call the cops on you for possible kidnapping?"
Shirou nearly dropped Ayako from the accusation, "What!? No! I'm just helping her!"
"Ha! I like your boss!"
{Break}
A while later, Shirou found himself behind the bar cleaning some of the glassware and silverware. His boss took a trip to the storage in order to sort out the new produce. Ayako sat in front of him, drinking a cup of coffee while eating a chocolate cake he made the day before.
"Wow! You made this? You're a seriously good cook I must say. Is it possible for me to get another slice for free?"
"No," he denied her immediately. "The first one was in the house, the second one will be coming out of your wallet… at least that's what Neko-san told me."
"Pu! And here I thought we would get along well."
She noticed some of Shirou's stuff he left on the table, grabbing one of the papers Ayako read the list of the different clubs at school.
"So you still haven't decided on a club yet?" she asked.
He sighed.
"I don't know what to participate in, unfortunately. I promised my friend to help out with the student council affairs, so I can try to become a secretary or treasurer."
"That won't work," she said. "According to the rules, you still need to be a member of a club even if you're part of the student council."
That made things harder for him, he could go simple and join the cooking club.
"Join the archery club." she broke him out of his thoughts.
"The archery club?" Wasn't that the club that Taiga oversaw? She always talked about it during dinner.
"Yeah, it's a good sport for everyone. You can make friends, and hone your skills and we don't have the required time to join or participate. Basically, whenever you are free, you can come at any time to pick up the bow."
That was honestly a compelling reason to join, he wouldn't be forced to participate when he wouldn't have any free time and he could continue working his part-time job as usual.
"I'm not completely sure about that, Mitsuzuri-san." he said hesitantly.
"Ah come on, Emiya." Ayako continued to press the matter. "I swear you won't regret it. kyūdō isn't just about hitting a bullseye with an arrow. It's a practice used by people for mental and physical discipline. The main goal is to achieve through spiritual and physical training an intense concentration on the act of shooting and a style expressing perfect serenity. It'll help you not only in your day-to-day life but just about every aspect of it. And, with enough practice, we can go regional and national! Imagine how awesome it would be to stand shoulder to shoulder with our country's best and have a match to see who's the best!"
The competition part didn't interest him that much.
"When you put it like that…"
"And, the teacher who manages our club is super cool I heard! The third year students told me how she has a habit of taking everyone out to eat whenever they perform well during competitions or matches!"
So that was where all of her money was going, no wonder she complained every time about how little she was left with at the end of the month. It wasn't that the school didn't pay well, it was just that Taiga turned out to being a big spender!
'I'll have to give Fuji-nee a serious talk on how to properly spend her money and think of the future.'
Maybe he could have a talk with her father as well, that man knew how to keep his daughter in line.
…Most of the time.
Still, he wouldn't lie and say that joining the archery club wasn't getting increasingly attractive to him. He learned the basics of kendo and his kenjutsu reached a level high enough for him to spend more time on another form of martial art to diversify. And the mental discipline part also caught his attention, he wanted to see if it would improve his overall self in the long run.
Not to mention, it was kind of hard to deny Ayako after she kept gazing at him with such hopeful eyes. He swore that her pupils had stars in them and the intensity was becoming unnerving for him.
"Stop wasting time and say yes for god's sake!" Otoko shouted as she walked out of the storage room with a jar full of coffee beans. "I'm going to fire you AND keep sending you your monthly salary for no reason at all."
"You were eavesdropping? And what kind of threat is that!?"
"Sounds like a great deal to me," Ayako said.
The owner just smirked and pointed at him. "To you, it may sound like a great deal but not to this workaholic right here. It's the most effective way I learned to use against him."
Of course, he couldn't agree to such a deal! Getting paid for a work he hasn't done just felt so wrong to him.
"I'm not messing around, Emiya-kun. If you don't join the archery club now then I can sweeten the deal even more. Or, if you still somehow continue to act like a stubborn brat, I'm just going to call Taiga and throw you to the tiger."
"..."
'Well, two can play the game.'
"Fine," he said, sighing. "I'll only accept her invitation IF you stop smoking."
Shirou felt triumphant when he saw that annoying smirk on her face die down to a frown. He himself started to smirk. For months, ever since he got here he tried to stop her habit of smoking.
She just went all silent and gave him a deadly stare.
"Don't push it, kid."
That low voice coupled with her dead eyes that promised a lifetime of suffering and pain made a shiver run up his spine.
"Yes ma'am… though I'm not going to give up on making you quit." he whispered that last part.
In the end, he agreed to Ayako's request to join the archery club. Both girls high-fived each other and celebrated the occasion with another cake treat together.
"You know, I'm starting to regret bringing you here," Shirou said, slightly miffed at how he was forced into such a state. "I was going to say yes, either way, now it feels like the decision wasn't mine, to begin with…"
It didn't take long for her parents to arrive in Copenhagen, Neko-san had already bandaged the wound long before that, so she wasn't in any pain and could even walk with a bit of support.
Shirou went back to his work when more customers started to arrive.
"You've done well, on your first day of high school and you've already made yourself a friend."
"I wouldn't call her that, we just met and she's just thankful for me helping her out," he said.
"Hm, yes yes, whatever floats your boat."
It was soon late in the evening, and he finished his shift and began heading towards his house. All in all, things went smoothly for him, no unnecessary fights with thugs who come around and bother the students. He got an email from Luvia, Taiga was already becoming everyone's favorite teacher and he joined a club.
"I hope days like these continue to happen more frequently… but then again, you never know what may come in the future."
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword and To love a sword having 3 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.
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