Fate/Reach Out (Fate/Stay Night x SMT Persona 4)

[Kishou the Badger]

It took a long ass while, but here is Fate/Reach Out on the big boy's table (and may even come to Archive of Our Own someday too). Basic premise, Shirou Emiya is the P4 protagonist who visits his uncle and niece in Yasoinaba, and gets involved in a sudden string of murder cases.

Since it's already 40 chapters over a decade of writing this, including some apocrypha side material I had fun cooking up, I'm gonna upload one or two chapters a day so there's some reading engagement (though given the first few chapters are pretty brief I might post the early ones asap).

And for those that have been reading it on my other venues, chapter 49 is coming. I have bad procrastination problems normally but life can also be hard at times. But I digress.

Now, on with the comeback tour!

Fate/Reach Out

Chapter 1: An Altered Fate

September 2010, Homurahara High School

Taiga Fujimura was many things: she was a teacher of English composition and could be counted on to arrive late to her class each morning. She was a woman in her mid-twenties but insisted (and acted) that she was younger than that. She was a feminine and outgoing person and hated being considered otherwise. She was the granddaughter of a yakuza lord and never had to worry about traveling alone at night. She was a champion at kendo and wielded her lucky kendo blade, Torashinai, which for some reason scared everyone whenever she carried it, even going so far as to call it "cursed." She had many nicknames such as "human jet coaster," "yakuza princess," and her most infamous and unfeminine one, "tiger."

Taiga was all of these things, but she was also an observant older sister even when she didn't act like it. So, while she was rinsing herself in the ladies' restroom at her school during a quiet September morning, she thought long about what she had noticed.

She had been close with her student, Shirou Emiya, for nearly a decade…

-Not that way though! More like siblings!

Anyway, since she knew him for so long, she could read a good number of Shirou's social cues and ticks. She could tell when he was angry, when he was happy, but most of all, when he was sad.

The first two were easy to read. He always had a short temper and used to get into fights with bullies when he was younger. He also tended to have a big smile on his face whenever he finished a hard maintenance job, or when he was thanked for doing said job.

As for his sadness, that was far more obscure, and she almost missed it at times, but after a while she began to detect a pattern. It started roughly five years ago; around the time his adoptive father, Kiritsugu Emiya, died.

Her grandfather personally knew Kiritsugu, though he never stated the specifics of their meeting or friendship. She was fond of the older man though, more like a crush and had often come over to see him while she was still in high school. He in turn allowed her to visit, eat with them, and basically be the sister figure/baby sitter for Shirou whenever he left on his world travels. She was more engrossed in spending time with Kiritsugu at the time, but she recalled that while growing up, Shirou was an excitable and carefree child that had a thing for sports like kendo and archery. He never did win a match against her, but it was all in good fun for both of them.

Then Kiritsugu died. It wasn't a car crash or gunshot or old age, it just sort of happened without explanation. He passed away while sitting on his porch one night with a melancholy smile. The only people that knew about it were her grandfather's yakuza branch and, of course, Shirou. He was never quite the same after that night.

He refused to stay after school for things other than 'helping out.' He would work hours at part time jobs just to make ends meet. As long as she and her grandfather had anything to say about that, there was no need for Shirou to work at his age just to cover his living expenses, but the boy wouldn't ease up no matter how many times they told him. Even when he had free time, Shirou would spend hours at end in his shed fixing old appliances, only coming out for school or to cook meals.

He had a small handful of friends, but even then he didn't go out and see them outside of school and work. He would even let himself be strung along by his friends Issei and Shinji unconditionally to take up random maintenance chores. Students his age should be partying with other guys, trying to date girls and finding more ways to enjoy themselves, not tinkering with tools and odd jobs day in and day out!

The worst part from Taiga's perspective was that Shirou himself didn't seem aware of any of this. He would just distract himself with his work, his studies, or by fixing things. Whenever he did come into the house for food, he would pass something like a photo of Kiritsugu or the spot on the porch they both sat before he died. Every time he would pause and frown, if only briefly, and then resume what he was doing as if nothing had happened.

He was still coping with the loss of his father. Or rather now that she thought about it, the loss of his family.

It never occurred to Taiga before how much Shirou must have been hurting until now. He was saved and adopted by his step-father, and the two were as close as any father and son of real blood. But now Shirou was alone again, experiencing the loss of family twice, even if he couldn't remember his biological parents.

Taiga and Shirou's junior high school friend, Sakura Matou, came by every day, at least for breakfast and dinner, and helped with the household chores like they lived there, but at the end of the day only Shirou slept there. They were all close, sort of like siblings, but it wasn't the same.

Okay, so she just sat and watched as Sakura and Shirou did the cleaning and ate their food because it was delicious and free, but that was beside the point!

Shirou needed familial connections, legit ones. Like a mother or another father, or even a younger sibling to take care of. The only problem was that both of his birth parents died when Shinto burned down and he had no recollection of who he was prior. It was Kiritsugu who gave him the name Shirou Emiya and he had embraced it. If he had any still living relatives, they wouldn't know if he was alive at all.

Still… there had to be someone out there that knew his birth parents, maybe even Kiritsugu, out there, right? The trick would be to find them.

Before he died, Kiritsugu entrusted her to watch over his son. She'd be damned before she failed to live up that promise in any way she could.

"Leave it to me, Kiritsugu," she smiled to the mirror. "Shirou'll be happy again before you know it!"

It was at that time the morning bell to class rang throughout the building. The calm before the storm…

"-I'mlateI'mlateI'mlateI'mlateI'MLATEI'MLATEI'MLATEI'MLATE-!"

To anyone in the hallway at that time, they would see a frantic brown-haired teacher with a tiger striped shirt under a light green dress bolt out of the restroom and kick up dust in a mad beeline dash to her classroom. Her speed was said to rival a bullet train that day.

???

"So this is where you've been hiding."

"More like lodging. You'd be surprised how spacious and homey this 'Grail' thing is."

"This is not what we agreed upon."

"As usual, I can't take all the blame: I act on the wishes of mankind, after all. A little over a decade ago, this thing happened to be stirring and made a wish to bring together all the evils in the world. It was subtle at first, but as the days went on, it would grow exponentially stronger and louder, as if begging to be realized. So I thought, 'what else could I do but answer that request?' And… here we are. While the wish interfered with my banishment, it didn't outright violate it either… though to be honest, I didn't struggle a whole lot out of it."

"And yet you caused the fire ten years ago."

"Guilty as charged, but again, I was merely working on one of mankind's truest wishes. I AM the Holy Grail now, for all intents and purposes. Or rather, I'm Holy Grail number 726, but you get the idea. I'm to create an all-powerful wish to one of seven magi. Of course, why just settle with one wish when I can grant ALL of them? Free of charge, no less!"

"…It appears our war game is once again in motion, then."

"You could say that, but we're playing by a new set of rules now, one set by the humans no less! I'm sure Servants could count as Persona as well for our purposes, just more human than a projection of the human heart."

"Which reminds me: that boy there, one of your contestants for your next war... I wish to borrow him."

"…That one? Eh, feel free. Perhaps having your gift bag thrown in will make this war more interesting."

"You misunderstand: he is needed elsewhere, and I want you to postpone your war game until after his business there is complete."

"Asking for favors, eh? What's so important about him, anyway? Any other kid should do just fine, especially a mute one."

"There is another game brewing in a small rural town. This one is not unlike Tatsumi Port Island a few years prior. This boy has a personal connection to that town even if he doesn't know it yet."

"Sounds more like you're stealing and condemning the brat like that last one who fought Nyx. Afraid I can't allow that: the boy already has a death sentence here, and having him killed over there would be no fun. Neither is acting like a living seal for all eternity."

"What if I can assure you he'll not only survive, but be able to partake in your game afterwards at a higher level? What if I can prove that his potential can exceed that of what is thought impossible, even amongst magi?"

"Ooooh? Another wager, is it? Name your terms, then."

"The boy is to be escorted to Yasoinaba for one full school year, up to the spring of 2012. His power, growth, and decisions will be overseen by the gods of fog, where they may or may not serve as the crucial factor to Inaba's fate. Should he succeed, he will be more than certified as a contestant in your war and return to Fuyuki."

"Interesting… And if he fails?"

"The turning point of his arrival would be removed, and he would continue life unaware of his previous actions. In turn, you would still have your contestant and be free to act on this war regardless of his success or failure."

"…heheheheh. Hehehehehehe! Hahahahaha! HOOHAHAHAHAHA!! You certainly know how to make things interesting! Very well, I accept your terms."

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 2: Butterfly Effect

December 2010, Warehouse

"…and that crosses out the Sakatori family, too." Taiga frowned before setting aside another folder on a pile to her left. While a moderately tall stack, it paled in comparison to the box full of files to her right that she reached into, and she pulled out another one to skim through. It was one of a thousand such boxes cluttered all throughout the building.

"Taiga," one of her grandfather's men called from his own pile across the room. "Maybe we should take a break?"

He and three others were rummaging through all past records of Shinto up to the fire, from the family records to the hotels to the citizen identifications. One of the pros of having connections with the yakuza was that there were no limits on how to get information. However, unlike the yakuza princess, they weren't as skilled at speed-reading as she was. They were hired by her grandfather for their muscle, intimidating looks and to have more gun hands. All four of them would rather face a gang war than be forced to read any day.

Taiga leveled a fierce scowl at them and they all winced. "You already had your break five minutes ago! Keep looking!"

"But it's impossible!" another whined. "We'll never find anything on Shirou's family!"

"So you just want to give up on finding who his parents are and maybe figuring out if he has living relatives at all?!"

"Of course not! Shirou's like family to us too! Isn't that enough?"

Taiga sighed. "I wish it was…"

"It's been months since we've started, though," one of the thugs reasoned. "It'll take years to go through all the people that died in that fire and who they were related to, and even then we might not find anything. Some records could have been burned away too."

Taiga considered this fact bitterly. The fire ten years ago still left its mark in the new central park. No one went near it because the atmosphere around it was just suffocating, like it was still haunted by the event. Central Shinto was gutted, and the fire took hundreds of lives. That Shirou survived in the middle of it all was nothing short of a miracle, really. Kiritsugu used to imply that much as well.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it!" she huffed while paging through another file, hoping to find something about a son or a picture that looked like Shirou. No such luck.

"All I'm saying is that we might not-"

"We will find something!" she snapped. "Uncle, grandpa, twice removed cousin, evil twin, WHATEVER! He's just got to have more family members than his deceased parents, everyone does! And the sooner we find something on Shirou's past, the sooner we can solve that mystery!"

The men wisely kept quiet as they continued their search, moving all the piles of folders and documents to one side of the room as they continued going through the rest. The process continued as it had the previous times: the men would leave first, being mentally unenthusiastic and drained from the thirty or so files they each dug through, while Taiga would stay behind and try to read one file after another hoping something would come up. They would also tell her not to make a mess of the place, but she ignored them.

Eventually, even the Tiger of Fuyuki's seemingly unbreakable spirit faltered from the constant failure. No matter how many files she poured through, not so much as a single clue that didn't end in the words 'confirmed deceased.' "Argggh!" with a frustrated growl, she tossed aside her 139th file into the air, disregarding the scattering sheets of paper falling out around her. She fell down to the floor on her back, starring at the ceiling lights listlessly.

A part of her wanted to give up and cut her losses, maybe even admit that this was a waste of time. She was starting to slip behind in grading her students, losing hours of sleep and even Shirou, bless his dense soul, was beginning to suspect she was doing something haphazard to her health. But another part, which kept her going through the last few months since her decision, wanted nothing more than to make Shirou happy again and not end up some emotionless robot.

"Oh, God," she sighed, raising her hands up in questioning. She wanted something, anything, to prove Shirou really wasn't alone in the world. "Give me a sign…"

"Do you search for truth?"

Taiga snapped back up, looking around to where the voice came from. "Eh?"

"Then you must reach for it."

Fully alert, Taiga stood up and looked for where the voice had come from. It didn't sound like any of her grandfather's regular flunkies, and she assumed everyone else had gone home already. Her eyes caught sight of a sparkling blue light dancing in a corner of the warehouse. Curious, she slowly walked towards it, stepping over and around any boxes and containers of still untouched material as if in a trance. The light danced further away like a fish lure, tempting the young woman to venture further into the building.

Taiga continued to stare as she finally got close to the light. It was a glowing blue and white butterfly, no bigger than any other of its kind, yet the way it flew was slow and deliberate… almost majestic actually. It was as if the blue butterfly was leading her to what she was looking for.

When she started her search, Taiga's plan was to scan through the files in the front of the warehouse and work her way deeper into the warehouse. So far only a fraction of it was done, and it was simply overwhelming to continue forward for everyone involved. The chance of anyone finding anything on Shirou's past within the back was just as likely as it was in the front. It was for that reason Raiga suggested a slow and steady approach despite his granddaughter's eagerness.

And here she was, following some blue butterfly through a warehouse as if expecting an answer. Just as she was questioning the ridiculousness of it all, the butterfly landed on a specific folder sticking slightly outward in the middle of a particularly towering stack. She paused and waited to see if the butterfly would move, but it stayed there for three whole minutes, lightly fanning its wings. Taiga edged closer, wary of scaring it off after it took her this far. She now stood in front of the stack, reaching for the butterfly tentatively.

It fluttered off just before her fingers brushed its shining wings, somehow faster than she thought possible. Following its path, she saw the butterfly fly straight towards the moon peeking through the window above and seemingly disappear from her sight like a mirage. Taiga craned her head all about, but couldn't make out where the blue butterfly could have gone.

Deciding that it was long gone, she turned back to where it had landed prior. It seemed too strange, led by some blue bug to a specific spot in the warehouse, to a specific folder among all the other piles. Not to mention that weird voice. What was that again about 'truth?' There were too many coincidences and not enough convenient explanations.

'Then again, I did ask for a sign,' she mentally chuckled. At this point, Taiga Fujimura would take anything she could get.

Shrugging to herself, Taiga took a chance and almost hesitantly, she plucked out the file… just before realizing she caused a tower of information to topple onto her. She briefly glanced up to said teetering tower and comically screamed.

"GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

A wave of paper sheets, boxes, and folders swallowed her whole. The tower continued to fall even beyond where she stood, papers spreading out thin and wide on the floor while boxes floated on top them like small boats. A few moments passed, and the energetic woman flailed her way out from under the pile with a strangled gasp. Luckily she didn't lose or drop the folder she pulled out, or she might never have found it again from the mess she had just made.

"Stupid butterfly!" she yelled. "Had to get me to pick some random folder out of everything else?!" Annoyed, she slapped the flap open and skimmed through the pages. "I bet this doesn't have anything either, just ano…ther…"

She stopped mid-rant, features morphing from rage to shock. In disbelief, she flipped through the contents more deftly and thoroughly. Against all odds, it was right here in her hand.

She had found it.

Proof of Shirou's birth family.

December 20, 2010

The following few weeks since that fateful night were nearly a blur to Taiga, but she was so engrossed in her search that she barely noticed.

The file she found was on the Narukami family. Seta and Miya Narukami were hard-working graduates in business and finance, known for traveling abroad constantly to different branches of their company: Harwey Enterprises, a family owned and run corporation with a lot of power in the western half of Europe, and a heavy taste for the medieval lore of knights and chivalry. Their job at the time was to try and help expand the Shinto district. They had brought their son along to live with them after the project was complete.

A fat lot of good that did them; they were among the five hundred or so people killed when the fire broke out a decade ago.

She would have discredited the folder as just another dead end if it weren't for a family photo that she was staring at. Three people gazed back at her: Seta, Miya and their son. The father was tall and dressed in a light gray suit, topped with light red hair and thin-framed glasses. His wife wore business clothes as well, but also had a coat over her shoulders offered by her husband behind her. Held lovingly in her arms and sitting on her lap was a little bundle of joy. The little boy was wearing a green jacket and jeans, had bright brown eyes and topped with bright red hair of a familiar shade.

She had found the late family of Shirou Emiya. And they had never looked so happy. It both relieved and depressed Taiga beyond measure, but she still had work to do.

After finding the family name, it was a simple matter of looking into connections or relatives of either parent. She tried phoning Harwey Enterprises first about the couple, but it turned out to be a long dull process of playing phone tag with the various offices and automated operators. When she had finally gone over all their hurdles and redirected calls, all they said was: "We're sorry, but the person or persons you are trying to call is not registered in our databanks. If you wish to try again, press 1."

So much for chivalry. The whole process was enough to make Taiga want to pull her hair out. She slammed the phone and went to Plan B.

Luckily, the folder also included a copy of Shirou's birth certificate under the name of Yu Narukami. Records said he was missing and presumed dead along with his parents, but Kiritsugu had saved a boy with no memory of his past life. Because of the certificate, she was able to get Miya's maiden name: Dojima.

Using her connections with the yakuza (which was mostly her begging to her grandfather like any toddler would) she started an underground search for anything on the Narukami and Dojima families (She would have tried for Emiya as well, but her grandfather had assured her that Kiritsugu had no living relatives). After that it was just the waiting game and going on with daily life pretending like nothing was happening. On the outside, she was still the overly energetic teacher people loved to tease but feared to anger. On the inside, she was constantly forcing herself to be distracted else she check up on the others and hear them say various grunts and refusals all meaning "No."

She was starting to understand Shirou's habit of staying busy. Any time she was simply waiting with nothing to do was driving her insane!

But again, between the seemingly endless hours of worry and anxiety, it was hard to keep her real feelings in check. At least she was starting to go to sleep on time… minus the tossing and turning.

Just as she was starting to assume the worst, Raiga called her over and shared what his men had found. It took Taiga five minutes before she pulled herself away from hugging her grandfather, and another five before she finally managed to stop crying. She couldn't help but laugh a bit with her grandfather from the irony of their search once it set in, though.

Seriously, it's usually the cops finding a yakuza, not the other way around!

The next few days were just planning now: planning what to say to Shirou, to Ryotaro Dojima, and how to arrange for their meeting. She wasn't exactly sure how Shirou would react to this; there was an equal chance of it being good or bad.

Dinner was becoming increasingly tense for all parties present. Shirou wasn't one to initiate conversation at dinner most nights, and Sakura was a shy person by nature. Taiga was usually the one bringing the discussion and energy to the table during their shared meals, but now she always looked deep in thought and increasingly frustrated. It was becoming apparent to both students that Taiga was hiding something and they were starting to feel uneasy. Taiga being quiet and contemplative was not normal.

It all came to a head one breakfast at the Emiya household. "Uh, Fuji-nee?" Shirou started a touch nervously. "Are you alright?"

"Never better," Taiga quickly blurted out, taking a few bites of the food in front of her. The lobster was well cooked and presented, served with a side of fried rice and miso soup. Most would never see such an extravagant meal outside of an expensive, fancy restaurant, but here it was just another handmade dish by her little brother figure. "Delicious as always, Shirou."

Both students glanced at each other. Taiga usually could tell who cooked just by taste. "Actually, Fujimura-sensei," the purple haired girl murmured shyly, "I made dinner."

Taiga blinked. "Oh! I'm impressed, Sakura. You've come a long way." The English teacher could still remember when the Matou girl made daily visits to the house a year and a half ago. She came by originally to help around the house cook while Shirou recovered from a shoulder injury. Sakura had become a regular part of the "family" ever since.

Between cooking, cleaning and laundry, Sakura would make a great housewife one day. She obviously had her eye on Shirou, and the attraction seemed to be mutual at least to an extent. Taiga would even catch the boy looking away from the plum-haired maiden suddenly from time, probably embarrassed by her beauty a few times before. It made plenty of sense: on top of physically blossoming into gorgeous young woman, Sakura had started smiling more and opening up over the time she had started regularly visiting. Taiga said nothing though. The two of them were either too shy or too humble to really pursue a relationship. Frankly, what Shirou needed in his life most was storge, not eros.

"Fuji-nee," Shirou tried again, "you said those exact words the other day too. And you're eating faster than you usually do."

"It's just that good!" Taiga reasoned. She loved meal time at the Emiya household, since it was delicious and free. But she was still trying to figure out how to best explain her findings. She wanted to do it when they were alone, but he's always at work, school, or cooking with Sakura. Kiritsugu was still a sensitive topic after all, and bringing it up at the dining table would kill the mood on the spot.

"Fujimura-sensei, please," Sakura reasoned. "We just want to help."

"I told you I'm fine!"

"Fuji-nee-"

Taiga glared; this was getting ridiculous. "Don't make me get my shinai out again!" If people feared her practice sword for whatever reason, she might as well exploit it whenever she could. Both students flinched at the threat, especially Shirou. The two of them exchanged nervous glances and almost relented to her demand.

But Taiga had been wrestling with her conscience ever since she had started the search. By now she was dangerously close to the breaking point. Shirou's innocent probing and his now slightly hurt expression just happened to push her over the edge.

"GAAAAAAAAAH!" she suddenly screamed and threw her hands up, further worrying her students. They wondered if it really was better not to have asked!

And then, like a deflating balloon, Taiga seemed to collapse, slumping over the table. "I give up! I can't hold it in any longer! I keep trying and trying to put it off, thinking of what to say, but damn it it's hard!" Taiga then looked square at Shirou with an intensity in her expression she rarely showed. "That's it! I'm just gonna say it now!"

She stood up from the table, pointing at the red-haired teen. "Listen Shirou, what I'm going to say tonight is very important, and I worked my ass off just to find this information! I understand you have a lot of questions as I get into this, but you are to remain silent until your teacher finishes her lecture! Is that understood!?"

Shirou just sat and stared at her, unsure what to think. All he could manage was the obvious question. "What are you talking about?"

Taiga took a soft, calming breath and then smiled slightly. "Let's just say I found you an early Christmas present." She then reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a photo, the one she found in the folder weeks ago. "I found your family!"

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 3: Forgotten Identity
"I found your family!"

Those four words kept repeating in Shirou's mind like a broken record, the rest of the world suddenly irrelevant. He just sat and stared at the photo like a deer in headlights.

Family? He had family?

That word was so foreign to him… all he could remember was Kiritsugu saving him from the fire and adopting him. His fondest memories were spending time with him and vowing to follow his father's dream of being an ally of justice, someone who saves others from harm no matter what.

But this…

Who were those two people in the photo holding him? Was that even him sitting on the woman's lap? He couldn't recall anything of that earlier life, yet the picture drew him in all the same… but why? It wasn't as though he saw the picture and knew these people where his parents or anything like that; the fire had stolen even that tiny surety. But… he couldn't bring himself to disregard the image it presented. Maybe they were his birth parents, but what did this all mean?

Were they still alive? Did he worry them? Did they hold a funeral? Were they close? If so, how close?

Taiga's next hesitant words broke him from the confused maelstrom of questions for a moment. "I, uh… I'm sure you know that they've been long since recorded deceased because of the fire. You were the only survivor in that event, after all."

Yes, he figured as much. Shirou instinctively knew his family was gone when he woke up that day in the hospital. Why would Fuji-nee show him that picture though if the memory was pointless now?

At least he thought it would be pointless, but he did feel a strange sensation of closure hearing this and seeing the picture still in Taiga's hand. He had a family. He wasn't completely alone. That was good… right?

That still didn't explain why she dug this up now, of all times. Nor did it explain how she even found out any of this or when… or answer any of the thousand questions barreling through his head.

"But I got some good news!" Taiga quickly added. "This folder I found on your family included this picture and a copy of your birth certificate! Your closet living relatives happen to be your uncle, Ryotaro Dojima and his daughter Nanako."

Relatives? Did they think he was dead too? Should he even bother talking to them after all this time? What could he say? How would they react? What were they like? Where did they live?

And, again, why was she telling him this now?

"It wasn't easy you know, getting all this! I had to ask my grandfather for a… a favor." No one in school save for Shirou knew that his hyperactive teacher was really a yakuza lord's granddaughter, so she was leaving it vague for Sakura's sake. Shirou was able to pick up that subtle hint and let the matter drop there. "Luck would have it that they caught wind of a detective Dojima in Inaba solving a murder case! Sounds cool, huh? He's a local hero, just like Kiritsugu!"

No, Ryutaro Dojima and Kiritsugu Emiya were vastly different, even if Shirou had never met the other man. Dojima was an ordinary policeman that acted as a public ally of justice, not unlike the criminal dramas he's seen from time to time. Kiritsugu was secretive about his past, and seemed to imply he avoided the spotlight concerning his actions. However, there was no doubt in Shirou's mind that the things Kiritsugu did were of far greater scale than any ordinary cop did. But the man was a magus, and Taiga or Sakura didn't need to know that.

"Inaba isn't that bad of a place either; real rural country town, lots of scenery, a hot spring inn, and a new Junes department store just opened there recently. Doesn't get a lot of tourism, but from what I read, it sure sounds homey!" Taiga was rambling now. Her wild gestures only filled Shirou with confusion as she continued to lay out the virtues of small-town living.

She stopped for dramatic effect… or looking earnestly thoughtful of what to say next, judging by her sidelong glance and the hand stroking her chin. "Well, uh… that's the end of my lecture I suppose! Any questions?"

Both students continued to stare, understandably confused. Sakura recovered first, turning to Shirou with a growing smile. "I-isn't this great, senpai? You have living relatives to your birth family!"

Shirou hesitantly reached out and took the photo from Taiga's hand. His eyes never left it during her speech. "Do they know?" he asked. His fingers traced the surface of the photo, over the smiling faces of the man and woman kept alive in a wrinkled, forgotten image. "That I'm…"

"Well… no," she admitted. "Not yet. I was thinking hearing from you first instead of me would have been a good first step."

"How?" Shirou asked.

Taiga reached for her dress pocket again, this time producing a small slip of paper with a string of numbers written on it. "Give them a call, silly!"

"A call?" Shirou parroted. The very idea of contacting these… related strangers… was less tempting and more frankly terrifying. What if they didn't care about him? What if they had forgotten he was their relative? What if Dojima didn't know what he looked like? Would he even be able to feel anything for them?

Come to think of it, he didn't even know what his uncle and cousin looked like either! "Do you have a picture of them too? Of the Dojimas, I mean."

"Eh?" Taiga blinked. Then she blushed slightly in realization. "O-oh! Right! I know I have something here…"

She reached into her dress pockets once more, and then to her hand bag, pawing through it for a moment before perking visibly. With an "Aha!" she handed another picture to her ward, Sakura leaning over his shoulder to see.

The photo had a black haired, rugged man dressed in a gray dress shirt and black slacks, a jacket slung over his shoulder and walking out to his car. He was turned back slightly, waving to a little girl by the door to the house behind him. She looked the right age for early elementary school, first grade probably, wearing a three-color plaid dress over a white turtleneck, with brown eyes and brown hair in short pigtails. She was waving too, holding a school bag and just closing the door behind her, but she looked rather sad.

"Where did you get this photo?" Sakura asked. "It looks like they posed."

"Posed?" Taiga blinked again. "Uh, yeah! Posed! It was, uh… a gift! A friend of theirs wanted a realistic shot so he got them doing this!"

What really happened was that the yakuza in Inaba were bribed to get as far as the Dojima residence and take a quick photo of them both. Yes, they needed a bribe to do that much: nearly every criminal or mob gangster Raiga's men asked had shit themselves when asked to try and take a picture of Ryotaro Dojima, and wouldn't accept anything less than a down payment for what they considered guaranteed prison time. Not to mention that shortly after someone did get the picture, he exposed himself to the detective because he forgot to turn off the flash. Needless to say, after all was said and done, the photographer's payment was converted to his bail... and new motorcycle.

Yeah, Dojima was that good.

Shirou now held two pictures and a phone number in his hand, staring between them before looking at his teacher. His expression looked so lost and hurt. "Fuji-nee…"

"I know this is a lot for you to take in but-"

"Why did you do all this?"

It wasn't a how or a when, but a why. Of all the questions he could possibly ask, that one threw Taiga for a loop briefly. She felt a bit offended by that question, really. "What do you mean why? I'm trying to be a helpful sister, you know? Aren't you glad to know the identity of your relatives?"

"I-it's not that," he quickly reasoned. "But they have their own lives, and I can't just intrude into their lives all of the sudden-"

"You've been like this since Kiritsugu died," she bluntly added, stopping his excuse. "You never do archery anymore, you sleep in the shed, you drop everything on a moment's notice whenever someone strings you along for a favor… and you keep putting down the fact that you miss him!"

To be a magus is to walk with death. That was what his step-father told him as he trained him. Death was another part of their lives, and could come at any moment. Shirou reminded himself of this sometime after the funeral, and devoted himself that much further into being what his father strived in life; to be a super hero, an ally of justice…

He couldn't tell Fuji-nee that though. Magecraft was meant to be secret from the general public, and his step-father stressed this greatly. He understood the need to accept the fate of magi and move on for the sake of his father's legacy. But he did admit he did feel a pang of bitterness whenever he thought of him, like now…

"Besides, they need to know you're alive just as much as you need to hear this!" Taiga continued, pointing at the photo. "See that girl? Nanako? That's the same look on your face whenever you hear his name or see his face."

"No it's no-"

Before he could finish, she pulled out a hand mirror from her bag and held it up in front of his face. "Kiritsugu."

Despite himself, his mouth twitched to a frown and his eyes lowered, almost on reflex. It was a brief moment, but he saw his depressed reflection.

Damn it, she was right.

"That's the pain of loss," she said as she set aside the mirror. "She's younger than you were when he died, but I can only imagine what she and her father had to cope with.

Shirou blinked, and then looked back at the Dojima photo. She said uncle and cousin… but not aunt. "You mean, the mother-?"

Taiga nodded solemnly. "Passed away a few years ago."

A tense silence filled the room while Shirou continued to digest this, his expression filled with warring emotions.

"Um, senpai?" Sakura spoke, reminding the other two she was still in the room. "I know it's rather sudden, but maybe you can just give them a call? They're your family after all, and I'm sure they'd at least like to know you're still alive."

Shirou stared between the number and the photos again. His eyes lingered mostly at young Nanako's face. How she braved the fact that she and her father lost someone close to them. He knew that pain all too well. Even if he could not remember his birth family even with the photo in his hand, he always had that knowledge that they were gone in the back of his mind. How hard was it for them, who could still remember their loved ones' smiles?

"Yeah… you're right."

December 20, 2010 - Dojima Residence, Inaba

He's late again, Nanako thought glumly while the ending theme to her show played on TV. She had hoped that by the time her show ended her dad would come back. Some days he did, other days he came home late, and there were even days where he didn't come home at all. She once tried to keep track or see if there was a pattern once, but couldn't find anything.

Nanako knew her dad was doing an important job. She felt proud whenever she told her friends at school about how he went around Inaba catching and beating up bad guys. It wasn't so bad either because whenever she played with mom, it would seem he would be home before she even knew it. When she was awake that is.

But things weren't the same when mom died. Things were tense without her, and she and dad barely talked to each other during dinner. She learned to do laundry, clean up around the house, and sometimes cook when her dad didn't order take-out. It wasn't hard and her dad would at times compliment her on a good job. She still missed her mom though…

Riiiiing! Riiiiing!

Jolted from her increasingly morose train of thought, Nanako jumped from her cushion and ran to the phone. Was it her dad? She hoped it was! She picked up the handset and eagerly held it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Uh, hello," an unknown male voice answered back. "Is Dojima-san there?"

Nanako frowned as her shoulders slumped a little, feeling her dad's absence again. "No…"

"Oh," the voice was awkward and nervous, but it didn't sound bad for a stranger. "Who is this then?"

Nanako remembered what her father told her. "My dad said I shouldn't give my name to strangers," she recited with a bit of pride.

The voice on the other line laughed lightly. "Your dad's pretty smart."

"Anyway, dad's at work and mom's…" Dead? In Heaven? "Gone," she settled on.

"…Oh…" The voice fell silent for a while. Nanako could hear breathing on the line though. "…When will your dad get back then?"

"I don't know," she answered after a moment's pause. "He's always out at night."

"Doing what?"

"Detective stuff," said Nanako. It wasn't too personal to answer questions to this man, right? "He's a detective. Who are you?"

"I'm uh… you're cousin… I think."

She frowned slightly in confusion. "You think?"

The door to the house opened. "I'm home!"

Nanako's eyes brightened and turned to the new voice. "Welcome home, dad!"

Ryotaro Dojima kicked his shoes off at the front step and hanged his coat before walking up to his daughter. "Who's on the phone, Nanako?"

"A guy who says he's my cousin, he thinks. He wants to talk to you."

"'He thinks,' huh?" Dojima smirked slightly before accepting the phone. It was a pretty amusing identity for a prank caller. "Hello? Ryotaro Dojima speaking. Who is this?"

"Uh, hello Dojima-san," the voice answered with a nervous tick. "This is your nephew; Shirou Emiya."

Dojima snorted. "Nice try, but I sure as hell don't know a Shirou Emiya for a nephew. Thanks for wasting my time. Goodbye."

"Wait! Wait!" the voice cried frantically, and Dojima stopped reaching for the receiver. This ought to be good, he thought. "Sorry, I've been called Shirou for so long that I forgot my first name. What I meant to say was… I'm Yu Narukami."

Dojima's eyes widened. "…Yu?" If nothing else, he would give the guy credit for doing his homework: he did have a nephew by that name at one point, but the boy had died ten years ago. A massive fire had broken in Fuyuki City where his sister was working at the time, all but gutting the urban center of the city. There were supposedly no survivors from the Narukami family. The last she had seen of them was when Yu was a baby, offering to babysit him while they went overseas for work, as usual. It was mostly changing diapers though…

That being the case, how did this joker find that name?

But hearing his supposed deceased nephew calling him ten years after the incident sounded fishy to him, detective or not. "I don't believe you." Identity theft was growing increasingly popular as a crime nowadays, so this could very well be someone that dug up his information somewhere.

"Honestly, this is hard for me to take in myself," Shirou answered… or was it Yu? "I only just found out my birth name today."

He sounded genuine. Most people wouldn't wait so long to contact their relatives if presumed dead. Unless… "Amnesia, is it?"

"I think so. I don't remember anything before Shinto burned down, not even my old name. But I know I was there. I still have nightmares about it, really."

Well, that would check the story out. Anything that would kill several hundred people at once happening right in front and all around you qualified as traumatic in his book too. It would also explain why he didn't call until now, but not why he called now. "If that's true, then how do you get this number? Or know if I'm really your uncle?"

"Fuji-nee found out."

"Your adopted sister, I presume?"

"My current guardian," Yu-Shirou corrected. "Up until recently, I lived with my adoptive father who saved me from the fire, and Fuji-nee would come over because her grandfather was friends with him."

"Recently?" Dojima asked.

A brief paused followed. "He passed away… five years ago."

The detective's brow crinkled in sympathy despite his suspicions. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's fine, really. I'm more concerned of your daughter though, losing her mother so early."

It seemed his 'nephew' was too well read into his family life. Either he really did care, or was sticking his nose where he shouldn't. "Is your guardian there right now?"

"Huh? Uh, yes, she-"

"Put her on." His order left no room for negotiation.

Yu-Shirou hesitated; his breath hitched slightly on the phone. "Uh… sure."

He heard brief bickering on the line, most likely between the two people present. He could only make out the "You're ruining everything, you idiot!" before someone spoke directly to the phone. "Hello, Taiga Fujimura here! Alleged sister figure to Shirou Emiya / Yu Narukami! How can I help you?"

Her voice was laced with beaming innocence and confidence, but Dojima recognized it being the same voice that was yelling during the switch. If he had to guess on first impressions, she was the kind of person that would do anything to get things her way. Feigning innocence and whining consistently were common tactics. However, he noticed that her last name wasn't Emiya. Peculiar: if she took over as guardian, one or the other would change their names to fit.

"I'm Ryotaro Dojima, and I want to ask you about the legitimacy of my 'nephew's' identity."

"I assure you that I was able to find legit proof he is your nephew! I've known him for ten years now, and I can say without a doubt he looks just like the little boy if the photo of his birth parents!"

"How is it you found a photo now and not before?"

"A lot of stuff on the people that died was kept in storage, especially those working on or living in the expanded parts of Shinto. I just looked through some folders on what was salvaged from the damage on now useless buildings and apartments."

"You just happened to find the one folder you were looking for?" Dojima asked, honestly surprised.

"Well, it wasn't easy, I'll tell you that much!" shouted Taiga.

"I'll say," Dojima agreed. "But how can you be sure if we're related based on appearances? Has he taken a DNA test?"

The line was silent. "Uh… no?" she admitted.

Thought so. "Goodbye."

"WAIT!" she shouted quickly. "I could get one if that's what you want! It would take a while though, maybe a few days."

"Fair enough," he allowed. "Though I'm starting to get suspicious on how much you know."

"Your sister's maiden name was on Shirou's birth certificate, also in the folder I found. I used the names Narukami and Dojima as the basis of my search."

"That still doesn't explain how you know my home number." His voice lowered to a slight intimidating growl. "Or what happened to my wife."

The silence on her end dragged a little longer this time. "I, uh… know a guy."

The detective scowled. There were too many convenient excuses and not enough straight answers for his liking. "If that's all you're going to say on the matter, I'm afraid this conversation is over. Goodbye."

"STOP DOING THAT!" she cried louder. Dojima had to pull the phone out of his ear that time, wincing. "Listen, can't you just see your nephew once in a while? He really needs a family to connect with, and he hasn't been the same since his adoptive father died!"

The detective frowned; he was going to need a smoke after this. "Even if he is my nephew, and all my years of experience on the field are strongly telling me that he isn't, he has gotten this far without contact with us. I've only seen Yu once as a baby anyway; we'd be total strangers now."

"Then you can start over fresh!" Taiga reasoned. "And I said I would get the proof!"

"It's just not going to work out," he said, reaching for the receiver again.

"Can't you at least do it for your daughter?"

The police detective paused and waited for her to elaborate.

"Shirou, or Yu as you've last known him, keeps downplaying the fact that he's lost his dad: the adopted dad, the only dad he's ever known. He just throws himself into work and fixing things, and hardly goes out with people his age. He's already a first year in high school and I'm worried that sooner or later he might be driven to suicide. All he seems to plan for his future is being an 'ally of justice' like his father supposedly was."

Dojima could faintly hear Yu-Shirou cry out "He was!" on the other line, and Taiga hushing him before continuing. "I can only imagine what your daughter is going through losing her mother, and I think the two of them could really use each other's company, if nothing else."

He turned to Nanako, watching and listening to his end of the conversation ever since she gave him the phone. "Dad?"

She had to be hurting even now without her mother here…

Dojima couldn't stop doing his job. He still needed to catch the bastard that took Chisato from them. But he couldn't leave her alone all the time either. What Taiga just told him sounded rather unhealthy for a boy of any age to go through, and it didn't occur to him that Nanako might go through the same thing. Does leaving a child alone to their own devices too long lead them to danger? He might never notice the signs until it was too late with how often work kept him away.

"Well, Dojima-san?" Taiga probed again.

Dojima sighed. He was still unsure about this, but if she was going so far just to find them and Yu-Shirou was willing to meet halfway… "Maybe we can work something out... but you're going to need a lot of proof."

If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn he heard her smile proudly on the other line. "Consider your challenge accepted, Dojima-san!"

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 4: Final Push

Taiga took the terms of the "challenge" seriously to the point it seemed jarring for Sakura and Shirou. For the following month, she put Shirou through several DNA and blood tests with different hospitals and clinics, keeping numerous appointments with several different doctors and making sure Dojima did the same. She wanted no excuses from him when the proof hit the table. Copies of the birth certificate, photos, anything she could find from the folder and the results from the numerous medical tests changed hands as she pushed Dojima and her resources to the limit.

Taiga ignored most of Shirou's complaints about the process. He never was one for doctors as long as she'd known him.

Dojima cross-referenced everything with his own research and memories of his sister's family to make sure everything checked out perfectly. At certain points he devoted several hours poring over the same document trying to find any sort of hole in the information that would deny possible relations with Shirou and the potential complications it would bring to his and Nanako's life. As the weeks and tests passed, it finally started to sink in. This wasn't some con artist masquerading as his nephew: Shirou Emiya was in fact Yu Narukami.

He hadn't slept a wink the night he finally accepted it.

Whenever they talked on the phone, though, the boy made an awkward assertion that he would prefer his new name over his original one, since he was fond of his adoptive father. Considering Shirou had lived for a decade with that name, asking him to change it now when his memories were still gone made no real sense anyway. Dojima had no complaints; at the end of the day he was still his nephew, after all.

<><><>
March 10, 2011 – Emiya Residance

"I even got to talk to Nanako again for a bit," Shirou explained at dinner. "She's still a little shy, but I found out that she cooks breakfast from time to time. Maybe we could share recipes."

"Another cook, you say?" Taiga grinned, delicately cutting her share of roast duck. Of course, considering her love of good food, "delicately" did not mean "slowly" in the least. While she was glad that the redhead was connecting with his family again, she was also making an effort to keep Shirou's attention at dinner.

Over the last couple of months, the frequency and duration of Shirou's calls to the Dojima household had risen sharply. At first, he would only spend a few minutes about once a week trying to grasp for a topic, but now he would call almost every other day and sometimes talk to his uncle and cousin for almost an hour, sometimes more if he managed to talk to both Ryotaro and Nanako in one night. It was getting to the point that Taiga was starting to feel a little left out.

'Well, so long as he keeps cooking for me, I can tolerate it for a little bit longer,' she told herself.

"Your cousin sounds like a sweet little girl, senpai," Sakura added, pausing in her meal to comment. "A shame what happened to her mother…"

"Yeah…" Shirou agreed solemnly. "She's still learning, but she started cooking for breakfast after her mother died, since Dojima-san is always busy."

"Well, point is that you're hitting it off with them!" Taiga assured him. "Sooner or later, you might even get to visit them!"

"Funny you should mention that," Shirou smiled slightly. "Dojima-san and I have been talking about it, and he was thinking about arranging for me to stay with him in Inaba for a while."

"That's great, senpai!" Sakura offered her support, genuinely happy for her upperclassman. He was finally going to see his family! A day trip once in a while would be great for him, and if needed, perhaps even a week or two to really get to know them. "How long would you be staying?"

The redhead's smile turned a bit sheepish. "About that… Well, I still have school and I can't set that aside. Between Dojima's job and that, I can't see it working right away."

Taiga nearly dropped her chopsticks at that. "Eh? After all this trouble you're not going to visit them?!"

"Think about it, Fuji-nee: it's not as if I don't want to go, but as it stands, the only way it could work is if I either waited for summer break or just bite the bullet and spent my next school year at Yasogami like Dojima suggested. As much as I would like to meet my family in person, it's just not feasible right now."

If this were any other matter, Taiga would have agreed with the assessment and let the matter drop. This time though, hearing Shirou give up so easily after the months of effort she put into the search and the proof caused a tick in her brow. "Come on, Shirou! What's missing a few days? This is your family we're talking about!"

"You guys are my family, too, you know," Shirou muttered. He didn't notice Sakura blush a little and missed Taiga fighting down a smile. "I wouldn't have much chance to really get to know them without staying for a long time there, anyway. We're pretty much strangers for the most part."

The childish teacher pointed at her charge with her chopsticks. She had put in too much money, burned a lot of favors (more accurately, her grandfather had used some of his pull for her), effort and a lot of time into tracking down Shirou's blood relatives and getting them to interact for him to just give up when he was obviously starting to connect with them. "You aren't going to spend your entire life in Fuyuki City! Going over there getting to know your family wouldn't be a bad thing!"

Shirou shrugged. "Like I said, Dojima suggested that I spend the next school year in Inaba, but that just seemed a little extreme-"

"If that's what it'll take, then I'll allow it!" Taiga roared.

Shirou and Sakura's utensils froze with their hands. An eerie silence stretched out between the three in the room, the students staring at the teacher blankly. When it became clear from the stubborn frown that Taiga was dead serious, their expressions morphed to shock. Shirou outright dropped his chopsticks, mouth opening and closing like a gaping fish. Sakura's reaction was more subtle but unmistakable; her soft smile faltered, her eyes were wide with horror, one of them making a slight twitch.

"What?" Sakura squeaked softly.

"Are you… serious about this, Fuji-nee?" Shirou finally choked out.

"That's right, Shirou! I've decided! It's high time you got to meet them face-to-face! If Dojima thinks you would be welcome for a year, than that's what it'll be!"

"B-but…" Sakura started softly. "Why does senpai have to leave? Can't they just come up here? There are plenty of spare bedrooms here."

"W-well, Nanako's just starting elementary school and Dojima's a police detective which keeps him from home with odd hours. They have a tough enough time as it is juggling their lives ever since Nanako lost her mother. I couldn't just ask them to drop everything for a day trip out here. Nanako also told me that Dojima gets called in at random, too." Shirou explained, taking a mouthful of rice mechanically.

As it stood, Shirou's sense of responsibility and desire to inconvenience as few people as possible pretty much dictated how the visit would have to work. He didn't mind waiting for summer, but Taiga's pressure was hard to resist. To be fair, she had put a stupendous amount of effort into reuniting the family, so not going to meet the Dojima family face to face must have been tremendously frustrating for her.

To be honest though, Shirou felt bad having to leave Homurahara as well. The student council always counted on him to fix the supplies and appliances around the school, especially Issei Ryuudou, a freshman already slated for a council position starting next year. Shirou promised to take some time to repair as many of the old appliances as he could before he left for Inaba for them.

'Huh. I'm already thinking as though I've already decided to go… Am I really that eager?'

"Sensei, why are you pushing this so hard?" Sakura pleaded, her hand clutching the table tightly enough to turn her knuckles white.

Taiga gave the plum-haired girl a disarming smile. "It's not that I'm pushing him to visit, I just don't want him to have any excuses to avoid this. If we let it sit, he'll grow comfortable just talking over the phone and might never get around to meeting them."

As Sakura gaped at her like a fish, Taiga turned her attention to Shirou again. "That being said, you need to keep that 'super hero' stuff of yours in check; Dojima's a cop, so he'll handle all the crime stuff. Just have fun with Nanako-chan while you're there, and maybe make some new friends at school. Or even hang out at their Junes place. No way can anything dark, sinister or unusual happen over there!"

"I'll try," he answered, which wasn't a complete lie. He would still practice his magecraft in secret, but he wouldn't expose himself either. A small town like Inaba might very well have a near-nonexistent crime rate, especially with someone like Dojima watching the place.

Taiga then puffed her chest out in a defiant lecturing pose (while still sitting down). "And for your long-term homework assignment: you are to learn and master all of Yasoinaba's meals and delicacies so you can prepare them for us back here for our enjoyment!"

Shirou laughed; same old Fuji-nee. "I'll do my best!" Now that, he knew, he could accomplish without fail.

With that decided, they continued their meal in silence. Sakura just sat and stared at the two them for several minutes, almost unable to comprehend what just happened.

Eventually Taiga noticed her daze and looked concerned. "Sakura, I understand you're upset, but try to be happy for Shirou, alright? A year's not forever."

"R-right," Sakura nodded, ignoring whatever dark thoughts circled in her head. "Of course… It's only a year…"

Only one lonely, long, painfully atrocious year without him…

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 5: The Velvet Room

April 11th, 2011, Fuyuki Train Station

After months of planning, paperwork, and negotiations with public and private groups, the big day had finally arrived, and Shirou had a small gathering of friends to see him off along with Taiga and her grandfather Raiga. Standing by the train, bags in hand, Shirou still had enough time to say his goodbyes before departure.

Naturally, being who he was, the first thing he had to say was an apology. "Sorry I couldn't finish all the repairs, Issei."

Issei Ryuudou shook his offered hand. The monk-in-training was already slated to take the mantle of President of the Student Council in the coming year, and he had taken to the preparations like a fish to water. He had hoped to count on Shirou to assist him from time to time, but he was glad his friend was getting to chance to meet his biological family. He was insightful enough to see that the experience would do Emiya some good. "Think nothing of it, Emiya. I'm rather thankful for all you were able to get done as it is. Homurahara has managed before we had you as our 'janitor' for years, so one year of your absence shouldn't be too painful."

"I'll be sure to make up for it when I return for third year," Shirou promised.

Issei smiled. "While that isn't necessary, it is good to know you can be counted on."

The captain of the archery club he used to frequent, Ayako Mitsuzuri, was also there, almost unwilling to see him leave. "You sure there's nothing I can't say to convince you to stay?" Ayako asked, giving Shirou half-hearted puppy-dog eyes. "Your spot in the archery club is still open," she tempted, the playful smirk on her face slightly melancholy. She would miss him.

"And I've declined that spot each time you offered," Shirou countered without missing a beat. "I don't plan on joining the archery team in Yasogami, though, if that's what you're worried about."

"Yasogami doesn't have an archery team. I checked. I won't hold it against you if you join a sports team though; can't waste your potential after all."

"I'll consider it." Shirou wasn't sure if he was going to try out for any sport, though. As much as they helped him keep in shape, the more he devoted himself to a club the less time he'd have developing his skills as a magus and ally of justice.

Sakura had come along with Shinji, and held herself back to let her brother to make his farewells first. The dark haired young man smirked and slouched as he patted him on the back. "Oh, changing schools already? I'm almost disappointed Emiya. Couldn't find your calling here?" Shinji's tongue was as cutting as always, but Shirou shrugged it off as more of the harmless snarking that he indulged in.

"It's not that, Shinji. I'm just making an extended visit with my uncle and cousin."

"But a whole year in another school?" Shinji's grin grew wider and more mischievous. "Don't play coy with me, Emiya; you just want to find yourself a girlfriend!"

Shirou nearly stumbled when Shinji slapped his back the second time. "Wha-?!"

"I don't blame you, honestly. All the girls in Homurahara flock to me instead of you. Sakura is the exception because I can trust her in your capable hands."

Something about his tone sounded condescending, but Shinji always made blunt remarks about people. Shirou had long developed a tolerance to such things, and he responded in kind. "Well, I'm more concerned about how the archery club would handle without me to always fix the broken equipment. You can fix them though, right Shinji?"

The subtle stab to his pride wasn't missed by the Matou, nor was it to Ayako. The latter covered her mouth with her hand to stifle chuckles. "I-it's not your concern, really. You're an outsider that quit after all. The archery club will do fine without you as it has been this last year with their best candidate."

"Ah, true. Though Mitsuzuri might have her work cut out for her this year."

Shinji barely suppressed a twitch that time, and Ayako didn't even bother holding back her mirth. "Always the kidder, Emiya… but seriously, maybe you'll get lucky over there without me around. Though I wouldn't get your hopes up; it would be a rainy day in Inaba before you could snag someone like Risette, let alone any other babe!"

Shirou shook his head good-naturedly. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," he replied to placate the volatile teen.

Sakura chose that moment to speak up, albeit shyly. "U-um… I hope you have fun, senpai."

"I will," Shirou smiled. "Thanks Saku-"

"SHIROUUUUUU!"

A sudden tiger-striped blur latched to his side with the force of a battering ram, and latched on it like a house cat. The distressed school teacher sobbed comically onto his shoulder, making her alleged brother feel very awkward.

"Shirouuuuuu! Don't goooooo!" she whined with beady eyes. "If you do I'll staaaaaaaarve!"

"Bu-but you were the one that gave the okay, weren't you?" Shirou pointed out as he struggled to pry the older woman loose.

"I changed my mind! Don't leave me without your delicious cooking, Shirou!" she wailed childishly.

"Now, now, Taiga," her grandfather sighed. "No need to be selfish. Let the boy do what he wants. I'm sure his father would want him to start fending for himself."

Taiga's grip eased slightly. "Which one?"

Raiga smiled. "Both of them."

Taiga nodded at that and fought back her emotions with a comically loud sniffle. She suddenly gripped Shirou's shoulders firmly and looked him square in the eyes seriously. "Pr-promise me you'll have fun in Inaba! Don't slip on your education, and make a lot of friends!" She frowned further, ready to burst into tears again. "And learn lots and lots of recipes while you're there, so we can have a big welcome home feast!"

Shirou was slightly confused as to why Taiga was crying over this. Not only had she been the one to push him down this road, but it was only for a year. It wasn't like he was moving away forever. Really, he would be back before she knew it. Regardless, he wanted to help ease her worries, so he smiled and said, "I promise."

Farewells and small talk only lasted another minute before the intercom called passengers to board. He quickly grabbed his things and headed inside, watching as the others (minus Shinji) started to wave goodbye.

"Have fun, Emiya!" Issei waved.

"Come back soon, senpai!" Sakura added.

"Bring souvenirs!" Taiga yelled.

Shirou smiled and waved back, hurrying on to his semi-crowded train. Within minutes, Fuyuki City seemed to fall away, signaling the change in his life. Given the number of stations he had to pass through and the times he'd need to change trains, Shirou guessed he would arrive sometime in the evening.

Thus began his cross-country ride to Inaba.

???

Huh?

Shirou started to stir from his seat. Nothing much had happened as he changed a few stations, other than a few commercials and some celebrity news scandal playing loudly at the last station. He ignored them both, more focused on reaching his destination. The last leg of the trip ahead was far and away the longest, giving him time to doze off from fatigue… and he somehow ended up somewhere completely new.

He was rolling smoothly down what felt like a newly paved road inside a stretch limousine lined with high-quality blue velvet. The seats, the carpet, the ceiling, all of it was a soulful dark blue color and was as soft as clouds beneath him. Directly to his left, a rack of crystal wine glasses and tumblers interspersed with bottles of liquor added to the air of class the vehicle's interior exuded. In the middle of the rack of glassware a TV screen faced the opposite wall, currently off. Light came from a tiered fixture overhead, filling the space with a soothing blue-white glow. A soft, haunting song came from concealed speakers, a woman's voice singing to the accompaniment of a piano and violins: an operatic aria. The clarity of sensations ruled out a dream in the amateur magus's mind.

He immediately realized he was not alone in the car, either. Across from him two… others sat peaceably in their own plush seats. The first was obviously not human or at least a mixed breed; he was thin, almost skeletal and clad in perfectly pressed black and white suit with white silk gloves. Hunched over, he was bald save for fringes of wispy white hair on the sides and back of his head. His ears were pointed and almost fifteen centimeters long, and his nose was even longer than his ears, looking more like a flesh-colored beak than anything else.

The other was a young blonde woman sitting to the man's left, clad in a blue jacket and matching skirt with black stockings. She was pale and her hair was white as new snow. On her lap, her hands rested gently upon a thick hardback book.

They both looked up and acknowledged Shirou within moments as he came to; the man's eyes were bulbous and bloodshot, while the woman's were an eerie yellow-gold.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," the imp-like man said with a smooth, gentlemanly voice.

To his credit, Shirou recovered quickly enough to accept the man's welcome. If the two were magi or worse his own haphazard skills would be no match against them, so trying to antagonize them wouldn't get anything done. He sensed something odd from them… not hostility, but curiosity. "Thank you, sir."

"My, my!" the man chuckled. "What fine manners. And it would seem you have a most unusual destiny as well. My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

"Likewise," he nodded back. "I'm Shirou Emiya."

Igor's seemingly perpetual grin widened slightly. "Hmm… I see."

Shirou gazed around the room of the car, wondering if this was one of those Bounded Fields his father had told him about. Outside the windows, he noticed that it was obviously night and so dark that the car seemed completely isolated in its own little world, his location completely hidden by an impossibly thick fog. "What is this place?"

"This is the realm found between dream and reality, mind and matter…" Igor answered. "It is a room that only those that are bound by a 'contract' may enter… under normal circumstances."

Shirou blinked. "What do you mean 'normal circumstances'?"

"It is nothing of concern. More relevant to your presence here, it seems that you have a peculiar fate awaiting you in the near future..."

With a wave of a gloved hand, a small stack of blue cards appeared on the table before him. "Do you believe in fortune telling?" he asked rhetorically, before flicking his hand again. For a moment, the cards blurred with motion where they sat, shuffling themselves at astonishing speed. The top cards then rearranged themselves into seven spaces on the table face down. The backsides of the cards all shared the image of a drama-like mask half white and half black, decorated with vines and what seems to be harps at each corner.

"Tarot?" Shirou was never one to use such an old method of fortune telling, but it made sense that a powerful magus would find some use for the old techniques.

"Indeed. Each reading is done with the same cards, but the results are always different." Igor chuckled. "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it? Let's take a look at what your future says, shall we?"

Igor motioned his hand in the air as if flipping a card. As he did so, the card on Shirou's lower right revealed a picture of a black tower being sundered by lightning. Shaded figures of humans fell from its heights. Roman numerals were written at the bottom: "XVI". Igor repeated the process again and revealed the identity of the lower left card; a crescent moon with a face outlined in a partially shaded circle, with a lobster silhouette situated between a pair of L-shaped blocks above the moon circle. This card was numbered "XVIII".

"Hmm… The Tower in the upright position foretells a catastrophe in the near future, and The Moon in the upright position tells of a mystery… very interesting…"

"What does that mean?"

"It seems you will encounter a grave misfortune at your destination," Igor explained with a subdued theatrical flair. "And a great mystery will be imposed upon you."

Shirou paled. "What…?"

Something terrible was going to happen in Inaba? What did that mean? Considering the supernatural nature of Igor's "Velvet Room", Shirou had a sinking feeling that the catastrophe would be of a magical nature if the reading was accurate. At this point, the redhead was willing to admit that Igor likely had a good reason to involve himself with an amateur like Shirou. Perhaps if he was there while it happened, he could prevent something happening to Dojima and Nanako. "What sort of danger?"

"You certainly ask a lot of questions, Shirou Emiya," Igor playfully smiled. "But I suppose one more card wouldn't hurt…"

This time, he flipped the center bottom card, between the Tower and the Moon cards. This one had a rainbow of colors, and five figures within; four at each corner, and one in the center. Silhouettes of a bull, angel, bird, and lion were at the corners, surrounding a figure of a majestic woman mage in center. However, the card number, "XXI", was listed on top instead of the bottom, read as "IXX" since it was upside down.

"The World, in the Reverse position," the long-nose man noted. "Very interesting indeed…"

Shirou patiently waited for Igor to explain, but felt very nervous to hear the word "reverse" for some reason.

"The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… If the mystery goes unsolved, your future, perhaps far more, may be forever lost. That is what the World foretells." With another flick of the wrist, all of the displayed cards vanished from the table. "You will return here after entering a contract. My duty is to help our guests in their journey. Perhaps our aid will allow you to avert the coming disaster."

Shirou narrowed his eyes and turned the thin man's words over in his mind. He sounded so sure of his predictions. Moreover, he implied that this wasn't the first time he had helped another. While still healthily wary of Igor, Shirou was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and decided to put his trust in the cryptic man's warnings. "Thank you… Uh… But what about her? Is she your apprentice?"

"In a way, you could make that generalization. But I have been remiss with my manners!" Igor's smile widened as he waved his hand to the young woman. "This is my assistant, also a resident to this room."

"My name is Margaret," she said in a voice that was clear but cold. No emotion played across her features as she introduced herself. "I am here to accompany you through your journey."

Still reeling from the numerous questions running through his mind over what was happening, Shirou nodded mutely. What was this disaster? What did they mean by 'contract'? How could they help him? Igor seemed to read his mind, and held up a finger to stop any words from his guest.

"I understand that you must have more questions," said Igor. "But we shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell…"

Before Shirou could get even one word in, his vision started swimming tiredly and faded to black.

As suddenly as he had arrived, he was back in the train as it glided towards its next stop. "-aba city and Yasoinaba Station, please go to the other side of the platform. I repeat; we will arrive at the Yasogami terminal in a few minutes. Passengers heading for Inaba city and Yasoinaba Station, please go to the other side of the platform."

Yasoinaba Station… Dojima sent him a text earlier saying to meet him there at 6, didn't he?

'A dream?' Shirou wondered for the brief moment before discarding the thought. The sights, sounds and textures of that Velvet Room felt far too vivid for a mere dream. Unfortunately, he had no way of working out what it all meant. All he could do was hurry to catch the next train and try to work out possible scenarios during the last leg of the trip.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 6: Welcome to Inaba

Dojima Residence, Inaba

"-The scandal between the two also involves the enka star Misuzu Hiiragi preparing to tour overseas," the news anchorman summed up the top story in a dry tone. "Taro Namatame, a council secretary in the Inaba region, whom she married just last year, is now under suspicion of having an affair."

Ryotaro and Nanako Dojima both sat around their kotatsu set across from their TV. It was more of a common way to pass the time than anything else. The news was one of the few broadcasts they could both watch and enjoy when in each other's company; Ryotaro didn't see much of the appeal in children's anime, and Nanako was too young to watch his favorite dramas.

Still, it was rather shameless how the news media was raving on gossip nowadays. The whole "top story" was something about Namatame having an affair with TV announcer Mayumi Yamano, and caught in the act of cheating on his wife. The reporters were unnaturally vibrant while working on and sharing this story. They were being far too chipper for something that could ruin the reputations of everyone involved. It honestly left the cop with a bad taste in his mouth, and for once it had nothing to do with his cigarettes.

The newspaper in his hand wasn't any better; it also covered the recent scandal for the majority of the print with side interviews and where the scene took place in the words of Hiiragi. She was more than a little outraged over the discovery, and from some of the other stories he heard, the two women got into more than just a verbal scuffle.

Needless to say, Dojima was glad he wasn't in Namatame's shoes.

Deciding to drone out the rest of the news story, he turned towards the clock hanging on his wall. 5 minutes to 6. "Shirou" should be arriving soon.

Nanako looked back to him, noting the direction of his gaze. "Oh! Should we go soon?"

"Yeah, it's just about time," Dojima answered.

Yasoinaba Train

Shirou snapped his eyes open again. Another dream… he mused to himself while he stretched his somewhat stiff legs.

This one wasn't as vivid as with Igor and Margaret's introduction; it was more of a general nightmare. He saw a young, well-dressed woman being pursued by a dark being into a corner of a room. The shadow's hands reached for the woman's neck and choked her. The woman struggled and… that was it.

It happened so fast. Considering how detailed it was, he wasn't even sure if it was a dream. Igor's warning played through his mind before he calmed himself. Maybe I needed this trip more than Taiga thought… he thought as he looked around his current ride.

The train to Yasoinaba was almost empty. The car he was sitting in had only about three other people in it, and the rest of the train was probably no more crowded than that. He knew Inaba wasn't exactly a tourist destination, but he was thinking Dojima-san was being modest when he told him not to expect much. It would no doubt be quieter compared to Fuyuki city… then again, any place Taiga Fujimura lived was lively, so maybe he that wasn't the best example.

Outside, Shirou could see the mountains and hills that made up the Yasoinaba valley's walls carpeted with green. The scenery was nice, he had to admit; the view of the mountains in particular was breath-taking, and the land looked rich and abundant. To think this town used to get by mining coal.

"Thank you for riding with us," the intercom chattered cheerfully. "We'll reach our final stop, Yasoinaba Station, momentarily. Please make sure you have all of your belongings before departing the train in an orderly manner."

Shirou reached for his duffel bag above his seat and let a small smile grace his lips. He was finally here, and going to personally meet his relatives. He was nervous, excited and a touch wary, but right now, he was here and as ready as he could ever be for what lay ahead.

A few minutes later, the train came to a stop at the destination. "Yasoinaba. Final stop, Yasoinaba."

So this is it, Shirou thought as he walked out to the station entrance.

Walking outside, he felt himself further surprised by the simplicity of Inaba. Many of the buildings on the street were built out of wood with tiled rooftops. Telephone cables were rooted near each building and coated the sides of the streets with their web. What really stunned him were the roads, marked and wide enough for traffic like in Fuyuki City. Only…

"There's no one here."

His own whisper sounded disturbingly loud to his ears. There were no cars, no bikes… no people. The town around the station, a normally central hub of activity in Japanese cities, was absolutely barren of normal life. In comparison to Fuyuki City, where there was always someone shopping nearby or driving to and from work, Inaba looked like a ghost town.

Shirou felt more than a little nervous. Did I make a mistake? He thought. Did I get the wrong address? Was Fuji-nee wrong?

"Oh, there you are!"

The red-haired teen jumped, surprised to hear a voice coming around the corner. He saw a familiar-looking middle aged man walking up to him from his car. A little girl, likely his daughter, followed close behind.

The man was taller than Shirou by a small margin despite his slight slouch, with dark hair that was starting to go gray cropped short. His job kept him up for long hours with little time for hygiene, so he had a small shadow of rough stubble on his chin and slightly dark eyes, but his keen mind was evident with his subtly piercing gaze. His clothes consisted of a gray button-up shirt and darker gray slacks that looked well-worn without being tacky. He really looked like the detective he was.

"You're more handsome than your photo let on," the man continued with a welcoming half-smile. "You've grown so much since I last saw you. I know I said you could come over, but I'm honestly surprised you did."

Shirou's eyes widened slightly as he recognized the man from Taiga's photo. "Dojima-san?"

"Hey, now," Dojima smiled. "No need to be so formal. You're my nephew, right?"

"Ah, that's true," Shirou nodded. "I'm surprised too, actually. Being here, I mean."

Dojima stared intently at him, as if seeing Yu Narukami as he might have become… if he hadn't became Shirou Emiya. "To think you've survived all this time… I still remember back when I changed your diapers."

Shirou laughed, awkwardly fiddling with his duffel bag. The image of Dojima changing a baby was slightly amusing. "Well, a lot can happen in ten years."

"That it can," he agreed, and a tense silence followed. Dojima frowns. "Listen, I'm... sorry to hear what happened with your family… both of them."

Shirou shook his head. "The fire's not your fault. And dad... well, he went off with a smile at least. I like to think he was content in the end."

Dojima nodded, satisfied. "Ah, well that's something..." He then turned to his daughter hiding behind him. "Nanako, why don't you say hi to your cousin?" he prompted while gently nudging the tiny girl forward.

Nanako gradually parted from her father's leg enough to step up in front of the high school student. With her brown hair done up in a pair of short pigtails and in a knee-length pink and white dress, she kept her head down nervously and squeaked out a barely audible "...lo."

Shirou smiled at her. "Hello, Nanako-chan. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Shirou Emiya."

"…know," she mumbled softly. "…we talked afore."

Shirou tilted his head and crouched down to meet Nanako's brown eyes. "Hmm? What was that?"

Nanako's face flushed brighter, losing what little courage she had, and hid behind her father again. Her cousin was left confused and slightly concerned. Did I do something wrong?

Dojima leaned back to look at her with teasing smile. "What's wrong? Is he making you blush?" His daughter stiffened, and then quickly slapped his backside in retaliation.

"Ow!" Dojima cringed for a moment before laughing good-naturedly, and Shirou couldn't help but join in. Nanako just squirmed further in embarrassment. She was adorable, and her shyness reminded him a little of Sakura. So this is my cousin…

"Well, no point in standing around here," Dojima shrugged his coat over his shoulder. "We got a lot of catching up to do back home. Is that everything you need?"

"Yes, sir. Just some clothes, tools and school supplies. I believe Fuji-nee mailed some other stuff to you ahead of time?"

"That she did, and they're all in their boxes. You'll have to unpack them and set up the guest room to your taste when we get there. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it, though. But first, I need to get some gas in my car."

MOEL Gas Station

Shirou stood awkwardly by the car, passing time by watching the area. Nanako quickly fled to the bathroom and Dojima was taking a smoke break. Since Shirou still didn't know the area, he settled with looking around to see what the town had to offer.

The gas station they were at was a full-service affair that sat next to a string of stores that collectively made Inaba's Central Shopping District. It was once fairly popular, drawing the crowds in with all their family-owned businesses and restaurants, ranging from handmade tofu and models to pharmaceuticals and liquor. This apparently changed when a Junes department store was built to the south of the river, effectively choking the life from the area by pulling customers away from the district. Several shops were already forced out of business by the massive chain store. Shirou had heard all this from Dojima and Nanako over the last few months, the latter especially excited whenever Junes was brought up.

Needless to say, seeing another part of the town just as empty as the train station left Shirou with an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

"So, you're a high school student?" the gas attendant by the Dojima van asked with a soft tenor voice. He sported the red, yellow and white MOEL uniform with a matching hat over short wavy gray hair. He turned his attention from the car to Shirou, looking slightly interested.

Shirou was taken aback by his question, but answered politely anyway. "Y-yes." The attendant was fairly friendly and helpful so far, greeting them enthusiastically and telling Nanako where the bathroom was. There was no reason to be rude.

"I'm surprised to see you come all the way out here. You just get back from a trip?"

"Well, something like that," Shirou shrugged. "Dojima-san was picking me up from the train station. I'm from Fuyuki City, but I'm staying over here for the school year."

The attendant let out a low, long whistle, quirking his eyebrows up with interest. "A city boy, huh? Must be a shock to see how little there is out here, huh?"

"A little, but I'm sure Inaba's not that bad…" Shirou reasoned weakly. "It's… well, quiet."

"Maybe too quiet," he chuckled. "There's not a whole lot to do around here, and unless you have something to do, like work, you'll be bored out of your mind before long."

Shirou doubted that; he had been managing to occupy himself with training in his shed back home for some time now. However, he was moving in with Dojima and probably won't get the secrecy, let alone the space, to practice magecraft or fix old appliances. Still...

"Are there any jobs around I can do?" he asked.

The attendant looked pleasantly surprised again. "Funny you should mention that. Our station has been looking for some new part-time workers for a while now. Thinking about helping out for some yen?"

"You would accept a high school student?" Shirou quirked his eyebrows in surprise.

"Like I said," the older man smiled. "There's not a lot to do around here, and that includes work. If you don't want to, that's fine, but at least think about it…" the androgynous fellow hedged.

"I didn't say I wouldn't consider it," Shirou answered. "I'm just… surprised. I've been rejected by many jobs before while growing up because I was too young."

It was a gross understatement: after Kiritsugu died five years ago and Shirou decided to become self-sufficient, he spent quite some time looking for a job but wasn't taken seriously or was flat-out turned away. On top of his age, Japanese schools tended to be strict and only allowed students to hold part-time jobs in certain circumstances, though Homurahara tended to not mind so long as those students kept their grades up. The sole exception to his fruitless job hunt was Copenhagen, a liquor store and bar in Shinto. He had worked there practically ever since. Speaking of which, he hoped the old owner and his daughter Neko-san would do alright without his help for the next year; they assured him they would, and offered him an early going away present of his pay and a meal with them.

"So you'll do it? Great! Most kids your age would have said no and walked away by now."

"Well, I've been told I'm not like most kids." A brief image of a scolding Taiga flashed in Shirou's mind's eye. "If you need help though, I'm willing."

"Perfect," the attendant smiled, and extended his hand. "If more city folk were even half as friendly and upfront as you are, I'd certainly wish they would come down here!"

"I'll take that as a compliment," the red haired teen smiled and gave a firm handshake. He briefly felt a mild tingle on contact, but passed it off as static. "My name's Shirou Emiya. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," he smiled back. "Just call me Nami."

"'Nami'?"

"Feminine name, I know. More of an inside joke, really."

When their hands separated, it left a sudden sense of numb cold in Shirou's hand. Had Nami been working outside all day?

"Well, I'd better get back to work! Come back tomorrow evening if you can!" Nami waved as he hurried off. As he rushed back inside the station, the Dojimas arrived back at the car. Perhaps he could convince Dojima to let him start working at the gas-

Grrk!!!

It suddenly felt like his body had caught fire while also freezing, and his head was pounding like a drum solo. It was nothing compared to making a Magic Circuit from his nerves (a process that felt similar to replacing your spinal column with a bar of white-hot metal), but the sheer abruptness of it all had him completely off balance. He slumped slightly and tried massaging his temples to relieve the pressure clouding his vision.

"What's wrong?" Nanako asked, concern lacing her quiet voice. "Are you carsick?"

"No, I'm fine." Shirou forced a smile, if only to make her worry less. The throbbing was already fading anyway. "I guess I've just been tired lately." That much was truth at least; he had fallen asleep on train rides twice already. The sheer length of the trip would drain anybody.

"Maybe you should take a quick walk up the street, get the blood moving. Just don't go too far." Dojima suggested.

Despite the fact that the pain was almost completely gone already, Shirou had one other thing to check that he couldn't do in the open. "Thanks. I'll be back in no more than five minutes."

The shopping district was almost like a little slice of home for Shirou: the single street was lined with small shops with the family names proudly displayed on the signs. Each was a two-story building, no doubt harboring the family upstairs and the business on the ground floor, and each was lovingly detailed.

Unfortunately, even a few meters in, he could also see a number of shops with shutters drawn with notices taped to them despite the hour. It was kind of depressing to see. However, some of the remaining open shops he made a mental note to visit later: Daidara's Metalworks looked to have some interesting odds and ends, and the samurai armor sitting outside its front door all but commanded his attention when he passed it. The smell of the forge inside just called to him like few things could. Marukyu Tofu next door to that was also on the list for when he got around to cooking for the Dojima family like he planned.

Passing a pair of students arguing about something, Shirou found a decently concealed spot between the tofu shop and a small grocer that suited his needs. The moment he was out of sight and certain no one was listening, he closed his eyes. "Trace On." Prana flowed through the Magic Circuit in his spine and spread through his body at his will, filling his head with information.

Structural Analysis. The only spell that the redhead could cast reliably was a simple one that had no fancy light shows or secrets to it. It was quite simply a spell that described to the caster the status, structure, and composition of the targeted object. The level of detail it revealed was about the only difference between different magi using this spell. For all intents and purposes, it was considered pretty useless. Most magi would rather use their prana for more productive pursuits, and anything you could learn from the spell could be found easily enough through mundane means.

However, for an amateur magus without any equipment wanting to check themselves for poisons or magical maladies, it was exactly the right tool for the job. Shirou found he had a knack for it and applied it to his hobby of fixing things, using the innocuous spell to instantly locate problems and weak spots in whatever he was working on.

Now the spell swept through his body, scanning it for any issues, weaknesses or flaws not there previously. If nothing else, the act of running prana through his Circuit would also shatter any magecraft attempting to get a hold on him. The spell's scan came back clean with no sign of damage or contamination on the physical level, and his Magic Circuit worked just fine, but he would need to remake it when he got the chance. His Magic Circuits only ever seemed to last a week at best, and the last one was shoddy compared to the usual, likely due to his nervousness towards visiting Inaba.

Of course, there was also the problem that Shirou had no idea what he was looking for.

With a muttered "Trace Off" and a sigh, Shirou trotted back to the car, thankfully feeling much better. Maybe he was just tired. He honestly hadn't traveled often enough to know if this was normal for him.

Dojima Residence

When Shirou first arrived at the Dojima household, he was pleasantly surprised. From the outside, it was a two-story traditional Japanese home with ample space for the Dojima family and himself. The inside was a tasteful mix of traditional and more modern aesthetics, some of the furniture in the kitchen laden with random knick-knacks and boxes. This place felt lived-in, a warm atmosphere pervading the property that spoke of a genuine home.

Oh, it wasn't anywhere near as spacious as the Emiya estate, but Shirou didn't mind. He never needed that all that space anyway. There were even times when he felt that the place was too big for him. That was probably another reason he would often sleep in the shed in recent years…

What few belongings Shirou had sent here were already boxed up in what would be his room for the stay, a modest room on the second floor. The fact that it had a small couch and a small TV already in there as well as the desk and chair meant that the place was already more furnished than his own room back home was.

The next hour or so was spent putting his new room into a semblance order. His futon was unpacked and folded in the corner, the few books he liked enough to take with him were placed on the shelf, his new school uniform was laid out for tomorrow, and his regular clothes were tucked away in the dresser. Shirou didn't own much, but years of tidying up after himself (and more tellingly, Taiga) had given Shirou an appreciation for a clean living space. While he went through and organized the contents of the various boxes, he noted that some of them were odds and ends that Fuji-nee had bought for him. He of course had tried to convince her that he didn't need (or want) so many things for a brief visit, but she wouldn't have any of it, as usual.

Shortly after he finished with that, the doorbell rang, and Shirou came down to find that Dojima had ordered takeout and sodas for dinner, and was currently setting them on the low table out in the middle of the living room. The teen had mixed feelings about that, but not because of anything missing from the meal.

"You didn't have to do this, you know," Shirou frowned as he split his chopsticks. "I could have cooked something in a few minutes."

Dojima smiled and shook his head. "What, and put you to work right off the bat? You just got here. Take your time to get used to things… at least for tonight. Now, let's have a toast." He lifted his can up.

"To family?" Nanako offered, lifting her own.

Dojima smiled again. "Yes, to family."

Shirou hesitated, watching as they both held their canned drinks up already. That word was still such an alien concept to him outside of Kiritsugu, but… Dojima was finally starting to trust him, and Nanako was so strong and independent like him growing up. He didn't want to impose on their relationship, but they allowed him in after Taiga's constant meddling.

A part of him wanted it though, to have that same connection with these people, his relatives. "To family, then."

Their cans met with a metal klink and they sipped to it before eating in earnest. Before Shirou had taken even one bite, Dojima spoke up again. "As you can see, it's just me and Nanako around here, so it'll be nice to have some company. So long as you're here, you're part of the family, so make yourself at home."

Shirou couldn't fight down the smile even if he tried, so he settled for a nod. "Thank you for that, Dojima-san," he replied earnestly.

"C'mon, I already told you don't need to be so formal," Dojima laughed and waved his hand dismissively. "You're making Nanako tense again."

Nanako looked surprised at her father's words, and squirmed in her seat when Shirou turned to look at her in concern, clearly unused to the attention.

"Well, anyway, let's eat," Dojima decided. "Itadak-" He was interrupted by the telltale ring of his cellphone. He gave a resigned sigh. "Ugh… Who's calling at this hour?"

He reached for his phone and flipped it open to answer, his voice dropping into a cool, business tone. "Dojima speaking."

Shirou and Nanako watched him nervously as he silently listened. Dojima's expression grew increasingly grave the longer the one-sided conversation carried on. He eventually stood up and walked away from the table, his back facing the others. "Yeah? I see… so where is it? Uh huh… All right, I'm on my way." He then quietly added to himself, "Guess it's a good thing I decided to skip the booze…"

"Work, I take it?" Shirou asked, already feeling an unpleasant knot forming in his stomach.

"Yeah," Dojima answered with a dour note, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. "Sorry about this happening on such short notice, Shirou."

Shirou shook his head. "It can't be helped, Dojima-san; you can't predict the future. I'll help any way I can here, though."

"Thanks. Go ahead and eat without me. I don't know how late I'll be. Nanako, help him out if he needs anything, okay?"

His daughter looked crestfallen, but slowly nodded. "…Okay."

Dojima then headed out to the door. He opened it and reached for his coat before calling back to the living room. "Nanako! It's raining out! What did you do with the laundry!?"

"I already brought it in!" she replied.

Dojima nodded at the answer. "…All right. Well, I'm off!" he closed the door behind them. Moments later, the sound of the car engine could be heard starting and driving off.

Shirou silently watched Nanako frown and sink lower in her seat, before turning to the TV and turning it on. The screen flashed to a news station as the weather announcer was talking.

"-for this week. Next, let's take a look at the hourly breakdown of tomorrow's weather. With storm clouds moving in from the west, expect heavy rain throughout the day tomorrow in most areas."

"Itadakimatsu," Nanako mumbled softly, and started eating.

Shirou couldn't manage a bite in light of Nanako's disheartened attitude. For a moment, he looked around the room, racking his brain for a topic to cheer the girl up or at least commiserate with her enough to soothe her. "Your dad works hard like this a lot, doesn't he?" When she nodded sullenly, he continued. "My dad was like that too."

Nanako stopped in mid-bite, her cheeks puffed out a little with rice. "Hmmm?" she titled her head in confusion.

"When he was still alive, my adoptive dad would leave the house too," Shirou explained. "He never told me where he was going, but he did tell me it was something he had to do. He never took me along though, and I never knew how long he would be gone. Sometimes it was for months. I lost count how many times he did that."

Nanako slowly chewed her food and stared at him. Her eyes seemed to have widened over his explanation, and he thought he saw… something in them. Fear? Shock? Sadness? It quickly passed before he could accurately tell, and she stared at her food solemnly. "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Shirou answered honestly. "I grew used to it after a while, and he always came back."

"…does it get easier?" she whispered.

"…When you get older, maybe. Your dad's doing good things out there, and he'll be back soon enough, I'm sure of it."

The silence was broken as the news returned to the subject of the Yamano scandal, explaining more or less the aftereffects of it being revealed. Shirou was drowning out the sound and more on what else to talk about, while Nanako looked profoundly bored with the subject.

"This is boring," she declared.

"I agree. Feel free to change the channel."

Nanako needed no further prompting and did exactly that.

A cheery female voice immediately took over for the droning newscaster. "At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products!" Without missing a beat, the woman sang out the store's catchy jingle. "Every day's great at your Junes~!"

Nanako instantly brightened and sang the song herself, waving her hand like a conductor keeping time. "Every day's great at your Junes~!" She then immediately sat back down and went back to her food, in a noticeably better mood than she was a few seconds ago.

Shirou stared at her dumbly for a moment. Her singing was a soft soprano as one would expect from a seven-year old, but she was amazingly gifted for her age. He vaguely wondered if anyone at her school had noticed her talent.

Nanako turned back to him as if she hadn't spontaneously burst into song, confused at his surprised look. "Aren't you going to eat?" she asked innocently.

"Oh, right," Shirou nodded, and started eating what was on his plate, pushing the matter of his cousin singing store jingles better than the people they hired for the task out of his head.

Instead, he turned his attention to thoughts of the medium-sized kitchen the Dojimas obviously weren't using regularly. Plans for future meals, shopping trips and ways to maximize his space raced through his mind. Shirou swore to himself that he would make the kitchen a place of wonders once more.

After dinner, Shirou set to work cleaning space in the kitchen for his "projects," but felt another headache build inside his head. He ignored it for the most part, but Shirou admitted that he was in a new environment dealing with things he had little to no experience after hours of nonstop travel. A good night's sleep would do him a lot of good in getting used to the place. With that in mind, he told Nanako he was turning in early and returned to his room.

Shirou scowled at the sight of the still-packed boxes he hadn't gotten around to today. There was even a shelf for him to assemble he knew he hadn't bought. "Nothing for it; I'll take care of those in the morning." With a sigh, he shifted the remaining cargo out of the way and laid out the futon.

His headache was getting worse again. Briefly, he thought he heard a voice whisper in his ear, but he wasn't sure. Was he really that nervous? In the darkness, he briefly glanced at his hanging uniform. Tomorrow was the start of school this year at Yasogami High School. While many would feel intimidated by the prospect with no friends to fall back on, Shirou wasn't one of them. All he planned to do was take up the mantle of "the fake janitor" and help people who needed it.

He briefly entertained the notion of seeing Igor in the Velvet Room again, but he doubted it; the impish man warned of danger. As he saw it, there was nothing special about Inaba. It was quiet, with small-town problems and far away from any serious danger. He relaxed to the sound of the rain pouring outside pattering against the window, drowning out any other outside noise.

Yes, Inaba was quiet and peaceful. Safe.

"A whole year..." Shirou mumbled, his eyes closing. "In quiet, safe Inaba…"

Oddly enough, just before he fell asleep he felt a pang of disappointment at the thought, as strange as it was.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 7: Hazy Dream

???

"?!" As with earlier today, Shirou found that rather than simply enjoying a peaceful rest with the occasional distant dream or nightmare thrown in, his consciousness awoke somewhere far more vivid.

"… Was it something I ate? Either way…" Shirou muttered under his breath while scanning his immediate surroundings. He had no idea where he was: all he could see in the hazy light was a thick white fog. Well, he could see about five meters around himself, but all could tell was that he was standing on a raised walkway made of large red tiles. The walkway was narrow, barely wider than he was tall, and had no railings. He couldn't tell how far off the ground he was either. There was nowhere to go but forward.

First things first, though: Shirou turned his focus inward to check his Magic Circuit and found it no different than when he checked it back at the shopping district. That being said, his current Circuit was weak and needed to be replaced. While the ghostly stillness that surrounded him offered the chance to sit down and make another one, Shirou was wary to try something that required so much focus and time in an unknown location. He would have to hope his current Circuit held out a little while longer.

His progress was slow and careful at first, but he felt that he was making about as much progress as he had when he stood still. No matter how far he wandered through the fog, he saw no change for the first hundred meters or so. Unconsciously, he started speeding up. With no warning, a voice echoed from all around him, barely above a whisper.

"Do you seek the truth?"

It didn't have Igor's gentlemanly drawl or Margaret's calm crispness. Shirou immediately stopped and looked around, but didn't see any signs of life. He was still alone in the dense fog and braced for an ambush. "Hello?" he called out tentatively. "Is someone there?"

There was no response, but Shirou could feel that he was being watched. More tellingly, he could hear something echoing from ahead. It sounded almost like heavy stones slamming together, but muffled. Despite running deeper into the fog in an attempt to find the source, he had the sinking feeling that he was going in a circle. Is this one of those Bounded Fields dad told me about? Is it related to that "Velvet Room" from earlier?

If he was really stuck in a Bounded Field, he could theoretically be stuck here for all eternity in a modified space outlined by the magus or creature that made it. There was always the possibility that this was just a dream, but this didn't feel like one… maybe a nightmare, one that he might never wake up from.

"If there's anyone there," Shirou shouted between strides, "tell me: what do you want?"

"If it's truth you desire, come and find me."

The voice sounded clearer the deeper he ventured into the mist. Its tone was imperious, like a king addressing a serf. Shirou continued to run, expecting a monster or overwhelmingly powerful magus of some sort. His desire to know what was going on overrode any sense of fear that might have slowed him down.

He could see it now: at the very edges of his vision, great stone blocks collided from deeper out of the mist, paving the road just ahead of his feet as he ran.

Eventually the blocks led him to a barrier in the same black and red pattern like the tiles below. Squares encased each other in a red-black-red-black format around a glowing center button. It was almost like a doorbell.

Cautiously, he placed a palm on the unnaturally smooth, colored stone. As much as he was wary of playing into some sadistic monster's trap, this was the first deviation from the norm and he needed more information. "Trace On."

The Aria rolled off his tongue and his Structural Analysis probed the barrier. At the surface, it certainly looked like stone, but the deeper the spell looked, the stranger the information got. The door wasn't truly stone at all. In fact, it seemed to be made entirely of… darkness? Shadows? Wait, was this door alive??

Just what is this place…?

Regardless, he knew someone was behind that door. Most likely the taunting voice he heard twice before… he came this far already, and the alternative was to sit on his hands and hope the magus was feeling generous and let him leave.

Judging by the taunting, he wasn't about to put much faith in that.

Putting the information from Structural Analysis to good use, he reached and touched the center of the door, watching as it slid and opened from the inside out. More fog poured out from with the space beyond immediately, nearly blinding him. Initially, he waited for the fog to settle, but it seemed that the longer he waited, the more poured out. Finally, he took a single, tentative step forward, then another. Even though the fog was so thick he could barely see his feet, Shirou found that the ground continued beyond the door.

When he glanced back though, he could no longer see the door at all. Definitely magic.

Standing in the middle of the fog-shrouded space, a vague, human-like silhouette watched him, its features completely hidden. "So… you are the one pursuing me," it said.Even hearing it from so close, Shirou couldn't tell if the figure was male or female, or even if it had a real gender; it was just too jumbled and unnatural to make sense of. "Let's see the potential of your power."

A bright red light emitted from the being's body, and the ground shuddered. With a hiss like an air compressor, a greenish arm ripped its way from below Shirou, forcing him to step back as the humanoid creature emerged from the ground like it was rising from the pits of hell. The creature's hairless body was emaciated to the point that its skeleton was plainly visible against its warty green skin. Its pointed teeth dripped ropes of saliva, and its sunken eyes gleamed with feral cunning. Despite its weak appearance, its movements were sharp and quick, and the mad hunger it exuded was almost a physical force.

Shirou could feel it: this was a life-or-death scenario. If he didn't kill this thing, it would rip him apart without hesitation.

"Ghoul," the being within the fog spoke. "Kill him."

The green demon, now dubbed Ghoul, let out a shrill screech and loped towards Shirou like a ravenous wolf. Its mouth dropped open, hungry for flesh. Shirou managed to evade the first charge by pure reflex, throwing himself to the side and rolling to his feet just in time to see the monster skid to a halt and charge him again!

"Trace… On!"he almost screamed, not even thinking as he moved. The creature was faster than he was and moved with the agility of a wild cat, and Shirou was unarmed and unarmored. The only thing he knew that had a chance to solve the latter problem was a gamble. He flooded prana through his shirt just as the Ghoul made its pass.

Shirou felt a split second of relief when the Ghoul's claw-like hands failed to pierce the material in its passing swipe, the cloth as tough as hardened leather. His success rate with Reinforcement was fifty-fifty at best, but it looked like fate was cutting him a break. He had no time to congratulate himself though; the Ghoul had already turned itself around, closer this time, its entire body curling around like its spine was made of rubber rather than bone.

This time Shirou could not get out of the way in time, and the demon slammed into him and bowled him over. The creature was far stronger than its gangly frame suggested, and Shirou's muscles strained to the limit just keeping that slavering mouth from tearing out his throat. The Ghoul's powerful claws squeezed tighter and tighter around his arms, and for the creature's fetid breath nearly choked the young magus-in-training as it inched closer.

Is this as far as I can go?

The moment the thought passed through his mind, fury and desperation welled up in Shirou's body, lending strength to his limbs. He kicked at the thing's stomach, throwing it back. The Ghoul shrieked in a mix of hunger and mad frustration at Shirou's stubborn resistance and stalked around him cautiously.

I… I still have things to do first! I can't die here!

Regardless of that thought repeating itself in his mind fervently, Shirou still had no weapon, and the featureless gray plane of fog offered nothing to work with. The magus knew one more spell, but his success rate with it was even lower than with Reinforcement, but the alternative was to let the demon rip him apart piece by piece.

There was no time to think any further; the Ghoul hurled itself at him, hunger overriding any caution it might have had. Shirou swung his empty hand, envisioning a sword in his mind's eye. A simple katana was all he needed.

A brief shock passed through his nerves, and instead of empty air, he was holding a weapon, but it wasn't the sword he expected. In his hands was a weapon that was equal parts sword and polearm. The whole thing was too short to be a naginata: the entire weapon was a little less than five feet long, with the blade no longer than that of katana, and the rest an overlong handle. A gap ran up the middle of the handle to lighten it, but it was also wrapped in white rough cloth to make it easy to hold. For some reason, Shirou found himself settling into a guard stance that he had never tried before the moment the weight of the new weapon registered in his hand.

It proved wise: the Ghoul slammed into the weapon and was quickly shoved aside before it could bring its deceptively great strength to bear. With a sweep of his arms, the blade sang through the fog, seeking out the demon's neck. Now it was the Ghoul's turn to retreat, bending its body at an absurd angle to escape the long weapon's range and deeper into the fog. Its hateful glowing eyes were the only sign of its presence, and Shirou tracked the red pinpricks as they circled.

"Hmm… not only do you have good reflexes, but it seems you could see a little of your surroundings, despite the fog." That imperious voice mused from within the fog somewhere behind Shirou.

"What's the point of this?!" Shirou called out, not looking away from the demon for even a heartbeat. "What do you want from me?"

"You seek the truth? Win this battle and find out."

As if on cue, the Ghoul stood up and ran on two legs, its arms swinging around to tear at Shirou's flesh. Spine searing with the heat of his Magic Circuit, Shirou grit his teeth and stabbed his blade into right side of the Ghoul's chest, biting deep into the monster's body. With a shriek of agony and mindless fury, the demon retaliated with all of its might, skewering Shirou's shoulder through his Reinforced shirt with its dark claws. Worse, the creature hissed out a purple vapor into his face smelling of rotten meat.

The stab wound was easy enough to fight through in the heat of life-or-death battle, but the sickening fire that raced through his veins and the cold sweat was not. Tearing his polearm free of the Ghoul, Shirou coughed suddenly as something hot and coppery came up from his throat. "Po-poison…?" Strength drained out of his limbs, and even as he fought to keep a grip on his weapon, Shirou fell to his knees, hacking up rosy blood and feeling his throat constrict.

The Ghoul shook itself almost like a dog and turned its hungry stare back to Shirou, apparently not bothered enough by the wound in its ribs to pay it any more mind. It slowly approached with its knifelike fingers scraping against each other like a butcher sharpening their tools.

Shirou could barely move, his vision blurring in and out and his entire body burning with an unnatural fever. With every step the demon took towards him, Shirou felt the poison burn hotter, until it felt like he was once more laying in that burning hell that was Fuyuki ten years ago.

Maybe this is all just a dream… there is no way this could really be happening…

For a split second, Shirou saw Kiritsugu's smiling face from that day, and the faces of his family in both Inaba and Fuyuki.

No, this isn't a dream. If I die here, I'll be dead for sure. But… I can't die! Not yet! Not until I realize his dream! I have to protect them!

Shirou forced himself to his feet weakly, the fire in his blood fading little by little when he brought a hand forward as though warding away the demon. To his dull surprise an aura of blue surrounded him for a second before something transparent and rectangular appeared before his hand. On instinct he grabbed it, albeit too forcefully. Whatever it was, it shattered like glass, but his hand felt no pain.

He felt a presence appear behind him, but there was no malice in it. Simply power and a sensation like an out-of-body experience. It was like he was looking at the Ghoul from behind his own shoulder. A flicker of motion barely registered in the boy's eye before a lightning bolt dropped onto the Ghoul's head seemingly from nowhere, stunning the demon.

Shirou couldn't believe his eyes. That wasn't really him, was it? Was that… did I cast thunder magecraft? That couldn't be right: he did feel something drain out of him a little, but it wasn't from his prana reserves, or at least didn't feel the same as the sensation of burning magical energy.

He didn't have time to think about that revelation though, for the Ghoul recovered and glared venomously at him. Shirou still hadn't recovered from the poison, and could only glare defiantly at the monster when it charged him again. He could barely hold his weapon still, let alone fight, but he refused to give up.

Shirou growled in his throat and struggled to draw upon more of his prana or whatever force answered his need the last time. He felt like his body was about to collapse, but as if in answer to his need, the shadowy figure from before appeared beside him, seemingly no more substantial than the fog around him. It was a towering humanoid figure hovering a foot off the ground. It was also holding something in its hands. Unlike the taunting figure deeper in, this one's presence brought nothing but comfort to the red-haired magus.

The blade in its hand swept across its body, cleaving the Ghoul diagonally as it leapt forward. Whatever the giant was using, it sliced through the wiry demon like a hot knife through butter: the Ghoul's body split in two from shoulder to hip with terrifying strength. Shirou forced his hand to cover his mouth and nose, expecting to be showered in gore as the two halves separated. Instead, the creature's lifeless body dissolved into so much black and red mist that soon melted into the fog as though it never were.

His savior also disappeared, though he felt an aching headache when it did. At the very least, killing the thing had also caused the poison to fade from his system with it. More proof if any were needed that magic was involved.

"I see… you indeed possess an interesting quality…" the mysterious voice from before hummed, intrigued despite its arrogant tone.

With renewed strength, Shirou quickly tightened his grip on his unusual sword and slipped into a modified kendo stance, facing the entity warily. "Alright, I've passed your little test," Shirou spat. "Tell me what's going on!"

"What exactly do you wish to know?" The voice was definitely mocking now. "If what you seek is 'truth', then your search will be even harder…"

"You said that if I beat that demon you'd tell me the truth! What the hell is going on?!"

"How naive. You demand things from forces you cannot begin to grasp, foolish one. Did you really believe passing such a minor test meant you had caught up to me?" The being glowed red again, and Shirou quickly tensed, expecting another demon. Instead, the fog thickened suddenly, pouring from the figure's position silently.

"Everyone seeks what they want to… and the fog only deepens…" it intoned cryptically.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Shirou called, trying to sweep away the fog with his blade, which only grew harder and harder to see through the thickening vapor. "You're just going to run away after leading me on? Hide in this fog you made after almost killing me?!"

"If you had a struggle of facing that meager demon, you are only going to hate what's in store for you later…"

Shirou grimaced, silently cursing his luck. If what the being hinted at came to pass, he would need to become much stronger, and fast.

"We may meet again at a place other than here, and all your questions shall be answered either by or before that time… Hmhm… I look forward to it…"

The fog continued to deepen, its smothering blanket turning his vision gray and lulling his senses. It was getting harder and harder to focus… to stay awake…

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 8: Class of 2-2

April 12th, 2011 – Dojima Residence

Shirou's eyes slowly forced themselves open, staring blankly at the light fixture overhead. Long-ingrained habit took over from his position in the warm futon, and he glanced at the clock by his futon first thing: it was just after seven o'clock.

I slept in? That's no good… No way I can do my morning exercises now. Do I have even enough time to make breakfast?

Shirou considered himself an early riser, and he fully intended to take advantage of that to start cooking breakfast for the Dojimas right from the get go. It was only when he brought his arm up to wipe his eyes that the full weight of last night's "dream" hit him. Much to his surprise, there was no pain, no fatigue in spite of the fight leaving him in incredible pain at the end. He only really felt the disorientation of the change in surroundings and position.

I'm still alive… he concluded rather belatedly. That's a good sign.

Shirou also noted that movement was painless as well. As he started to get changed into his uniform, he took a moment to look for wounds. Strangely, not so much as a blemish marred his skin aside from his old shoulder scar, not even where the Ghoul had punched a hole in him on the opposite side. Did he just imagine the whole thing? And that strange weapon… now that he thought about it, was that the first time he had Projected anything that well?

Everything I tried outside of Structural Analysis has never worked so well before… and I certainly never learned lightning magecraft or how to bind spirits either… so why-?

The red-haired teen shook his head and cleared his thoughts; today was the first day of school. He could worry about the cryptic dreams he'd been having and startling development of his magecraft later. He could do a more in-depth analysis when he managed to replace his Magic Circuit, a task he couldn't put off for much longer if he intended to keep his skills (such as they were…) sharp.

While somewhat disappointed that he wasn't able to cook breakfast, Shirou made a point to make himself presentable for class at the very least. A quick shower later, and he was slipping into the school uniform for Yasogami High School Fuji-nee had ordered for him. It was an old-fashioned gakuran-style outfit: the high-collar black jacket was subtly checkered around the cuffs and collar with a houndstooth pattern, giving them a slight shimmer, with golden buttons. The jacket was also lined with white threads in places, making the uniform look patchy but still sleek. This went over his chosen white undershirt and matched the black slacks the school required. It was actually pretty similar to the uniforms Homurahara High used if slightly more traditional in design. It was certainly comfortable enough, especially since he left the top two buttons undone.

When he finally came down, he nearly jumped when he noticed Nanako placing breakfast on the table. Two places were set, and each plate had a simple meal laid out of sunny-side-up eggs, bacon and toast. "Good morning," she greeted.

Shirou tensed his jaw to keep it from dropping open; seeing this girl not even half his age cook breakfast for the both of them was not only endearing and sweet, but also unsettling. He was no expert on the subject, but he didn't think girls Nanako's age should be so used to cooking for themselves and to be so at ease with the task. It was like seeing himself years ago as he grew up with Kiritsugu…

Was this what it was like for Fuji-nee when she first saw him come out of the kitchen with an armload of food?

Though, in his defense, his father was a horrible cook and resorted to take-out most of the time, so Shirou had to take up cooking for both their sakes. The man could have probably made water catch fire if he put more effort into it. Taking up the mantle of "family chef" was one of the best decisions he made concerning his life, if the heartfelt compliments from Sakura and Fuji-nee were any indication. Once again he promised himself to cook something up for his relatives soon, ideally tonight.

"Good morning," he finally managed to reply as he sat down. A sweep of the table showed that there was only enough for the two of them, and Dojima was nowhere to be found. "Did your father leave for work early?"

Nanako nodded. "There was some kind of trouble. He won't be back until late," she explained before starting to eat. She wasn't as clearly upset as last night, but her tone was resigned, as if she had grown used to it.

"I see…"

The two of them ate their breakfast in extended silence, managing to simply enjoy the other's company. At least, Shirou hoped Nanako was enjoying it. As it was, he didn't have much too actually talk about with the younger girl, and if Dojima was always out as Nanako implied, she was probably used to the silence of eating alone.

Taking a few more bites of his meal, he had to admit she was pretty good in making a western breakfast. The bread was toasted to a perfect golden brown shade, mixed with the right amount of butter to avoid losing its crunchiness. The egg was served with little to no burn marks and the yolk intact, and the bacon was very crispy. It looked like she had a lot of practice cooking. Before he could compliment her on the food, the six year old broke the silence. "You start school today, right?"

Shirou swallowed his bite of French toast and nodded. "Yes, I believe so."

Nanako gave a shy smile. "My school's on the way, so… let's go together!"

He was somewhat taken aback by her earnest request, but he had no reason to deny it. Actually, it was a genuinely friendly offer, and it would give the cousins a chance to just get used to the presence of the other. "That's a good idea. Thank you, Nanako."

His little cousin's face flushed again as she silently nodded before she refocused on her meal. She was starting to reach out to him at least, even if she wasn't completely sure how to act around him yet. Shirou didn't mind. They had a whole year to find common ground.

After breakfast, the two had checked their bags and gathered their umbrellas before heading out for school. The route was pretty long considering that Dojima lived almost on the opposite side of the city from Yasogami, but Shirou didn't mind. Even small bits of exercise like this would be good for him.

Samegawa Flood Plain

The walk was, as expected, quiet and faintly awkward for the cousins as they crossed the floodplain. Beside them was the Samegawa River, its banks slightly swollen from the rain, but far from flooding the ditch it flowed through. Shirou also noted the way the hills gave way to a small plain that had a small gazebo standing in the middle of it, offering a view of the city to the north.

Once the pair reached the end of the plain and back to a proper road, Nanako stopped and pointed towards a paved path leading further up the hills. "You keep going straight from here," she said. "My school's this way. Bye!" With a smile and wave, Nanako walked back the way they came towards her elementary school.

Shirou silently waved back, not finding the time or words to say back to her. I really need to get better at this "cousin" business. I should have complimented her cooking, maybe offer some lessons or at least encouraging her.

The magus hadn't even taken a single step when he spotted something from the corner of his eye at the gazebo he and Nanako had just passed. It was a girl about his age: she was about average height for a Japanese girl, with her light brown hair cut in a short bob cut, barely reaching her neck. She stood out from the rest of the girls he had seen on the way to school thanks to her green track jacket with yellow stripes she was wearing over her uniform, a few aluminum badges pinned on one side. Instead of socks, she wore a pair of loose white leg warmers.

She was pacing restlessly, glaring at the rainy sky as if her irritation would get it to pause. It seemed odd that she would stop there. Then he noticed that she was soaked. Ah. She has no umbrella.

Compared to the downpour that occurred last night, the rain had mellowed out into a light drizzle, but for anyone trying to walk today, it was still annoying enough to require some protection.

With a shrug, Shirou headed back towards the gazebo. It wasn't like him to leave people in these situations without offering a helping hand. "Excuse me? Are you a Yasogami student as well?"

"Eh?" The girl was visibly surprised by Shirou's arrival. "You talking to me?"

"There's no one else hiding under here, is there?" he asked playfully with a smile, closing his umbrella as he stepped under the wooden shelter.

She chuckled and shook her head. "Oh no, I'm just waiting for my friend to show. She's usually good on favors, so she might not mind me sharing her umbrella for today… I hope."

Shirou cocked his head a little. "If it's no trouble, what happened to your umbrella?"

The brown haired girl laughed sheepishly. "I uh… saw this action movie the other day where a guy was using an umbrella as a weapon and doing some cool moves with. I tried to mimic them with mine and… accidentally broke it. Punched a hole in the shoji, too…"

A bead of sweat rolled down the back of the magus' head. Who would reenact kung-fu moves with an umbrella you might still need? Then again, considering his habit/hobby of fixing appliances with the help of magecraft, he couldn't really say anything about strange guilty pleasures. He made no secret that he enjoyed helping as a fake janitor back home, but he made sure no one knew how he pulled it off so easily. He could still recall the stares of disbelief from his peers back at the Homurahara Student Council when he brought a broken heater back to working order in a matter of minutes.

Still, it wouldn't do well on his conscience to leave this girl alone in the rain betting on the chance her friend does come by and then allow her in. "If you want, you can borrow mine," he offered, holding his umbrella out.

The girl spluttered at the offer. "Huh? But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. School's not that much further and you're soaked enough as it is. It's no big deal," Shirou shrugged easily.

The girl looked at the umbrella for a second before frowning. "I can't do that to you. My friend should
be here any second…" the girl's polite refusal was interrupted by a buzzing from her jacket pocket, and she pulled out her phone and checked the text message. "Oh, crap! She's already at school?"

Shirou brought his umbrella back up. "The offer's still open, if you need it. If you're worried about me, we can always just share it until we get to the gate. It's not that much farther is it?"

For reasons Shirou couldn't fathom, she blushed at the compromise briefly. "B-but that's… Wouldn't that be awkward?"

"Why? You don't have your umbrella, and neither of us want to get wet." he replied obliviously.

With a brief sigh of resignation she stepped forward under his reopened umbrella. "Alright, you win. Just as far as the gate though, got it?"

"Got it."

"And… thanks," she smiled cutely.

For an Ally of Justice-to-be, Shirou felt content with that simple thanks. No matter how small or big the favor, he was willing to tackle it if only for the small graces of thanks from the people around him.

The rest of his walk was uneventful, and before long they found themselves at the front gates of Yasogami High. The electronic gate was still open and students wandered through with varying levels of haste. If the gate was closed when you arrived, you were tardy on the records or the whole school was closed. The school stood on top of a hill with several Sakura cherry blossom trees starting to bloom on either side of the courtyard, giving a warm greeting to the arriving students. Before him stood a three-story boxy-shaped building, with a smaller two story building connected at the side via two covered walkways, all colored in a slate gray color.

As the girl thanked him and ran on ahead, Shirou couldn't help but to feel at awe at the place. He hadn't expected much from a high school in a small rural town, but it was actually a good size and well-kept. It was no Homurahara, but that school had its own dojo building dedicated to archery, for goodness sake!

"Yasogami High, huh?" he muttered to himself. "I wonder what school here will be like…"

<><><>

Yasogami High School – Room 2-2

Chie Satonaka couldn't believe her poor luck. First, she had to run through the rain because she forgot to replace her broken umbrella (seriously, you'd think they'd be sturdy enough to take a few good whacks) and was soaked for a good portion of the way over. At least near the home stretch she met someone kind enough to share his with her, awkward as it was. She never got his name, now that she thought about it.

But to further her rotten day, she, like the other students in this particular classroom, discovered that they were stuck with Kinshiro Morooka for a homeroom teacher. "King Moron" had to be the strictest stick-in-the-ass faculty member of Yasogami High. Rude, ugly and prone to openly insulting anyone under the age of 30 (at least), the man was universally reviled by the students who had his classes. It was a bizarre mix of shame and relief that her best friend Yukiko was in the same boat.

"Hey, you guys!" A female student a couple rows away told her friends excitedly. "I heard there's going to be a transfer student from the city in this class!"

It was a nice distraction to King Moron, and the girl's friends started getting into it. "Oh, really? A guy or a girl?"

Chie had to admit she was interested too. "A transfer student from the city… just like you, right Yosuke?"

She turned to the student sitting behind and to her left, who was hunched over his desk as if sleeping… or dead. "Are… you alright?"

"I really don't want to talk about it," the boy moaned, not moving even an inch from his position. Chie exchanged glances with Yukiko, who sat in the seat in front of her, and they both gave confused shrugs before settling back in to wait.

Moments later, the front-most door slid open with its tell-tale grinding, revealing their foul-tempered homeroom teacher in his trademark pinstriped blue suit and checkered tie followed by a taller boy wearing the school uniform. The students who were still up and talking immediately scrambled to their seats when they spotted the teacher. Morooka seethed at the still talking students unaware of his arrival, and made it known through his loud, almost perpetually snarling voice.

"Alright, shut your traps!" he bellowed. Every student flinched and silenced themselves on the spot. Despite being shorter than his most of his students and noodle-thin, some said it was his horrendous overbite that scared them into submission, others felt his hideous comb-over was a crime against nature. No matter how loathed he was or how much people groused about him behind his back though, no one was bold enough to argue with him for more than one day before his sharp tongue and threats of expulsion silenced them. He was called King Moron for a reason after all.

Chie noticed that while their homeroom teacher was talking, the student was writing his name on the blackboard. "Shirou Emiya," if she was reading those kanji right. Wait, he looks familiar… No way! Chie nearly gaped at the sight: it was the same boy who walked with her to school!

"I'm Kinshiro Mooroka, your homeroom teacher from today forward!" he continued, following up with one of his infamous rants. "First things first! Just 'cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons. Long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow!"

Many students rolled their eyes at his ongoing tirade and felt beads of sweat roll down the back of their heads. It wasn't uncommon for King Moron to make such remarks and speeches, treating himself like judge, jury, and executioner on what he deemed indecent, which was basically any form of interaction between people of the opposite sex. It was like he hated the notion of people having social lives in any form.

After nearly three minutes of expressing his issues with teenagers he finally moved on, still obviously annoyed. "Now I hate wasting my time, so let me introduce you to the transfer student."

Having finished writing out his name well before Morooka was done ranting, the obviously patient teen immediately stepped forward to address the class with a neutral face. "My name is Shirou Emiya. It's nice to meet you all," he said politely with a bow. Despite his average height, he was actually more exotic than many expected. His hair was a dull red color, and his eyes were almost yellow in the right light.

Before anyone could say anything, Morooka took over once again. "This sad sack's been thrown out of Fuyuki City out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage. He's a deserter, no different from a wounded, defeated warrior, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him!"

He turned to the student, who was standing awfully stiff and tense. He probably wasn't used to being so casually insulted by a teacher before, but it was the common initiation by King Moron; everyone got whipped at least once by him. The student, Emiya, seemed to finally relax and turned to Mooroka with an innocent question: "Isn't that a little self-depreciating?"

Many of the students blinked, and even the homeroom teacher looked perplexed at what he just asked. "What?" he grunted flatly.

"You just mocked Inaba as a place in 'the middle of nowhere', so by definition, you would be insulting yourself and everyone in this classroom for living here, wouldn't you?"

A deathly silence followed after Emiya's words were uttered, almost like a funeral observance. The students were aghast in horror of someone having the guts-nay, the balls- to call King Moron on his hypocrisy. Yosuke, who managed to lift his head in time for the transfer student's casual delivery, spoke the two words that circled everyone's head:

"He's dead."

Morooka, for his part, managed to keep his composure aside from a pulsing vein and twitching eyebrow. "Well aren't you the smug little smartass. That's it; you're on my shit list, effective immediately."

Before Emiya could begin to utter what would most likely be an apology, King Moron pounced on him with no leeway for him to speak even a word in his defense. "Now listen up! I don't know where you got that superiority complex, but you're miles away from your city of perverts and assholes, in more ways than one. So don't even think about taking advantage of some girl here with your sweet talk! City boys like you piss me off; going around banging girls left and right, reading all these damn manga about death-books and drill robots-"

From her seat in the middle of the class, Chie decided to bail the poor guy out. No one should have to put up with this kind of thing from their own teacher, especially not on their first day. "Sensei!" she raised her hand and boldly interrupted his tirade. "Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?"

Morooka glanced at the empty seat next to Chie in the middle row, slightly calmed. "Huh? Yeah, sure," he turned back to Emiya as if the last few minutes hadn't happened. "Hear that, city boy? You're seat's over there, so get your ass over there and siddown!"

"Y-yessir," he muttered quickly, and finally settled into his assigned desk. He let out a slight sigh of a relief before whispering to the girl next to him. "Thanks for the save up there."

"No problem. I never got to pay you back from back at the gazebo." The relieved smile he gave her at that had a bit of recognition in it. "You better watch what you say here, though," Chie warned quickly, and just as quietly. "King Moron will only make it worse for you if he gets half a chance."

"'King Moron'?"

"It's what we call him. He's the worst, isn't he?"

Emiya shrugged nonchalantly. "I've known worse. Compared to a friend of mine back home, this 'King Moron' is rather tame."

Now intensely curious, Chie would have asked more but their teacher caught them in the act. "What did I just say to you, city boy?"

Emiya paled, and Chie couldn't help but to feel bad for him. "Uh, it's not-!"

"Consider this my first and only warning! I see you hitting on Satonaka again, and I'll personally toss your ass out of here for good!"

He glared at the rest of the students, who were gossiping quietly amongst themselves since the transfer student was seated. "And that goes for the rest of you, as I hope you're aware. Now keep quiet while I start homeroom!"

Thus began the first day of the Yasogami High school year…

<><><>

After school

"That's all for today. Normal lectures will start tomorrow."

A wave of relief washed over the students, and most started packing their bags or gathering in little groups to talk with their friends. Morooka himself was already heading to the door, completely uninterested in what the students did when he wasn't being paid to put up with their "hormone-fueled stupidity" as he liked to call it.

He didn't even get a chance to get out the door before the PA system chimed. "Attention all teachers. Please report to the faculty office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."

Morooka let out a slight grunt before turning back to his students. "You heard the announcement. Don't go anywhere until you hear otherwise."

"The nerve of that guy," a female student murmured as soon as he left. "This year's going to suck…" Several others murmured their agreement before settling in for the wait.

Shirou let out a sigh when the teacher finally left. As strict as he was, he could actually imagine one person that would be even worse if given a position as teacher. After all, if anyone could turn casually lambasting people into an art form, it was Shinji Matou.

Not even a minute passed before sirens screamed by the school grounds. With no one trying to get his attention and no requests for help on the first day, Shirou walked over the window with a few other students, drawn to the noise. "Sounds like an ambulance," he noted. "But why so close?" He could just make out the red and white lights shoot by before the wall of gray that was Inaba's fog swallowed any further signs.

"Something big must have happened," an excited student offered. "But I can't see a damn thing. Friggin' fog…"
"That's Inaba for ya," another shrugged. "When it rains, it fogs right after."

Fog… Now that he thought about it, Shirou was completely shrouded by a very thick fog in his dream last night, and the view outside the second-story window was just as covered from view. Anyone else would have shrugged it off, thinking it a coincidence, even as far as dreams went. But as a magus, he was taught to not believe in them. What could it mean? Is a magus, or worse, doing something through the fog?

"By the way," another student spoke up, adjusting his glasses habitually. "Did you hear the paparazzi lately? They've been looking all over for that announcer."

The student next to him looked instantly interested and eager at the latest bit of gossip; both failed to notice Shirou's slight frown. "Oh yeah, Mayumi Yamano-san, right? I heard some guys spotted her at the shopping district once or twice."

"Well apparently, she's been staying at the Amagi Inn for the last few days."
The gossip-loving student gaped, switching his attention between him and someone still seated at their desk. "Whoa, no joke?!"

Considering you and the media's unhealthy obsession for her, I can't blame her for hiding out here, Shirou thought. Even one day after hearing about the "Yamano scandal" was more than enough for him. One would have thought the media would have something else to talk about by now. He was confused as to what the girl had to do with this… and why the gossiper was going over to her.

Now that Shirou was looking at her, he had to do a slight double-take. The girl reminded him of Sakura for a second, but only so far as their posture went. She was tall and slender with unblemished, pale skin and long black hair held back by a red hair band. Her features were those of a classical Japanese beauty, and she stood out even more with the red sweater she wore over her uniform top. Black stockings covered her legs, somehow adding to her delicate appearance.

"He better not try to turn it into an attempt at the Princess Amagi Challenge," the knowledgeable student smirked and shook his head.

Shirou blinked and turned to the student. "Princess Amagi Challenge?"

After taking a moment to look Shirou over in brief surprise, he replied. "You're the transfer student, aren't you? Best tell you now before you embarrass yourself like a few other love-struck fools." He turned and pointed to the girl, awkwardly talking with the gossiper that walked up to her.

"That girl over there is the heir to her family inn; Yukiko Amagi," the other student explained. "She's one of the two most popular girls in Yasogami High, up there with Ai Ebihara. She's rich, elegant, beautiful and smart, and is popular with nearly the entire male student body. I heard she has a few female followers as well," the boy couldn't help but grin at that last part before he continued. He paused long enough for them to see the student solemnly walking away, as if his cue to make a point.

"However, no one's ever been able to date her yet, and she's still single. A lot of people have tried, and they all failed. No one really knows what she wants in a guy because she works at the inn every day after school and is usually bored out of her mind by whoever asks her out. Rumor has it that she would only accept someone as dashing and charismatic as a prince to even think of asking her out. Considering how she's the closest thing our town has to a princess, I'd say it's pretty believable. And then there's Satonaka-san, her ever-watchful guardian. You don't meet with her approval when she's around, she'll kick you out the nearest window, they say."

"You can't always trust rumors," Shirou countered. It didn't seem right to objectify a young woman into a princess without really knowing her. Does anyone even bother to just talk with her, or do they all just skip straight to asking her out? No wonder they don't know anything about her.

His chatty classmate student shrugged. "I suppose not. But if you don't listen to what others tell you, then who can you trust?"

Shirou didn't have an answer for that, nor did he want to think of one. He glanced back and leaned against the fog-veiled window, hoping to see something out there, or at least distract himself from hearing more rumors and gossip. Something about a channel and soulmates, was it? Honestly, Homurahara High never had this kind of problem. Then again, small towns like Inaba were probably starving for things to do and talk about.

The intercom went off again a few minutes later, but the news wasn't exactly promising.

"Attention all students," the same female voice from earlier called out. "There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the School Zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers. Head directly home. I repeat…"

Many of the students started chattering excitedly on the possible meanings of that announcement. Many were even openly making plans to find what was going on regardless of the faculty's warnings. While Shirou was among those wanting to take a look, he was interested for an entirely different reason: If someone was hurt or worse, he wanted to do something to help, whether it was to look for the cause or save a life in peril… Maybe if I leave now I can find out what's going before Dojima-san would notice. I need to make time for MOEL as-

"Hey, new guy!" A loud, energetic voice broke his train of thought. Turning, he recognized the girl from the desk next to his, as well as the one he lend his umbrella to this morning. Unlike the classically beautiful Yukiko Amagi standing behind her patiently, the shorter girl had more of a "cute girl next door" appearance, brown eyes and a friendly smile on her face.

Yukiko only glanced at him for a second before returning her attention to the floor. She must have a lot on her mind, Shirou concluded.

"You're going home by yourself, right?" the more energetic girl asked. "Why don't you come with us?"
Normally, any guy would jump at the chance to walk home with a pair of attractive girls extending an invitation, especially if it included the most popular girl in school. This fact briefly registered in Shirou's mind and he felt a twinge of worry. Amagi-san was Yasogami's equivalent to Homurahara's own RinTohsaka: beautiful, smart, athletic- everything a guy would want in a woman and the school idol to boot.

"I-I appreciate the offer," he admitted. "But isn't it rather sudden? I don't even know your names." Well, he heard Amagi's name, but Shirou didn't think it would be wise to sound like he was snooping about the popular girls in school.

The brown-haired girl slapped her forehead in response. "Oh right! Nearly forgot about that! I'm Chie Satonaka, and this is Yukiko Amagi, my best friend."

Well, as long as they were introducing themselves… "I'm Shirou Emiya. Nice to meet you both."

"Oh, nice to meet you too," Amagi nodded, seemingly surprised to be included in the conversation. "Sorry this is so sudden…"

Her friend brushed both their worries off. "Oh, stop apologizing Yukiko. You're making me look bad. I just want to ask him some stuff, that's all."

A sheepish voice interrupted them. "Satonaka-san?" The teen behind them had messy auburn hair and a set of headphones hanging around his uniform collar, and was slightly taller than Shirou. The boy, Yosuke Hanamura, suddenly bowed at the waist and held out a DVD case as if making an offering. Anyone could see that he was outright scared for some reason.

"Th-thank you for lending me your movie," he stuttered. "It was really awesome, like how they all moved and stuff… For what it's worth, I'm really sorry, so please spare me your wrath until my next paycheck!" he finished in a rush, forcing the DVD into Chie's hands. Not giving her a chance to say anything, he turned sharply and walked away as quickly as he could get away with.

"Your next-?" Satonaka blinked, realization dawning almost immediately.

"See ya later!" Hanamura waved, switching to a full-on sprint towards the door.

"You bastard! What did you do to my DVD?!" Satonaka all but vaulted over the desks in her way and charged the fleeing boy like a mad bull. She didn't give him any chance to escape, launching a lightning-fast kick just a little too high to simply trip Yosuke up.

Watching the event like a car crash, Yukiko gasped in surprise while Shirou visibly cringed. In fact, many of the students left in the room cringed with them when they saw the hit. Some of the males surreptitiously covered themselves in sympathy.

Yosuke simply dropped where he stood, squirming with pain and cradled his family jewels. Satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere any time soon, Satonaka popped open her DVD case to inspect the damage. Rage gave way to despair instantly. "Wha-?! No! It's completely cracked! My 'Trial of the Dragon'…" she almost wept at the loss, and Shirou couldn't help but feel bad for both her and the still whimpering student. If it were the DVD player, he'd happily offer to fix the damage, but repairing a cracked disc was a bit outside his abilities. And Hanamura…

"I think mine's cracked too…" the auburn-haired teenager wheezed from the ground, barely getting his feet under him. "C-critical hit to the nads…"

"A-are you alright?" Shirou and Yukiko asked at the same time.

Hanamura looked up, but only focused the black-haired girl next to Shirou. "A-ah, Amagi-san… Are you worried about me?" he sounded a little hopeful with that.

"Leave him, guys," Chie huffed. "He'll be fine tomorrow." She marched out of the room, not so much as giving a passing glance to the shakily standing Hanamura. Yukiko looked somewhat sympathetic but followed her friend all the same.

Dubious about that, Shirou stayed behind for a moment. Yosuke had managed to stand back up, but his knees were shaking a little. "You gonna be alright? Need help to the nurse?" he kindly offered.

Yosuke looked up at him and smiled weakly. "Thanks, but I think I'll be fine. I'll just walk it off; I'm tough." His voice was obviously strained, and he nearly doubled over again at his slight misstep before clinging to the door handle.

"…If you're sure…" Shirou muttered, not quite feeling right leaving the guy in pain, but he did look like he was recovering at least. Casting one last look at his classmate, who was already starting to compose himself, Shirou jogged out to catch up with the two girls waiting for him at the staircase.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 9: Bad News Travels Fast

April 12th, 2011 - Samegawa Flood Plain

The walk past the floodplain was mostly quiet, much to Chie's irritation. No one was talking or making eye contact, just staring ahead at the road or gazing at the floodplain, in Yukiko and Emiya's cases, respectively. She expected this out of her friend Yukiko, the shy little thing, but not the new guy: Shirou Emiya managed to cast himself as an enigma upon arrival. He was a city boy like Yosuke, but wasn't at all what Morooka predicted or what Yosuke was when he first moved into town.

Now that she thought about it, he was everything Yosuke Hanamura wasn't: polite, quiet, attentive…? Not exactly a lot to go on, she needed to find out more. Thus, conversation!

"So, you ever heard of the Amagi Inn, Emiya?" she started simply.

"A few times," he replied amiably. He didn't elaborate how or when.

"Well, Yukiko's family runs it. It's been going on for generations. It's the pride of Inaba!"

"Mhm," Yukiko nodded.

"I see," Emiya followed.

Chie fought back a twitch; neither one of them were enthusiastic about this at all! She tried again: "…Amagi Inn has been in a lot of magazines as a hidden treasure. Yukiko's going to inherit it someday."

"Mhm."

"I see."

"…It attracts a lot of visitors in because of its natural hot springs?"

"Mhm."

"I see."

…This is getting ridiculous. It's like they were made for each other… maybe- A sly smile crossed the tomboy's face "…Emiya, Yukiko thinks you're cute."

"Mhm."

"I see."

A second passed after their automatic replies, leading Chie to wonder if they even heard her. Suddenly, they both stopped and exchanged wide-eyed glances and full-face flushes with each other. "What?!"

She couldn't help it; their faces were just too funny! "Hahahaha! FINALLY, a reaction!"

Yukiko pouted at her, the blush still fresh on her face. "Chie! That was mean!"

"Oh, come on, lighten up!" the kung-fu enthusiast smiled. "We have this big chance to talk to someone from a city and you're just clamming up! How do you expect to get a boyfriend at this rate?"

Turning to the transfer student, she leaned in with her hand beside her mouth to mock whisper. "She's really popular at school, but she's never once had a boyfriend. Can you believe it?"

"Hey! Stop it, Chie!" Yukiko cried. She quickly but gently pushed her friend aside so she could stand in front of Emiya. "Don't listen to her, Emiya-kun! She's lying, alright? I'm not popular and I never had a boyfriend! W-wait, no! I mean-"

"I-it's alright, calm down," he said, holding his hands out in a placating gesture. "Everyone takes their own time and pace for relationships, right? Waiting for someone to come along?"

Yukiko visibly relaxed. "Y-yes, of course! That's absolutely correct!" She glanced away briefly and let her voice trail off. "Just waiting for someone…"

Chie thought Yukiko looked rather glum for a moment after that statement, but wrote it off as her imagination. She knew her kind-hearted friend too well to believe she could be gloomy. Yukiko and glum just didn't mix.

"Besides," Emiya continued, having not noticed. "I'm not exactly the best person to ask for relationship advice. Have you asked Satonaka-san? She could help you better than me."

Wait, what did Emiya just say? "Uh, come again?" The other two glanced back at her, confusion abound in their gazes.

"You have a boyfriend don't you, Satonaka-san?" Emiya asked innocently. "I could be wrong, but you made it sound like you had one already."

How did he come up with THAT? Yukiko's the school idol, not me. They all don't even notice me half the time. To have a boyfriend before Yukiko… that might take a small miracle, but it might be nice as long as she's around and looking beautiful as ever-

Chie forced a laugh. "Hahahaha… you're such a kidder, Emiya! I'm afraid I'm just as single as Yukiko, but not because I couldn't find someone." Liar. "Most of the guys are well… intimidated by me." Liar. "I could find someone if I wanted to, though." Liar! "I just don't have the time, really." Liar, liar, LIAR!

"I see," Emiya nodded. Silence loomed over them and the trio resumed their walk, putting most of the awkward conversation behind them.

Chie opted to change the subject to draw her mind away from her earlier thoughts. "Soooo, Emiya, what made you decide to come all the way out from the big city to Inaba?"

"Well, I don't know if I'd call Fuyuki a big city, but I was invited over by some relatives. My uncle and cousin live here," he answered, seeming more open after Chie had all but pried his mouth open earlier. "I'm visiting them for a year and have transferred to school here in the meantime."

"A year?" Yukiko blinked. "That's a rather long visit with relatives. Do your parents mind?"

When Emiya didn't answer right away, Chie had a sinking feeling Emiya's visit to Inaba was something serious, maybe about recent lost family members or something. Coming over to visit their uncle in a rural town would easily be the one kind of relative most people would hate having to see. She didn't get a chance to ask or probe too deeply though or ask why he stopped. The commotion up at the crossroads was answer enough. Police cars had pulled in, traffic cones and barricades redirected traffic, cops worked throughout the scene, and a small crowd of pedestrians stood as close as they could, watching and gossiping.

"So that high schooler left early and came down this street?" one housewife asked another in hushed tones, but far from quietly enough to avoid being overheard.

"That's what I heard," the other woman nodded. "But to think something like THAT was hanging by an antenna…"

"I know! I wanted to see it too."

"You're a bit late then; the police and fire department both brought it down just a few minutes ago."

"Still, it sounds terrifying, that a dead body was found up there…"

A wave of terror washed over the three students. "Di-did she say… dead body?" Chie stuttered."As in… a real dead body??"

"Hanging from an antenna?" Yukiko added with a mixture of horror and morbid curiosity.

Emiya frowned, his expression tightening as he scanned the crowd. "Was that what the announcement and the sirens were about?" His heroic tendencies welled up, and the desire to vault the barricade and have a look himself was almost overwhelming. Heck, he might very well have done just that if a familiar voice didn't catch his attention.

"Shirou?"

The trio was snapped from their thoughts and fears when a rugged, black haired cop, his jacket slung over his shoulder passed the barricade in front of them. "Dojima-san!" Emiya identified the man with a start.

"What are you doing here?" the detective asked with a slight edge in his voice. Whatever had happened, the redhead was obviously not meant to see it.

"We were just heading back from school," Emiya answered. "The announcement didn't tell us what happened, just to head home."

The cop sighed to himself, face scowling. "I told that damned principal not to let anyone through here…"

Chie had glanced between the two of them as they talked before her curiosity got the better of her. "Hang on, you two know each other?"

"Ah, well, he's my uncle," Emiya answered while scratching his head sheepishly. "Dojima-san, this is Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi, classmates of mine."

"Pleased to meet you," Yukiko nodded. Chie followed her example slightly hastily, flummoxed as she was.

"Likewise," Dojima grunted back. "Well… how should I say this? I hope you both get along with him."

Chie and Yukiko exchanged perplexed glances, and saw that even his nephew was confused of what he meant. It wasn't like the man was being sarcastic or crude, but he seemed… awkward about it. The moment passed as another officer in a blue suit rushed by, his cheeks green and a hand over his mouth. He barely made it past the students and behind a guard rail before he lost control of his bowels, noisily vomiting into the grass. Whatever happened to the body was not meant for the faint of heart.

Dojima's expression darkened. "Goddammit, Adachi! If you can't be professional about this, you're going to be sent back to central office!" he snapped.

"S-sorry," the now-identified Adachi whimpered, attempting to cover his mouth and push down his nausea. He was having minimal success.

The hard-boiled detective sighed, muttering to himself along the lines of "rookies" and "unfit for the job" before returning his attention to the students. "As you can see, we still have work to do here, so you three need to head straight back home and not wander around. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the trio agreed. It came out slightly delayed in Shirou's case, something that did not escape Dojima's sharp eye.

"And Shirou? Think you can take care of Nanako for tonight? I have a feeling this is going to be an all-nighter." He sounded resigned with the situation, and from what the redhead had gathered it probably was a pretty regular thing.

Emiya's face twitched to a slight frown for a second at the thought, but he nodded all the same. "Understood, Dojima-san."

Satisfied, Dojima walked off and called to the rest of the officers in the area, his commanding tone visibly motivating the officers into action. "All right, boys! We got a lot on our plate, so everyone get moving! Start with the one who found the victim and any known relatives and get us a list of contacts! We're not calling it a night until we find the sick bastard who did this!"

Hurrying past the scene, the trio of students parted ways at the edge of the floodplain. Once the girls were out of sight, Shirou took off for the shopping district. He had lost track of time at the crime scene, and he still had to make a stop by MOEL before he went back to the Dojima house.

Even with the school and Dojima telling him to head straight home, he had already given his word that he would start as soon as possible. At least he was only looking for a part-time job, even if it would mean that he would have to settle for late meals. He couldn't afford to be gone all the time and leave Nanako alone, especially with Dojima himself working long hours.

He hustled through across the floodplain and rushed north. The incident had closed off one of the main routes that led to the shopping district, forcing him to take a longer route than he expected.

<><><>
MOEL Gas Station

When Shirou arrived, Nami was the first to notice. He waved him over while he continued wiping the windows on a green delivery truck. "Shirou-chan! Welcome back! I almost thought you weren't going to show!"

"Sorry about the delay," Shirou smiled sheepishly. "A bit of an accident happened further down the road."

"Ah yes," Nami nodded. "About the dead body being seen suspended by a TV antenna? Man, murder cases get so complicated these days."

Shirou couldn't keep the surprise from showing on his face. "You heard about it already?"

"In a small town like this, word of mouth is the best source of information," Nami explained before waving goodbye to the green-clothed customer returning to his truck. "The people of Inaba share gossip all the time whenever something comes up; considering how quiet it is around here, any real news is gossiped over pretty much the instant it happens and it gets wilder with each telling. It's practically Inaba's official pastime. You should have heard half the stuff they came up when the Junes department store was first built here! Gets me nostalgic just thinking about then. Wasn't even a whole year ago…"

Sighing whimsically, the attendant gave Shirou a good once-over from head to toe. "Hmm… you look a bit short compared to most boys your age, but you should still fit. You might be more balanced with your weight as well. Can you do manual labor?"

Shirou nodded. "I'm also very good with my hands; repair work, mostly. I occasionally fixed motorcycles in my spare time for some family friends." Raiga Fujimura would occasionally ask him to fix his favorite bikes and paid him well for the service rather than risk going to a black market dealer or give his personal information to a legal repair shop. Nice guy or not, he was still yakuza. For that reason, Shirou made sure not to give away too much about the Fujimuras, especially near Ryotaro Dojima.

Nami whistled. "You keep on surprising me, Shirou-chan! We actually have a motorcycle out back that's been on quota to get fixed by tomorrow. Think you can handle it?"

"Sounds simple enough," Shirou nodded. "Sure, I'll do it."

"Great! But first you better go see the boss inside. I told him you were helping, and he wants to go through all the official 'paperwork' of your application. He also has a spare uniform you'll need to change into." Nami offered a lopsided smile. The redhead was pretty much already hired anyway; anything resembling official procedure was just an affectation.

"Thanks. I'll get right on it." Like Nami had said, the station was looking for part-time workers and was alright with anyone willing to come in at least once a week at any time interval. In Shirou's case, the manager asked him to work at least three hours a shift, seeing as he was a student and thus had limited availability. A small town with so little could afford to be flexible like that, a perk Shirou wasn't sure he would take advantage of all that much.

It wasn't long before Shirou reappeared outside wearing a MOEL uniform that matched Nami's. Sharing a brief cap salute with his senior worker, they made their way to the back of the station and the small garage/shed that held the marked motorcycle.

"One of our older workers started working on it some time ago," Nami explained. "But he got sick and isn't likely to recover in time to work on it before the pick-up date. Kind of a rough initiation test I'm sure, but do you think you can pick up where he left off?"

Shirou nodded, his eyes only leaving the motorcycle to check the toolbox and confirming it had everything he might need. "I got it. Just give some time and a little privacy, please. You can check back on me in an hour if you want."

"You sound quite sure of yourself. Alright, I'll time ya for an hour; got some work up front to take care of anyway. Good luck, Shirou-chan!" Nami gave a quick wave before returning to the front, leaving Shirou alone.

Shirou let out a sigh of relief. Nami-san probably assumes I'm going to do something delicate. Well, it is delicate, but…

After one final check to make sure no one was watching him and that there were no security cameras facing his way, Shirou placed his hand on the helm of the motorcycle. He had no idea what was wrong with it at just glance and Nami didn't elaborate, possibly unsure himself. Normally it would take a person some time to figure out the exact problem with so little information, but Shirou had his own personal cheat for that. "Trace On."

He closed his eyes and focused only on the bike, his magic building a model piece by piece in his mind's eye. Soon, the imperfections that hindered its smooth functioning came together. "…The starter relay's worn out and needs to be replaced… the battery is still good, as long as it's recharged… front tire is flat, but the back one is pumped full…" I'll need some spare tools in the shop to fix this…

With a slow breath, Shirou brought himself from his mild trance and closed his Circuit. When he opened his eyes, they were filled with a knowing glint. "All right, let's begin." Reaching for his tools, Shirou dove into the machine with a measure of enthusiasm, knowing exactly what to do. He couldn't keep a wry smirk from crossing his face at that. "At least that skill still works outside of dreams… Man, this really is the only thing I'm any good at."

As much as he loved his adoptive father, sometimes he wished Kiritsugu had managed to teach even a few more spells, or that he had a greater knack for magic in general. As it stood, what few abilities he had were more suited for a handyman than a hero. While his three spells did in theory have the potential for combat as his dream proved, he just didn't have the talent to make it all come together reliably.

Kiritsugu told him as much while he was still alive; quite bluntly in fact. Other magi didn't need to rely on chance or knowing something so completely to bring about their mysteries. They could focus on the center, the prize: to change the intensity and focus as fast as possible before another could stop them. Anything else was pointless.

That being said, Shirou still found good use with what little he had in fixing things. If he could use his magecraft, no matter how useless, to better improve, help, or even save the lives of others around him, he would be content with being a two-bit hack for as long as he had to.

An hour of tinkering and tool changes later, the older MOEL attendant was walking back up to greet him. "So, how go the repairs?" Nami asked, looking intrigued.

"I think I got it. Let's see if I'm right," Shirou smiled, showing him the starter key and turned the ignition. He was rewarded with the sound of a rumbling, roaring engine and the vibrating handle bar in one of his steady arms.

Nami gawked for a second before giving Shirou a thumbs-up. "That was fast! You really know what to do with motorcycles, huh?"

"It helps that I've done jobs like this before," Shirou half-admitted.

"I can see that. I knew I made the right choice recruiting you! Come out to the front when you've cleaned up here. We'll start with the main building next." The two spent the next hour with simple clean-up around the lot and the building, Shirou taking to the simple tasks with ease.

"So, I got the name of the person that was found dead up on that antenna earlier," Nami suddenly mentioned as he mopped the storefront while Shirou cleaned to drink rack's glass. "Some people passing by said it was the TV announcer, Mayumi Yamano."

The red-haired teen stopped mid-wipe and blinked in surprise. "Yamano-san is dead?"

"I know! What a story! After the alleged love triangle with Namatame and Hiiragi, she ends up fleeing to our own little country town, and is found dead no later than she was found here! It's only a matter of time before the news channel starts sharing what they know!"

"A story?" Shirou seethed, his clenching fist wringing water from the rag in his hand. "No one's even upset that she's dead? They care more about the story?!"

"Of course they care that she's dead," Nami assured him, though he looked a little taken aback by the younger man's reaction. "The police are looking into it, of course. People would want to know what this means for the Yamano scandal they've been covering the last few days. The people in Inaba are just getting a little excited something's happening so close to home."

"But someone's dead!" Shirou snapped. "How can anyone find that exciting?!"

"It's an abnormal murder mystery in a town that has constant rain and fog, and inn tourism gets boring after a while. It's as exciting as one would expect to get in this town with not a whole lot to do…" Nami turned to stare fully at Shirou, his expression suddenly neutral. "Although… this murder happened just after you arrived here new to the town. What's to say that you weren't the one who killed that person today?"

Shirou all but froze on the spot, a myriad of emotions vying for dominance, with outrage and confusion weighing the most strongly, though horror was right behind them. Nami's eyes looked almost red beneath the brim of his cap, cold and piercing. The normally friendly man could have bored a hole in him with his flinty stare. Shirou could only stare back at him wide eyed and gaping, fighting to make his objection heard and failing. "I… I…!"

Without any warning, Nami's façade cracked, and he all but doubled over with laughter. "Hahahahahaha! Oh, Shirou-chan, you're so easy! Of course you can't be a killer. I don't believe in coincidences, mind you, but you're too sweet and hopeful of a guy to even think of that!" Nami calmed himself for a moment, wiping a tear from his eye. "Though I do fear the kind of man you would become if you ever lost that limitation."

"That will never happen, Nami-san, I'll always be an Ally of Justice!" Shirou chided playfully. While in his head Shirou was dead serious in his vow, he had long learned that such a dream would only earn him ridicule if he made too much of it.

"I'm sure you will," Nami smiled cheekily. "Ah, the wonders of youth and their dreams…" Shirou blushed, but said nothing else, moving on to sweeping behind the counter.

After a few more minutes, Nami broke the silence again. "On a lighter topic… have you heard about the Midnight Channel yet?"

Shirou stopped, curious. "The what?"

Nami looked around the store and beckoned Shirou closer. Holding his hand to his mouth, he whispered, "Apparently there's this rumor going around about a special channel you can only see when you meet a specific list of conditions. If you stare at a turned off TV screen alone, in a dark room, on a rainy night you'll see your soulmate."

Shirou stared and blinked at the attendant. What he told him was so surreal and almost beyond belief. And yet… he believes it?

"Is it like… magic?" he tested. If he was a fellow magus, he would correct him on the term, albeit subtly.

"Magic?" Nami chuckled. "Nah, only kids believe in that stuff. Though I guess a little magic would be needed to believe and try this out. Most people these days don't have that in them anymore."

"You mean you believe the rumor?" he asked again.

"I kind of want to try it myself just to see," Nami admitted. "It was raining so hard last night so it might have been possible to see who my soulmate was… But I missed it; had an early morning shift today so I slept in. I meant to tell you about it yesterday too but I wasn't sure you'd even come back, honestly. Unless, of course, you saw what happened last night? Can you tell me what it's like?"

Shirou shook his head. "Sorry, can't say that I have." I was too busy getting lost in a foggy world and trying to fight off a Ghoul.

"I see," he nodded. "Well, I guess I could check the weather report and see the next time when it'll rain. I think it's coming up tomorrow, actually…"

Shirou focused back to sweeping, trying to get his mind off of things. He tried to think on finishing his work and going back home to check on Nanako. He tried thinking what to make her for dinner when he would get back. He tried thinking back on the school day he had.

But try as he might, his mind kept wandering back to the Midnight Channel.

<><><>
Dojima Residence, Evening

Since it was only his first day, the manager had him work a short shift before having him sign off. It was getting close to dinner anyway, so Shirou thought this was fitting to end his first day at work before going back to the Dojima residence. He had never told him about his job there, actually.

Now that he was back in the house, Shirou was almost shoulder-deep in the fridge in search of ingredients for the nth time, and for the nth time frowned at the same results. I guess I can't be too hard on them; Dojima-san always works and Nanako's only six. They probably do take out a lot whenever he does stay home…

Still, the lack of food made it unlikely for Shirou to cook anything pleasant for tonight. He had wanted to try his hand at tonkatsu again, but he lacked the pork cutlet itself. He kept trying to think of alternate meals to go for, but most of what he found was suited for western breakfasts or snacks. There was a bit of white miso in the back, but there was nowhere near enough to do anything with it for two people. Wait, that's supposed to be red miso…!

Perhaps he was a little spoiled from cooking big meals all the time, but he felt very unused to having so few options. He wasn't sure what he could possibly put together with what he found, if anything. Fuji-nee herself would probably see that as her worst nightmare if she ever heard those words from him. Speaking of whom, he needed to give her and Sakura a call to let them know that he was settling in after dinner.

Wait… aha! There they were! Hiding in a corner of the pantry! "Do you like yakisoba, Nanako? I think there's enough for the both of us tonight!"

"…they're fine," she sighed, not even looking in his direction. Shirou turned to her and felt more than a little sympathy for the poor girl. Nanako sat lonely and dejected at the low table, switching her focus between the table and the TV in front of her. She took the news of her dad working late as well as Shirou would have expected her to: not so well.

For the sake of the food, he momentarily ignored her and focused his work on the kitchen, though a twinge of guilt still stuck with him. The minutes ticking away were long and quiet, almost painfully so. There was no Sakura Matou to help him cook or Taiga Fujimura to egg him to do it. There was just a little girl watching TV, too shy to bring up her own opinion half the time. The small family home felt cold.

It was such a stark contrast with how the Dojima Residence felt in comparison to his estate back at Fuyuki, in more ways than one.

"Dinner's ready," he announced, bringing over two hot bowls of noodles to the table. Nanako was still upset, but accepted her bowl and chopsticks offered to her.

"Itadakimatsu," they announced and started eating. The atmosphere of the day was not unlike last night's dreariness. In the background, the news anchor droned quietly before a familiar news story drew both Shirou and Nanako's attention.

"Our top story this evening concerns a bizarre case in a quiet suburb. Around noon today, a woman was found dead near the Samegawa River in Inaba."

Shirou frowned, being reminded of Nami's words back at the gas station, and decided to listen for once to find out what was going on. The television showed the same image for the last few days; one of a smiling young woman with full makeup and in a white blouse "The deceased has been identified as Ms. Mayumi Yamano, a 27-year old announcer from a local television station."

Shirou frown grew. Mayumi Yamano… Nami-san was right. But shouldn't they show more concern of losing their TV announcer instead of discussing it like it was, well, the weather?

"The initial results of the Inaba Police Department's investigation have revealed-" Nanako's breath hitched slightly at the reminder that her father was involved in this. "-that the body was found hanging from a large television antenna atop a local resident's roof. Authorities are uncertain as to why the body was in such a state. With the cause of death also uncertain, police continue to investigate whether the death is an accident or a homicide. A thick fog common to the area has slowed their progress, and plans to fully canvas the area are delayed until tomorrow."

Nanako frowned as well. "They found her body on a roof? That's scary."

"Yeah," Shirou agreed. If only I knew about this sooner, maybe I might have stopped it from happening all together… I just hope Dojima-san can find who did this soon. The later parts of the new story were mostly recaps of the scandal again, particularly on theories of Hiiragi's retribution and Namatame's unlikely lucky break from an otherwise unwanted situation and the alibis of the prime suspects. More shameless journalism attempted to keep the story relevant, but all it did was annoy Shirou. I guess the boredom of the town is also levitated by news media…

"This is getting boring again," Nanako frowned.

Shirou was glad that Nanako was mature enough not to fall for the propaganda, though it didn't explain why she would watch it in the first place. The news was normally not something kids her age cared about. He couldn't keep himself from asking.

"My dad and I always watch the news together. It's the only thing we can watch together." Nanako explained.

Shirou sensed something about her stressed tone, but said nothing on it. "Well, right now they seem more interested in talking about a dead body and that overdone love scandal story, so it doesn't sound like something a little girl should be hearing, right?"

"I guess not," Nanako agreed slowly, curious.

"Also, your father told me he was going to do an all-nighter on this case. He's not going to be back for a while, so why not watch something else in the meantime?"

Nanako's eyes widened slightly, and turned her head to the clock. She looked slightly anxious for something, but in an instant her gloom returned. "Well… there is one show that's coming on soon. But…"

The young teen tilted his head in concern. "But what?"

"You might not like it…" she said sadly. "It's not a show the boys at school like, either."

"Nonsense," Shirou smiled. "It's your house, and you have seniority rights over me. As long as you're happy, I'm happy. And your father won't even need to know."

Nanako looked unsure of herself, cutely fiddling with the helm of her dress for a few moments before meekly looking back up at Shirou "…You promise?"

"I promise."

And just like that, the little girl started to smile again. She reached for the remote and changed the channel. They caught near the beginning of the Junes commercial playing there.

"-ry day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Every day's great at your Junes~!"

Nanako smiled brighter, and sang the familiar words again. "Every day's great at your Junes~!"

"You're a good singer, Nanako," Shirou grinned back, happy that her mood was improving so much over these little things.

Nanako giggled. "Yeah! I'm the best one in the class!"

"Is that so?"

The commercial break ended, and Nanako's attention was back to the TV, almost bouncing in her seat. "Oh! It's starting!"

The show was a foreign cartoon, dubbed over in Japanese. The show's bright colors and cutesy animation went well with the opening tune, and Shirou found it easy to see why Nanako would like the show already. It was definitely aimed at young girls in every sense. The title appeared on screen and Shirou couldn't keep from raising a dubious eyebrow.

…My Little Pony?

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 10: The Midnight Channel

After dinner and Nanako's show, Shirou had one other thing to do before he called it a night. Shirou took a deep breath and picked up the phone. He only needed to wait a few rings before a tired voice greeted him.

"Hello?"

"Fuji-nee? Is this a bad-"

"SHIIIIIIIIROOOOOOU!!" the childish teacher yowled at the top of her lungs. Thankfully, Shirou managed to preserve his hearing by jerking the phone away from his ear. Shirou had to switch ears to hear what she said next; her roar had still left his right ear ringing. "Are you okay? Did anything happen? Are you settling in? Do you want to come home?"

The boy couldn't help but smile at her concern. "I'm doing fine. I had my first day of class today, and I've already met a few people around town. I even managed to get a part-time job-"

"Shirou…" The Tiger of Fuyuki started reproachfully.

"I know, I know. This was about connecting with my blood relatives, not taking up time with work and school. It's only part time, and having some extra cash isn't bad while I'm here, right?"

"That's not as important as spending time with your family." Taiga scolded mildly. "Besides, the news was saying that there was a murder over there. Are you sure you're okay over there?"

Shirou grimaced. He hoped Taiga hadn't heard about that already. She must have been keeping her ear to the ground about Inaba. "Like you told me, Dojima's a detective. If he didn't think it was safe here, he would tell me. I think I'll be fine as long as I follow the curfew and listen to the police."

"Please, Shirou, be careful all the same. If you ever feel unsafe, just come home right away," Taiga pleaded far more seriously than normal. Shirou spent a little while simply talking about his time in this new town so far, occasionally having the reassure Taiga yet again that he was indeed fine and that he wasn't out looking for trouble.

Having said his goodbyes to his guardian, he attempted to call the Matou household, and managed to get a hold of Sakura. "Hello, Sakura. I'm glad I got a hold of you."

"Sempai?" She breathed a mix of relief and her normal quiet warmth in her voice. "How are you doing?"

"I'm settling in. It's only been a day, but I think I'll be alright here."

"That's… that's good sempai. I miss you already," Sakura managed to say, her voice catching.

Shirou frowned at that. The way the girl made it sound, it was like she wasn't expecting him to come home and that she was miserable without him. "Tell you what: give me another week or so to settle in and learn my way around town, and then I'll see if Dojima-san wouldn't mind having you coming over to visit."

"Oh! Ah… I would like that, sempai. I'll need to… talk to grandfather first, though." The soft-spoken girl's words trailed off uncomfortably at that, but she brightened when Shirou began describing the quiet town's scenery. Unlike Taiga, Sakura had obviously not heard about the murder, but Shirou quickly ran out of things to say without touching that topic, so he told her goodnight after hearing that Shinji was out, probably with a girl again.

Once he had hung up, Shirou spent the remainder of the night trying in vain to keep his mind off the murder to no avail.

On the plus side, he didn't have another visit to a strange world the moment he closed his eyes like the last few nights…

April 13th, School Zone - Morning

Shirou walked down the now familiar path to school, trying to forget what happened last night. It wasn't that the show he had watched with Nanako was bad or anything that she feared. The show was well done and definitely entertaining for Nanako, and Shirou was at least able to watch it for her sake. It wasn't even the conversations with Fuji-nee back home.

No, the strange part was the way last night's dream was influenced by everything: running with Nanako and Dojima through a fog-shrouded Inaba with a pony-riding Taiga hot on their heels and swinging her shinai was just bizarre. At least this time he was sure it was a dream and not a vision like the previous night. This one was appropriately surreal and detached. Still, he couldn't afford to relax while he still had Igor's warning and the… other's 'test'.

"RUNAWAY BIKE!"

Jolted from his thoughts, Shirou barely caught the verbal warning and the whirring sound that followed it. He jumped to the side on instinct and watched a black and yellow blur shoot through where he was standing a moment before. The blur kept flying forward without losing speed… right into a trashcan.

Shirou watched in mute shock as the person's upper body was summarily eaten by someone's upright trashcan before it toppled over with its victim still inside. The only saving grace was that the can was empty, the garbage man having already finished this street barely ten minutes before. Unfortunately for the trapped boy, it wasn't long enough to dissipate the lingering smell inside the can.

The sight of the student rolling futilely from side to side reminded the redhead of a turtle flipped onto its back. The student's yellow bike skidded to a rough halt further down the road, the crash jarring a few parts loose and sending others visibly bouncing from the bike.

"S-someone…" the person moaned. "Help me!"

Shirou didn't even need to be asked, his helpful and generous character kicking in instantly. "Hang in there, I'll help." Taking a firm hold of the trashcan and coordinating their actions clumsily, the two managed to finally sit the trapped student upright and pull the can off his head. The student's brown hair was medium-length and slightly shaggy, made worse by the tumble he had taken. He was dressed in the Yasogami uniform, but he was also wearing large headphones hanging around his neck and the large earpieces resting on his shoulders.

"Phew! Thanks man, you saved my-" the student stopped, suddenly recognizing the person before him. "Hey, you're the transfer student!"

Shirou was surprised as well. "And you're… Hanamura, right?"

"Yosuke Hanamura, thank you very much!" the auburn haired extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Shirou Emiya!"

Shirou nodded and took his hand, pulling upright before bowing slightly in greeting. "Likewise. Sorry about your bike though."

"What'd you mean about-" Hanamura stopped and turned to it, paling as he saw the handlebars had come completely off the frame: the welding holding the crossbar to the front of the bike had snapped. If he lifted the bike up, the front wheel could slide right out of the frame. "MY BIKE!"

His earlier good mood was completely destroyed as he cradled the pieces like a fragile toy. "No, no, nononono! Not now! I can't afford to fix you, let alone replace you! I'd been saving for ages to get a motorcycle, and planned to save you until graduation! You can't be totaled now!"

Hanamura continued his frantic denial-induced rant while Shirou couldn't but help feel for him. He had definitely grown a sort of attachment to his bicycle, and seeing it in a sad state was almost unfair. Looking at the damage… it actually doesn't look that bad, honestly.

"I can fix that," he said.

Hanamura stopped, turning to his classmate in surprise and blinking away a few unshed tears. "Wh-what?"

"I can fix your bike," he said again. "It might take a while, but I think I can make it as good as new." Or better if I can find some stronger metal. Structural Analysis isn't useless if you know what you're looking for.

"Dude!" Hanamura leaped to his feet and grabbed Shirou's shoulders fiercely and looked him square in the eyes, beaming with gratitude. "You would seriously do that?! You'd so be my hero if you could!"

Shirou felt his pride swell a bit at being called 'hero'. It was that kind of praise he lived for. "Of course, Hanamura. I'll have it ride-able before tomorrow."

"Sweet! Thanks, man! I seriously owe you one!" he smiled; he wasn't asking questions at all and taking his helpful offer at face value. Shirou had no intention of letting him down in the face of that earnest trust.

Hanamura then glanced at his watch and his eyes widened with horror. "Aw crap, we better get going; class is going to start soon!"

Yosuke, with some regret, took the front wheel and handlebars while Shirou hauled the rest of the bike frame on his shoulder. Both students were fit enough to run with the extra weight, but it would be close.

By some miracle, both students managed to sprint their way to Yasogami High before the gates closed, and even managed to beat King Moron to class. Even hauling the broken bike hadn't been enough to hold them back from making it. In Shirou's mind, it was as if some higher power was favoring him this morning.

Yasogami High School - Lunchtime

Shirou Emiya all but bolted from class the moment lunch period started, not that Yosuke could blame him; his ears were still ringing from King Moron's 'philosophy' class. How the spiteful man was still a teacher baffled many students. Some guessed it was because he filled the 'cruelty to students' quota all high schools have by himself, leaving the rest of the faculty to be eccentric in other ways.

Even if he couldn't get the bike up and fixed in a day like he promised, Yosuke owed it to the transfer student, so Yosuke left in search of his classmate. The least he could do was offer to buy him some steak from Souzai Daigaku. Any guy willing to go out of their way to fix his bike was okay in his book.

Case in point… when he found Emiya again, he was wheeling his bike into the schoolyard, checking his handiwork with a satisfied smile. Yosuke couldn't help but drop his jaw at the sight: it was like it never crashed at all! He knew there were some tools and stuff out in the practice building, but so fast! Yosuke had all but given up on using his bike for at least a week, and this guy had slapped it back together like magic!

"Holy crap!" he whooped, rushing over to the bike like it was a new Christmas present. "It looks amazing! I didn't think you would get it done this fast!"

"How long were you standing there?" Emiya asked quickly. He looked slightly tense; probably from the work he just pulled off. Yosuke guessed that he mistook him for a teacher about to scold him back to the classrooms. With King Moron looming, he couldn't blame him.

"Just got here," Yosuke shrugged. "I didn't get to see you work, though. How did you do it?"

Emiya relaxed and grinned. "Trade secret, though it helped I could find everything I needed around here."

"Phooey."

With a little trepidation, Yosuke's hands reached the handle bars and turned it left and right. Staying firm so far; that was a good sign. "So, you just moved into this town, right? Think you're adjusted yet?"

"I'm getting there," Emiya nodded, sighing a bit. "Fuyuki was much bigger than Inaba. The quiet's not too new: the Miyama half of the city was a lot like Inaba, but Shinto was more of a big city. Can't say I was expecting a murder to happen out here, though."

"Yeah, no kidding," Yosuke nodded. "You heard the news, then? Finding the announcer hanging from an antenna… you think it's some kind of warning?"

Emiya's eyes narrowed slightly, bunching up in a slight grimace. "Warning?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, there's no way it could have been an accident. Finding a body up there in the first place is kind of messed up."

"'Kind of?' Of course it's messed up," Emiya bit out, his grimace growing into a full, angry scowl. "It was a murder. Ms. Yamano is dead. How she got up there or why isn't relevant compared to that. It's not something you gossip about over tea! They need to focus on who did it and find them before someone else gets hurt or worse!"

Yosuke blinked owlishly. That was… not where he expected the conversation to go. Honestly, now that he thought about it, no one aside from a few creeps claiming that Yamano was their 'soulmate' seemed upset that she was dead and gone. They were more interested in how she died and how strange it was. Yosuke would admit he did kind of get caught up in the idea that something big was going on… but he was still better than most people around town. He wasn't getting all stir crazy and excited because something new was happening in stupid, boring, and good for nothing Inaba.

"Y-yeah, I guess you're right," he agreed finally. Best for a change of topic… now! "So, you know what our town is best known for?"

Emiya calmed himself and thought for a moment before answering. "The Amagi Inn?"

Yosuke cringed: he had forgotten about that place. "Well, yes, there is that, but I was thinking about something else-"

"Heavy rain, fog and town gossip?" he humored again.

"Wha-no! I said best known for, not worst!"

"The skinned rabbit?" Okay: that time was definitely sarcastic.

"Grilled steak, man!" Yosuke snapped. "Grilled beef steak!"

"Wait, really?" Emiya tilted his head quizzically. "Isn't that a western dish?"

"Yeah it is! It's also pretty lame to eat around here, but that's part of the reason why it's so popular! Plus, I know where they sell it for cheap! I owe you one for this, so allow me to pay for you! You know, as thanks for the bike!"

"You don't have to, though. I do these things all the time-"

"Then I truly insist!" Yosuke added. "Trust me, it's the least I can do."

A new voice cut in completely out of the blue, and both boys jumped. "Count me in!"

Behind Yosuke was a grinning Chie Satonaka, hands in her track jacket pockets. Yosuke scowled slightly. He sometimes felt that the girl instinctively knew when food was being discussed the same way a wolf could smell fresh meat. "I told you I would pay you back later, Satonaka!"

"And apparently you're paying back Emiya today, when you owed me a new DVD since yesterday." To prove her point, she held out the same DVD case he handed her and waved it in front of his face. "Have you already forgotten about that?"
"It's not the same!" Yosuke snapped. "Food's cheaper than movies!"

"So pay me back with food! You said you're getting steak, anyway!" Chie countered, poking the taller boy in the chest with her DVD case for emphasis.

Yosuke wanted to smack himself for not considering that. That's right; she loves steak… damn it if I had remembered that earlier I would have given her that offer yesterday and saved myself the trouble and the pain!

Suddenly, he glanced over her shoulder to look for her familiar sweater-wearing friend, but only saw students in their matching uniforms eating lunch. He glanced back to Chie. "Hm? Where's Amagi-san?" Yosuke asked. "It's not often you two aren't together."

Satonaka frowned. "Yukiko left school early again; the inn's getting a lot of attention lately so they need all the help they can get."

"Ah, that's right," Yosuke nodded. "The Amagi Inn gets popular this time of year, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Chie sulked briefly before giving her taller classmate a smug grin. "Soooooooo, in the meantime, you can make up your debt early by buying me steak after school!"

The cheerful smile, playful demeanor and jump in her step as she said this did nothing to ease Yosuke's worries… but he knew better than to induce her wrath. His family jewels were still recovering from yesterday… The way Emiya warily looked at her was a nice relief and sign that he wasn't alone in that concern.

"S-sure," Yosuke nodded. "Though there might be a slight change of plans…" The moment he said that, he felt sweat pour down his body in buckets when her expression shifted to a neutral stare. He hoped to all the gods up there she wasn't planning to kick his ass if he failed to appease her…

Junes Department Store – After School

Shirou and Chie were obviously surprised when Yosuke led them to Junes, though it wasn't a pleasant one for the girl. After an elevator ride up to the rooftop food court, Yosuke ordered for them, although it wasn't what he had planned initially. Shirou didn't seem to mind but Chie…

"Hanamura," the kung-fu maniac started calmly. "You said there'd be steak."

"I did say I was going to offer Emiya some, yeah," he explained.

"What I'm seeing is not steak," she stressed, still staring at the plate consisting of marinated tsukune topped with fries. A part of her hoped that if she stared at it long enough, it would spontaneously turn into her beloved dish.

"Well, I could have afforded one steak from Souzai Daigaku, so I had to change plans when you jumped on the freeloader train," Hanamura pointed out with a scowl.

"It's bad enough that you had to take us to your place, but Junes couldn't even add steak to their menu?!" the tomboy snapped.

"First of all, Junes' food court is getting by enough without selling steak," he countered. "And second of all, it's not my place!"

"Do you work here, then?" Shirou interjected, having been snacking on the food in front of him absently.

"Sometimes," the taller teen shrugged. "My family moved here from another city six months ago, like you. Inaba happened to be the new location for Junes to branch out to, and my dad was assigned as manager. Dad has me working part-time a few days a week."

The way his classmate said that made Shirou curious. "That's a good thing, right?"

"For his family, it might be," Chie answered. "Before Junes, Inaba had a very popular shopping district, but all the places have been closing down. I mean, stores like Marukyu Tofu and Tatsumi Textiles are holding out okay, but about half of the others lost business and, well…"

The implication was obvious: ever since Junes had opened, business at the local and family-run stores was dying a slow death. As a regular to Junes, Chie had the decency to feel some shame at her contribution to that. Yosuke on the other hand tried to look disinterested in the matter, as though it wasn't his problem regardless of what people said behind his back. Emiya was probably still ignorant of Yosuke's position in town, but with the way rumors and gossiping run, he'd hear about it within the week.

Hanamura's mood brightened instantly when he noticed a female Junes employee with wavy blond hair walk into the food court and slump into a seat a few tables over. "Ah, Saki-sempai! Be right back guys!"

Without looking back, he sprinted over to the girl and both slipped into light-hearted gossip. Shirou turned to the brunette for an explanation. "Who's that?"

"That's Saki Konishi, a 3rd year student at Yasogami. Her family runs the liquor store at the shopping district… I think she works here part time though."

"Hanamura seems very friendly with her. Are they close?" the redhead asked, glancing back at the conversation.

Chie smirked. "Oh, doesn't he wish…"

Before Shirou could inquire further, Hanamura and Konishi walked over to their table, with the former making introductions. "You've already met Satonaka, but here's my new buddy Shirou Emiya."

"Oh, the transfer student, right?" Saki smiled gently, looking a little tired. "It must be nice to have someone else from the big city to talk to, huh? Hana-chan here doesn't have many friends, nor does he hang out with others."

Hanamura visibly flinched at the implied insult. "Th-that's not really-"

"Hana-chan's a good guy," Saki continued, a touch of mischief coming to her smile. "But he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell him right to his face when he starts to annoy you. Other than that, I hope you get along with him."

"He's not that bad," Emiya replied with a shake of his head. "Hanamura's a good person."

At once, Yosuke visibly relaxed at the compliment while Saki's smile widened a fraction. "Oh, I know, I was just kidding."

"S-sempai, that wasn't really funny you know!" Yosuke groused.

Turning to leave, Saki Konishi either didn't hear what Yosuke said or didn't care, waving back to the table. "Well, break's almost over, so I better get back to work. Later!"

"Oh, uh, Sempai!" Yosuke tried calling out to her again, but to no avail. With a slight sigh, he sank back into his seat.

"Is Konishi-san alright?" Emiya asked. "She looked worn out."

Yosuke shrugged. "I tried asking her about that, but she wouldn't tell me aside from saying she was tired. She treats me the same as her little brother, so she wouldn't want to tell me what's up, I guess."

With a catlike smile, Satonaka mock swooned. "Ohhh, you don't want her treating you like a brother, huh? I thought as such; the daughter of a local family-run liquor store and the scion of the invading chain… The flame of forbidden love!"

"Dude, it's not like that!" Hanamura snapped with a hint of a blush.

Satisfied she had embarrassed her classmate enough for now, Satonaka finally cut him a break and changed the subject. "Oh, really? Well, I have just the thing for that troubled heart! Have you guys heard about the Midnight Channel?"

Both of them looked at her with (in her opinion) lackluster reactions; Hanamura was somewhere between bored and annoyed, while Emiya looked startled but not in the same way she expected. While not the same look of confused interest she wanted, they were listening. "You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night. While you're staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen, and they say that person's your soulmate."

"You actually believe that childish garbage?" the shaggy-haired Hanamura frowned.

"What do you mean childish?!" Satonaka snapped. "Don't you believe it too? Or want to?"

"Of course not, but I guess I can see why you would be into it. Ironically, it's your problem of why you can't get a boyfriend," Hanamura needled with a smirk.

"Wh-wh-what was that?!" the girl seethed darkly, glaring at Hanamura as he innocently looked away. Flashes of Satonaka's lightning-fast kick to the groin had Shirou paling, but he said nothing. Hanamura was digging himself a hole; if it set Satonaka off, it was his own fault. Though he was interested in what the headphone teen was implying, since she had said she didn't actively look for a boyfriend…

"I mean, using a rumor to find your soulmate could solve that problem, but your best bet of finding someone would be fresh meat like Emiya-san right here," Hanamura elaborated.

Shirou stiffened at his sudden inclusion. "Wait, what? I think I missed something here."

Chie's expression just grew sinister, grinding her teeth together and clenching her fists. A popped vein at the side of her forehead was starting to beat repeatedly like a drum.

Still not bothering to look at the girl, Yosuke continued with a smug grin, "And he'd have to be an idiot to even conside-OOOOH GOD!"

"Say that again to my face! I dare you!" Chie growled dangerously.

"I-I'm sorry! I said too much! Mercy! Mercy!"

Shirou didn't know what his green-clad classmate was doing exactly, but he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. Considering her ruthless treatment of Hanamura just yesterday, his imagination filled in the blanks. As it was, she was simply grinding her heel into Hanamura's foot after drop-kicking it.

When she was satisfied with Hanamura's pain, Chie relaxed and continued her story. "Anyway, I checked the weather report and it says it's raining tonight, so if you two can, try it out tonight! What have you got to lose?"

"Possibly a good amount of sleep, especially if we're to face another King Moron lecture tomorrow," Yosuke answered blithely. The girl's annoyed glare kept him from saying anything more.

"This isn't the first time I heard of this rumor," Shirou admitted. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it out." It was also his first chance to figure out if this was somehow tied to Igor and whatever fog-shrouded world he had visited.

Chie smiled. "That's the spirit, Emiya-kun!"

"Besides," he added. "It's arguably better than what's been going off in the news lately."

"Speaking of which, what do you two think of the 'incident' yesterday? Was it really murder?" Yosuke's smile started to look sinister. "What if the culprit is under our very noses? Hehehehehe-he…"

His laugh lost effect when seeing how they reacted. Chie sighed to herself and ate what was left of her food. The redhead, on the other hand, twitched and his expression darkened noticeably. Yosuke took that as his cue to drop the subject, and Chie decided not to pry. He probably heard enough about the case from his uncle, the detective.

Inside, Shirou was fuming. He talks down a rumor he's never even proven himself before, yet gets all excited talking about the murders like the news media does. Now who's acting childish?

Dojima Residence – Evening

After finishing his meal with Satonaka and Hanamura and parting ways, Shirou lingered to buy groceries with the spending money Fuji-nee left him as one of her going-away presents. He still had to watch his spending though; the Dojima's weren't broke, but they weren't living the high life, either. There wasn't enough space for him to stock up the same way he could back home, especially since the family had their own snacks and ingredients to store.

In hindsight, it was a good thing that Shirou had gone to Junes; their grocery selection was second to none for a single store. Even if Fuyuki could compare: you couldn't find this much all in one spot. There were certainly perks to having a large department store in a small rural town, and Shirou saw no reason to scorn any of it.

Speaking of space, he still hadn't figured out what to do in the weekend considering a makeshift workshop. The Dojima house didn't have the necessary space or privacy even an amateur required. Shirou's room didn't have a lock, and he lacked the skill in hypnosis and Bounded Fields to prevent someone from finding out if he worked on his magic inside the actual house. There wasn't a convenient storage shed, either. As it was, his training would be extremely limited until he found or built a suitable place away from prying eyes.

Thankfully, he had long grown past the need to scream or thrash when making his Magic Circuit. He could probably get away with that much if he waited for Nanako and Dojima-san to fall asleep.

The need to keep his magic under wraps was one of the main reasons he fixed Hanamura's bike early. He needed to find the best points to make his repairs with Structural Analysis repeatedly, and even that innocuous spell was more magic than normal people should ever see in their lifetimes. Better to do it when everyone was distracted rather than risk someone stumbling on him working later.

When he got home, he took command of the kitchen and got right to work. Dinner tonight would be fried chicken with soy sauce, miso soup and rice. He hadn't asked Nanako what her favorite food was yet, but she seemed receptive enough of his choice. Unfortunately, it was another night without Dojima... it felt disturbingly like looking in a mirror whenever he saw her downcast like that.

I was always upset whenever my old man left home on random occasions. He never even said what it was for or how long he would be gone, but it was always over a month. Nanako at least knows her dad's still in town and that he comes home every day, if only to sleep and leave early the next morning. Not that it makes it any easier for a child… poor Nanako.

"Your dad will be home before you know it. Don't worry." Shirou attempted to comfort the little girl. Nanako simply nodded slowly and continued to eat in silence.

The silence, and Nanako's mood, were both broken by the sound of the front door sliding open. "Oh! He's home!" she chirped.

Ryotaro Dojima waded in to the living room and all but collapsed onto the couch. "Whew… what a day…" he sighed raggedly.

"You were late again," Nanako frowned.

"Are you alright?" Shirou asked.

"Sorry; been busy at work with the new case. Turn on the news for me, will you?" Dojima asked softly, sounding even more exhausted than he looked.

Nanako nodded and clicked the remote just in time for a new story to appear on the newscast. "Next, more details in the developing story on the incident in foggy Inaba. Announcer Mayumi Yamano's dead body was found hanging above a house in this isolated rural town. It is confirmed that Ms. Yamano had been involved in an affair with Taro Namatame, husband of enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi."

"Are they seriously still going over this?" Shirou frowned. "I thought they had explained all that last night."

"Sometimes people just want to know everything," Dojima answered drearily, "even when it's not important. I'm pretty sure you know by now, but this town doesn't have much going for itself, and people love to gossip."

"The police plan to investigate this relationship and question any personnel involved with them. In addition, we now bring you an exclusive interview with the local student who found Ms. Yamano's body."

"An interview with a kid?" Dojima frowned. "Where did they find her?"

The screen changed to a reporter on the scene with a female student with blond hair. Her face was blurred and the camera tilted to show the bottom half of her face and shoulders. The reporter next to her sounded far too excited and did nothing but make his subject even more nervous.

"What went through your mind when you saw it? Could you tell she was dead? Did you see her face?" the reporter fired question after question, barely giving the girl time to breathe between them.

"U-Umm…" Her voice was distorted and face was blurry to keep her identity hidden. At least the news media cared that much for her privacy…

"Don't you think it's scary that someone was killed on a foggy day?"

"Huh…? She was killed?"

"Oh, errr… So did you see anyone suspicious around here?"

"No, not really…"

"We heard that you found it when you left school early. Did you have some personal business to take care of?"

"Huh? That's…"

Nanako looked to where her cousin was sitting, watching Shirou's face war somewhere between realization and anger. "What's wrong?" she asked timidly.

"I… think I recognize that student," Shirou admitted. "I met with her just today while at Junes-"

"You were at Junes?!"

Shirou and Dojima both jumped at Nanako's shrill cry. Even the little girl felt embarrassed of her outburst and forced herself to regain composure. She couldn't help but to pout at the end, though. "No fair…"

Remembering how much she loved the song, Shirou realized she always wanted to go herself. "I can take you sometime if you like," he offered.

Nanako looked back at him with wide eyes. "R-really? I can go?"

"Of course," Shirou nodded. "There's no real age limit to who can or can't go, last I checked. Every day's Customer Appreciation Day over there, after all."

Feeling excited already, she turned to her father for his answer. "Hey dad, can all three of us go?!"

"Hahaha, sure, sure," Dojima laughed tiredly. "When we have time. But keep it down for right now; I'm trying to listen to this."

The interview was fortunately done, moving back to the anchorman in the studio. "-A tragedy that occurred near the shopping district. Many storeowners are raising concerns about losing customers as a result…"

"Perhaps if you didn't constantly talk about the murder that happened it wouldn't affect things there…" Shirou bitterly remarked.

Dojima let out a small chuckle from his head. "Oh, if only…"

"It really is a bizarre case, isn't it?" A commenter added. "I mean, hanging someone upside down from an antenna… I'd have to say it's a warning or a sign from the culprit."

Shirou's frown grew; those were almost the same exact words Hanamura had told him back at school.

"Yes," said the announcer. "But so far, no one has come forward to take credit for the crime."

"So the cause of death is still unknown? And they don't have a single suspect yet? Taxpayers' funds are going to a police force who can't even figure out if this is an accident or a homicide?"

Dojima said nothing to that. Surprised that the badmouthing wasn't even so much as getting a grumble from him, Shirou looked back to find that the hardened detective had nodded off completely. Shirou wanted to trust his uncle in handling the situation, but he was starting to realize that maybe this wasn't such a simple murder case, bystanders' reactions notwithstanding.

He focused on his dinner again, hoping to put this long day behind him. The first two days I'm here and I walked right in the middle of a murder mystery happening practically across the street. I hope they get a suspect soon…

He pushed down the urge to start hunting the villain down right away, knowing that Dojima wouldn't stand for it and he didn't know where to start looking, let alone how to go about catching the killer.

<><><>

In his dark room, Shirou peeked out through the window curtains. Inaba's rain was rather chilling to watch at night now that he took the time to look. Black clouds loomed overhead, rain falling and pelting the rooftops in a steady drone, the water distorting every light source and giving the night a hazy air… yet it was easy to drown out the sound from within his room. He probably wouldn't even notice had he looked outside.

"Well, it's definitely the right weather for it," the red-haired teen said, letting the curtain close. Turning around, he walked to the front of the TV. The clock on his wall read one minute to midnight. The monochrome clicking of the clock was loud and heart-pounding… almost taunting him with its rhythm.

"Am I really doing this?" he asked himself a touch incredulously. It was one thing to hear a silly urban rumor from Nami-san, a gas attendant. But from Satonaka, a high school student, as well? Was it really that popular? "I never even got to ask them where they got this crazy idea in the first-"

The minute hand clicked into a new position. Midnight.

Turning to the TV, Shirou stared at his reflection, almost ready to laugh it off as a silly concept, when the TV released a blue glow and a warping whine like the reception was poor.

Shirou gasped; he couldn't quite see what was going on, but he could see flashes of images flicker in the pale blue screen. It was too quick to see but… he thought the person being seen in the TV –a young girl– looked familiar.

"I art thou…"

...! Wh-what-?

"Thou art I… Thou art one who opens the door…"

Shirou all but ground his teeth together and tried to breathe deeply. It was impossible to focus: a familiar ringing was going off in his head. The pain alone was enough to force him down to his knees and bite back a scream of agony. The pressure, pain, and ringing wouldn't stop though. If anything, it was reaching a crescendo loud enough to make him want to beat himself unconscious to just shut out the infernal shriek.

And yet it finally faded to nothing after what seemed to be an eternity… or at least a full minute. He stared at the TV in front of him, now blank and off. The clock in his room read 12:01; the time window for the Midnight Channel was quite short indeed.

But… "opens the door"… does it mean… the TV?

It was crazy, but what else could that voice mean? It spoke up just as the channel went on, as if reacting to the weird magecraft that had to be involved. It was magecraft that had happened, right? It had to be…

Against his better judgment, and almost like it was a compulsion, Shirou reached his hand out to touch the TV. Not a moment later, he found it seeping through the surface, leaving the glass rippling like water around his fingers.

"Wh-what the-AAHH!"

Without warning, his hand was forcefully pulled in. His body slammed against the TV stand shoulder-deep, the screen too small to drag him in any deeper, yet he could still feel an immense pull trying to suck him in completely. With a heave and a surge of prana through his Magic Circuit, Shirou kicked himself free with a surge of Reinforced strength …

…hard enough to fly clear of the TV stand, lose his balance and slam the back of his head on the edge of the table behind him. Forcing himself upright, he rubbed his head gingerly, pain blasting through his skull. "O-ow…"

When he had regained control of his breathing, Shirou stared between his hand and the now blank TV screen. His mind was reeling with the impossibility of what had just occurred, but the paranoia all magi shared gave him a sinking feeling that it was all connected to the rumors and the recent death that had happened in Inaba.

"Just what the hell is going on…?" he asked aloud, to no one in particular.

One thing's for sure… no one would ever believe me if I told them that I was almost eaten by my own TV…

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 11: Backside of the TV

April 15th, Yasogami High School

By this point, Shirou was finding out that the small town of Inaba was far stranger than his hometown. Even if you took out the obviously supernatural aspects, the people here were much different than the citizens of Fuyuki. He doubted he would go a single day without being surprised by something.

Case in point, his history teacher, Ms. Sofue insisted on carrying a shortened shepherd's crook and wearing an Egyptian headdress throughout the lesson.

That said; he wasn't surprised by the discussion that happened the moment students started gossiping. Rumor had it that the person who had found Ms. Yamano's body was none other than Saki Konishi.

So much for the media protecting her privacy… he mentally snorted.

He spent more time thinking about the Midnight Channel than the lectures at times, and when Satonaka and Hanamura joined him at his desk when school got out, Shirou dreaded the inevitable conversation.

"Yo, Emiya," Hanamura greeted with a half-grin.

"Did you both remember to watch it?" Satonaka asked immediately, though a tinge of nervousness was in her voice.

"Yeah, of course! Still can't believe it works… freaky stuff. What did you see, Emiya?"

Shirou nearly gulped audibly in front of the others, but fought it down. "N-nothing," he said. "Nothing at all."

Both students looked surprised yet unconvinced. "Nothing?" Satonaka prodded while quirking an eyebrow.

"I… can't quite remember," he admitted. Truthfully, who he saw in the TV took a backseat to the fact that the screen tried to drag him into it.

"Can't remember…" Hanamura started coyly, "Or don't want to?"

Shirou blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You tell us, Emiya," Satonaka shrugged, a cat-like smirk working its way onto her face. "We can't be too sure if you really did it or not if you don't fess up."

"Maybe he saw a hot girl and is too shy to admit who?" Hanamura guessed as he threw the transfer student a cheeky grin.

"Or maybe it was a teacher!" Satonaka added. "Why, that would put the Ms. Yamano scandal to shame in comparison!"

"Guys," Shirou sighed, not liking being teased over something like this.

"Or even worse," Hanamura grinned. "He saw an ugly old dude and is ashamed of it!"

"Oh the horror!"

Remembering Nami, Shirou suddenly had an idea, and he narrowed his eyes in a glare. "That's a bit presumptuous, don't you think?"

Both Hanamura and Satonaka blinked at him. "H-huh? What you mean?" Truthfully, the intensity Shirou could put behind his eyes was rather unnerving.

"Who's to say the 'ugly old dude' was you, Hanamura, and I was merely keeping my peace to spare my humiliation… and yours?"

The two of them were silent. Satonaka stared blankly between both bright-haired students while Hanamura paled as if walking through death's door.

Shirou's glare held for all of fifteen seconds before the façade cracked. "…Pfft-! Hahahahaha!" Watching his classmates all but shut down at his implications, Shirou couldn't help but laugh, knowing the relief would make them all but forget about interrogating him further.

They both caught on right away and Satonaka quickly joined in with a full belly laugh. "Ahahahaha! Good one Emiya! Oh man, Hanamura's face. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

For his part, Hanamura tried to let out a chuckle, but ultimately the headphone-wearing student couldn't get out more than a stilted wheeze. "Heheheh… heh… you guys suck."

For Shirou, his thoughts sped along even as he tried to keep his classmates distracted. What did it mean that he could place his hand into the TV? It was shocking enough for him that the Midnight Channel even existed; adding another aspect to the story would only make matters worse for anyone following the rumor. Truthfully, the magus-in-training still wasn't even sure the last bit really happened. It could have all been a dream.


It didn't look like the other two heard any strange voices or were pulled into their TV sets, either. He kind of doubted that the rumor mill would miss something like that. Perhaps these two heard voices as well and were questioning the reality of it like he was. No one wanted to come off as going insane, and Shirou hadn't felt like himself when it was happening.

When Hanamura finally got around to describing his experience with the rumored Channel, both Shirou and Satonaka gaped. His description of the girl jogged Shirou's memory, and Satonaka gawked as her own memories confirmed the image.

"Wait, that sounds familiar. That was the same girl I saw… I think," Shirou said, dropping into deep thought.

"But if we all saw the same person, does that mean we all have the same soulmate?" Satonaka sounded scandalized by the notion.

Shirou couldn't blame her; he would have been uneasy if his supposed soulmate was a guy, let alone shared by multiple people. "I don't think so. Just because there's truth behind the rumor doesn't make the whole rumor true," he speculated out loud.

Hanamura dropped himself lazily into his chair. "Emiya's got a point. Maybe we're not seeing our soulmate, just someone random?"

"That's no fun!" Satonaka pouted slightly at that. Despite her assertion, it was more likely than the Midnight Channel being anything like a modern mystic matchmaker. She suddenly perked, remembering something. "Speaking of TVs, our family's been looking at upgrading."

Just as suddenly, Shirou perked, his interest piqued. If her family's TV was broken, perhaps he could take it off their hands for cheap. His shed back home was filled with random junk along those lines, and trying to repair them with the aid of magic was good practice for both his mundane and magical skills.

Admittedly, the lack of space for a proper Workshop at the Dojima home would make things more difficult, but Shirou hoped to gather one or two appliances to tinker with all the same. Truthfully, Shirou was starting to realize that he had been a little spoiled for space and storage on his father's estate.

Now back in tune with the conversation, Shirou focused on Hanamura's reply. "That right? We just got some of the new flatscreen models. Want to take a look on the way back?"

"Yeah! My family doesn't know a thing about electronics, and I just gotta see my kung-fu movies on the big screen!" Satonaka's enthusiasm for her movies would be cute if it weren't for the fact that she apparently practiced what she watched. She even struck a stance in her excitement. "You want to come, Emiya?"

"To Junes, right? Sure. I can do some shopping for dinner while I'm there." If nothing else it would give him the chance to snag any specialty items and widen his options in the kitchen. Cooking was one of the skills he was proud to have, and having people appreciate it always brought him joy.

<><><><><>
Junes, Electronics Department - After School

Junes was an increasingly common department store throughout Japan, famed for selling at least average products and usually good quality ones at reasonable prices. Their penchant for making massive stores and having a little bit of just about everything in them from fresh produce and meats to clothes and toys made them popular one-stop shops, even if their variety in the departments was rather limited compared to specialty stores. Electronics were no exception.

But…

"Whoa, this is huge!"

…why would anyone need a TV this big? Stand it up on some legs and it could be used a replacement for the Dojima family's dinner table. If you laid this monster flat on the floor, I'm pretty sure Nanako could sleep on it with room to spare!

Staring at the monstrous TV serving as the centerpiece for the TV section, Shirou couldn't help but gape. He and Satonaka both nearly choked on air after they read the price tag, too. The redhead honestly didn't think anyone in Inaba could reasonably afford the behemoth. As it stood, it was going to just sit there forever as a pretty display piece.


"Not exactly in my family's budget." Shirou all but gagged. "If by some miracle we could afford it, I don't think we'd ever use it for fear of breaking it."

"Yeah, that's way too many zeroes, Hanamura." Satonaka added. "Got anything cheaper?"

Hanamura just laughed and led her to another, notably smaller TV. He cleared his throat and started to talk like a stereotypical salesman, grinning all the while. "Well, Miss, might I interest you in this one here? It's our newest model, just released this spring…"

While Hanamura attempted his sales pitch, Shirou mindlessly tuned him out and turned back to the giant screen before him. Last night's events were still hazy to him, and part of him desperately hoped that his experience with the TV was just a dream.

He took one last glance at his classmates and scanned for passing clerks. For the moment, they were alone in the department.

Maybe it was the uncertainty getting to him, perhaps he was under the influence of extremely potent but subtle magecraft, or maybe he was just feeling a little crazy, but Shirou found himself reaching out to the screen.

As a magus, he knew he should have waited to try something like this from the safety and seclusion of his Workshop, but he didn't have one. Even if he did, he lacked the skill to set up the numerous standard defenses associated with such a sanctuary. The only thing that Shirou was certain of was that he had this gnawing need to know the truth of what happened last night.

Just a tap. Timidly, he poked the screen.

His finger only met cool, solid glass. Encouraged, he pushed the screen very lightly with all of his fingers, and found the piece solid and unyielding.

Releasing the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, Shirou felt the tension that had been gnawing at him melt from his shoulders…

"!?"

His mind froze. The moment he had relaxed, the solid barrier between him and whatever space beyond the screen seemingly vanished and his hand passed clear through.

Just like last night, the glass had faint ripples of light emanating from where his hand disappeared through what had been a solid barrier a second ago. Unlike the powerful pull from before though, there was instead a gentle tug, just enough to keep him from pulling his arm out without a fight.

"By the way Emiya, what kind… of… T…" Hanamura's voice trailed off, and Shirou turned to find both of his classmates staring at him speechless.

Shit.

Hanamura was the first to regain his voice. "Is- is his arm… in the TV?"

Both jogged over to him even as Shirou tried to pull his arm out. The gentle tug from within turned out to be quite deceptive: while it wasn't trying to pull him in all that strongly, it was doing a fine job of keeping him from pulling his arm out. He wasn't about to try using his other hand as leverage or pull too hard lest he might unbalance the whole set on top of his head.

Now Shirou was starting to sweat. Magecraft of any kind was never supposed to be seen by anyone who wasn't a magus or a part of their world, and now two ordinary people were witnessing unknown magic with no one around who could make them forget it. Shirou, not for the first time, wished his father had taught him more or that he had more talent in hypnotism.

"Whoa… You gotta be kidding me! How did you do that?" Satonaka gaped as she tried to peek behind the TV, gawking that Shirou's hand wasn't behind the giant TV.

"You mean this isn't a standard feature?" the trapped teen tried hopelessly.

"No way, man. That is some magic trick! What's your secret, Emiya?" Hanamura almost stuttered as he quickly scanned the department.

Shirou started to panic. The last thing they needed was for him to rush off looking for help. "How should I know? I'm not even using my magic circuits!" he blurted out.

He immediately felt like punching himself for that. There was pretty much no way to salvage the situation as it stood now. The best he could hope for was that his words would be taken as a lighthearted joke.

Both of his classmates looked even more confused; an impressive feat. "Wh-what?"

The redhead released a calming breath, for what little good it did. "Forget it. Help me out here, I'm a little stuck."

"How can you be stuck?" Satonaka asked, doing an admirable job of keeping her voice down in spite of her frantic energy making her twitchy. "And what's this about circuits?"

Hanamura then began to dance around in a telling manner that any human could easily recognize. "Aw man, this is too much for my bladder!"

"You can't be serious," Shirou deadpanned. "Didn't we pass a restroom on the way here?" More importantly to him, he was still stuck doing something impossible by normal humans and needed them to stay focused if he planned to get out of this.

"Hey, I didn't exactly expect to see you- Shit! Customers!"

Damn, damn, damn, damn!

"Hurry up and pull me out!" Shirou hissed urgently, fighting to keep his panic in check and losing. On the other side of the TV, his fingers clenched and unclenched, finding nothing to leverage his hand against.

His two classmates were too panicked to think straight and ran about the area for a few seconds like headless chickens. Then, without warning, both slammed into Shirou hard enough to make them all tumble-

"W-Whoooooa!"

-right into the TV screen.

The moment the magus-in-training lost his balance, the TV seemed to eagerly grab a hold of them and pulled, taking all three of them through an oddly spacious white zone.

There was no way to tell where they were going; there was no difference in any direction aside from a pull towards what was assumed was down. Black rectangles framed as they fell like they were tumbling through a tunnel.

They could not have fallen for more than a few seconds before the sea of white parted, dropping them all into a sea of fog.

<><><><><>

?

The three students found the ground beneath them too suddenly to do more than grunt in pain and flop onto their backs when they hit. Shirou shrugged off the rough landing easily enough. Compared to making a Magic Circuit, a little impact like that wasn't even worth addressing. "Is everyone alright?" he called, sweeping his eyes around cautiously.

He couldn't see much. The air was cool and slightly clammy, but not outright uncomfortable. It reminded the magus of the brisk fall mornings back home when he thought about it. No, the strangeness came from the blanket of fog that smothered everything. Shirou couldn't see more than half a dozen meters in any direction. In spite of the golden light trying to pierce the fog from what looked like spotlights hanging overhead, everything was covered in a dull gray haze.

After scanning the space for threats briefly, Shirou paused, his eyes darting from side to side. He wondered if he had hit his head; the edges of his vision were colored a little strangely and fuzzy in a way that looked vaguely familiar.

…Static?

"We're alive… I think…" Satonaka replied.

"I think my butt's cracked," Hanamura groaned. Neither Satonaka nor Shirou were amused by the attempt at levity.

The three stayed close and tried to get a look around. More details slowly came into view as their vision adjusted to the strange half-light. The spotlights overhead were all attached to complex scaffolding, wires twining in bundles through the metal framework. Between the lights and the color of the paint on the walls, the stage they were standing on was surrounded by an eerie yellow glow through the fog.

"Where are we? Is there a studio like this in Inaba that you two know of?" Shirou asked. He honestly doubted this was anything mundane, but he had to be sure.

"Hell no… But look at this place… it's huge." Hanamura muttered.

"Yeah… and what's with this fog? Or is it smoke?" Satonaka added.

"It's fog." Shirou confirmed with absolute certainty. Fire and smoke were Shirou's earliest memories and filled his nightmares. He knew smoke when he smelled it. "Come on, we need to find an exit. Stay close."

Despite his sure tone and the way his classmates followed his advice, Shirou never saw himself as a leader. If anything, his penchant for helping people meant he was far more used to following directions than giving them. However, as the only one with any experience with magecraft among them, Shirou felt it was necessary for him to put what experience he had to use. He would bet the Emiya estate that magic was behind this.

More importantly, I need to take the lead for their protection. I can't abandon my classmates to their own devices here.

Shirou glanced back at his classmates, confirming that he was the most level-headed one present. Satonaka was on the verge of breaking down, the disorientation and impossibility of what was happening was already getting to her, and Hanamura, though showing less outward signs was still undoubtedly close to a panic attack.

"Is there really a way out of here?" the kung-fu fan murmured as she caught up to the magus.

"There has to be. If there's a way in, there's a way out. Let's just cross our fingers." Hanamura affirmed.

Shirou bit back the urge to correct him. If they really were inside a Bounded Field like he feared, escape may genuinely be impossible without outside interference. Regardless, the place was enormous: if this was a bounded field, it was far and away the largest example he had ever seen or heard about.

Though, what he had seen and heard on the subject didn't amount to much. His father had told him about the possible scales Bounded Fields could work at, but the only one Shirou had any exposure to was the alarm array that surrounded the estate.

They trio walked cautiously for a long time, their steps slow and careful. So far, the only thing of note they found was that Shirou could see the furthest through the fog, though that wasn't saying much. Twice Shirou had to pause and let them catch up when he drifted a few meters ahead and they lost sight of him completely. Shirou silently guessed that his innate magical abilities were the cause of that.

Now that they were moving, Shirou noticed that the air was absolutely brimming with mana. It was almost dizzying how much magical power seethed through the air, creating a sensation not unlike extremely strong spice in his nose. Any magus with real skill would thrive in this place. Unfortunately, the teen's lacking magical education meant he had little to no idea how to take advantage of this energy, let alone have any ways to use it that could help them escape.

Somewhere along the way, they realized that they had left the studio at some point. Now it looked like they were walking across a raised walkway. "Anything here ring any bells?" Shirou asked.

Hanamura leaned over the side of the railing next to them and clucked his tongue. "Not really. We're in some kind of building but… I can't see a thing out there. This damn fog's too thick."

"Are you sure we're not just wandering farther away?" Satonaka asked, her voice uncharacteristically shaky, not that anyone could blame her. Hanamura's knees were practically knocking together.

"We can try doubling back, but there's no guarantee we'll be any better off," Shirou explained. "As long as we keep track of which direction we're moving at all times we should be alright. Why don't we go this way for a little longer before trying another direction?"

Hanamura nodded. "Alright, lead on."

None of them could tell how long they continued through the fog before they entered a new room that suddenly seemed to form around them, thankfully filled with less fog. Briefly, hope flared in Shirou's chest before he realized the room had no exit; they were no closer to escaping than before.

The room actually looked… vaguely familiar to Shirou. Unlike the studio, this place looked ordinary. Then it hit him.

It looked like a room from his house, a traditional Japanese room with the addition of a low bed. There was a bookshelf on the far side of the room, magazines and books mixed together. The potted plant looked jarringly out of place, the hazy atmosphere tainting whatever color it might have added to the room with a sickly pall.

"No reception. What a surprise," Hanamura groaned as he flipped his phone shut. Shirou and Satonaka checked theirs and found the same thing.

"What's with this room?" the tomboy finally asked as she circled the room's perimeter. She was looking pale, her normally outgoing posture hunched inward timidly as she focused on something behind the boys.

Shirou turned quickly, half expecting an attacker, but what greeted him was disturbing enough. Hanamura was fidgeting as he looked up at the light fixture overhead. Or more accurately, what was hanging from it: a noose made of a length of rope and a scarf. A chair sat beneath it.

Wait, was that even there a second ago?!

"This arrangement is never a good sign." Hanamura asserted shakily.

Two of the walls were covered in posters and colored splotches of what looked pink and red paint.

"Check out these posters… they're all missing their faces…" Satonaka pointed out, inching towards the door.

"You're right… who do you think this is?" the magus wondered. The posters were all over the place. Some were obscured by paint; others had simply been cut out, while others…
…others looked like they were slashed by large claws.

"Who cares?!" Satonaka finally snapped, stomping her foot to drive her point home. The hollow thump from that nearly gave her classmates heart attacks. "Let's just go back; I'm sick of this place!"

"No arguments here. I'm all for turning around, Emiya. I still need to find a bathroom!"

With a roll of his eyes, Shirou nodded and peeked out of the room, dubbing it clear before stepping out. Despite his classmates desperately wanting to go, Shirou refused to rush into the fog, keeping himself on point as they backtracked their way to the studio where they started.

When they finally made it back to that bizarre studio, Shirou took a good look at his classmates. "Are you two alright? You're both looking pale." He himself had a slight headache. The disorientation from the fog, the persistent static at the edges of his vision and the mana-heavy air were all to blame, but Shirou ignored them all in favor of his companions. The best he could do for himself right now was take note of his condition and watch for if his symptoms got any worse.

"Now that you mention it, I'm not feeling too hot," Hanamura admitted.

"My body does feel heavy…" Satonaka mumbled. However, she saw something out of the corner of her eye and pointed to Shirou's left. "Wait, what's that?"

"Oh, what now?" Hanamura whined.

Considering his upbringing as a magus, Shirou thought he was prepared for whatever monstrous denizens inhabited this foggy place. He recalled his father's stories of the paranormal and the horrors that hid themselves in the shadows, magus bedtime stories, really. He was expecting animated corpses or animalistic familiars to rush forth and attack. If they were really, REALLY unlucky, a vampire would walk right up to them and kill them all at its leisure, but Shirou was at least aware of those possibilities. What trotted out of the fog never even crossed his mind as an outcome.

It was an oversized bear mascot.

Its eyes were absolutely huge, staring at them with a crease like a scowl on its brow. Its nose was tiny and mouth crunched up in a comically small frown beneath it. Blue fur covered its dome-shaped head except for its white face. It was "dressed" in a red and white suit, and a zipper ringed its neck like a collar. Its stubby limbs were covered in blue mittens and tiny blue shoes.

"What the heck?" was the extent of the three students' thought processes for a few seconds.

Then it opened its mouth and talked, and their brains needed a few more seconds to catch up.

"T-that's what I wanna know! Who are you guys?" it demanded with as much bluster as it could muster. In a strange way, Shirou felt cheated. He was expecting whatever appeared in this place to be either dangerous or powerful, but this… creature… didn't give either impression. If anything it was even more afraid of them than they were of it. This was a bizarre twist compared to Kiritsugu's stories of the inhuman.

"What are you? You wanna fight?" Satonaka snapped back.

Shirou almost lunged in front of the shorter girl, half-expecting the bear to turn into a monster and dispense with the pleasantries and then their lives, but again his expectations were shot down. The bear brought its hands over its head and visibly cowered. "D-don't yell at me like that…"

Now feeling almost like a jerk for his assumptions, the redhead stepped forward and held a hand in front of Satonaka. "Relax, we're not here looking for a fight. I'm Shirou Emiya. Who are you? What is this place?"

To Shirou's pleasant surprise, his good manners did the trick and the bear visibly relaxed. "This place is what it is. It doesn't have a name. It's where I live."

Shirou couldn't help but give the bear a flat stare for that one. How delightfully vague.

"If I were you, I'd hurry back to the other side. Someone's been throwing people in here," the bear elaborated without preamble. For a moment, all three students were again stunned into silence, this time by the cryptic statement rather than the fact that the bear was still talking.

"Say what? Throwing people in here? Why?" Hanamura demanded when he fully processed the concept.

"I don't know who's doing it! That's why I asked you! Whoever they are, they should really think before doing that!" The bear fired back.

"Argh! You're not making any sense! Quit yelling at us and tell us what's going on!" Satonaka joined in, causing the bear to run behind the more civil-minded Shirou and cower away from the increasingly furious pair.

The magus's headache now had nothing to do with the air. No one was going to get anywhere pointing fingers like children. "Alright look, we can all agree that we want to leave, and you want us to leave, right?" Shirou tried to remain calm, but his teeth were grinding halfway through. "Do you know how we can get out?" he asked the bear directly.

"I was trying to say I can let you out!"

Shirou blinked. Huh. That wasn't what I expected. Again.

"Wha- really?" Hanamura was in the same boat as Shirou, apparently.

The bear tapped its foot against the floor twice, and with a puff of smoke and a popping sound, a stack of old-style TVs appeared between them all, an antenna crowning the stack.

"What the…? Where did these TVs come from?" Satonaka yelped in surprise.

With one problem handily solved by the surly but helpful mascot, Shirou decided it was time to address the others before they left. "Okay, now what was this about peop-HEY!"

"Okay, go on, get outta here, I'm a busy bear!" The bear shoved them rather suddenly, causing the teens to tumble into the screens and once more being pulled through by that unseen force.

Shirou tried to resist, to ask for more about the idea of people being tossed into this oppressive realm, but was too off-balance. "Wait, hang on a second!"

"Stop pushing!"

"Watch it!"

And then we were flying through that white and black tunnel again. And again, the trip ended with a sudden "thump" on a hard floor.

<><><><>

The next thing they knew, Shirou, Satonaka and Hanamura were all back inside Junes' electronics department in a heap. The sounds of people walking and pushing carts just outside was a strange thing to take comfort in, but none of them were about to complain about it.

On the plus side, the sheer strangeness of the events had taken his classmates' minds off of Shirou's slip about magecraft. If either of them asked about that world, he was just in the dark about it as they were. It was like dodging a bullet.

"Did-did we really make it out?" Satonaka breathed out disbelievingly.

"I think so. Is everyone alright?" Shirou replied, hauling himself to his feet. He felt dizzy, but his classmates looked outright queasy.

"I feel like hell," Hanamura admitted, his face pale and his movements more sluggish than Shirou. Satonaka was not much better off.

Shirou glanced at his watch and blanched. They had been stuck in the foggy TV-world for well over two hours. He was hoping to have been home by now and cooking dinner. As it was, he didn't even have time to shop for ingredients before he normally had dinner. "Crap, it's getting late. Do you guys want me to call for a ride?"

The tomboy shook her head. "Thanks, but I'll be alright. I just want to go home, lie down and forget the whole thing happened."

"Same here. That was too much for me," Hanamura agreed with a weak smile. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. Right now I just want to sleep this off." The shaggy-haired teen shambled off to finally find a bathroom and head home.

The magus turned his attention to the girl next to him. "I think you both have the right idea. See you tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," the short-haired girl murmured before parting.

For Shirou, the worst part of the mess was that they had spent so much time trapped in the TV that he didn't have time to get much shopping done. Just like his first day here, he felt ill enough to decide to just go straight home. He figured that prolonged exposure to the other world must have caused it.

Nothing of note really happened that night other than eating ramen with the Dojimas when he finally got home. His sluggishness was obvious enough that Dojima had all but sent him to bed to recover.

In the interest of being social, Shirou opted to stay at least for a little while despite the headache pounding his temples. He mostly tuned out from the news playing in the background when it went off about the murder case again. He thought he heard Saki Konishi's name again, but he didn't hear anything specific when he focused on the story.

His mind was still reeling from today's events. Focusing on anything else was almost impossible. I haven't asked them to keep quiet about my magecraft… chances are they've forgotten all about it in the panic of being in there. I somehow doubt that'll be the case for long; I was the one that got us stranded there in the first place after all. Even if they don't blame me for it, it doesn't change the fact that it was my fault. At least that bear was friendly enough to let us out. But… what did he mean about throwing people in? Another magus experimenting? What is that world supposed to be?

…Well, no point in worrying about this now. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 12: Never Believe in Coincidences

April 14th – Hanamura Residence

Lying on his western-style bed, Yosuke tossed his sheets aside with a groan and sat up. Even though every muscle wanted to relax and recover from today's ordeal, he couldn't get his mind to quiet down enough to find any relaxation. Every time he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but wonder about the Midnight Channel.

He never said this to Emiya or Satonaka when they discussed it, but he thought he recognized the person he saw on the Midnight Channel the previous time. While the image was too blurry to make it out for sure, something in his gut put a face over that silhouette for him: Saki-sempai.

Sure, many girls in school and in town had wavy hair, but… he couldn't shake the feeling that it was her. He knew the rumors almost as well as Satonaka now, how Mayumi Yamano had appeared on the Midnight Channel the night she was… was murdered.

He looked into the darkness of his room towards his desk. Even though he couldn't see it, he had found a poster that rattled him to his core. He would show the others tomorrow, but if he was right about his growing suspicions… It gnawed at him. That place inside the TV was dangerous.

It was raining right now, too. According to the weather report, it would let up by morning with a fog warning going into effect for until afternoon. In short, tonight was another night he could see the Midnight Channel. In fact, it should appear in another minute.

Maybe it would show a different face tonight. If that was the case, he could breathe a sigh of relief and tackle the issue with a clear mind. One way or another, he wasn't going to leave this alone.

A world inside the TV… that's got to be the most interesting thing to happen out here in the middle of nowhe- out in the country.

The clock next to his bed changed to show that it was midnight. Sure enough, as he stared into the blank screen, it lit up and began to sharpen with a barely-audible warbling. The picture became clearer and clearer….

"Saki-sempai…?"

<><><><><>

April 15th – Dojima Residence

Shirou stepped off the stairwell to see the Dojimas already at the breakfast table. It was somewhat a strange, pleasant surprise to know they were both early risers as well, but this meant he truly had no opportunity to practice magecraft in their house. He hadn't done his usual exercises in days, and had the feeling his current circuit was bound to break down on him soon. But those thoughts were for later.

"Good morning, Shirou," Nanako greeted from the sink. It was the first time she ever called him by name, and it was spoken with slight unfamiliarity.

"Good morning," he greeted back, moving over to the spare chair sitting in the corner. His uncle and cousin regarded him oddly as he pulled it up to them.

"What's wrong?" Shirou asked.

Nanako head sunk along with whatever good mood she had and focused on cracking eggs. "That's mom's seat," she whispered.

The red head was immediately self-conscious of his decision. A few days here and already I'm making things difficult. Maybe coming over wasn't such a good idea after all. "Maybe I should just eat by the kotatsu-"

"It's alright," Dojima assured them. "You're part of the family, so you're going to sit and eat with us. That chair has only been collecting dust lately, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind you use it, would she Nanako?"

Her father wasn't asking about Nanako's opinion, but her late mother's, who he knew she was close to. Most of her life growing up was basking in Chisato's loving care, after all. The young girl reluctantly nodded at a moment's pause. Her cousin, seeing it as permission enough, allowed himself to be seated and eat the food she prepared for him.

"I look forward to your cooking again, Nanako," Shirou smiled. "I meant to tell you before, but I really enjoyed the breakfast you made the other day."

Nanako blushed and nodded in thanks, directing all her attention to her station.

Dojima chuckled. "Haha, if you're good as you say as well, perhaps you are my nephew with heredity cooking talent on our side."

Shirou nodded. "It seems so. I understand that Nanako only started recently, but I feel she can become a professional chef in no time. I'm a bit worried she'll be better than me in a few years."

At more embarrassing praise, his daughter's face grew brighter as she pretended that she wasn't hearing the conversation. It also gave Dojima a swell of pride. "And school has been going well so far?" he asked.

"I haven't done much out of school other than work and seeing the Junes store, but it's better than what I do every day back home."

"Oh? What are your other hobbies again?"

"I, uh…" Shirou's mind went blank, searching for an answer. He couldn't tell his uncle he practiced magecraft, for secrecy's sake, and he had enough jeers and laughs from people to know that proclaiming to be an "ally of justice" wasn't what they considered a serious answer. Dojima looked like he wanted a serious answer.

He said the first alternative that popped into his head. "Fix stuff."

Dojima blinked. "You… fix stuff?"

"Mostly electrical appliances and such," Shirou offered. "I even fixed the Homurahara school generator one time."

It was sometime early in his freshman year when a thunderstorm nearly overloaded said generator to a total shutdown. The method of how it was done was secret (as it should be, involving magecraft), but his selfless act cemented himself as the 'fake janitor' in the eyes of many students, even though he had long grew that reputation prior in rumors and other odd jobs.

"That's-" the detective scrunched in thought, trying to find a fitting word but failing. "…unique."

And just like that, an invisible force of pressure was built over them. The awkward silence was not unlike the breakfast with Nanako two days prior: no one had an idea what to talk about. It seemed easier to share talks on the phone last winter, where they didn't see each other's faces or expressions. Shirou being a relative to the Dojima family was an established fact since last year, but the realization hadn't fully sunk into any of them yet.

"So…"

Shirou turned to his uncle. "Yes?"

"You…" He started again, trying to come up with anything else to talk about.

"I…?"

"…yeah."

"O-okay."

"Good."

"All right."

"Fine."

"Yep."

They stared at each other, unable to pull away despite the awkward tension they were facing. They were barely aware of Nanako nervously glancing back between the two of them, but paid her no mind.

Briiiiiing!

"Phone's ringing!" Nanako announced.

"I'll get it!" Dojima shot up.

"You do that!" Shirou encouraged.

And just like that, the tension was gone and everyone let out mental sighs of relief.

Composing himself, the detective walked to the phone stand, read the caller ID, and answered it. "Dojima speaking," he said, keeping his voice and expression neutral.

A short one-sided discussion later, Dojima's face grew grim and an feeling of uneasiness returned to the room. "I see… I'll be right over."

It didn't take Shirou and Nanako much to put two-and-two together. "Good luck/Good bye," they said to him respectively.

The grizzled detective gave them both a brief nod as he reached for his coat. Just like that, barely breaking stride, he left for work. He was very dedicated to his job. Still, It was disturbingly vague… and the last time he left early on a call was the night when Ms. Yamano was found dead on a telephone pole. Shirou had a sinking suspicion that someone else was found the same way.

He earnestly hoped he was wrong…

<><><><><>

Yasogami High School Assembly Room

The first sign that today was off for the students of class 2-2 was their teacher being late. King Moron had never seemed to miss a chance to torment his students before in the time that they had known him. After nearly fifteen minutes without the foul-tempered philosophy teacher, the school intercom called for an immediate class assembly. No explanation was given, but everyone followed protocol and stood in line and rows ready to hear what the faculty had to say. To Yosuke, the faculty looked somewhat hesitant, restless. Even Morooka looked solemn for once, or at least attempting to remain civil to an extent even while he commanded the students to remain quiet.

Satonaka made a quick text with her phone before flipping it closed. "Yukiko had to leave early again, but she's going to make it back in time for lunch."

"I see." Emiya had wondered where Amagi had disappeared to. "Any idea what this assembly is about?"

"Not a clue. How about you Hanamura?"

They both glanced back to the auburn haired student to Emiya's right. He didn't respond right away, staring at the announcer's podium with a haunted look. Yosuke barely spared them a side glance before looking away again. "It's nothing…"

Emiya and Satonaka could only blink at his reluctant answer, looking to each other for a clue before their history teacher led the principal up to speak. His voice was soft and quiet, even with the microphone by his lips, which were covered by his long white mustache and beard so completely that it looked like he had no mouth. It made the next words he spoke somewhat easier to bear, but not by much.

"I… regret to say that I have a terrible announcement for all of you," he started. "One of your classmates, Miss Saki Konishi of Class 3…"

Please don't be true, please don't be true…

"…has passed away."

There was a collective gasp by many students and then the droning murmur of gossip and whispers between them. Emiya and Satonaka exchanged shocked glances, and noticed that Yosuke looked almost physically ill from the news… like he was somehow aware of this before the principal even said a word.

It was just like in the Midnight Channel then…

"Ms. Konishi was found deceased early this morning," the principal continued. "The police are still looking into the cause of this tragedy. Now I assure you she wasn't a victim of bullying of any kind, so please do mind what you say to others or to the police, especially when they ask for your cooperation…"

The announcements went on and on, but Yosuke could care less about the stream of bullshit. He knew what had happened, and by God he was going to do something about it when school got out.

<><><><><>

School eventually returned to normal for the most part, with the only difference being a new topic of discussion in Konishi's death. Most of it was just talk about the kind of person she was and wondering who was responsible, and these were for the most part normal.

However, some talk came from guys claiming her to be their 'soulmate' before getting into a fist fight about it, while the rest came from girls that were more than amused at a Saki look-alike being attacked on the Midnight Channel.

Needless to say, both Shirou and Satonaka were furious.

"This is why I hate gossip," Shirou all but growled to the short-haired tomboy as they watched a pair of girls walk off laughing. "It's so easy for anyone to throw those theories around and mock others without being personally involved. It's nothing more than verbal bullying behind one's back."

"Makes you want to go right up to them and smack 'em, huh?" Chie bit out, cracking her knuckles ominously.

"I don't hit girls," Shirou replied, though from the look on his face, it was clear he was debating the merits of suspending that personal rule in this case.

The only girl he would even consider hitting under most circumstances would be Fuji-nee in a kendo match, but as it stood, she was still far too good for him to even touch, let alone worry about hitting cleanly.

Hanamura walked up to them from around the corner, his steps slow and twitchy. "Hey guys," he waved weakly.

"Hey, Hanamura," Shirou waved back. "Are… you alright?"

"No," he sighed. A brief silence passed before he spoke up again. "Listen, did you either of you… check out the Midnight Channel last night?"
Out of all the questions he was going to ask, that specific one threw them off for a loop. "Of all the times you plan to talk about that-!"

"Just hear me out, alright?" the headphone student snapped, cutting Satonaka off with uncharacteristic sharpness. "Ever since we came back from that TV world, something's been bugging me, so… I watched it again last night. And I think I saw Saki-senpai… writhing in pain."

"…A few students said they saw the same thing, actually," Shirou admitted, crossing his arms and mulling over the meaning.

"And Saki-senpai was found the same way as the announcer a few days ago, right?" Hanamura continued. "She also appeared on the Midnight Channel too, when that one guy claimed her to be his soulmate. They both vanished and come back dead. It can't be a coincidence."

"Hold on…" Satonaka paled. "Are you trying to say…?"

"That people who show up on TV die?" Shirou finished the morbid thought. As horrifying as it was to consider, it was easy to see the logic Hanamura was going with, and it did fit with what they knew.

"I also found this hanging all over Junes," Hanamura reached in his jacket and pulled out a small poster. He unrolled it and showed it to them.

"That's… Misuzu Hiiragi?" Satonaka blinked, and then paled as recognition dawned.

Emiya's eyes widened. "That's the same as the posters in that room we saw yesterday," he realized, a chill running down his spine. "You think the murders could be connected to that TV world, too?"

"There's no other explanation!" Hanamura declared. "They both must have ended up there at some point!"

"I see what you mean, but you're not going in there, Hanamura," Shirou bluntly told him. It was obvious what he intended to try, and he wasn't about to let him.

"W-what?" Hanamura recoiled as though he had been struck. "Why not?"

"Hanamura, if you're right, two people were murdered in there. You'll need weapons to defend yourself and going in there alone might as well be suicide," Shirou blandly told him. He had refrained from mentioning that he was already considering diving into the TV himself once he got a hold of a decent weapon.

Satonaka nodded in agreement. "That's right. This isn't a job for us. Let's let the police handle it!"

Peculiarly enough, both Emiya and Hanamura blurted out in unison, "No police."

Their strange agreement had Satonaka stuttering in confusion before Yosuke explained. "Think about it, Satonaka. How could the police solve this? Someone is tossing people into TVs, and then their bodies are found suspended on telephone poles. Who in their right mind would believe us, especially if they can't go in like we did?"

Chie fell silent at that. Yosuke had a point: telling anyone what they experienced would only make them sound either crazy or sarcastic… by word of mouth anyway. "But we can prove it to them! We just need them to see Emiya-kun putting his hand into the T-"

"NO!"

Both of Shirou's classmates flinched at his barked tone. The threatening sneer on his face only made them more nervous, like they were invoking the wrath of King Moron himself. Chie in particular looked hurt and very scared at where the conversation was going.

As quickly as it came, the red-haired student's rage passed with a tired sigh. "No," he said again, regarding them both with a serious glare. "No one is to know about the existence of magic. By all accounts, you two aren't supposed to know about it. It's… I can't explain but it's very important this stays secret."

Shirou quickly glanced from side to side, his shoulders briefly slumping in relief when he saw the three of them were alone for the moment, and that his yelling didn't draw unwanted attention. "You haven't told anyone about what happened yesterday, have you?"

Both of them shook their heads quickly, unnerved by this side of the normally easygoing redhead once again. "Not me," said Chie.

"Who the hell would believe us?" Yosuke added.

Shirou hoped that his classmates had forgotten any mention of magecraft so his secret was safe on that front, but the fact that they were officially aware of the existence of magic meant that he needed to take responsibility and make sure they didn't say something that would bring an Enforcer to silence them. "I can't say too much here, but I want you both to promise that you won't tell anyone under any circumstance that doesn't already know about it."

"Don't worry about that Emiya; I'm not exactly looking to get tossed into an asylum," Yosuke grunted. "You know more than you're telling us, don't you?"

"Not about that world, no, but I'll explain what I do know later," Shirou promised.

"I'll hold you to that, Emiya."

"I think we're all forgetting something here," Chie reminded her classmates. "That bear warned us that the world over there was dangerous. I mean, it was creepy enough on its own, but it made it sound like there were monsters in there!"

"It's because of what that bear said why I have to go in there and do it quickly. If the police can't do anything, it falls to us unless you want to just ignore that people are dying." Never letting up on his glare, Yosuke persisted.

Shirou's fist clenched tighter, the magus barely restraining the urge to punch his classmate in the mouth for insinuating that. For Shirou, ignoring people dying or suffering when there was even the slightest chance of saving them was outright evil. "I'm not saying what you're planning is wrong, but why do you want to go so badly?"

Damn it, Emiya, you aren't going to be the hero all the time, Yosuke thought for a split second before continuing. "The police had at least half a week to look for Ms. Yamano and now she and Saki-senpai are both dead! I can't just leave it alone!"

"We know all that already," Shirou growled before calming himself. "But… why are you telling us this?"

The taller teen looked out the window at the cloudy sky. "Because after what we've seen and what I thought about, I can't put this down even if I wanted to. Besides: for some reason, you can enter the TV. I tried putting my hand in a TV last night and it didn't work. You're the only one I can ask to help me, Emiya."

A tense silence followed as Shirou weighed his words. He was asking for his help… knowing full well of the danger but still going to know what happened to Saki Konishi and Mayumi Yamano. His reasoning was sound too, on how the world behind the TV might be dangerous if left alone…

A soft sigh escaped his lips. Sorry, Fuji-nee. I know you said no hero impulses, but… "If you're serious, we're not going in empty-handed..."

Chie's shock kept her silent for the rest of the school day aside from variations of "this is a bad idea."

<><><><><>

Junes Electronics Department

"How many times do I have to tell you guys that this is a bad idea?!"

Once again in front of the ridiculously oversized TV with the two boys, Chie couldn't believe either of them; it was one thing for Hanamura thinking of some half-baked plan like going back, but she would've thought Emiya would talk him out of it. Instead, he was convinced into going along for the trip!

It was days like these that she would spend time hanging out with Yukiko, but as luck would have it, her friend was drafted back into hotel duties right after class. Chie honestly didn't know what to do without Yukiko: she was her friend, her partner in crime, her crutch, and they always shared secrets most of the time. Hell, she was willing to tell anyone about what happened in an attempt to prove she wasn't crazy or thrown in some sort of supernatural horror story, but the guys were right in that no one would honestly believe them. The only reason she came along was to try and convince them against this stupid idea of theirs.

As it was, Emiya was holding the closest thing Yosuke had been able to provide as a weapon for him: a metal golf club with a heavy wooden head. "Sorry about the golf club," he told Emiya. "You had a smart idea looking for weapons, but it's not exactly easy to get a hold of swords on short notice. I'm taking a pair of old wrenches, myself." He assured him by patting his jacket, with the tools tucked inside. At least they weren't going in completely unarmed.

"Well, it's no shinai, but it'll do," Shirou stated before closing his eyes and seeming to sink into a slight trance. After a second, his expression tensed, like he was having trouble focusing.

Satisfied, Yosuke rummaged through the small first aid kit he had found in the store earlier, making sure it had everything they might need for their expedition. On his shoulder was a long coil of heavy-duty rope with the aforementioned pair of wrenches concealed under his uniform jacket. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than trying to walk around with it in the open. "Okay, I think we got everything. Ready when you are, Emiya."

Emiya didn't reply for a few seconds. When he opened his eyes, he regarded the golf club somewhat dubiously before looking up at the taller boy. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Guys, listen to me!" Chie all but pleaded, managing to draw both their attentions to her. "Do you have any idea what's in there? What if you can't come back?"

"We were able to make it back the first time," Hanamura countered as he tested the rope around his waist again. "If we go in through the same TV, maybe we'll see the bear again."

"'Maybe' isn't good enough!" Chie cried. What was wrong with these two?

"I understand your concern, Satonaka," Emiya reasoned. "But this isn't something either Hanamura or I can pretend has nothing to do with us."

"But it doesn't have to do with us!" she tried again. "This isn't some anime like Kenichi! We're high school students, not superheroes!"

Emiya shook his head sadly. "Not yet, anyway," he muttered under his breath before looking back at the tomboy.

"Huh?"

Completely forgoing explaining his strange comment, Shirou simply tied a length of the rope around his waist. "This isn't a problem that can be solved by covering our eyes and pretending it never happened. If not us, then who else would even hope to discover the other world? As long as I have something to say about it, I'll get to the bottom of this."

He took another glance around the store. They were the only ones in there right now. The last thing they needed was for someone to spot them just as they leaped into the TV. Last time was far too close for comfort. "I'm not sure how this all works, but I think we'll be alright as long as we're careful. I may not look it, but I do have some experience with the supernatural," Shirou explained cheerfully.

He was already theorizing that his status as a magus was why he could enter that TV world and the others couldn't. If anything, he was a little excited with the notion of saving others already.

"But-!"

"Don't worry," he winked. "Hanamura will be alright as long as I'm around. I promise."

Chie could only stare with a mix of awe and disbelief. How could he be so okay with going back to that creepy, foggy place when it might get them killed?

"Thanks, man," Hanamura smiled. "Glad to know I can count on you. Partner?"

Standing next to one another, the headphone wearing teen held up his fist to him, knuckles facing forward.

Emiya returned the smile and bumped the fist with his own, before clasping their hands together. "Partner."

Now visibly more at ease, Yosuke turned to Chie. "Just to give you some reassurance we will get back, and partly because I don't want to accidentally break the merchandise here for being makeshift anchors..." He extended his hand out. "Satonaka, I'm leaving you in charge with this."

She looked down at Hanamura's offered hands and saw the end of the rope tied to their waists. "Wait, a lifeline? Seriously?"

"Don't worry," he insisted before handed the remaining coil over. "Just hold on to the rope until we get back."

"W-wait a minute!" she didn't ask to be their anchor for this suicide mission! She didn't even want to be here, let alone have anything to do with this!

"We'll be back soon, Satonaka!" Emiya called back as he placed his fingers against the screen, once more distorting the glass with waves of white light.

"Remember, don't let go of the rope!" Hanamura added as he climbed over the edge of the frame and into the TV, still gripping his partner's hand.

Just like that, the red-head and orange-head students walked through the TV, with white lines ripping over their bodies. Chie felt completely helpless as they vanished, an agonizing sensation that caused her stomach to twist in knots. The rope in her hands continued to uncoil with agonizing slowness while nightmarish possibilities played through her head. Most ended with their bodies hanging on telephone poles like the last two victims.

She should have kicked them unconscious when they weren't looking. Well, maybe just Emiya. He was a nice guy, but she was starting to see that he was as stupid as Hanamura in some cases.

Wait, was that a tug?

She tried both ends to be sure, and felt a strong pull back… a little too strong.

Wh-what's going on?

Chie felt her shoes skid across the surface. It wasn't obvious at first, but the friction and squeak gave it away. She looked down and saw her body was being pulled towards the TV. Or rather, the rope she was holding.

"No," she gasped and paled in horror, almost immediately pulling back. "no… NO! No no no no no no no no-!"

She knew it was just the rope, and if she let go then maybe she would be safe. But it was Hanamura and Emiya's lifeline! Her only sure way of knowing they were in there alive! She couldn't lose it!

Okay, calm down Chie. You can do this! This is just like... like fishing at the river! You just got to keep your footing and pull like hell!

The kung-fu enthusiast did just that, wrapping the rope around her arms and pulling on the line with all of her strength with her legs bent. She had watched and emulated enough movies like Trial of the Dragon to get her own posture down right. It was for naught: Chie felt the rope burn her hands and continue to slip into the TV at the same rate. It went in like a chain through a winch, winding monotonously and rapidly. In no time, she found herself just in front of the TV with only a portion of the rope left coiling around her arms.

As if karma suddenly had an inkling for the electronics department, she could see customers entering the room. Despite all the worries and anxieties of her two classmates, being caught in a "no-magic taboo" that Emiya warned against convinced her otherwise. It was then, with great-reluctance, that she started bundling the rope in her hands and shoving it inside like it was on fire.

"I knew this was a bad ide-AAAAH!"

To her surprise and growing fear, Chie's arms were actually pulled into the screen as well, and far deeper than she had hoped they would. On impulse, she tried letting go of the rope and pulling them out, but her hands were stuck firm in the now liquefied surface. Having overstepped in thrusting, her arms were nearly shoulder-deep inside, and gravity has starting to take effect.

Emiya wasn't kidding! The TV IS pulling me in!

In a vain attempt to break away, she leaned her body back in another attempt to pull herself, but lacked the footing to balance herself. There was nothing she could do as the rest of body was dragged inside… and then fell in like a rock.

<><><><><>

TV World

Both students had a less than graceful landing into the other side, much like what happened yesterday. They were at least prepared at the notion of crashing down after a jump inside, but not controlling their landing or spinning yet. In fact, their attempt to try and land feet first resulted in Shirou and Yosuke identically sprawled on their stomachs with their faces firmly planted on the ground.

"Owowowow…" Yosuke groaned as he moved his cheek parallel to the ground. "I hope this doesn't happen every time we jump over…"

Shirou shrugged off the pain quickly, glancing around the area, the golf club held in a guard stance Fuji-nee drilled into him. "It's the same area as yesterday. The TVs really are connected from place to place."

"No fooling?" Yosuke perked as he stood up. Looking around, he saw that Shirou was right. "Great! Maybe that bear will come back and we can find out what happened to Saki-senpai!"

"We better wait here, then," Shirou suggested with a frown. "The TV-stacked gate from before isn't here, and this is the only place we know the bear might appear. I'm not sure if we can wander very far this time because of our lifelines, either."

"Good plan," his classmate nodded. "But I wouldn't worry about our rope. It's a Junes specialty, measuring over a mile long."

"A mile? Isn't that exaggerating it a little?"

"Look, don't worry so much," Yosuke winked as he tugged the rope. "We have more than enough to cover the area and memorize the place: I packed some map making tools for the trip as well. As long as this holds, we have nothing to-"

The rope in his hand, once tight like a bowstring, drooped and slid like it had been unanimously undone. Shirou and Yosuke exchanged confused glances between each other and the rope in his hand, fear slowly creeping in.

"Was it… supposed to do that?" Shirou guessed, almost afraid of the answer.

The headphone student looked unsure what to say to that. His slight worry was whisked away a moment later, as his brow crinkled in confusion. "Wait… do you hear that?"

Shirou blinked and listened. Now that Hanamura mentioned it, he could make out something high pitched. Was it a mythical beast, or perhaps a familiar? He looked up to the foggy sky for a clue, but all he saw was their lifelines falter and drop. It was almost as if-

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Hanamura recognized it first. "Satonaka!?"

Damn!

He completely disregarded the fact that Chie fell through the same way before, and all of them survived a tumble through the TV screen once or twice: her scream of terror cried for help, and as an ally of justice, Shirou was bound to answer.

Quick as a whip, he dropped the Reinforced golf club and shot towards the sound of the scream. He could see her falling through the fog and braced himself under where she would land and held his hands out. He thought about Reinforcing himself, but if he screwed that up he could end up ripping himself apart, and this wasn't the time to take such a risk. Luck was on his side though, and he caught her bridal style. The force of catching her as normal caught him off guard and forced him down to his back, but the smaller girl was still safe in his arms.

Satonaka stared at him with wide eyes and her cheeks flushed. Shirou paid it no mind, focusing first and foremost of her safety. "Are you alright, Satonaka?"

She stared open-mouthed and gaping, almost unresponsive for several seconds. Then her face twisted into an angry scowl and she screamed, "YOU IDIOT!" before punching him square in the chin.

Completely blindsided by the reaction, Shirou let go of Satonaka and fell back, rolling his jaw. Da-damn! Her punches are almost as lethal as her kicks-!

"Satonaka!" Hanamura rushed over to them. "What the hell was that-OW!" Hanamura's words were cut off by several coils of the heavy rope slapping into his chest, knocking the unprepared boy down.

The smaller girl loomed over the prone boys and glared at both of them, shaking with fury and fear. "I told you! I fucking told you this was a bad idea! But did either of you listen? NO! You two just had to ignore the damn bear and come right back! You guys suck!"

"N-now Satonaka," Yosuke weakly reasoned. "Let's just take a breather-"

"Oh, and by the way: Great idea using a lifeline! At least that way I would know if your bodies were eaten or not, but all sorts of hazards could have happened that I wouldn't know about: poisoned to death, induced to a coma, turned to stone, but hey! Getting sucked right in with you idiots works just as well!"

Shirou nursed his bruising face tentatively, but noticed that the green sweater-wearing girl, in spite of her growing rage and tantrum, was cracking her voice and on the verge of tears. This promptly made him forgot about his pain and feel concerned for her. "S-Satonaka…" he tried, but she wasn't listening.

"And now we're all trapped in here! No food, no contact, no way back, no lifeline..." she paused to give a mock-search around the studio. "And absolutely no, stupid, frigging... BEAR!"

Her last word held the most power, as it carried an echo effect throughout the room, and reminded all of them that they were indeed in another world. By the end of her rant, Chie glared and huffed at the two shocked boys, unable to say anything in response. A tense minute of haggard breathing passed, and the chestnut haired girl fell to her knees, emotionally drained before breaking down to tears.

"I'll never see anyone ever again!" she wailed. "I want my parents! I want my dog! I want Yukiko! I-I… I want to go hooooooome! Waaaaaaahahahaaaaa!"

The two boys awkwardly exchanged glances. It wasn't often someone like Chie Satonaka would cry about anything. In fact, Hanamura didn't think he had ever seen her cry, period. She tended to kick anything that upset her rather than tear up.

Shirou had honestly hoped that she wouldn't get dragged back in here… quite literally in this case. Seeing her cry felt like he was being stabbed with every sob, and Hanamura seemed to share the feeling. "We're sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen," Shirou told her a touch awkwardly, arms outstretched in an easing gesture.

"Y-yeah! We'll get out of here before you-" Hanamura started to say before a familiar, high voice caught the trio's attention.

"You guys came back?" it asked, squeaking steps heading towards them from within the fog. Its eyes were comically wide with surprise, its pupils shrunken into pinholes. It was certainly expressive. It suddenly glared, stomping a foot and pointing a mitten-covered paw at them accusingly. "I get it! You three were the ones behind all this!"

"Wh-what?" Hanamura gaped for a minute before pointing an accusing finger right back. "Wait a minute, how do we know you're not the one killing people after they get tossed in?"

"Hey! I'm a nice bear! You three, however, are beary suspicious coming back after I let you out yesterday!"

Here we go again… Shirou grumbled a bit before looking over his shoulder at the two. "Could you two not pointing fingers right now? We can work out theories when we all have more information," Shirou offered, more concerned on other matters. "Satonaka's very upset and needs to calm down-"

"I-I'm fine, Emiya," she sniffled. "Just… give me a minute, okay?"

The bear took full notice of the female student now and looked surprised. "Is she alright? Why is she crying?"

"We're stuck here and…" Hanamura sighed, holding up the rope tied to his waist. "Well, the lifeline plan we came up with backfired on us."

"If it's not too much to ask," Shirou added. "Could you open the way back for Satonaka?"

The bear frowned, tapping its "chin" in thought. It glanced at each of them and then put its hands behind its back, trying to puff out its chest defiantly. "No."

Shirou shot to his feet, eyes wide. Any calm he might have had evaporated instantly, and he finally realized that he had left his golf club on the ground a ways off when he caught Satonaka. "What?! Why?!"

The girl still on the ground had gone completely still, shock rendering her numb as she stared at the short mascot with horror.

"You have the damned nerve to call yourself a nice bear!" Hanamura shouted, fishing for the wrenches in his jacket. "Last time you practically kicked us out! Now you're keeping us prisoner!?"

"That was before I knew who you guys were," the bear huffed. "And until I'm convinced otherwise, I say you three are the ones behind what's going on!"

"Behind what, exactly?" Shirou asked civilly enough, though he was making sure to circle slowly back towards his only weapon and worked to keep his body from trembling with every step. "At least tell us your side of the story."

The bear assumed a thinking pose as it explained. "Lately, I can tell that someone's been throwing people in here before the fog lifts. It's only been two so far, but the world's already getting messed up!" It then glared at them. "You came here two times, after each incident no less, and have done so by choice! That's beary suspicious, if you ask me!"

Shirou had to admit, the bear had good logic. But did it say very or berry? "The first time was an accident, honest. We did come here by choice because we wanted to check something."

"Check what?"

Yosuke took over Shirou's line of thought easily. "You said 'throwing people in', like yesterday. Those people that were tossed in died shortly after."

Shirou nodded grimly. "I doubt whoever did this is unaware of the consequences. They are killing people using magecraft, plain and simple."

Yosuke nodded, before blinking and turning to his classmate in confusion. "Mage-what?"

"Not the time, Hanamura."

The bear's mouth crinkled into a small frown. "You still haven't said why you're back here."

"It's pretty simple. We're-" Shirou looked back to Chie, who was now on her knees and taking slow, deep breaths, "well, most of us, are here to investigate this world's connection to the murders and try to prevent any more deaths."

"All we know is that when they get thrown in, they reappear dead in the morning hanging from a high point," Yosuke elaborated quickly.

Despite being hostile, the bear took their words to consideration. "Hmm… was it foggy on the morning the first one reappeared? Like today?"

Shirou blinked in realization. Exchanging glances with Yosuke, he realized the same thing and they started to ease on their battle stances. "Come to think of it... they were."

The bear mascot dropped a fist into its other palm in understanding. "Oh! That could be a part of it. When it gets foggy on your side, it lifts here."

"Fog?" Shirou asked. "Wait, what happens when the fog lifts here?"

"The Shadows get violent," it shook slightly, seemingly not caring that no one but it knew what it was talking about. "That's why I had to get you three out! It was about to lift in this world and they would have killed you!"

"Shadows?" Shirou and Hanamura repeated, exchanging glances again. This TV world wasn't anything either of them expected.

"Are they like… monsters?" Shirou guessed. The bear simply nodded.

"Though maybe I'll let them go after you!" it suddenly glared. "It'll be a sure way to handle the culprits that messed this world in the first place."

"Look, we're telling you-!"

Shirou didn't get to finish his rebuttal before Satonaka finally moved; her face still a little red, but back in control of herself. She snapped back to her feet and stomped over to the mascot. It flinched when she stopped a short distance in front of it and pointed at its face.

"Listen, bear!" she growled. "You go around accusing us when you don't even know us, claiming us to be suspicious! Frankly, you're the suspicious one going around in that costume of yours!"

"Wh-what?" The bear was honestly surprised.

"I agree," Hanamura glared. "You keep talking in circles and tell us nothing to make us believe you're innocent. How about you show us your damn face!?"

The two students jumped the bear that hardly put up a fight in its wailing struggle. As Satonaka pinned it down, Hanamura reached for the zipper behind hits head and pulled it. The head was tossed aside with its face frozen in a blank state of fear. When they peered into the body…

"AAAAAH!"

"Wh-what the hell?!"

-they both scurried back in fear from the headless mascot. Chie leaped away while raising her arms in reflex, as if it might lunge at her. Yosuke, having fell onto his hands after a few steps, continued to crawl away backwards. Even Shirou was left gobsmacked at the sight before him.

"He's… hollow?"

The bear's body was completely empty, the insides lined with a black material, yet its arms were still moving. Despite his experience with magecraft, Shirou had no experience dealing with any branch that could produce a creature like this moving mascot, at least not with this level of autonomy.

"Just what the hell is that bear?!" Hanamura paled. No one had an answer for him.

Eventually the arms found its head and put it back on. Immediately, the face reanimated, showing an angry scowl on its cartoonish features. "I couldn't be the culprit! Why would you accuse me of that?"

Shirou frowned, already forgetting the out-of-head experience he just witnessed. "Well, to be fair, you blamed us first."

The bear looked humbled at that. "Oh… point taken. But really! All I want is to live peacefully here!"

Chie tilted her head to the side confused. "Peacefully?" she repeated.

"In this creepy place?" Yosuke added between glances. "I find that a little hard to believe."

It flailed its arms again, sounding defiant yet desperate, even to the verge of tears. "W-well, it's true! And I'll have you know that this place wasn't always 'creepy'! The more people that get thrown in, the worse it gets! I don't want my home to be a complete mess; it's the only home I know! That's why I have to find who the culprit is before my home's ruined! If I lose it then… then I… wa-waaaaaaah…" it finally started crying in earnest, much to the shock of the Yasogami High students.

"Is this thing serious?" Yosuke whispered. "Talk about overdramatic…"

"Still, you'd have to feel sorry for it," Chie soothed. "Losing its home… Poor little bear…"

Shirou thought deeply of the situation, considering everything that happened the last few days. The sudden murder of the announcer, and then the follow-up of a high school student; the rumors centered around them just before the deaths occurred; the magic window of the Midnight Channel both Nami-san and Satonaka told him about; the TV world where a lone talking bear resided. There were too many coincidences, and his father had taught him that magi never believe in coincidences.

Then there was also Igor's words from almost a week ago:

"It seems you will encounter a grave misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you…

"The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… If the mystery goes unsolved, your future, perhaps far more, may be forever lost. That is what the World foretells."

Though honestly, even without considering all that, Shirou knew his answer: a hero always heeded the call for help. "I'll help you."

In an instant, the bear's face brightened and his classmates gaped. "E-Emiya!"

The bear looked up hopefully, eyes sparkling rather comically. "Really? You'll help?"

"Consider me an ally of justice, and an ally of justice always helps those in need," Shirou smiled. "Even talking bears."

"Then I'm one lucky bear! Oh, thank you thank you THANK YOU!"

Chie glanced down to the floor, mumbling to herself. "Ally of justice…"

Yosuke glanced between the bear and magus before sighing in defeat. "So the bear practically guilt-tripped the magic expert into helping it, and he falls for it. Ah well, I guess that means I'm in. After all, we came here to find out what's going on."

"Thanks, Hanamura," Shirou gave him a grateful smile.

"BUT!" he quickly interjected before the bear got too excited. "We're completely innocent in this. If you want our help, you'll have to agree to let us back out when we're done. Got it?"

The bear, more than happy to have help in preserving his world, nodded with gratitude. "You have my word!"

"I'll help too."

The guys glanced to Satonaka in surprise. "A-are you sure? I mean, you had a breakdown just a while ago and-" Hanamura started before the tomboy cut him off.

"I thought about what you two said, about not letting this go," she answered. "I… I guess I was just trying to ignore it and hide. I still think this is a bad idea, but I really don't want anyone else to die here, especially not someone like Yukiko. If finding out what's going on here will prevent it, then I'm game!" she finished and punched her open hand, a little of her natural spunk back in her eyes.

"Then it's settled," Shirou nodded, even if a part of him was uneasy about letting them get caught up in a magical conflict. "Why don't we introduce ourselves then? As I said before, I'm Shirou Emiya, and these are my friends: Yosuke Hanamura and Chie Satonaka."

"Nice to meet ya!" Yosuke waved.

"What's your name?" Chie asked.

The bear smiled widely. "I'm Teddie Kuma!"

A silence passed between them as the name sunk in, and all three students felt sweat roll down the backs of their heads.

"…Somehow, I feel we should have seen that one coming," Yosuke deadpanned.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 13: Awakening

TV World – Shopping District

After getting acquainted, Teddie made his first show of sincerity by taking them to where he claimed to have detected the last human appearing. A bit of cross-referencing revealed that the creepy inn room they found had appeared a few days before that, further suggesting that it was connected to Miss Yamano. What the room itself symbolized no one wanted to speculate.

As Teddie led them to the newest area, Shirou noticed that the place was oddly familiar. The ground beneath him was concrete, and he could see the silhouettes of buildings through the fog that reminded him of the shopping district.

Wait… this is exactly what the Shopping District looks like…

Stepping closer to the buildings, he recognized the Marukyu Tofu shop, though the colors were too dark and muddled. The street lights were on and he could see some kind of light through a few of the windows, but the place was completely devoid of human life and every building was closed up tight. Now as he listened, he realized that the place was unnaturally silent aside from the muted conversation between Teddie and his classmates.

"Now Teddie," Hanamura asked as they passed the old pharmacy. "Are you sure this is where you saw Saki-sempai?"

"I don't know the person's name," Teddie corrected, "But I do know that the last person that came into this world ended up around here."

"Is it just me or does this place look like the Shopping District?" Shirou asked when he rejoined the group. "It's hard to tell in this fog, though."

His classmates and Teddie looked at him for a moment, and the teens looked around, reminding the magus that he was the only one aside from Teddie that could see any reasonable distance through the haze.

"Oh, I knew I forgot something! Give me a second…" How a creature with hands like mittens could snap their fingers like he did baffled Shirou, especially now that he knew Teddie didn't have actual fingers to begin with.

It clapped its hands twice, and a puff of smoke appeared when he cupped them together. Stacked on top of each other in his paws were several pairs of glasses, each with different color and designed frames: white, yellow, and orange. Each pair was actually well-made, and looked somewhat stylish in their own way.

"Projection magecraft?" Shirou muttered, slightly awed by the casual use of the technique.

"Here, take your pick and put 'em on!" Teddie offered. "They'll help you see through the fog."

The trio of students exchanged perplexed glances, but Shirou shrugged and chose first. The bear was being helpful in their search so far, and it had promised its guidance and support. There was no reason to doubt its word yet. Besides, if it really wanted their help, it was best not to antagonize them given that the creature was almost comically weak.

When he put the robust-looking white pair on, Emiya blinked in surprise at seeing the fog completely filtered out of his vision. This feeling must be like when people wore prescription glasses for the first time: everything was so clear!

…Though, given the eerie warping background of black and red bands covering the sky and the subtly distorted, dark scenery of the imitation shopping district, he almost wished he couldn't see quite that far.

"Amazing," he said simply, prompting the other two to take their own glasses; Hanamura picked the orange pair and Satonaka the yellow one. They were just as surprised by the results.

"The difference is like night and day!" Hanamura breathed, testing between flipping the lenses over and away from his eyes.

"Yeah! It's like the fog isn't even there anymore!" Satonaka added. "How did you do that?"

"It's sort of a talent I got," Teddie beamed. "I like making things, and I make all kinds of things! Balloons, toys, costumes, the whole shebang!"

"Is it like magecraft?" Shirou asked, genuinely curious of how he was able to create three pairs of glasses. "Does the mana in this place make them last longer?"

Teddie blinked again, and crossed his arms in thought. "Magecraft? Mana? Sounds familiar, but that's it. I've always done this sort of thing so I can't quite help you there."

Yosuke gave a quick cough, drawing their attention. "Ahem! As much as I would like to know what the heck you're both talking about, we still have a job to do." He reached for his phone and pulled up a picture of her. Konishi was in her Junes uniform and serving drinks, glancing at the camera and giving her familiar tired smile. "This is the girl who was… found dead… earlier. Just to be sure; Teddie, was this girl the one around here?"

The short mascot gave the picture a quick look and nodded as firmly as his strange body allowed. "That's her all right." He turned and pointed further up the road as Yosuke pocketed his phone. "She disappeared into that flat building up ahead."

"That's the way to the Konishi liquor store if this place is anything like the real world," Hanamura noted. He rushed ahead, and the rest jogged in place to catch up until they were all together.

"Is it like our world?" Shirou asked himself. This place still had too many unanswered questions for them to run off like this, and he was hoping the friendly bear could shed some light on the subject. "Kuma, what exactly is this place?"

"I told you, this world is what it is," the bear replied between breaths as it struggled to keep up. "And feel free to call me Teddie."

"Well, what about the shopping district?" Satonaka offered. "Has this always been here?"

"No, it just appeared recently, like that one place that looks like an inn."

"Well, why are they so different then? Why make an inn room and then recreate the shopping district?" Satonaka tried, growing frustrated.

Teddie frowned. "How should I know? They're both realities for the people who've been there."

The two of them sighed, disappointed. He's being vague again. Shirou bitterly thought. Worst part is he probably doesn't even know he's doing it. Either that or, worse case scenario, he's a devious little bear and likes talking in circles around us. Still, was he always this content with everything before?

"Well, what about that place you found us at?" Satonaka asked. "It looks like a TV studio. Is the Midnight Channel filmed from there?"

Teddie blinked. "Filmed? Midnight Channel?"

"What she means is," Shirou explained for the mascot's benefit. "Have there been any people using cameras and stuff around here?"

The bear looked more confused than ever. "I don't know filming or cameras, but this world has always been like this."

"What do mean 'like this'?"

Teddie scowled a bit at them. "I told you already! The only ones that live here are me and-!"

A gargled growl echoed through the air, and Teddie immediately froze in his tracks. The students didn't like the sound of it either; both Satonaka and Shirou staggered to a stop the moment they heard the ominous sound, but they couldn't tell what it was or where it came from.

"W-what was that?" Shirou gulped, levering the golf club into a basic kendo stance.

"-Shadows," Teddie finished with a whimper. The sheer terror he laced his word with managed to send goose bumps down their spines. They could all hear strange sounds dancing around the edges of their senses: groans, burbling laughter, slopping fluids, and insect-like skittering.

Satonaka started bouncing from foot to foot, waiting for the cue whether to fight or flee. She was confident in her reflexes, but wasn't stupid enough to pick a fight with unknown monsters without good reason.

Shirou held the golf club in his hand, sending prana into it and trying to Reinforce it as much as he dared. He had used Structural Analysis back in their world, and it looked like the precaution helped: the magic settled into the weaknesses in the club, strengthening it until it could hit like a sledgehammer with a fraction of the weight.

Teddie cowered between them, whimpering and holding his head in his hands.

Hanamura….

"Wait, where's Hanamura?" Shirou asked, eyes widening when he realized that his taller classmate was nowhere to be seen.

"WAAAAAAAAAH!"

Satonaka recognized the screamer and paled. "HANAMURA!"

"The Shadows are after him!" Teddie cried.

Shirou didn't bother thinking about what he might be getting into. He bolted ahead, sending prana through his struggling Magic Circuit tentatively as he ran. Reinforcement of the body was difficult at best and suicidal at worst, but every second he spent hesitating left Hanamura in danger. Strangely, the spell came easily, and every step was a little faster, a little more efficient. Despite this, Shirou made sure not to enhance his body too recklessly, wary of blowing out his legs before even reaching Hanamura.

At least the mana of this place wasn't causing any issues with his magecraft so far. If anything, it readily responded to his need. That was one less thing to worry about.

With his enhanced speed, he reached the base of the small hill leading by the shrine in seconds and spotted Hanamura falling back on his hands, narrowly evading the… thing… that was attempting to tear him apart with its teeth.

That's a Shadow?

Three hovering creatures unlike any in the real world bobbed through the air before him. Each was a bloated sphere almost as wide as a car and colored in wavy stripes of black and pink. A mouth that cut almost halfway into the sphere, framed by bizarrely large and full red lips hung open and tongues as long as a man was tall lolled out from between rows of flat, brick-like teeth. One floated and turned away from Shirou, revealing a small, blue, frowning mask staring lifelessly outward from the back of it. The mask was small enough to fit a human's face, looking tiny compared to the floating mouth's bulk.

Despite their comical appearance, the creatures violently tore at anything they got their mouths around. One tore a chunk out of a nearby lamppost when Yosuke dove away from its charge, biting into the metal with a shrieking groan. The thing spat out the ruined metal and turned its slavering jaws back towards Yosuke.

Naturally, Hanamura cowered and tried protecting his head in a blind panic. "WHAAAAAAAAA!"

Shirou slid to a stop and smashed the Reinforced golf club into the floating mouth's side, the Shadow's spongy bulk catapulting away and dragging a trail of drool along the road down the hill. The other mouths turned to their fallen kin swiftly despite the lack of eyes or any sensory organ aside from their tongues. With a gurgling growl, the Shadows refocused on the two boys. The third used its long tongue to push itself back into the air and released a watery cackle, floating back up to join its fellows.

Not taking his eyes off the monsters, Shirou hauled Yosuke to his feet with one hand, keeping his weapon ready. Yosuke gained a little bravado with the added help and steadied himself.

"Thanks for the save, partner. Ready?" The boy pulled out the wrenches he had brought with him and held them out like they were a pair of short swords. He only just kept his hands from shaking with a white-knuckle grip on them.

The magus shook his head. "Hanamura, we need to get back to the others."

Completely caught by surprise at the decision, Yosuke nearly stumbled where he stood before regaining his footing. He gestured past the three killer mouths at the squat building all but looming over them. "B-but Saki-senpai's store-"

"-isn't going anywhere. Those Shadows, however, mean to kill us. So move!" Shirou shouted, falling back at his normal speed, keeping pace with Hanamura. The taller boy was naturally quicker than Shirou, but Reinforcement compensated easily.

As Shirou expected, the floating mouths pursued them at a relentless pace. Hanamura pushed himself to run faster and faster, desperately trying to keep ahead of the Shadows and their impossible flight, stumbling at times, only just keeping his balance. Shirou surreptitiously fell back slightly behind him. If Hanamura was only able to get away while he held the Shadows off, he would stop and fight. Thankfully, it looked like the creatures were not quite fast enough to close the gap.

With the Shadows almost literally gnashing at the sprinting teens' heels, Emiya and Hanamura spotted their classmate waving to them from a dark doorway. Satonaka and Teddie had opened one of the look-alike buildings for shelter: the abandoned toy store, to be specific. "Come on!" she called out, "Hurry up!"

"Don't let the Shadows get you!" Teddie encouraged, his arm waving in the window.

"No need to tell us twice!" Yosuke gasped as he dove through the door, with Shirou right behind him.

They ended up bowling over Teddie and all three took a tumble on the floor. Satonaka had wisely stepped aside long enough to let them fly by before she slammed the door shut and flipped the deadbolt. She didn't have time to even breathe a sigh of relief before the three mouths slammed into the door hard enough to send her staggering back. The watery babble and slavering tongues slapping at the door had the four teens holding their breath.

Finally, the sounds retreated from the door before going entirely silent. As one, the humans and the bear released a long sigh of relief and all but collapsed where they stood, panting like dogs. Shirou and Chie recovered fastest; the former thanks to his magus training and archery breathing exercises taking over, and the latter with her self-taught kung fu breathing techniques. During this moment of calm, Shirou took in the room before them.

The toy store was small, only consisting of three aisles of toys ranging from building sets to dolls and balls. The entryway was the only open space, and even that was interspersed with small tables and the cashier's desk. The entire thing was only about five meters wide but over fifteen deep, half of that the aisles.

Shirou turned towards Hanamura. "Are you alright?"

In hindsight it was a stupid question: they were stuck in some magus's sick amusement park that took the form of a parody of Inaba while under siege by monsters with only a pair of wrenches and a golf club between them. They were screwed if they couldn't escape. Shirou knew that a magus walked with death, and Shirou used that truth to keep his mind clear… or at least clearer than the clearly panicking Kuma.

Hanamura ignored him, staring at the door with wide, twitching eyes. From the look of it, the auburn-haired teen was running on almost pure adrenaline right now. He was shaking in terror by this point, and probably soiled himself more easily than their last venture. Shirou couldn't blame him. "What were those things?!" he cried.

To everyone's surprise, their guide had an answer for them. "Slipping Hableries," Teddie shivered. "They're one of the weaker Shadows, but I didn't expect to find any around here yet!"

"Those mouths have names?!" Satonaka gawked. "And there're stronger ones?!"

As if to emphasize her shock, the entire building rattled from the creatures making another attack. Instead of backing away again, though, they could see small wedges dig through the door and wood groan and splinter, bits of the wall and door coming away in sections.

The damn things are chewing their way in! Shirou realized, sorely wishing he had something with a point or an edge to use. "We can worry about that later! Teddie, how do we stop these things?!"

"They should go away if you hurt them enough, but the only thing that can defeat a Shadow for good is another Shadow or something related!" the bear blurted out, cowering behind a shelf.

"You're meaning to tell me we're all dead unless those things resort to cannibalism?!" Hanamura's voice cracked as that sank in.

More chunks of wood fell away from the door, enough for one of the now-identified Slipping Hableries to stick its two-meter tongue into the building, groping for them while the others continued to tear through the walls. Their gurgling cries grew more incensed with every inch of progress they made.

Shirou's mind reeled. Teddie's too scared to fight, and Hanamura and Satonaka are defenseless against them. If I can at least distract them for a chance to escape…!

Shirou stepped forward, hefting the golf club into the stance Taiga had all but beaten into him. "Everyone, head to the back of the store; I'll hold them off!" With his enhanced club in hand and his self-Reinforcement, he was certain he could buy them a little time and work something out.

"Way ahead of you!" Teddie declared as his squeaky shoes retreated towards the back of the building before he realized the students weren't following him.

Both students, however, hesitated. "Are you nuts, Emiya?! We can't just leave you here!" Satonaka shouted.

"She's right partner, I got your back!" Hanamura declared shakily while he braced for a fight.

"You're both out of your minds! We have to-" Satonaka's words were interrupted by the cacophony of the Shadows finally ripping their way through the walls and door, screeching as they homed in on the trio.

Shirou moved immediately forward while the others staggered back in terror. With people to protect behind him, the magus refused to hesitate, strengthening himself further and smashing the lead Hablerie with a sweeping strike that threw the orb-like Shadow into the second, sending both crashing into a pile of building blocks. He barely reacted in time to avoid the third taking a bite out of him as it launched its own attack.

"There's no more time! RUN!" Shirou roared to his classmates as he tracked the last Shadow's movements.

The Shadows recovered far too quickly for getting hit like they did, their tongues pushing them back into the air. They faced each other briefly as if surprised and then swept outward to surround the magus, gurgling all the while. Two launched themselves at Shirou at the same time while the last suddenly turned and charged Satonaka and Hanamura, mouth wide.

Shirou didn't even bother to think. He spun on his heel and pumped more prana into his legs, putting himself between his classmates and the Shadow's open maw and jabbing the club into the thing's chin, completely ignoring the other Slipping Hableries as the swooped after him. The Shadow yelped in pain as it bit its own tongue before floating back… revealing the other two Shadows.

The first slapped him with its tongue with enough power to throw him to the ground and the second slipped behind it to make another attempt at Satonaka and Hanamura. It barely made it an inch past Shirou before he seized its trailing tongue and pulled with all of his Reinforced strength, slamming the thing back into the floor. The third Shadow dove back into the fray with a cackle, gnashing its teeth while Shirou struggled to keep up with the tangle of teeth and tongues. Several times his arms were caught by the edges of those teeth, tearing at his sleeves and leaving him with small cuts, and his shirt was soaked by their saliva. It was a dirty and almost feral struggle.

To Yosuke and Chie, the sight was a whirlwind. Shirou was all over the place, somehow diving, spinning, striking, jumping and grappling the Shadows every time they made a move. In fact, the speed and strength he was displaying exceeded anything they had seen before. He seemed unstoppable and kept the Shadows tenaciously occupied, but it was three on one. The strain was starting to show in his face and eyes. They couldn't move to help though, entranced by the insanity before them.

Yosuke's hands were shaking from holding the wrenches so tightly, and he seemed to be fighting with himself for each inch he made himself move. He wanted to leap into the fray, but was too scared to. He didn't want to abandon Shirou after everything he was doing for him. Despite that, he was stuck rigid in the back with Satonaka and Kuma, feeling an unsettling combination of fear, dread, and humiliation. Move god damn it! MOVE! Why can't I move?!

Shirou finally managed to regain his feet, teeth bared in a snarl as he braced himself against the Slipping Hableries' relentless attempts to get past him. The Hableries made another attack, two tearing towards him while the third tried to hover outside Shirou's range.

Shirou jumped over the flailing Shadows and let them collide with each other. He turned towards the third, raising the club into a perfect head strike Taiga had beaten into him during their lessons. And then, a sensation like magma roared through his spine, his strength vanishing mid-stride.

His Magic Circuit, pushed well beyond its limits, had finally broken down completely, taking with it his body's Reinforcement.

He stumbled, his muscles suddenly feeling like boiling liquid inside his skin. Then, without warning, his throat constricted itself, choking him, and he quickly covered his mouth and what felt like a cough… or regurgitation. He knew what was in his hand without even looking at it: it was blood. Dammit! Not now!

The Slipping Hableries circled him during his pause before they charged him again. Shirou could still react quickly enough to defend himself, but he lacked the strength to repel the Shadows on his own. The first bit down on the club, unable to quite break the rapidly-weakening haft, but wrenching the magus to the side while the second bowled him over, twisting the club out of his grip. The first Shadow then simply spit the club out and left Shirou to its fellow, aiming for the other two teens.

The last Shadow dove towards Hanamura and Satonaka unmolested, and Hanamura finally moved as self-preservation instincts kicked in. He desperately backpedaled into an aisle while the Shadow pursued him. "Crap, crap, crap, crap!" he repeated as he tried to fend the Shadow's swooping dives with his wrenches with mixed success. Apparently, getting bashed with a golf club had made the Shadow wary of being hit with them even if its mindless aggression kept it from leaving. "Emiya! Now would be a REALLY good time to use some magic on these dentures!"

Satonaka fell back on her training as the last Slipping Hablerie reached her. Her foot shot up in an axe kick that slammed the Shadow's mouth shut, and it screeched with pain. The Shadow's long tongue wrapped around her ankle and yanked her into a spin, tossing the tomboy into a table before diving in for another bite. "Aaaaah! Someone HELP ME!"

Further back, Teddie crouched under a table; his eyes squeezed shut and mitten-like hands covering his ears. "Oooooooh, I don't wanna be eaten!"

It was happening too fast: Shirou could barely hold the Shadow on him from ripping him open, but he needed to save his classmates! Is this all I can do?! Think! I can't let this happen! I WON'T!

As if answering his plea, his sense of time and perception slowed. He was suddenly alone in his thoughts… before a strong, defiant voice echoed in mind. "I am thou… thou art I…"

…! That voice!

"The time has come… open thine eyes, and call forth what is within!"

A brief spike of pain shot through his temples, coupled with images blurring by so fast he could make them out. The ones that stood out most vividly to him were of Igor and Margaret in the Velvet Room, a glowing sheath surrounded in darkness, and a girl standing in an open green meadow. As soon as they had appeared, the images were gone, as was the pain.

In the duration of that flash, something had appeared in his left hand. Glancing warily at it, the magus saw that he was now grasping a blue card. The face side was blank, but the bottom of the frame held a single number: zero. It looked eerily familiar to the Tarot cards that Igor used in his dream.

Except… it wasn't a dream after all, was it? The Shadows all paused and looked at him, Shirou found the strength to rise back up to his feet and hold the blue card up. Without his Magic Circuit, he couldn't even perform Structural Analysis on it, but his sensitivity to magic all but screamed at him with the intensity of its untapped power.

This… power…!

It was warm and welcoming like a flame, barely more than a small ember. But even he, an incompetent magus, knew that it was so much more, and could grow into that of an inferno in time. It was complex, yet simple. It was mysterious, yet lucid. It was weak, but full of potential. And it was all his.

He remembered this feeling. It was just like in his dream battle with the Ghoul, but even stronger.

Teddie Kuma, watching this all safely behind an aisle, was dazzled by the glowing aura of the red-haired teen. The bear couldn't place its paw on it, but it felt very familiar… Perhaps it was one of those magic things he told him about earlier? "Woah…"

A small smile graced his lips, as he said the one word that suddenly entered his mind and demanded it be spoken aloud. His lips moved slowly. "Per…"

The Shadow before him seemed to panic, shaking and releasing a wild cackle. The other two ignored their helpless prey and rallied to its call.

Yosuke Hanamura followed his would-be eater to the light show ahead, and his classmate standing dead center in it. If this was some sort of magic trick he was pulling off, it was big, and made Emiya look like some shouen hero or something. Needless to say, Yosuke was shocked. And jealous. "What in the-?"

"-…so…"

Chie Satonaka, briefly rubbing her bruised and possibly swollen ankle for relief, watched with a mix of horror and awe as Emiya simply glowed with some fighter's aura. The horror set in when she realized that he was about to face the triple threat of piranha faces. She prayed to god that he knew what he was doing… she didn't want to lose him. "Emiya…!"

The Shadows, daring not to take any changes, lunged as one.

"-…na!"

He crushed the card in his hands, the sound of glass shattering echoing throughout the room. Blue flames roared from between Shirou's fingers, wrapping around him without harming him and causing the Shadows to hover away in surprise.

Something inside Shirou fell into place, sending out a torrent of power from deep within him, a power he had felt only once before, finally released from its resting place. His classmates saw something phase into existence like an illusion becoming real from within the blue fire. When the flames receded, the phantom was clear for all to see.

The towering entity hovered over him like a ghost, yet it was obviously solid and tangible. Almost seven feet tall and hovering a foot off the ground, its body was clad in a long, high-collared black and gray jacket lined with silver buckles. The jacket was closed at the torso, but flared open at the waist and around its neck. The figure's legs were clad in armored greaves that ended in skate-like blades under its feet, and the tips of each of its gloved fingers were covered by steel talons. In one of those clawed hands it held a weapon like a wide-bladed naginata as long as it was tall, its hollowed handle wrapped in white bandages along most of its length. It stared down upon the Shadows with glowing golden eyes, the rest of its face concealed by an ornate, sectioned mask of steel. Two belt-like tails of red cloth that matched Shirou's hair clipped into the back of the matching band it wore around its head and fluttered slowly in its turbulent aura. Its appearance and posture granted it a regal, powerful and dangerous air.

Shirou stood in front of it as the flames receded, his hand still clenched before him. Somewhere along the way his jacket had been torn open completely and it flared outward almost to match the giant behind him. Despite his battered state, he looked no less powerful and intimidating than the masked being… and he certainly felt heroic right about now. I hope you're watching this, old man.

"Wh-what is that?" Chie whispered.

"I don't know," Teddie admitted from his hiding spot, staring at the giant in awe. "But it feels the same as the Shadows!"

Yosuke gulped uneasily at that. "Well… it's on our side… right?"

The Shadows were only still for another second before they lunged forward again. These Shadows seemed so small now, partly because of the power he felt coursing through him and his guardian, and partly because he could see through the giant's eyes as easily as his own. His protector was quite a bit bigger than the Slipping Hableries. Shirou narrowed his eyes contemptuously behind his glasses and swept his hand out. "Get out of my way!"

The astral figure behind him clasped its weapon in both hands and flew over Shirou's head, sweeping the long blade with immense strength. Unlike Shirou's golf club, the giant's blade cleaved through the Shadow's body like a hot knife through butter, splitting it in two. Almost instantly it exploded into a cloud of black and red muck that dissolved on the spot. That's one…

The three spectators gawked at awe at the display of power. "Yeah, it's on our side," Hanamura decided.

The remaining Shadows released enraged gurgling shrieks and charged the giant, one attempting to bite its head with bone-crushing force, and the second locked its jaw around its sword arm. Shirou winched, blood suddenly bursting from his arm and the pressure of the Shadow's bite squeezing his arm and head and forcing his head to tilt back like the giant's. So we're connected… we share senses, pain and injury in exchange for this power. No… it's deeper than that. We're…

"Emiya!" Satonaka screamed when she saw blood starting to peek through his skin.

The red-haired teen didn't falter though; if anything, the attack only made him angry, and he reached towards his head, clawing at the air in front of him. "Damn you!"

The swordsman repeated his action, digging metal talons into the Shadow's flesh and ripping it from its face and hurling into a shelf hard enough to shake the entire aisle. The second was flung away with similar power straight down, right next to Shirou. Even though the golf club was across the room, Shirou could feel his protector- his Persona- solve his need for a weapon with a snap of its fingers. "Tarukaja."

A burst of orange light surrounded him, and he felt new strength suffuse his entire body and his muscles seethed with energy. It was like Reinforcement, but without the guesswork that spell had. Better yet, it didn't require a Magic Circuit; it drew from a different well of strength, and his Persona had its own powers for him to call upon. He didn't need a weapon for this anymore; that one mystery had turned him into a weapon. "HIYAAAAH!"

His empowered fist plowed straight down into the Hablerie's body, bursting the body like a water balloon, dousing Shirou in the strange sludge that filled it. Just like the other Hablerie, the sludge dissolved into nothing, not even a stain left on Shirou's clothes or skin in a second. His Persona turned its golden gaze towards the final Shadow, gripping its naginata like a long-handled sword at its side. Two down, one to go.

The last Slipping Hablerie apparently decided to not charge mindlessly at the giant and turned towards easier prey: Hanamura and Satonaka. The Persona raised a single hand in sync with Shirou, blue fire once more burning around them.

"I am thou…"

"Thou art I…"

As one, they opened their outstretched hands, and the fire dissipated at the unison of power. "Zio!"

A single blue bolt of lightning fell from above with a roar despite being inside a building. The Shadow convulsed in agony and dropped to the floor, twitching as it continued to spark. Unlike the Ghoul he had used that spell on in that fog-filled dream, the Slipping Hablerie was far more vulnerable to the lightning blast, and it couldn't so much as scream when the Persona lunged and impaled it cleanly, leaving it to burst and dissolve.

And that makes three.

Shirou took a single cleansing breath and allowed the Tarukaja to drain out of him, leaving him with a burn not unlike a good workout. He looked up to the towering swordsman as it glided to his side. It-no, he, hovered before him and gazed back down. He nodded to him and Shirou returned the gesture. Then, with a whoosh of a flame being snuffed, the Persona faded away in a wave of blue light, leaving behind only a flittering card caught by his outstretched hand. The once blank face of the Tarot card displayed a holographic image. One image showed a black figure of a man carrying a bundle-tied stick over his back, followed by a dog, and was stepping outside of a small box proportionally smaller to the card outline. When exposed to light at a certain angle, as he just tested, the image changed to reveal the astral being that just fought alongside him a few moments ago.

With the Shadows dealt with, Shirou refocused on his friends. He completely ignored the wounds scattered on his body and was more concerned with the fact that they were frozen and gawking at him. "Is everyone alright?" he asked politely. They all nodded mutely.

It took a few attempts of gaping like a fish, but Satonaka found her voice first. "Th-that was… amazing!"

"Yeah…" Hanamura agreed. "But who -or what- was that?!"

"Izanagi," Shirou answered with a slight smile on his face. The card in his hands, to the surprise of his friends, faded away in a blue flame, and his body emitted a dull blue hue: a sign to him that his Persona was returning into a sea of the unconscious within his mind. "He's one of the creator gods of Japan, as well as my Persona. We're one and the same: I'm him, and he is me."

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 14: Shadow of the Conceited Self

Hanamura gaped at Shirou yet again and then shook his head to clear it. "So, let me get this straight: you're not only a wizard-"

"Magus," Shirou corrected automatically.

"-magician, but you're some kind of avatar to a GOD now?"

"Uh, no, nothing like that," Shirou denied, confused. If he had some kind of divine ancestor, he was pretty sure he or Kiritsugu would have figured it out long ago. From the man's lessons, people with divine ancestry would often display an inhuman mindset, ingrained knowledge or have a specific talent tied to their divine nature that exceeded human ability.

Shirou had considered himself as talentless and mostly ordinary, and Kiritsugu had found nothing truly amazing about him during their training.

"I'm not sure of the details, since my Persona is new even to me," Shirou admitted, wincing as he clutched his bleeding arm. It seemed that whatever high his powers had given him was wearing off, and the pain was starting to remind him that he had been almost literally chewed up and spit out not two minutes ago. "Can one of you get the First Aid kit?"

"Per…sona?" Yosuke repeated the foreign word slowly. Unfortunately, in their awe and excitement, neither Hanamura nor Satonaka made any move to patch up his arm until he gestured to the bag slung over Hanamura's back.

"Ack, sorry Emiya!" The taller teen quickly popped open the kit and fiddled for the bandages, never looking away from Emiya for long, like he was trying to figure his power out just from looking long enough.

"Well, whatever it was… that Persona thing was awesome! Do you think you could teach me?" the tomboy on the other hand was almost vibrating with excitement –or more likely from the adrenaline from nearly getting killed, it was hard to tell with her right now.

Emiya glanced back between them nervously even as Hanamura started patching up his arm. "Uh, w-well…"

"Yosuke, Chie-chan, calm down! You're troubling Sensei!" Teddie suddenly toddled over to them, his face scrunched up in a scolding frown. It looked rather silly, actually.

The Yasogami students all stopped what they were doing and turned to the bear in confusion. "Sensei?" they all echoed.

Teddie ignored their confusion and looked up to Emiya with stars in his huge eyes. "Gosh almighty, you were amazing, Sensei! You had me worried for a minute when fighting those Shadows, but that power! You sent them packing in a flash!"

Emiya rubbed his head shyly with his good arm, the start of a blush on his face. "I-it was nothing, really. I just reacted, is all."

"But you were a natural at fighting!" Teddie insisted. "Even before summoning your power like that, you were holding them off all on your own!" The bear gasped in sudden realization. "No wonder you three managed to get here; you're able to bring other people into this world!"

"Wait, able?" Emiya blinked.

"How did you know that?" Satonaka asked.

Teddie's arms flailed in his excitement. "It has to be the case! It's like… he has a part of himself that allows this world to open to him: that Persona! Man, this is really something!"

"I'll say," the magus nodded, idly finishing wrapping his arm in medical tape. Tensing his arm, he deemed it usable, ignoring the pain with ease. "If you're right, then maybe the culprit has the power of Persona, too."

Satonaka tilted her head slightly. "So the culprit would be a wizard like you?"

"Magus," he corrected her with a sigh. "And maybe… To be honest, I'm not sure how it all fits together. The last time anything like this happened was in a dream earlier this week." With an uncertain frown, Shirou stared at the ground. "I'm… well, all I know is that my Persona is a part of me. Not like my Magic Circuits, but it's definitely bound to my soul, so it's kinda similar, I guess."

Teddie blinked. "Circuits?"

"We can discuss your hidden talents later," Yosuke reminded them. "Now that the Shadows are gone, let's hurry and check out Saki-senpai's liquor store."

Satonaka turned to him with the most enraged look on her face, stomping over and screaming in front of his own. "Are you out of your mind?! We all nearly died just now, and Emiya was even bitten by one of those slippy-whatevers! He lost his club and can't even lift his arm right now!"

"Satonaka, I'm fine," Emiya said, waving his bandaged arm for emphasis.

"See?" Yosuke gestured casually to him. "He says he's fine."

"And I've got Sensei's sword!" Teddie called, having put his nose to use in finding the club where it had landed. 'Sensei' accepted it gratefully, and was once again with a weapon. Honestly, Shirou's body was stiff and already throbbing with pain, but he stubbornly ignored the aches and examined the club closely.

The haft was a bit pockmarked by the Hableries' molars and the Reinforcement was broken, but it was still serviceable once he re-applied the mystery. "Now that you mention it though, would you mind waiting for a few minutes? My Magic Circuit broke down and I need to reset it."

"Say what?" Yosuke barked, his temper starting to flare a little at the seeming constant delays.

"My Magic Circuit, the channel that lets me use magecraft, stopped working in the middle of the battle there, which was why the Shadows caught me. It shouldn't take long to reset, and every little edge we can get will help." Shirou explained.

Satonaka raised an eyebrow. Honestly, she just wanted to get out of here, but the boys were too stubborn; best let them see what they came for quickly and get out. Just being in this creepy place made her uneasy, fog-filtering glasses or not. "What about just using your Persona? That guy kicked those Shadows around like nobody's business."

"It's… tough to explain, but neither my Persona nor my magecraft is an infinite resource. I don't exactly have a fuel gauge on them either, so I'm trying to maximize my resources in case I run out of one power source or we get in too many fights."

"Do you have to?" Yosuke needled, tapping his foot agitatedly. "We don't have time to sit here and do nothing! We should keep going."

Satonaka huffed. "What is wrong with you? Do you honestly expect to find Konishi-senpai's ghost here or something? What if we meet more Shadows? At least let Emiya get his magic thingy up and running before we get moving; it's only fair."

Teddie stood beside Satonaka and clasped his hands behind his back. "If Sensei says it's smart to recharge, let him do it. I don't know about you, but I'd feel much better with Sensei's Persona backing us up at full power."

"I'm sorry, Hanamura. Really. If I was a better magus I'd happily Reinforce your clothes before we moved on, but if I mess up, they'll just break instead. I can at least do a little boost to your wrenches, though."

Hanamura fought down the urge to curse, noting that Emiya was already sitting cross-legged on the floor, taking slow breaths. "Fine," he bit out angrily. "At least we'll be better armed."

"Thanks, I mean it. Keep an eye out for Shadows, and don't hesitate to run if it comes down to it," Shirou nodded to them with a slight smile before closing his eyes and furrowing his brow as he muttered his Aria. "Trace On."

Immediately, there was a change in the air. Shirou wasn't glowing or chanting like the teens half-expected, but they could see the air ripple around him like a heat haze… in fact, they could feel heat rolling from him after only a minute.

"Emiya?" Concerned, Chie almost reached out to her classmate, but stopped when she felt the heat surrounding him intensify. He was sweating now, too.

Yosuke stood with his arms crossed, antsy to move on, but unable to bring himself to so much as leave the building while he watched the windows and wrecked door. "Hey, Satonaka, we might as well do something useful. Help me put some stuff over this hole."

Taking one last look at Emiya, Satonaka slapped her cheeks and squared her shoulders. "Good idea. Let's try to keep it quiet if we can. Last thing we need is for more Shadows to show up because we made a racket."

There was plenty of debris for them to use thanks to the battle, and even a few rugs were draped over the small front windows to hide them from prying eyes. All the while, Hanamura continued to fume.

Damn it, I came here for a reason! This sucks… here we are waiting on the hero. The real hero should be… Hanamura's train of thought was derailed when he noticed the strangely intense stare Teddie was giving Emiya, who occasionally flinched as heat continued to radiate from him.

The empty costume's face was not the adoring gaze from minutes ago, but one that was a mix of confusion and a touch of horror. "Something wrong, Teddie?"

"Sensei's doing this bear-y wrong," the suit mumbled with as much fear as when the Shadows were stalking them.

That got the teens' attention. "What do you mean?" Hanamura asked immediately, turning back to the magician.

"I don't know why, but I can tell Sensei's hurting himself to make this work," the mascot shook its head with a frown. "But we can't stop him right now or it would kill him."

"How do you know that?" Satonaka asked worriedly, her eyes darting between the bear and the sweating magus.

Teddie opened his mouth, froze, and then slowly scratched his domed head. "I… dunno. I just know."

"That doesn't make any sense," Yosuke groaned.

"Does anything make sense in here?" Chie countered flatly with a frustrated stomp of her foot.

The three fell into silence after that, twitching towards every sound while Emiya continued his meditations silently. Occasionally they heard the slopping of Shadows crawling nearby and even the rattle of a chain at one point, but nothing came close to the door and faded from hearing. Both teens almost felt ill from the helpless tension the dark atmosphere exuded, even if their glasses cut away the fog and shielded them from that unearthly weakness from last time.

Teddie continued to watch the magus with worry, only relaxing when Shirou slumped forward, exhaling one last breath. "Sensei! Are you okay?" The mascot toddled over and tried to help Shirou stand, but his empty body had no real strength. "You're burning up!"

Shirou forced a smile, wiped his brow and pulled at his shirt, which was sticky with sweat. "It's fine; I'm all right. It'll pass in a minute." Forcing himself to his feet stiffly, the magus plucked his golf club from the floor and held it before him. "Trace On," he incanted again, moving a trickle of prana into the club carefully. Magecraft might work more easily in this world, but that did not mean he couldn't screw up. It didn't help that there wasn't a way to tell when he was about to go over an object's limit. Still, the fact that he could Reinforce his weapon so easily was a blessing he was happy to take.

"That was bear-y dangerous, sensei! You almost died there!" Teddie admonished.

Shirou levered the re-Reinforced club to his shoulder. "'A magus walks with death' is the first rule of magecraft. I appreciate your concern, but I've had plenty of practice with this." Completely shrugging off Teddie's concern, he turned towards Hanamura. "Do you mind letting me see those wrenches? I should be able to make them at least a little stronger."

"You sure, partner? You look like hell right now," Hanamura pointed out. "These things are pretty tough anyway." While he appreciated the offer, Hanamura couldn't afford to put the entire burden on Shirou's shoulders, especially if it was as dangerous as it sounded. "And what's this about walking with death?"

Shirou completely ignored the last part. "I'll be good for a while. The Magic Circuits I make tend to last at least a full day during training. I think I'm finally getting better at it. That last one almost made it a full week."

The tomboy fidgeted nervously at the sight of the magus's slightly shaky hands. "Emiya... if this is really as dangerous as it's starting to sound, maybe you should hang back and regain your strength."

"If you're that concerned," Hanamura interjected. "Then you should have brought something to fight with, like Emiya and I did."

"I didn't bring anything because I was dragged in here, remember?!" The school girl snapped. Hanamura huffed annoyed, but Emiya had the decency to look guilty again.

"B-but I still want to help!" she quickly amended with a softer tone. "I normally use martial arts anyway, so you can buff my shoes and then hang back if you want."

"I'll Reinforce your shoes if that's what you want, but stay behind me if a fight breaks out. Even this Reinforced club barely phased those Shadows."

"And why should I? I've got good reflexes, and Hanamura's armed, too." Satonaka growled again, her face falling back to a dark scowl she had from her last outburst.

"It's not that you're weak or anything, but this isn't a simple case of strength against strength here. When I hit those Shadows with the Reinforced club, the most I did was annoy them. But when my Persona awakened, it felt like I could actually hurt them. There must be a connection between this power, this world and the Shadows, like what Teddie said about being able to bring people here."

"That's right, Sensei!" Teddie nodded proudly, his entire body wobbling with the motion.

The other two students exchanged shocked and confused glances. Satonaka seemed to shrink into her coat slightly as the facts sank in. "Bu-but… there's got to be something we can do to help. Otherwise you could… die…"

For some reason, Yosuke saw the wizard (magus?) blink in honest confusion at the girl's concern. Was he really that surprised that they wanted to help? Nobody here wanted to see the others get hurt, after all.

Before Emiya could formulate a response, Teddie interrupted him. "U-uh… I could help next time," he offered.

The other students turned to the bear, silently urging him to continue.

"I-I got no muscles to show, sadly, so I'm afraid Sensei will still do most of the fighting. BUT! I can offer moral support from a safe distance!"

"Peachy," Satonaka groaned and rolled her eyes. "And what does that even mean?"

"I can scan Shadows for their weaknesses and strengths and let you know what I find! You'd be surprised how often Shadow battles end when they get hit by something they really don't like. Like that Zio spell Sensei hit that Slipping Halberie with!"

Hanamura nearly dropped his wrenches at that. "Why didn't you say anything before?!" he shouted.

"I-I was scared," Teddie admitted and cowered from the angry teens. "It all happened so fast, and Sensei said to hide in the back, so…"

Sensing the impending tirades from his classmates, Emiya lifted his hand and tried to talk them down. "It's alright, Satonaka, Hanamura. He was just as scared as we were, probably more. It all worked out in the end, too." He turned to Teddie with a smile. "Of course, as long as you stay out of danger, I'd greatly appreciate your help."

Teddie nodded enthusiastically. "Can do, Sensei!"

Emiya's smile faltered a bit. "One quick thing though; could you call me Shirou instead? I'm too much of a student to be called a teacher in anything as I am."

The bear nodded again. "Can do, Shirou-Sensei!"

At that, Shirou's smile faded and a rather large bead of sweat rolled down his head. From the heat of his Magic Circuit or exasperation he couldn't say, but he shrugged it off with a sigh. "Close enough, I guess."

"Well then," Yosuke smiled. "Now we have a plan; Emiya fights, Teddie supports, I investigate, and Satonaka…" he paused as he stared at the lone girl of their party. "Well, try not to get kidnapped, alright?"

"Ha-ha, very funny," said lone girl deadpanned.

"Anyway, as long as we're this good, we should be able to handle the rest of the place no problem." He turned heroically towards the door and pointed outward, ready to march. "To the liquor store!"

Chie still wasn't convinced. "B-but Emiya really should-!"

"Hanamura, we're going as far as the liquor store tonight, right?"

It was an odd but fair question from Emiya. "Well, it's our first and only lead so far. We'll see how it goes from there when we get there."

He nodded, squaring his shoulders. "Sounds good."

"Don't be stupid, Emiya!" Satonaka cried. "Do it tomorrow if you have too! You need-!"

"Don't worry; Hanamura will be fine as long as I'm around. You and Teddie, too. I promise you'll be alright."

Damn showoff. The thought popped into Yosuke's mind before he realized it, but seeing how easily he calmed Chie down with, the words didn't feel quite right to him.

Teddie was also moved, it seemed. "M-me too, Shirou-sensei?"

'Shirou-sensei' nodded. "Of course. I said I would help your problem with the culprit after all, and that's what I plan to do."

"R-really? You promise?"

"Of course I promise. You have my word."

Yosuke coughed slightly and hurried out, hoping his action would distract them from Teddie's little happy dance and cheer. They had a murder case to solve, damn it!

Stop hogging the spotlight already, Emiya!

<><><>

The hike back to the store was luckily less dangerous than the first attempt, but the group still moved slowly and cautiously, jumping at every (mundane) shadow. Emiya took the lead by several paces so his Persona Izanagi could fight off whatever Shadow came their way without involving the others, with Teddie behind Yosuke and Satonaka in the rear. The taller boy tried to get as close to the lead as possible, but Emiya would always stop him so the others could catch up before charging ahead. Such a damn boy scout.

When they reached the door to the Konishi liquor store, they noticed it was wide open. Instead of the inside of the store though, the doorway was filled by a spiraling red and black portal similar to the sky above. It was nothing like the abandoned store they took refuge in. This one had "Shadow territory" written all over it.

"Well, that doesn't look ominous at all," Satonaka sarcastically remarked.

"So Saki-Senpai disappeared in here..." Yosuke said. "Okay, let's-!"

Before he even took a single step through the portal, voices suddenly echoed from all around them. Emiya immediately stepped in front of the others, holding his club out and the other hand raised, a spark of blue flame flickering over his palm. The others fell into battle positions facing out in every direction. Even Teddie brought his hands up in an attempt at a karate stance.

Yosuke didn't like what the voices had to say at all…

"I wish Junes would go under…"

"It's all because of that store…"

"Are these… memories?" Emiya guessed as the voices ebbed and flowed like a tide.

"Oh, I heard that Konishi-san's daughter is working there."

"Oh my… How could she, with her family's business suffering like it is…?"

"I heard their sales have gone downhill because of Junes."

Satonaka was just as confused. "I-I always knew the people at the shopping district were bitter, but…"

"That poor father… to have his own daughter working for the enemy."

"What a troublesome child…"

Wh-what the hell is this?! Yosuke mentally screamed. "Ted," he called to the mascot bear between gritted teeth. "You said that this place is reality for those that are here, right!? So... does that mean this was Senpai's reality when she wandered in here…?"

Teddie looked around, and shook its head. "I… only know what goes on over here, not there."

Yosuke snorted. "Fine then, we'll figure out what's going on inside then!" Not daring to hesitate, Yosuke bulled through the gateway, vanishing into the portal with barely a ripple.

The portal took Yosuke into the liquor store, but the dimensions were off. The front of the store was normal for such a place, with cold fridges lining one wall and a check-out counter to the right of the doorway. Beyond that though, the building expanded into an impossibly huge warehouse packed with liquor. Kegs of beer and spirits formed towers stretching higher than most houses, and crates of drinks were stacked into veritable fortress walls further back. It was chilly in the expansive room; mist from the coolers had fogged over every glass panel in sight and wreathed the floor in places.

Just after Yosuke had taken in the sight, he could hear the rest of his group enter the room behind him. They didn't have time to scold him for running ahead or take more than a passing glance at the scenery before the voices started again. "Dammit, not this again-!"

The first was an older man, his tone frustrated and angry. "Saki, how many times do I have to tell you!?"

Yosuke gasped. "Is that…?"

"Konishi-senpai's father?" Satonaka finished.

"You know what the neighbors say about you, right!?" the voice continued. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You're the eldest daughter of a family who's owned this store for generations! Is it the money? Or did you meet some guy there? Just tell me why you have to work THERE, of all places!"

"I never imagined that tensions between Junes and the Shopping District were this bad…" Emiya muttered, looking around the store as the voice faded. Was Fuyuki like this at some point as Shinto was built up?

"I… I can't believe this," Yosuke whispered, his fists clenching and trembling slightly. "She always looked tired and distant, yeah, but she seemed like she was having fun at least. She never even told me about any of this…"

"Hanamura…" Satonaka frowned, looking as if she felt sorry for him. Yeah right.

"Are you trying to tell me," he began, his voice growing into an anguished cry. "Was that THIS was how Saki-senpai saw things?!"

"Hanamura." The others saw Emiya standing by a table of assorted photos, all of them cut up in small pieces. "There's a photo of you here," he said slowly, his expression a mix of confusion and wariness.

"Huh?" Walking over to the collection of photos, it was easy for Yosuke to find the pictures of himself amidst the other familiar faces. "These… are all copies of the photo we took the other day with all the part-timers at Junes. But… wh-why are they all cut up like this?"

The table almost looked like it had been a part of an arts and crafts class for preschoolers learning to use scissors. Each picture was cut a different way, a different angle, cutting edges or corners of the copies. Only the center of the photos, where Saki stood, appeared undamaged in all of them.

He was really fond of the photo when it was taken; everyone was smiling, even Saki-senpai. He happened to be standing close to her, just being friendly. He had hoped at some point he would offer her a date at a movie, but…

"I… never had the chance to say it…"

Yosuke's head snapped up to the ceiling, recognizing the voice echoing all around them. "S-saki-senpai?"

"I always wanted to tell Hana-chan…"

"H-huh? Me?" He suddenly felt hopeful. If his Senpai admitted he had feelings for him as well, then maybe he could move on and accept her death more easily-

"…that he was a real pain in the ass."

And just like that, that little flare of hope died like a candle flame …wha-?

"I was nice to him just because he was the store manager's son, that's all," Saki's voice reasoned bitterly. "But he takes it completely the wrong way and gets all enthusiastic. I can't even remember the number of times I wanted to tell him to fuck off or slap that stupid grin off his face."

Yosuke had long since dropped the photo fragment in his hands, slipping through his slightly numbed fingers. His eyes were wide with horror and confusion, and his mouth had parted since he heard the four words uttered. "Pa-pain in the ass…?"

No one said anything as they glanced at the auburn-haired teen, noting how painfully cracked his voice was just now. Yosuke was barely aware of their sympathetic gazes of pity on him at this point, to drawn in to the voice above him.

"Who cares about Junes, anyway? Because of that store, our business is ruined, my parents hate me, the neighbors talk behind my back… Nothing's going to make it better, especially not some loser lovesick boy. I wish everything would just disappear."

A long moment passed, and the voice was gone. A tense silence followed as the gravity of the words settled in. "Hanamura…" Chie finally said, as if in concern. Yeah, right.

"It-it's a lie…"

Yosuke felt Emiya's hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Hanamura. There's nothing left here-"

"It's a lie!" he snapped brushing his hand off, before falling to the ground and holding his ears. "It's all a lie! It has to be some… some sort of Shadow trick! Saki-senpai would never say things like that!"

A sharp laugh broke off within the store, mocking and eerily familiar in spite of carrying a warped echo behind every word. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! It's so sad… I feel so sorry for myself! Actually, I'm the one who thinks everything is a pain in the ass!"

From the shadows cast by the towers of barrels, a figure sauntered into view, staring directly at the headphone wearing student with a wide, malicious smile. Yosuke felt like he was staring at a mirror… and for all intents and purposes he was. The figure was an exact copy of himself, from the school uniform to the headphones, with golden eyes and a sinister looking blue aura around him as the main differences. The others recoiled, gasping at the doppelganger's appearance, who just smirked back at them.
"Isn't that right… 'me'?" it asked rhetorically. The tone and voice it carried sounded like Yosuke, but had a dark, resonating echo and a touch of cynicism that the same time couldn't sound like Yosuke.

"Wh-what the?" Satonaka gawked.

"Two Yosukes?!" Teddie cried.

Emiya's eyes shifted between the two Yosukes, his club held in a defensive posture, but he said nothing. This was still completely out of his depth.

Yosuke gulped and tried asking in a trembling voice; "Wh-who are you…?"

"I'm you, of course," The other Yosuke replied, his tone still oozing dark amusement. "I'm all your frustrations, all your thoughts, all your dirty, little, S-E-C-R-E-T-S." It stressed each point made through his fingers like making a list, while tapping the air in front of him spelling the last word. The smirk was still there. "And I know you don't give a damn about Junes and the shopping district, let alone this stupid hick town."

Yosuke felt his blood run cold. Those were… "Wh-what are you…? That's not true, I-!"

The other Yosuke started pacing around the room, circling around the tense travelers. "You put on a good show of being carefree and happy-go-lucky 'cause you're so terrified of being alone. You surround yourself with people to block out the pain of isolation." The lookalike stopped and pointed to Emiya. "That's why you started hanging out with this loser here!"

"Huh?" Emiya was honestly confused. Yosuke didn't like where this was going. Every word felt like a knife to the gut, and the clone was only just getting warmed up.

"He may be a hotshot city boy, but he's such a chump! An all-around nice guy, doing favors for others with no strings attached because he believes in helping others like a good little boy scout. Who else would take the time to fix someone's bike like that? Seriously! You had him pegged for a sucker the moment he helped you. And if that wasn't good enough, you found out he was a friggin' wizard! Not some poser birthday magician, but the real deal! You latched onto him like a leech after that!"

Yosuke glanced between Emiya and the lookalike, having the awful feeling of being cornered. "Stop it! Shut up!"

"I know the real reason why you came snooping here. You wanted a little excitement in your life! A whole new world inside a TV-that's only the kind of stuff you see in anime, but now you could live it! Not like there was anything else to do in this shithole. You had no real reason coming here other than you were bored!"

"Sh-shut up!" Yosuke cried again, his legs shaking and his vision seeming to tunnel until it was just him and… him. "I… I came here because I wanted to know what happened to Saki-senpai!"

"Ah, the girl you were so sweet on," the other Yosuke cooed, giving an exaggerated shrug. The Shadow-Yosuke stepped forward, unhurried and never once taking his eerie eyes off of the original Yosuke. "Her death was the perfect excuse of coming here, really. You saw the parallels of what happened with the announcer, and thought that maybe this was all connected." Slowly, he picked up the photo that had fallen from Yosuke's limp fingers and smiled wickedly, waving the fragment in his counterpart's face.

From his position in front of Satonaka, Emiya involuntarily flinched when the photo fragments started jumping off the counter of their own accord. The copies of Yosuke and Saki Konishi's faces danced about like they were caught in a windstorm, carried to circle over the two Yosukes.

"But you heard her just now. That's how she really thinks of you. You're such an annoying brat you blew any chance you had of anything meaningful! You've always been that way!" With deliberate slowness, the Shadow tore the small portrait of Saki down the middle and tossed the fragments behind him, his expression still the same sadistic sneer. The cavernous room was filled with the sound of harshly tearing paper as the whirling photo fragments overhead also split in similar fashion, bisecting every face and raining down on the people like confetti.

"In the end, you didn't give a damn about the murder cases," it continued, turning around and leering at the other students. "You just needed some believable excuse so Mr. Magic Hero could be strung along to bring you back. If all went well, maybe you'd save his loser ass once or twice just to feel awesome." It then leered at Chie, who recoiled at its gaze. "Having Satonaka dragged along as a damsel in distress is always a plus, too!"

"Stop it!" he clapped his hands over his ears in an attempt to drown out his mocking voice. "That's not true! None of that's true!"

The other Yosuke's smirk grew, staring back the real one. "Of course it is. It's just like I told ya; I'm you… your Shadow… I know everything about you, 'Yosuke Hanamura'."

That revelation surprised everyone in the room. "Th-that's a Shadow?!" Satonaka cried. "What's going on here?!"

Yosuke, having snapped his eyes open at the word "Shadow", glared at the glowing gold eyes of his fake twin as he felt something of an epiphany come to him. That was it. It was a Shadow. It was only a fake, a ploy meant to confuse him and divide the group. The words hurt, but there were nothing but BS mind games from a Shadow. He wasn't going to fall for it, and would make the thing pay for mocking him and pissing him off. "No… you're… not me…!"

Emiya and Satonaka flinched again at the sudden murderous tone of their classmate. "H-Hanamura…?" Satonaka timidly asked.

The Shadow tilted his head with a raised eyebrow, as if not believing him. It leaned closer and held a hand to its ear. "Ooooh? Speak up, 'Hana-chaaaan'! Can't quite heaaaar yoooou!" Yosuke barely noticed the sudden spike of its surrounding aura, but honestly didn't care.

Emiya's eyes widened at the sight, his senses assailed by the gathering dark surrounding the clone. Every instinct at him screamed that something horrible was about to happen. "Hanamura!"

Hearing Saki-senpai's nickname in that mocking tone was too much; how dare this thing say all that with his face, and try to mimic Saki-senpai's voice no less!! Yosuke snapped and reached for the monkey wrenches in his back pockets, holding them as weapons. "You're not me… you're nothing like me!"

"Yosuke, get back!" Teddie shouted.

He charged at the Shadow, ready to beat the thing to a pulp. "YOU CAN'T BE ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" With a leap, Yosuke held both magic wrenches over his head, ready to smash the Shadow's teeth down his throat.

And he did. The sound of reinforced metal smacking against the skin echoed throughout the store, and the lookalike's face snapped away from the hit.

Yet there was a strong sense of foreboding. One that Yosuke realized something was very wrong with him…

"Heh… hehehehe…" The Shadow started to chuckle, turning its head back to stare at his mirror. A slight bruise was marked on its cheek, but it didn't seem to notice or care. The manic eyes and still smug smile strongly hinted on the latter, and made Yosuke step back in worry.

"Hehehehehe!" Soon the Shadow stood back upright, the insane sounding giggle growing in volume as the aura around it grew darker.

"Oh no…" Teddie squeaked. "Not again!"

The magus didn't like what the bear was implying, but had no time to question or ponder the meaning of its words.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Shadow Yosuke spread his arms and laughed in earnest, the darkness erupting around him and throwing the stupefied original to the ground with a wave of power. "Damn right I'm not you. And now I'm my own person!"

Light surged from within the blackness, blinding the four explorers. Satonaka and Emiya could barely see the streams of blackness twining together into a new shape, but they couldn't see any details until it faded away, leaving them gaping all in shock. Yosuke could only stare in dim horror and numbing heartbeat, despite his senses screaming at him to run.

Where a human once stood, a towering… creature was in its place. Its lower body was like a giant camo-patterned frog with black feet, a golden V-shaped blade in place of a mouth, jagged lines carved in the plate to resemble teeth and a pair of malicious red eyes on black stalks peering over it. Jutting up from the center of its back was a largely featureless elongated humanoid figure that moved like it was made of black rubber, easily as tall as an entire person by itself. A long red scarf wrapped around its neck, and large yellow gloves covered its massive hands. The 'eyes' were simply four-starred shuriken embedded on the blackened face, appearing to double as ears.

Yosuke stared at the towering frog-riding monster raising one of the frog's front legs to stomp him into paste. A single thought crossed his mind:

I'm going to die.

"Hanamura!" In a burst of speed that left Emiya lagging behind, Satonaka suddenly tackled him out of the monster's path.

Emiya was right behind her, putting himself in front the others quickly. "Stand back, all of you!" he lunged at the monster, jumping and swiping at the rubbery torso, only for it to bend out of the way easily.

The Shadow's body shot back upright and glared at the red-haired teen despite its nigh-blank face. "You're not going anywhere either, Emiya!"

"Wasn't planning on it," he countered as he landed, holding his golf club steady. "Now, who are you really?"

"I am a Shadow: the true self! I'll crush everything that bores me… starting with you, Hero!" The Shadow swung its frog-like arms down on him, and the magus dove to the side.

Shirou winced as the power of the blow made the ground tremble slightly under his feet. Even as he pulled himself upright from his roll, he raised his bandaged arm and reached for the fire burning just beneath the surface. The familiar tarot card appeared over his palm, and he crushed it without hesitation. He felt the strength of his Persona suffuse the atmosphere in a wave of blue fire. "Izanagi!"

This time the masked warrior erupted forwards from the flames, his charge blindsiding the Shadow and making it backpedal away from the teens. Izanagi spun his body under the Shadow's startled jab and kicked at the Shadow's face with its bladed foot, carving a gash into its hastily raised arm. With a tremendous heave of its four legs, the Shadow opened the distance and landed further back in the cavernous building, Izanagi rocketing after him.

With the giant Shadow distracted, Emiya backpedaled himself several steps to keep guarding his classmates. Chie draped Yosuke's arm over her shoulder and hauled him to the back corner of the store, behind Teddie and Emiya.

"Satonaka, stay back and watch Hanamura," Shirou quickly ordered. "Teddie, I'll need your support."

"Y-yes, Shirou-sensei!"

"Alright, what's this Shadow's weak point? Anything I should watch out for aside from its raw strength?" The redhead could see through his Persona's eyes even in spite of the distance between them, the strangely helpful nature of the powers he was using allowing him to comprehend the twin viewpoints with unnatural ease. He could see the frog move with unbelievable agility, and one strike from either its fists or feet all but disintegrated the crates and barrels it struck.

Teddie sheepishly rubbed its head. "Uh… to be honest Shirou-sensei, it's not quite that easy. Until I see it get hit by something, I can't tell what it's weak to. On top of that, that big Shadow is made of a lot of little Shadows fused together by Yosuke's Shadow. It's not normal, so I haven't seen any like it before. At least it isn't super tough against physical attacks."

Emiya couldn't keep his frustration off of his face at that. Satonaka obviously shared his sentiments. "You wait until now to tell me this?!" he snapped.

"I'm sorry, Shirou-sensei! I really am!"

Yosuke barely kept track of that conversation, knowing that he was lucky to be alive and saved by Shirou Emiya… again. He should feel glad, amazed, or even a tiny bit bitter about that but… surprisingly he felt nothing but a big black hole inside him. Everything felt muted, like his emotions were drained out of him, leaving him listless and numb to the world. It was like the moment the Shadow had changed shape that his heart was plucked from his chest. What's wrong with me…?

"Hanamura, Hanamura!" Yosuke barely felt any desire to respond when Satonaka shook his shoulder. "Come on, stay with us!"

Shirou suddenly clutched his stomach and several crates exploded from the battle deeper in the store. The Shadow had gotten a clean hit in, swatting the Persona into some Konishi storage boxes, and he felt it quite acutely. "Everyone, take cover! The Shadow's coming back this way!"

Izanagi suddenly skid to a halt at the edge of the storage space before them, his foot blades carving trenches and making sparks in the floor. He just managed to ready his pole-arm when the Shadow pounced towards him, its arms shooting forwards far beyond their natural length in a flurry of powerful punches. Izanagi parried the blows and forced himself between Shadow Yosuke's arms, slicing another gouge in its green hide as it did so. All that seemed to do was make the creature more determined to kill him.

As his friends moved behind the protection of the sales counter, the magus took a single breath and raised his golf club overhead, recalling the powers of his Persona. "Tarukaja!" The Persona invoked his master's will with a snap of his fingers. With a shout, Emiya charged into the fray himself while Izanagi continued to exchange blows with the Shadow's many limbs, smashing the golf club into the Shadow's flank with all of his might. Stumbling, the Shadow howled in pain as Izanagi took the opening to cleave his blade across the Shadow's chest.

Despite its injuries, the Shadow wasn't slowing down at all. It powered its body straight up with all four legs, nearly taking it to the ceiling. Its gloved hands clapped together into a position reminiscent of a ninja hand sign at the apex of its jump. "Not bad, 'hero,' but how long can you survive THIS?!"

The air around Shadow Yosuke's body took on a pale green tinge, howling like a tornado as it descended. Izanagi and Emiya scattered, but it wasn't enough: the moment the frog-ninja hit the ground, the green winds roared outward in a shockwave, upending everything it touched and shredding furrows in every direction. Even the sales counter was smashed to pieces, the trio behind it blown into the wall behind them from the force.

Izanagi and Emiya fared far worse. The winds powered through Izanagi's guard like it wasn't even there, sending it spinning into the corner and imbedding it, there while the feedback nearly paralyzed Emiya with pain midflight. It felt like he was hit by a sandblaster! Even after all of that, he forced himself to look towards his friends. "Is everyone alright?"

"I've been better," Satonaka winced. Yosuke coughed, too weak to say anything else.

"Be careful, Shirou-sensei!" Teddie cried as it rolled to its feet. "This one is much stronger than the Slipping Halberies, and it knows a wind-element spell! Your Persona is bear-y weak to wind!"

"I noticed," he grunted, climbing to his feet around the same time Izanagi plucked himself out of the wall. "Well then, you want to try magecraft?"

"Zio!" Izanagi invoked in reply with an outstretched hand, the blue bolt streaking down between the Persona and the charging Shadow, sending it straight to the floor like it was hit by the fist of God. Arcs of electricity sizzled across its body, and every limb twitched painfully. Even the rubbery black body looked like it was having trouble moving after that blast.

"There!" Teddie pointed. "Right there! That's its weakness!"

"Perfect!" Emiya exclaimed and held his hand out. "Again!"

Shadow Yosuke screamed in agony as another blue bolt smote it from above.

"Again!"

Before another bolt crashed down it, the Shadow forced its legs under it and tensed. "You…

Pushing off the ground hard enough to crack the floor, the Shadow flipped aside a split second before the third Zio bolt could connect. "-are such a…"

Shadow Yosuke jumped again, spinning in midair to face Emiya's back, the golden blade on its front looking like nothing more than a fiendish smile behind him. The magus turned with wide, shocked eyes just as the frog body's massive paw lifted to crush him into a pancake. "-pain in the ASS!"

STOMP!

"EMIYA!"

"SHIROU-SENSEI!"

Even through the haze plaguing him, horror managed to well up in Yosuke when saw that Shadow thing slam its leg down like crushing a particularly irritating bug. Nothing could be seen because of the cloud of dust that kicked up around the force of its attack. The implication was clearly there but… "No… please be alright…"

The dust cleared and the others were relieved to see Emiya bracing the golf club against the Shadow's foot, forced down to one knee and visibly straining.

"I never expected you to be so interesting," Shadow Yosuke taunted. "But the fact is you're too interesting, having all this power and playing the hero. It pisses me off, so do me a huge favor and JUST DI-AAGH!"

It was at that moment that Izanagi returned with another brutal haymaker to the Shadow's head, forcing the frog to stagger away from Emiya. The magus winced as his injured arm throbbed, blood starting to leak through the bandages. His wounds were bleeding again from the strain he was putting his body through.

For an instant, the black body looked limp and dazed, but it quickly clenched its fists and faced them. It then slapped its hands together like before, but this time instead of green magic wind, raw magical power gathered around the Shadow, suffusing it with crackling energy. "That's it! I'm seriously pissed now, Emiya! If you just won't lay down and die, I'm gonna crush you with everything I got!"

Shadow Yosuke once more jumped straight up, a nimbus of green light roaring to life around him. This time the storm was powerful to rattle the windows just from its formation. The Shadow's descent, made even faster as it started spinning, was marked by what sounded like a jet engine. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

Teddie's eyes shrank to comically small dots as it panicked. "SHIROU-SENSEI!"

Shirou saw it coming too, and turned to Chie and Yosuke. "TAKE COVER!"

"WINDS OF OBLIVION!"

BOOOOOOOM!!!

Charged by far more magical energy, the shockwave Shadow Yosuke created on impact was an order of magnitude greater than the previous, tearing the entire Konishi liquor store building apart from the inside. The hurricane-gales sent debris flying in every direction and blowing a few of the surrounding buildings apart, caving in walls and folding the houses over. Every window within a block in the mock-district shattered from the force. All anyone could see was a blinding green-white light from the force of the hurricane.

And then there was silence.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 15: The Magic Words

Lying still where he had landed, Yosuke mindlessly stared at the red and black sky overhead, his hearing still shot from the howling winds that had nearly torn him apart. Every inch of his body ached, and he wasn't motivated to move and check his condition. He could in fact be bleeding from a thousand cuts, and that muted feeling that continued to plague him might be keeping him from noticing for sure.

Nevertheless, some emotions were still strong enough to make their way through the haze, including confusion at the fact that he was obviously alive. That last hurricane should have stripped the skin from his bones, or at least smashed him around hard enough to twist him into a pretzel.

He heard someone moving to his left, groaning as they did. Turning his head, he saw Satonaka forcing herself to her knees. She was remarkably unharmed for the most part, though Yosuke figured that she was going to be covered in bruises later even if she had been saved from the worst of it. Behind her, he could see several chunks of debris littering the area, bits of wood and metal falling around them.

"Oooh…" she moaned a bit before looking up at something further out. "Oh my god! Emiya!"

Saved again, huh? The boy forced his head up to look in the same direction, and a sharp stab of horror managed to work its way through his brain, surpassing even the stabs of pain from his battered body protesting his movement.

Its arms spread wide; the towering black and silver warrior that was Shirou Emiya's Persona hovered only a few meters away. Izanagi had obviously guarded the two of them from the winds with its body, and the damage was obvious to all. Smoke-like ribbons of blackness drifted out of several gashes up and down the length of its body, and its coat was tattered heavily. Between Izanagi and the other students lay Emiya, his body motionless and covered in a tapestry of rashes, cuts and bruises, his uniform shredded in several places and blood leaking from a dozen wounds.

No sooner than the girl had called out to him that Emiya's Persona slumped, flickered like a faulty TV signal, and winked out.

"Emiya! Hang on!" the tomboy called repeatedly as she scrabbled to her feet and rushed to the battered boy's side.

Yosuke didn't really care that she largely ignored him. Emiya had saved their lives from the looks of things, and paid the price in blood. He supposed he should feel grateful for that, but nothing entered his mind, not even bitterness at being ignored or grief that his classmate might be dying a few yards away. Slowly, he forced himself to his feet, his every motion feeling heavy and tired. Of course, he doubted lying on the ground all day would help him if that Shadow-thing came back, and that was enough to get him moving.

He barely took two steps before another voice caught his attention. "S-someone help!" Teddie cried out, still wobbling where he had landed. Being a hollow suit, he had bounced around more, but had taken less damage overall, having no bones to break or blood to lose.

Tiredly, Yosuke walked over and helped Teddie up before trudging up to his classmates. All of his desire to investigate this world had dried up long ago, and he finally agreed with Satonaka's desire to get out of here. Who knows how small a window of opportunity they had before they had to outrun that frog-thing again? "Is he alright?"

What a stupid question… Emiya was an absolute wreck, and was barely breathing even as Satonaka tried to rouse him. Come on, you gotta make it out of this, Emiya… He genuinely wanted the redhead to live; two deaths out here was enough, and losing someone willing to protect them all like Emiya did would eat at him until the day he died.

"Satonaka, come on," he tried again, walking up to her. "Let's get him out of here-"

The sudden glare she sent him nearly knocked him back on his butt. She was absolutely furious! If he was even a foot closer to her, she'd probably have kicked his teeth in! "You… you… YOU IDIOT!" she screamed. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU KNOW!"

This time Yosuke found himself taking an involuntary step back as her words stabbed into him. His emotions were starting to flare up, and it felt almost physically painful. "Wh-what are you-?"

"What that Shadow said was all true, wasn't it? About how you just came here for fun instead for Konishi-senpai's sake?! You just wanted Emiya to take you back because you wanted some adventure! Of all the stupid, selfish things I've ever… Emiya almost died because of you twice now!"

Yosuke shook his head in denial. "N-no, I-"

"Don't deny it again! That's what started this mess in the first place!" Satonaka snapped, not noticing that the boy in her arms was stirring.

"That thing came from you, Yosuke. Shadows come from humans," Teddie added, his tone more somber.

"But there's no way he came from me!" he reasoned desperately. "I mean… I never wanted any of this to happen, I swear!"

"Oh, sure you didn't! But it did anyway!" Satonaka continued, her entire body shaking with rage and fear.

Before the girl's lambasting of Yosuke began again, a weak voice brought her to a halt. "Satonaka…"

The redhead's whisper brought the three back together, all thoughts of blame and denial pushed aside. "E-Emiya?"

In spite of the blood, bruises and dirt marring his body from head to toe, the magus smiled genuinely. "Don't put the blame all on Hanamura. He means well, I know it… If anything, I should be the one to blame."

Yosuke's brain almost short-circuited at that. Satonaka and Teddie were just as baffled. "Wh-…what?"

"Your Shadow… it sounded like a lot of it came from how you envied me, right?" Emiya asked. "Because of whom I am and what I can do… I'm sorry for that. I was glad to have been your friend though, really." Still smiling, the magus slowly forced himself to his feet, hunching over tiredly as he did so.

Yosuke felt a strange spark of warmth at the apology, but that was quickly crushed as the implications of his statement sank in. "'Have been?' What are you-?" Emiya's back was to him, but as Yosuke watched him force his back straight, the redhead's intent clicked. Oh god, no. Don't start thinking that, Emiya. Don't!

As if to spite his mental pleas, Emiya simply turned his head to Teddie, who was starting to shake. "Teddie, I need you to do me a big favor."

"Wh-what is it, Shirou-sensei?" the bear asked.

"Take Hanamura and Satonaka back to the entrance where we met up and let them out. You know the way back, right?"

"Y-yeah, but what about you, Shirou-sensei?"

Emiya simply scanned the wreckage, having lost his grip on the golf club during the last attack. Stiffly, he walked over to a pile of rubble and drew out a dented but still solid steel rod, probably a remnant of the ceiling struts. "That Shadow is still out there somewhere; I'll keep it busy as long as I can. Just get them out of here."

Yosuke's mind reeled. The seemingly random transfer student he had barely known for a week turned out to be someone far different than anyone he had ever heard of. Superpowers, generosity to the point of idiocy, and he was using both to cover their backs even if it got him killed. Who does that for strangers?

"What?!" Satonaka shouted back, all but marching up to him to drag him out physically if she had to. "Are you absolutely insane?! We can't just leave you here!"

"I said I would make sure you're all safe, and I intend to keep that promise." Emiya smiled. It was a serene one, like he had already accepted this as good and correct in the face of death.

The sight snuffed Satonaka's fire instantly, leaving her on the verge of tears. "B-but you'll…"

He was planning on being their martyr. And it pissed Yosuke off to no end. What kind of-?!

"What kind of bloody bullshit are you blabbering about?!" A familiar, unwelcome voice ground out angrily as if completing Yosuke thoughts. It probably was, actually.

The group tensed as Shadow-Yosuke's monstrous form reappeared from deeper in the rubble-strewn street and took threatening steps towards the others. Its gloved fists were shaking with rage. While Teddie, Satonaka and Yosuke backpedaled, Emiya simply put his sword arm forward and bared his teeth.

"You really don't give a damn about your own life, do you?! Condescending bastard! Thinking you're better than me because you see yourself a hero?!"

"I don't care about any of that!" he shouted back. "I swore I'd keep them safe, and I will with everything I have, including my life!"

"Let's test that, then!" The frog-beast lifted a massive foreleg and brought it down on the wounded teen. Blue flame sputtered to life in his left hand even as he tried to roll away from the blow. Even as the card formed within the fire, the force of the Shadow's fist kicked up another spray of debris in all directions, peppering the magus with stone and wood shards.

Izanagi rose once more to face the Shadow head-on, Emiya struggling to his feet while his Persona hacked furiously at the Shadow, who leaped out of reach with one powerful bound and then stretched its fists in a furious barrage that left the masked warrior struggling to even move aside from furiously defending.

"I'M supposed to be the star here, dammit!" Shadow Yosuke cried between attacks. "So stop acting like you're better than me and just DIE!"

Emiya, ignoring his enemy's tirade, turned back towards the others. His muscles were tense in getting a rigid guard in front of him. "GET OUT OF HERE! HURRY!" Not bothering to see if they were taking his advice, Shirou threw himself into the fray with a howl.

Despite the situation, they each found themselves rooted to the spot as their friend struggled to strike the giant Shadow. Each one was torn between fleeing for their lives and wanting to help him before he was killed in the futile battle.

The sight, while seeming heroic in a grim way, sucked out all the strength in Yosuke's legs, and he fell to his knees. How can someone just toss his life away, especially when one of the people he was dying for was the cause of the whole disaster to begin with? If only I hadn't used Saki-senpai's death as an excuse!

"GAH!" Shadow-Yosuke suddenly flinched as if struck, his barrage stopping long enough for Emiya to stab the jagged tip of the steel pipe deep into the giant's side while Izanagi closed the distance and brought its polearm down hard on the black body, cleaving an arm nearly halfway through.

Even as Yosuke watched, the Shadow recovered and slowly regained the upper hand, its seemingly limitless endurance wearing Emiya down with each exchange. I was so jealous of Emiya that I wanted him to fail just so I could be the hero. I'm such a pain in the ass!

One of Shadow Yosuke's arms briefly flickered, causing a devastating haymaker to pass through Emiya harmlessly. "What the hell?!" The Shadow barely managed this statement before Izanagi, seeing a window of opportunity, struck with a heavy overhead slash that nearly took one of the frog body's eyestalks clear off.

As another wave of dust and debris washed over the trio, Satonaka decided it was time to seek cover, even if she didn't want to leave Emiya at all. She dropped down and hauled Yosuke to his feet. "Snap out of it, Hanamura, move already!" she snapped. She was still furious with him, but no way was she going to let that get someone killed. If she thought it would do any good, she would charge in and fight the Shadow herself.

To her surprise, Yosuke dug his heels in and slipped out of her grip. "No… No, I can't leave. I… have to take responsibility."

"What are you talking about, Hanamura? This isn't the time to try and act cool!" Satonaka gripped his shoulders, but he shrugged her off.

"I have to do this, Satonaka. This is my fault, like you said."

"But-!"

"I knew the Shadow wasn't lying, but I was so ashamed of what it said I didn't want to admit it." Yosuke forced himself to look at the stricken Shadow-beast. "I honestly hate how dull this town is compared to the city I grew up in, but I wanted to make it work. So I changed how I acted around people to fit in… even I thought I was being stupid at times…"

Emiya was startled when the Shadow's attacks paused for a third time, and this time the thing took its attention away from him completely, turning towards its former host, shock somehow coming through despite its blank features. The magus could hear Yosuke's solemn words in the mostly still street, and he couldn't help but feel a smile pull at his mouth before he refocused on the task at hand.

"What the hell are you saying?! You think just talking big will make everything better?! You're just a worthless pile of shit!" the Shadow roared, disregarding Emiya entirely and began rumbling towards Yosuke. Emiya and Izanagi rocketed after the frog beast, the Persona impaling the creature's foot hard enough to nail it to the ground while its master stabbed a leg and then grabbed another pipe from amidst the debris to take its place. "Son of a-!"

"Even with all that though, my feelings for Saki-senpai were real." Yosuke forced himself forward, his gaze never looking away from the Shadow even as he the Shadow thrashed mere feet from him. "No offense, Emiya, but I'm pretty sure my envy was real, too."

Emiya, bloody, battered, dirty and exhausted, managed to smile briefly at him. "None taken, Hanamura."

Returning the smile with a brief, weary one of his own, Yosuke turned back to the Shadow. "You're right. I am a pain in the ass looking for adventure, and it nearly got the people around me killed. When you get right down to it, all of this is me; the good and the bad."

The moment the admission left his mouth, the Shadow's entire body began to convulse violently, its hands clasping its head as if it was in more pain than ever. As it flailed, its body began to flicker and blur as though it was a TV image losing reception. "Sh-shut up! Shut up shut up SHUT UP you stupid brat! JUST DIE, DAMN YOU!" With a wet squelch, it ripped its foot free from Izanagi's blade, splitting it in two as it jumped, its hands flying into another hand seal.

Teddie reacted immediately to the sight, popping up from behind his cover, arms flailing. "Sensei! It's about to use that wind attack again! Hit it before it's charged up!"
With a sharp nod, Emiya lifted his hand towards the ascending Shadow, his Persona ripping its blade from the ground and doing the same. "Izanagi!" The magus's body released a ripple of blue flame, and the Persona voiced Emiya's will.

"Zio!" Blue lightning shrieked through the air, striking the Shadow in the side and sending it into a wild spin towards the ground. Screaming in agony and rage, the Shadow's twitching body couldn't even bring its legs under itself before Izanagi slammed into it, stabbing his glaive into the Shadow's upper body and driving the Shadow to the ground. The two skidded several meters before Izanagi leaped clear of the flailing Shadow.

Shadow Yosuke was barely on its feet when Izanagi made another pass, sweeping a foot clear off the frog body before skidding to a stop a short distance away. In desperation, the flickering Shadow launched another arm-stretching punch, though this one was far slower than the barrages that had nearly beaten Emiya and Izanagi to death minutes before. Izanagi simply shot forward, ducking under the blow and drew its polearm back.

"Cleave!" A light burst of mana surged along the edge of the blade, acting on a more physical sense of energy from Shirou's body. The reinforced blade made a perfect horizontal slash across the arm, cutting it just as easily as a Slipping Harbelie from earlier. The blade continued to make its crescent mark to the Shadow's head.

"Damn you to hell!" it barely managed one final cry before the masked warrior's glaive finally bit into the Shadow's throat, decapitating the monster.

Through his Persona's eyes, Emiya watched the monstrous body burst into a cloud of red and black mist, revealing the yellow-eyed clone of Yosuke, unharmed but oddly still as it dropped to the ground limply. The moment the battle was over Izanagi faded away, and took with it every ounce of strength in the magus's body. It seemed that he needed to be careful with this new power; the heady rush had him pushing his body way harder than it was wise to in his condition, and he barely noticed until now. As it was, the fact he was still standing was a miracle rivaling a True Magic.

Yosuke couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for the- make that his- Shadow when he caught sight of it laying there. In the end, it was a part of him, and he knew how rough it was getting beaten up when you're down. "Satonaka, could you go help Emiya? I think he's done more than his fair share today." Not bothering to listen to her reply, he walked slowly up to his Shadow.

The closer he got, the more the haze on his heart cleared. He knew he was doing the right thing as he lowered himself to his Shadow's side. Those formerly terrifying eyes were now simple lights; nothing to be afraid of. "You had it right the first time…" He found himself recalling the words he heard Emiya used describing his Persona; they seemed fitting. "I am you… and you are me."

The Shadow smiled and nodded, a look of what could only be described as relief passing over it briefly before it vanished in a flash of blue flame. In front of Yosuke, hovering over where the Shadow had been laying, a new being regarded him calmly. The figure was as large as Izanagi, clad in a white bodysuit and black shoes. Its hands were like the feet of the Shadow's former frog body, save that each palm held a golden shuriken. The blade that was once its grinning mouth was now a chest guard, and its head had gained the short eyestalks, though it was otherwise the same black, shuriken-eyed ball from the Shadow. The red scarf still wrapped around its neck, blowing in an unfelt wind. In Yosuke's opinion, it actually looked pretty cool. It reminded him of the heroic characters he used to idolize as a kid and still liked the designs of today.

With a whoosh of a snuffed flame, the figure vanished, replaced by a slowly spinning card that fell slowly into his waiting hand. He took a single good look at the figure on the card before it dissolved, becoming a part of him as much as his own heart or mind. "My… Persona," he said in wonder. Like Emiya, he had a power of his own now, the Persona Jiraiya.

The act of accepting the Persona signaled the end of the ordeal, and Yosuke felt his exhaustion return twofold. He let himself slump onto a slab of concrete. A moment later, he noticed a pair of shoes enter his vision. Looking up, the shoes belonged to Emiya, who was being supported by Satonaka. "Are you alright, Hanamura?"

"Y-yeah… I'm just tired. I should be asking you that though: you look like hell."

Emiya simply chuckled before clutching his ribs with a wince. "Well, it hurts to laugh, but I'll be okay."

"You're insane," Satonaka chided. "Both of you! I swear, men these days…" She trailed off into indistinct grumbling for a moment before looking around the rubble-strewn fake shopping district. "…So is it really over?"

"Yeah, I think so. At least, my Shadow's no longer going to be a problem," Yosuke replied with a tired sigh. He didn't even do any fighting, but he felt like he had run a marathon. "…Damn it. It hurts to face yourself…" This was especially true when "yourself" tried to tear you apart limb from limb.


"We ought to get you all out of here. Even with the glasses, this world isn't meant for humans. Best for you all to go home and sleep in your own beds," Teddie chimed in, a concerned frown on his face.

"Yeah," Emiya nodded. "Home sounds good right about now. Though I'll need to find a change of clothes first." He gestured vaguely to his tattered uniform and the blood staining several parts of his body.

"Sorry, Emiya, everyone…" Yosuke smiled sadly. "I've been a real 'pain in the ass,' haven't I?"

"You sure have," Satonaka agreed bitterly.

"I forgive you all the same," Emiya nodded.

Yosuke could only smile. "Good to know."

<><><><>

TV World Studio

The First Aid kit was completely depleted of its disinfectant and bandages to cover Emiya's numerous wounds and patch up the occasional scrape on the others. Despite being a hollow suit, Teddie had remarkably escaped the entire ordeal with only a little dirt on its fur, something that the bear still treated as a travesty worth attention.

"Next time I'll remember to bring more painkillers and bandages…" Hanamura mumbled, half-supporting, half-being supported by, Emiya as they walked. Satonaka stayed ahead of them both by a few steps with her eyes alert for danger, and Teddie brought up the rear.

"A lot more," Shirou agreed. "Sorry about losing the golf club, though."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'll just pay for it out of my next check and that'll be that. Saving our bacon is a good enough trade-off."

The walk back to the studio-like entrance was fortunately without incident. The abrupt shift from the red-tinted world of the false shopping district to warm yellow lights and walls of the studio was jarring, and the weirdest part was that the transition between the two was completely unnoticed until they were walking on the metal scaffolding leading to the center stage. "Well, here we are," Teddie announced as the gang found themselves back in the studio. "Any last requests before we 'shove off'?"

"More like a question," the redheaded magus admitted; he had been thinking about it since seeing the Konishi store and Yosuke's Shadow. "Teddie, you said this world is the reality of people who enter here, right? Like the shopping district and that hotel room from yesterday… did they form because Konishi-senpai and Yamano-san came here and made those their realities?"

Teddie's confused blink was his only response, but luckily Hanamura translated for him. "I think what Emiya is trying to ask is… Did those places form because of the people who entered this world?"

The bear appeared thoughtful, but shook its head. "I don't know. This has never happened before. But I can say they were probably in those places when the Shadows attacked them."

"Wait, so it was the same for them as it was for Hanamura?" Satonaka asked.

"The fog lifts in this world when it gets foggy in yours. The Shadows get violent when that happens." The bear fidgeted a bit. "I usually get scared and hide those times, but I could tell the last few days were different when people came in. They disappeared after the fog in here lifted…"

The Yasogami students exchanged uneasy glances with each other. "So, let's see if we got this straight," Emiya started. "Konishi-senpai and Ms. Yamano were thrown in here, and wandered around without a way out."

"After a while, their Shadows come out," Satonaka continued. "And when the fog lifted, they go crazy and kill them…"

"Which leads to their bodies reappearing on the telephone lines by morning," Hanamura finished. Teddie nodded, and another thought crossed his mind. "So… if I'd been here when the fog had cleared in this world…"

"You guys were lucky," the bear said simply. "The fight would have been much tougher on Shirou-sensei if the Shadow fought you without the fog around."

"How so?" Emiya wondered. That fight was tough enough. He couldn't figure out what factors would change just because the fog was gone.

"You saw it: when a Shadow goes crazy, a strong one draws others to it, and the big mass of Shadows kills the host. If the fog was gone, hundreds more, maybe thousands, might have added their strength to Yosuke's Shadow," Teddie explained ominously.

Hanamura summed up the trio's feelings on the matter. "Dammit…"

After a moment of uneasy silence, Satonaka spoke. "So, that announcer lady and Konishi-senpai… they were stuck here all alone…"

"No one could have saved them at all," Emiya clenched a fist, eyes narrowed. "If only I'd figured this out sooner…"

Teddie glanced to each of the students, noticing their quiet and upset reactions. "G-guys, listen! They disappeared after the fog lifted, but they were safe before that. No Shadows attacked them."

"But they attacked us," the magus reminded the mascot bear.

"I guess they knew we were snooping and saw us as enemies," Teddie reasoned. "But between Shirou-sensei's power and Yosuke's, we can fight them! We might even be able to save people!"

Emiya and his classmates were rendered speechless. It was the magus-in-training's dream to be a hero, an Ally of Justice. He had hoped to one day use his magecraft to save others, but no matter how often he trained, he just couldn't seem to even get close to realizing his father's dream.

But now, in this world, being aware of a conspiracy to kill people through their own dark, repressed thoughts, and with the Persona Izanagi to fight and stop any future kidnappings… Save people…? With this power in this world… yes, yes I think that's possible!

Hanamura found his voice first. "W-wait a minute… Are you saying if anyone else gets thrown in here, we can save them before they disappear? Like with my Shadow?"

Satonaka considered for a moment. In all honesty, given her vehement desire to stay out of this world, the boys were expecting her to demand they leave this impossible situation behind and go back to their normal lives. Instead, she mulled over the idea. "And if we can figure out who's behind this, we can catch the culprit too. We might be able to stop this whole thing ourselves, or at least get enough evidence to let the police finish the case."

Emiya's confidence was soaring as the whole thing started coming together in his mind, but not at Teddie's sudden downcast frown. "Huh? What's wrong Teddie?"

The bear shook its head. "Oh, it's nothing, really…" His fidgeting told a different story however.

"You look like you want to ask us something though," Shirou encouraged.

"Well… is it alright if I can?" The students, while confused, nodded. "…if Shadows are born from people, then what was Teddie born from?"

They blinked and exchanged perplexed glances. "You're kidding, right?" Yosuke asked immediately. Teddie shook its head, the frown growing.

"You… don't know your own past?" Shirou asked slowly.

"You said you live in this world, right?" Chie remarked. "Shouldn't you know everything about it, at least about yourself?"

Teddie nodded. "I know how this world works and can tell when something happens in here. I never knew much about myself, though…" the bear lowered its head. "Actually, I never thought much about it until now."

Emiya considered this with a touch of pity. Huh. Well, that explains why we could never get a straight answer from him before. If he really is the only thing around here aside from Shadows, he must feel lonely in here…

"You guys will come back here… right?" the bear added timidly.

…very lonely, he amended. "Of course we will," Shirou smiled. "We promised to help with this case, after all."

"R-really…?"

"Yeah. A promise is a promise. Though… well, even if we wanted to leave…" Hanamura jerked his thumb back to the center of the studio. "We don't have a way to get back yet…"

The bear's eyes briefly shrunk comically and blinked in embarrassment. "Oh! Th-That's right! Okay, I'll let you out. But there's one thing you gotta remember; we need to meet up in the same place every time if you guys want to get back. Right here's a good spot, really."

"The same portal inside Junes, you mean?" Shirou guessed. It was a good thing the TV at Junes was so prohibitively expensive then: it would be an issue if someone bought that massive TV and left them floundering on the either side.

The bear nodded. "Because of your power, you could come in from any other TV, you just wouldn't end up here, and I wouldn't know where to find or get ahold of you very fast. So keep consistent and come to this spot… or else you'd be doooomed…" Teddie stressed out the last word ominously, though coming from him, it only sounded comical at best. "Got it!?"

Hanamura nodded, as did his classmates. "Got it; thanks for the warning, Ted."

"Can we go home now?" the green sweater girl sighed. "I just want to take a bath and go to bed."

"You and me both," Hanamura nodded. "I need to get home, soak in the shower, and sleep a lot." A small smile crossed his lips. "I think… I'm gonna sleep well tonight."

"You sure?" Satonaka asked. "I mean, with Konishi-senpai and your Shadow-"

"Yeah. I have… closure, at least."

He's taken this better than I had thought. You're a stronger person than you realize, Hanamura. Shirou nodded back to their guide bear. "Teddie, if you do the honors?"

"Roger, Shirou-sensei!" the bear saluted. "One exit comin' right up!"

With the same two taps of his foot, the familiar stack of TVs appeared, similar to the ones from yesterday. The trio of students walked around it, hesitant to go through and cause a scare.

The magus examined the screens for a moment. "Alright, before we leave, I should check that no one's watching. Magic has to remain secret, and I'm pretty sure this place qualifies as magic. Teddie, is there any way you can show me what's going on out-Huh?"

Teddie cut off Shirou's plan as he got behind all three of them and pushed, just like last time. "Come on, come on, come on! Go go go! Squiiiish!"

"HEY! Don't touch there you little-!"

"Stop squeezing- Aw man, here we go agaaaaaaaaaaa-"
<><><><>
Junes Electronics Department

WHAM!

Would anyone be walking by the aisle, they would have seen three students flat and on their stomachs lying on the store floor. It would be nearly half a minute before any of them pushed themselves from their heap.

"I'm really starting to hate that bear," Hanamura grunted as he rubbed his stomach.

"For its sake, it better not had intended to touch me there," Satonaka cursed. "Or I'd be kicking that bear straight to the moon next time I see it!"

"Is there a moon in that world?" Emiya asked innocently.

"For that bear's sake, there better not be!" she groused before gently pulling the redhead to his feet. "Wha-? Hey! Your clothes!"

Confused, the boys looked and found that, amazingly, his uniform was undamaged, if a little dusty. The blood-soaked slices and torn sections were whole and unblemished. For an instant, Emiya wondered if his wounds were also healed and the implications of those injuries only existing in that world before a twinge of pain raced through him. "Damn," he muttered irritably, rolling up his sleeve to see the blood-stained bandage wrapped around the bite marks there. "I'll have to keep these out of Dojima's sight…" His entire body was still covered in wounds, many of which only just stopped bleeding. Stretching wrong would re-open them.

"Yeah, good idea. No way you'd be able to explain all those cuts and bruises anyway," Hanamura agreed. "At least you won't need to order another uniform. That uncle of yours would flip." The smirk he wore looked bone weary at that, and he finally took off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose, tucking them into his pocket. "Thanks, Emiya. For everything. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

As much as that thanks filled him with a sense of joy that eclipsed anything he had felt in years, Emiya still had to fulfill his sworn duty of helping others. "Are you sure you're alright? I can at least see you safely home."

"Nah, I don't live too far from here. I'll be fine. See ya both tomorrow." With a wave to his new (genuine) friends, Hanamura forced himself to walk out of the department without slumping from exhaustion and pain. Maybe it was the fact that a lot of the weight in his head and heart was gone, but he felt lighter and his head clearer in spite of the numerous bruises.

The three parted ways, the tomboy and the magus heading in the same direction for the residential areas beyond the floodplain. With a fresh wave of rain pattering the streets, Chie made sure to stay close in case Emiya's wounds troubled him too much and he needed her support. At the very least, she could repay him for the consideration of sharing his umbrella the other day.

A quiet voice in the back of her mind whispered poisonously. That's all it is. Riiiight.
<><><><>
Evening, Samegawa Flood Plain

Yukiko let out a soft sigh of relief. She had been working so long the last few days that she barely had any time of rest. And to top it off, she was made their temporary new manager while her family and inn staff worked themselves to the bone to take care of the tourists. The school was considerate of her situation at least and postponed any assignments she had to do. Family came first… unfortunately.

Sitting under the dry gazebo, she soothed the fabric of her pink floral kimono and watched the rain fall. She allowed herself this small break, for as soon as she returned home she would be forced to cater for her guests and help the staff. It'll be the same thing from now until the day I die.

She would have been there sooner but the news media happened to pull her aside to ask them some questions… mostly about her inn and appearance. She couldn't even get a word in edgewise during the whole interview. Not that I have anything else to say about my inn that everyone else gushes over…

"You're Yuki, right?"

Yukiko was startled from her thoughts by the voice behind her. A student still in his school uniform walked up to her left from behind a pillar of the gazebo. His uniform wasn't from Yasogami, likely from a private school at the other end of Inaba. What unnerved her was the way he looked at her. His eyes were wide and dull, almost lifeless and unblinking like a fish's, and an empty smile. He was soaked to the bone, his messy black hair and his uniform plastered to his skin by the rain. How long had he been waiting for her?

"I thought I recognized you in that amazing kimono. You look nice all dressed up," he started with a breathy mumble.

Yukiko shifted uneasily in her seat. "U-uh…"

"You wanna hang out?" he asked. "I know a good movie that's showing tonight."

It wasn't that it wasn't a nice gesture, but… his presence bothered her, gave her an uneasy feeling. She saw desperation in his eyes and demeanor, probably on the line of stalker. The way he said Yuki like a pet name was also disturbing: he didn't even know this person's name, and he was already talking like they were old friends. He was worse than that reporter a while ago. He's no prince.

"I-I have to get back to the inn soon," Yukiko tried to deflect. Perhaps he would nod and accept her excuse like the other boys at school.

"-Th-then maybe a quick bite at Aiya's?" he offered quickly. "They're doing that rainy day special thing tonight. My treat."

The heiress frowned. "I'm afraid not. Sorry."

He looked visibly put down, and she hoped he would respect her decision and kindly leave. But then he forced a smile that sent shivers to her spine. "Come on, Yuki, it's just one bowl. You'll be back before you know it."


Yukiko was reaching for her red umbrella even before the alarm bells were ringing. "I don't have the time-"

"Then we'll make time. Just one bowl at Aiya's, maybe talk a bit…"

"I said no," and with that, she started rising from her seat-

Only to find him gripping her hand rather tightly. "It'll be fun, Yuki. Trust me."

Yukiko struggled a bit from his hand, but found no strength, helplessness overtaking her thoughts. Someone, anyone, help me! "I said no!"

He started to sneer. "And I said-!"

"Hey! Back off, jerk!" a sudden shout brought a stop to the teen's actions, and Yukiko caught sight of her best friend all but thundering towards her, and coming up behind her at a slower pace was the transfer student, Shirou Emiya.

Yukiko was relieved to see her friend. "Chie!" My hero!

"I'll give you to the count of three to let Yukiko go or so help me I'll make you!"

Tightening his grip on Yukiko's wrist angrily, the teen stepped forward threateningly, "Mind your own business!"

Chie was not in the mood to put up with someone antagonizing her or hurting her friend after the mess in the TV World, and she snapped her leg up, striking the boy's forearm with perfect accuracy. It was light and fast, forcing him to let go of Yukiko and stumble back with his arm stinging, but not enough to actually do any lasting harm. Furious, the hunched teen brought his arms up like he planned to turn this into a full-on brawl. "You bitch! I'll-"

"Excuse me."

Emiya had finally arrived, his gait slow and purposeful. Yukiko was surprised he saw none of the pleasant, quiet demeanor from what she saw from the first day. In its place a cold fury took its place, the redhead's golden-brown eyes were flinty and intense. She could see several bandages all over his face and hands too, making it look like he had wrestled with a wild dog. If anything, he looked less like a student and more like a fighter.

She couldn't blame the other male student for feeling intimidated at the sight; she was starting to feel the same thing.

"Emiya, I got this," Chie said, still glaring at her offender.

"Just give me a minute, Satonaka. That's all I need." Oddly enough, Chie complied and let him by.

The villainous stalker collected his wits during this and snapped at the heroic student. "Who the hell are you?"

"I couldn't help but to overhear your discussion with Amagi-san," he said slowly. "I won't hold it against you for asking Amagi-san out, but she said no. Twice. So let's just leave it at that. You're going too far."

The student sneered and pointed at him. "Hey! I saw her first, bastard! Don't think you can just step in and take her for yourself!"

"This has nothing to do with 'first' or whatever you believe," Emiya shot back coldly. "It's a matter of principle. If you truly care for her feelings, then you would respect her decision and leave her alone. If you keep harassing her, I don't think I could stop Satonaka from beating you within an inch of your life."

Next to him, the girl in question offered the black-haired boy a faux-peppy smile and cracked her knuckles rather ominously.

The stranger's eyes darted between the both of them for several tense seconds, only broken by the sound of the pounding rain and the rushing river nearby. "…Fine!" he finally shouted. "But don't think I'll forget this!" With a bitter, wounded look at the girls, he ran off.

The three watched him carefully until he was out of sight before letting the tension leave their bodies. The change in Emiya was so dramatic it looked like he deflated. When he turned to her, Yukiko felt a twinge of surprise that his expression was just as concerned for her as Chie's. Is he a samurai or…?

"Did he hurt you at all, Yukiko?" Chie immediately asked her, interrupting her train of thought.

The black haired girl shook her head. "No, just wouldn't leave me alone. Thank you for stopping him."

The red haired teen waved his hand dismissively. "It's no trouble. Though, shouldn't you be at your inn if you're dressed like that?"

"Well, my parents sent me on an errand and I don't have the luxury to change back into anything else while on the clock. Does it surprise you to see me dressed like this?"

Emiya scratched a bandage on his cheek awkwardly and averted his eyes. "No…It really suits you."

Yukiko felt conflicted at that; she didn't like the image of being a little inn heiress to everyone, but Emiya's hesitation and shy compliment seemed more earnest than anything else she heard come from a guy's mouth. Was he embarrassed in seeing her in a kimono? Well, it's better than a lecherous stare. Perhaps chivalry really isn't dead yet…

"Aha!" Chie smirked, pointing accusingly at him. "I knew it! You do think Yukiko's cute!"

Emiya's eyes widened and his subtle blush brightened tenfold. "N-no, I-…it's just she's naturally beautiful, and the kimono brings more of her refinement out and, and… wh-why am I even telling you this?!"

Chie could barely contain her laughter. "Peer pressure, maybe?"

Feeling embarrassed by Chie as well, and wanting to spare poor Emiya from further humiliation, Yukiko changed topics. "You two seem to be getting along well now. I always leave early, so I was a little worried."

"Are you kidding?" the brown haired girl elbowed Emiya playfully in his abdomen. "This guy's the best! You can always count on him when you need a helping hand!"

"Satonaka…" the transfer student groaned and rubbed his stomach. Yukiko didn't notice her friend wince guiltily as she realized where her elbow had grazed him.

"I'm glad to hear that," Yukiko smiled. "Chie's really supportive too, Emiya. She's always helped by giving me the extra push I need from time to time."

She giggled at recalling an old memory. "We had the same homeroom last year as well. I still remember the times we'd cut classes…"

Chie blushed in alarm. "H-hey!" she waved her arms frantically. "Don't tell him all that!"

"Consider it payback for making me look like a fool the other day," Yukiko smiled wider. Chie could only grumble in response and Emiya glanced between them in confusion.

"By the way, are you getting used to our town and school yet?" she asked. "I would only imagine how dull it is around here compared to Fuyuki City." It sounds like a much better place to live, really.

Emiya looked startled at her question, but considered it. "Huh? Well… I think so. In fact, I kind of like Yasoinaba."

Both girls were honestly surprised. "Wait, what?" Chie couldn't keep the shock out of her voice.

"But," Yukiko said. "It must be so difficult moving from your old home to a place you know nothing about! I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like transferring schools outside of Inaba." Though it would be nice to try at least once…

"Well, I admit coming here was no easy decision," said Emiya. "But the transfer is only for a year, and it's to see my uncle and cousin who live here. From what I've seen of Inaba, it's nice and quiet. I mean, the rumor mill is more active than I'm used to, and the murders…" he trailed off briefly before smiling. "But, my family is here, and I think that's enough."

Chie seemed satisfied with this. Yukiko, however, stared blankly at him for a moment. "I… see…" FAMILY? Is he actually serious?!

Shaking her head to cleat it, Yukiko reached for her umbrella and opened it. "Anyway, I should get going; I need to make tomorrow's arrangements with our head chef. The inn can't function without me."

"Well, see you at school then!" Chie waved. Emiya did the same.

"Yes, at school…" Only if the inn stops bringing in customers…

<><><><>
Dojima Residence


Dojima-san's out working, Nanako's feeling upset, and the news channel talks about developing murder case… I feel this has happened before.

To his chagrin, Shirou forced himself to listen to the news with Nanako tonight; Yosuke's Shadow admitted that he was grasping at straws in trying to connect the murder to the TV world in an attempt to get back in. But as harebrained as the idea was, Shirou could see the possibility of it being true. When the Yamano scandal went live, people claimed to have seen her on the Midnight Channel before her body was discovered. The same case happened with Saki Konishi when she merely found the body. Speaking of Konishi…

"Police are proceeding under the assumption that this may be a serial murder case related to the death of Mayumi Yamano," announced the reporter. "The coroner's report has established Ms. Konishi's time of death at around 1:00 A.M. last night. The body went unnoticed until this morning as a result of the heavy fog blanketing the area."

1 AM… It's like what Teddie said. She was safe before, and then killed during the Midnight Channel. There was a small transition between the rain and the fog that night too…

Nanako's sigh broke out his mental monologue. "Another case… Dad'll be late again."

…Hanamura's right; the police can't be counted on this. If not to do this to save others, than I at least should do it to make sure her father comes home on time. "It'll get better soon, Nanako. I'm sure of it."

"Thanks," she said. "But I'm used to it. Though do you think you can help me with stuff around the house?"

She's very mature for her age, Shirou thought as he nodded.

The news continued on "…Amagi Inn, located upstream of Samegawa River, is the town's oldest historical landmark."

Wait, what?! Shirou froze mid-step and turned to the TV.

"Vacationers are known to travel surprising distances in order to visit its open-air, radium-rich hot springs. After the incident with Ms. Yamano, the manager has stepped aside, leaving her daughter Yukiko to fill her shoes."

Yukiko appeared on the TV, wearing the same kimono from earlier. It looked like this was recorded earlier in the day, given that it wasn't raining in the scene.

"In other words, she's a manager who's still in high school," the on-scene reporter finished excitedly. "Now that has a nice ring to it. Let's see if we can interview her. Excuse me!"

Amagi was quite reasonably taken aback by the overzealous reporter all but cornering her. Worse, they did nothing to protect the poor girl's privacy. "Hm? Um… are you speaking to me?"

The reporter didn't even bother introducing himself or asking permission to interview her, talking over her excitedly. "We heard you're the new manager of the Amagi Inn. Is it true that you're still in high school?"

"Well… I'm only filling in temporarily," Yukiko tried to deflect the reporter. From the look on her face, she would rather be getting on with her day rather than put up with the man.

"Someday though," the reporter reminded. "That aside, wow! You look gorgeous in that kimono! That must bring in a lot of male visitors."

"Wh-what?"

Hearing the distress building in his shy classmate's voice set Shirou's teeth on edge. This guy…

"And your inn's hot springs are all natural, yes? I recall you sometimes allow co-gender hours for the romantic couples. What times do you prefer, new manager?"

"I-is this really an interview?" The magus was wondering the same thing at this point. It was bordering on harassment!

"Of course!" he insisted. "Your inn's traditional setting and well managed catering has made it a more desirable place to rest than most hotels in the country! There's just some untold secret about such a place that brings all sorts of people to it. Unless you're willing to tell your secrets to the rest of-"

CLICK.

Nanako turned to her older cousin, noticing his tightly clenched hand on the remote and his intense stare. "Are… you alright?" she asked timidly.

Shirou let out a long sigh before turning to Nanako and forcing a smile. "Yeah I am. Sorry about that… let's get started on the dishes, all right?"

Relieved at her quick nod and dash to the kitchen, Emiya stared back at the blank TV once more before following her. Thinking about it now won't do him any good. All he had to do was focus on housework. Anything to get his mind off that "interview"…

<><><><>

Several hours later after taking a bath to soothe his battered body and apply fresh bandages (he considered buying his own supply to keep Dojima from noticing, but that would come later), Shirou found himself in his room making a mental checklist. Lights off… flick the power switch. Check. Raining outside… a quick check out the window confirmed this, as well as watching the weather channel just moments prior. Check. In position in front of TV… just a few paces to the center and- Check. Midnight… only a few seconds away.

To think I'm actually doing this again… I'll never see rain the same way again if it indicates the life or death of someone. Who would tell Satonaka or Nami-san about this 'channel' anyway? Some sort of message like Hanamura indicated? Is there a magus watching me right now?

The clock on his wall clicked midnight.

And just like two nights ago, the screen came to life. Guess we can watch this as many times as possible when meeting the right circumstances… wait…

The screen wasn't exactly vibrant like when Saki Konishi was on the channel. Instead it showed a fuzzy silhouette of a feminine figure wearing a kimono, all color washed out by the white haze behind the figure. Without any details, he couldn't identify the woman, but every instinct told him he had seen her before.


Teddie said that the TVs in our world all linked to different places. Maybe… On impulse, he reached his hand into the TV, but only felt a familiar, weak tug from the other side. The image was washed out by his intrusion, but returned when he pulled his arm back out, the TV releasing him more easily than before. The picture wouldn't last much longer though; there was only thirty seconds left before 12:01.

I can't reach her and don't have time to find another TV! I just have to try and force myself into this one!

Completely ignoring his aching body and Teddie's warning on the dangers of just jumping into a TV at random, Shirou fumbled for his glasses. He wasn't about to let anyone die if there was even the most remote chance he could prevent it. It never crossed his mind that his prana reserves and pool of strength from his Persona were both dangerously low. On top of his injuries, to step into the TV World now was a death sentence.

He pushed his head in first, almost surprised at when it worked. He grunted as he tried fitting one of his arms in next, but stopped and gaped at the vision of the world inside.

Spreading out below him was a wide, lonely hill, devoid of grass or any other life. The sky was an eerie twilight of flowing purple and orange lines from one end of the horizon to the other. At the very edge of his vision, he could faintly make out a sparse number of markers on the hill, but as he focused on them, they became clear. They were…

Swords? Wh-what is this? A hill of swords?

He had never expected to see such a place in the TV world, but maybe this was why Teddie was so upset about the new worlds coming in. If the world was naturally peaceful, then anyone who warped it with their presence, their "reality" was only agitating the Shadows with these alien landscapes. Whatever the TV World looked like originally, he doubted disturbingly dark shopping districts and maliciously decorated inn rooms were a part of it.

Shaking his head sharply, he resumed scanning his head through the TV. Come on, where are you? He couldn't see the kimono girl anywhere on the hill or the surrounding area.

A chilling thought had Shirou pull his head from the TV and clutch his aching chest. What if a magus was warping that world and using humans as test subjects for Shadows? What if the culprit planned to empty Inaba of life for their research?

He glanced at the clock. It was 12:04. The Midnight Channel ended three minut-no, wait… 12:05 now. Four minutes ago.

So her silhouette was there… but not her? Shirou shook his head in defeat. Best sleep on this. I'll tell Hanamura and Satonaka after school; maybe they've noticed something I didn't.

With a tired sigh, Shirou gingerly lowered himself onto the futon and stared at the ceiling. Today was a wild day. He had gained the power to save people and used it in a way that had saved three lives, an indescribable feeling. Despite the madness starting to churn beneath the surface of Inaba, the magus felt that, all things else, he was making a huge jump towards his dream of being an Ally of Justice. He wondered if his father was proud of him. He still had a long way to go, but every step forward was worth something.

He wasn't sure how long he spent thinking about it, but he finally felt himself drifting off to the pattering of the rain outside.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 16
Velvet Room

Shirou had only just drifted off when his eyes opened again. Rather than laying on his futon, he was sitting upright in a familiar blue seat. Before he could even consider moving, he realized he was not alone: two others were in this velvet-lined place with him. Wait, this is…

"Welcome back, Shirou Emiya." Igor greeted with that same fixed grin and piercing eyes.

"Igor-san?" Shirou blinked at the long-nosed man and his assistant next to him. "Is… this another dream?"

"Not precisely," he replied, folding his hands delicately. "You're still fast asleep in the real world. I have merely summoned you from within your dreams."

Shirou's blood chilled slightly. Whoever or whatever Igor actually was, he was undeniably powerful to reach him like this. As a magus, he tended to believe anything was possible, but the idea of someone reaching through the veils of dream and reality to hold a conversation never crossed his mind. Although… "You mean you could have called me back here at any time?" Why didn't he?

This time, it was the woman who answered. "Until now, no. This is a space that only those who have, in one way or another, entered into a contract may enter," Margaret explained. "In your daily life, you subconsciously heard the call to awaken, and you chose to follow the destiny of your inner voice, thereby enacting your glorious awakening to your power."

"Izanagi…" He could feel it even here: the wisp of flame in his heart that waited for his call.

"Indeed," Igor's smile widened. "With the awakening of your Persona, Izanagi of the Fool Arcana, you chose to establish a contract, and thus are an official guest to this Velvet Room." A blue light flickered in front of Shirou's eyes, dropping a small object onto his lap. The magus picked it up and examined it; it was a silver key the size of his palm, with a cross-like milling and an image of a half-white and half-black mask on both sides of the head.

"This key shall allow you to return here whenever you so choose," the long-nosed man explained. "Your destiny will require you to hone your power, and for that, you will inevitably require our help. There is but one price for this assistance."

Shirou frowned, expecting the worst. There were lots of horrible things Igor might ask for, or perhaps force him into complying with.

With great gravitas, the mysterious entity stated his terms. "You must abide by your contract and assume responsibility for all decisions you may make."

The red-haired teen stared at the key at his hand, considering the entity's words. On the surface, it wasn't much of a price for him, but that could change if the situation put him in a sadistic choice or if his actions led to the secret of magic leaking. On the other hand, he might very well need Igor and Margaret's help. He looked back at his time in the TV World. He felt so powerful fighting that first wave of Shadows with Izanagi… But not twenty minutes later Yosuke's Shadow nearly killed him. Without a teacher, he would be grasping in the dark even more than he was when it came to magecraft.

Closing his hand around the key, Shirou looked back at the impish man and his assistant. "Could I use this power to save people?"

"The decisions regarding your power are made by you alone," Margaret answered. "Our goal is only to help you reach your potential, no matter what you decide."

That was fair; they were giving him resources but they weren't dictating his actions. The choices he made and their consequences according to this agreement could serve as punishment enough, up to and including his own life or the lives of others. "I accept."

And beneath him, he felt the car pick up just a little more speed.

"Very well," Igor nodded, refolding his hands. "Now then, the Persona you've acquired… It is a side of yourself that shows itself when you face the world around you."

"What do you mean? Like a mask?"

"The term I prefer is 'a façade of determination you wear to face various difficulties in life', but the idea is quite the same. However, your Persona is different from others you may later encounter because you possess a special ability; The Wild Card."

Igor snapped his fingers, and a Tarot card appeared in his gloved hands. "This…" with an eerie smile, he revealed the face to Shirou, showing a picture of a man's silhouette walking with a slung bag over his shoulder and a dog following behind him. The number under it read "0". "…is your card."

Shirou's brow furrowed as he leaned closer to the card. "The Fool?"

"It is like the number zero… empty, yet holding infinite potential from within."

For some reason, the words "empty and "infinite" resonated with Shirou, simultaneously unnerving and thrilling him. "So… right now my power's weak… but it can become stronger in time?"

"Indeed. The Persona ability is the power to control one's own heart," Igor clarified.

That must be why using Izanagi keeps me from feeling fatigue or crippled by uncertainty: I'm controlling my "heart" to keep them at bay in favor of doing what I need to… This new power amazed the magus in training. It was unlike anything Kiritsugu had described. And it can grow even stronger?

Igor seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, either by reading his mind or Shirou just being that transparent. "The heart in turn is strengthened through bonds. As you form bonds by becoming involved with others, your own Social Links will gradually develop. The power of these Social Links is what will determine your Persona's abilities."

Shirou had to be dreaming right now. "Wait… Are you saying… my Persona power can only get stronger… by making friends?"

The idea was unbelievable, running counter to everything he thought he knew about becoming a hero. Just making friends didn't spontaneously make a person stronger, did it? Getting too close to others put them in danger, something no hero should allow. On top of that, he was a magus, an inherently lonely existence by its very nature. And yet, what if these "Social Links" really were key to mastering these new gifts? What role did the heart play in this?

"Not just friendship," Igor corrected, "but all kinds of bonds; rivalry, companionship, lovers, family, all of these bonds hold power within them." The last one in particular struck the teen as odd and filled him with mixed feelings.

Being closer with Dojima-san and Nanako could make me stronger too? But-

"That's wrong," Shirou shook his head, to the slight surprise of the other room guests. "I can't… just make 'connections' if all I'd be doing is using them to gain power. If I'm to be an Ally of Justice, I have to do things within my own power, not twist their feelings!"

"You misunderstand," the blond assistant answered. "Social Links are necessary for more than just strengthening your Persona. They can light the way to the truth you are searching for. In addition, a Social Link is not something only you will benefit from: to form and grow a Social Link requires your personal investment as a person as well as genuine reciprocation. It is not possible to form a true Social Link and then abuse it for power."

"Margaret is correct, Shirou Emiya," Igor added. "The power of Social Links is evident in everyone; you are merely fortunate enough to receive the boon of the Wild Card's power."

"I… see…" Conflicted by the pair's words, Shirou changed topics. "Was there a Wild Card before me, then?" he asked.

Both residents nodded; Margaret's was slightly hesitant though. "Yes. She is living proof that even the most impossible of miracles can be granted through the power of bonds," Igor said with a nostalgic air coming to his smile.

"Miracles?" Shirou repeated the word confusedly. Is that truly possible?

"This is very interesting; you seem to show genuine care to those around you, even if you are reluctant to acknowledge your potential…" Igor smiled between chuckles. "I wonder where the awakened power of the Wild Card will take you, Shirou Emiya."

The magus felt his vision blur again, his dream-self parting from the room. He heard the long-nosed resident speak one last time. "I look forward to accompanying you on your journey…"

<><><>


April 16th, Dojima Household, Morning

Opening his eyes back in his bed and seeing his room's ceiling, Shirou was once again struck by the oddity of the Velvet Room, but decided to put it aside for the moment when he saw his clock. "Grk!" Yesterday's fight had apparently left him so drained that he ended up sleeping in late, failing to have any time to do his usual morning exercises.

On top of that, he had next to no space in his own room, so he was forced to abstain from training his magecraft and making Magic Circuits since he arrived. About the only saving grace was the fact that he had managed to set a fresh one in his spine while in the TV World. He really needed to look for a suitable place to set up something like a proper Workshop. The question was where.

Resigning himself to the fact that Nanako had made breakfast for the family again, he stretched and slowly reached for his spare winter uniform, wincing slightly at the lingering aches of his bandages pressing against his injuries. After washing his face in the bathroom, he got changed. He had just started closing the buttons of the uniform jacket when he paused, glancing at the mirror and taking himself in.

The uniform he wore last night should have been tattered and bloodstained after fighting those Shadows. Between the Slipping Hableries trying to chew him apart and Shadow Yosuke's wind attacks, he was sure the outfit was a write-off. Yet when he passed through the TV portal back into this world, it was back together as though he had never left. To be on the safe side, he put it aside to be washed and/or analyzed in detail.

Looking at himself in the mirror now though, he felt that something was subtly off with the way he looked. He wasn't sure what it was, though. Maybe one of his injuries was throwing something off? Well, since I have a moment…

After making sure his door was locked, Shirou took a slow breath and intoned his aria: "Trace, On."

Just as he had in the shopping district, the ever-reliable Structural Analysis mystery passed through him. Everything physical appeared normal, damage tally notwithstanding, but the moment the spell pushed deeper into his spirit, it found something in the right side of his chest. The moment he focused on it, his mind's eye was suddenly awash with information. In fact, it was so clear it was almost like the "screen" was right behind his eyelids, clear as day.

He could see an image of his Persona Izanagi standing regally, as if waiting for his command. Beside the image was a veritable wall of symbols and data that he had never seen before, but it soon almost interpreted itself into clear ideas and facts. He thanked his Structural Analysis for that. After a few moments, the original data "screen" was reformatted into something a bit easier to comprehend, even if it wasn't in words, per se.

Izanagi of the Fool Arcana. It was a straightforward warrior with no weaknesses physically, though anything attempting to "cut" him would find his body able to resist injury somewhat. Magically, Izanagi was slightly more complicated. While its power over electricity protected it somewhat against that element, the Persona was vulnerable to wind spells and powers (certainly explained why Winds of Oblivion tore through him so easily), and was otherwise neutral to the other elements of fire, ice and holy power. Most interestingly, it was completely immune to any form of dark magic, though he wondered what such a thing really meant.

If someone were to push Shirou to describe Izanagi's overall abilities aside from "superhuman," he could say with certainty that the Persona was extremely sturdy first of all, with the power of its magecraft exceeding its great physical strength. That said, he would also say that the power it had right now was not even the barest hint of its potential. It was actually almost frightening to think how strong Izanagi and he could actually become one day if he was interpreting the information right.

Lastly, the powers his Persona could wield appeared before him, including Cleave, the empowered sword strike, Zio, the lightning bolt (and something told him it was considered a weak bolt!), Tarukaja, the spell that granted Shirou his boosted strength in the TV World, and…

Was that last one there before? Sometime after his fight with Shadow Yosuke, a new spell had appeared to Izanagi. Rakunda apparently was a nasty curse that cut through its target's defenses, weakening an enemy's armor and skin against future attacks for a short time. He also could see that just beyond that was a spell he could learn with some more experience with these powers, a reversal of the Rakunda, Rakukaja.

Taken all together and looking at the mental screen for a few more minutes to make sense of it all, Shirou could only shake his head in wonder. "It feels like I'm in some sort of video game…" He wasn't sure if he felt stronger after fighting the Shadows like it was starting to hint, but just from those two fights alone he felt like he gained more power in that one day than he had after years of self-training in magecraft. He had a feeling he would only get stronger from here.

Opening his eyes back to the real world and staring at the mirror before him, Shirou rolled his shoulders experimentally. His head was clear after a good night's sleep, and he could feel his reserves of energy restored for his Persona, and his Magic Circuit was in good condition for the moment. His injuries were healing steadily; even the deep bite marks on his arm had stopped bleeding and the pain reduced to an insistent but ultimately ignorable ache. But something else nagged at him as he looked himself over. With a sigh, he started unbuttoning his jacket to get a better look.

His hands stopped after the final button.

With wide eyes at a sudden epiphany, he examined himself in the mirror once again. With the jacket open, the ends fluttered at the slightest turn of the arm, and the gap revealed his white undershirt to the public eye. It reminded him slightly of his battle-scarred appearance back at the TV… as well as his spiritual alter-ego Izanagi.

It was unusual for Shirou since he always wore the prior Homurahara uniform buttoned up. However, Yasogami was more lax on school customs (Morooka notwithstanding). Alterations to the school uniform weren't unheard of, as Satonaka wore a green jacket and her friend Amagi wore a red sweater over their own. And if the magus was being honest with himself, he kind of liked his uniform this way. It made him look confident, strong, brave… heroic.

Shirou smiled at his reflection, almost teasing his coat like it was some sort of cape. Funny how a change of clothes, or how they're worn, can make anyone feel different.
His musing was interrupted by his cousin's call from downstairs. "Breakfast is ready!"

"I'm starting to miss being the one saying that," Shirou said to himself with a rueful smile. Straightening his jacket for good measure, he left his room for the ground floor. Nanako was in the midst of putting a share of two plates down before noticing his change of clothes.

"Your jacket's unbuttoned," she pointed out.

"I decided to go to school like this from now on," Shirou smiled, extending his arms out. "What do you think, Nanako?"

The brown-haired girl tilted her head to the side. Her expression showed a level of thinking above most kids her age. "You look… different," she decided. "But you're also happier. Did something happen, Shirou?"

Happy? It was true he felt this way, as it was because he was able to save his classmates just yesterday. It was rather elevating. But he couldn't tell her any of that, considering magecraft and murder was involved.

So he shrugged and gave a half-truth before walking over to the table. "I just meet some good people, Nanako. That's all."

Nanako stared at him for a moment longer before nodding and smiling. "I'm glad!"

Breakfast was another silent, lonely event between the cousins, but for once it was met with enthusiasm.

<><><>

Samagawa Floodplain

Yosuke had done a lot of thinking after his little "episode" with his evil twin. When he had first met Emiya, he had to admit that yeah, he had him pegged as a boy scout. He heard a few rumors of him working at the MOEL station, and he was suspicious of his talents ever since he miraculously fixed his bike. He was riding it right now to school and it seemed sturdier than ever.

He had initial judgments of him as well; he first thought of Emiya as some super introvert badass since calling out on King Moron, but it turns out he was just stupidly blunt and honest to a fault. He also thought of him as some flirt since he hanged around with Satonaka and Amagi at one point, but either he didn't have a thing for either girl or he was just clueless about the opposite sex.

But never in his wildest dreams did he think to consider him as some wiz-erm, magus.

It was just unfair in Yosuke's opinion. He wanted to be special and unique in some way. But along comes a guy like Emiya, who had it from the start, and he wasn't keen on sharing it. He had hoped that going to the TV world again would awaken his potential, like in those same shows, but it went to Emiya instead. It was like the world itself was laughing behind his back.

Still, as jealous as he was of the guy, he never wished Emiya harm. The guy risked his neck to save them twice, even when he was the outright cause of the danger! And even if he got the same power in the end, it was almost too much of a personal cost in the end… quite literally.

Yosuke sighed and stopped his bike: he had enough experience to know that he couldn't think and pedal at the same time. Not with something this deep anyway. "Just what am I supposed do, anyway? Roll up to him before school starts and say 'Yo! Emiya!'?"

"Yes?"

"Gah!" the orange haired teen flinched and squealed uncharacteristically loud like a girl, nearly tripping himself over on his bike. He relaxed to see the redhead in question, albeit a little confused. "Whew, you startled me," he tried to laugh it off, clutching his chest for emphasis. It was then that Yosuke noticed his jacket. "You look a little under dressed there, man. What's the occasion?"

"Well, there's no real dress code about changes or accessories," Emiya smiled before he continued walking. "You wear headphones to class every day, for one."

"Point taken," Yosuke smiled back, rolling his bike along the path. "Though I gotta admit, you seem to pull off the open-coat look pretty well. Almost like a badass hero, or something."

It would be lying if Yosuke didn't feel disappointed that it wasn't him, but this magi guy deserved to dress the part for saving his ass. He'd find a kickass look of his own sometime; maybe a scarf? He must have put a bit of bitterness or melancholy in his tone because Emiya was already frowning and looking guilty. "Hanamura, I-"

"It's fine," he said quickly. "Really. It was all my fault, anyway. I mean, figuratively speaking, I got my dose of therapy by beating you senseless until you beat me to my senses. And I got the same power as you do now. After what you put up with yesterday, I'm sure as hell not complaining."

"I'm just glad you and the others got out of it alive," he said.

"Same for you too, partner," Yosuke added. He didn't want to think too much about his friend's martyrdom after the fight. At least not right now when class is starting soon and there were other things to get out of the way first. "Speaking of power, I can enter TVs now."

Emiya blinked in response, his expression becoming slightly more serious. "Really? I thought only I could do that."

"So did I, but it must be because of the Persona I have now; name's Jiraiya, by the way. I tried it after seeing the Midnight Channel from my home TV. Not sure what I was thinking at the time since I felt like I was dissected and put together wrong, but I managed to get my head in. All I saw was some Sentai-like observatory station fashioned from the Junes building. Talk about weird."

"I tried that too, actually," Emiya nodded. "All I saw was a hill of swords. Who would conjure those places?"

"Beats me. But I'm surprised you got the same idea as me."

"I actually tried putting my hand in the TV once before. The night Satonaka first told us about it, I mean."

Realization dawned in Yosuke's eyes. "So that's why you were so shifty the other day! Why didn't you tell us bef-" He stopped himself when seeing Shirou Emiya's incredulous, deadpan look directed at him. "Right. Secrecy thing. Never mind."

"Did you at least recognize the girl on the channel?" Shirou asked.

"No. I tried calling Satonaka and hoped that she had something but I couldn't reach her. I'm worried though; someone could have ended up in the TV just after we figured out what happens to them, and turning out to be a murder case."

Shirou's face grew grim. "It might be argued that it's the Shadows themselves that commit the act, but the fact remains that someone, magus or not, is weaponizing the TV world for their own plot. It's unforgivable."

Yosuke nodded sternly. "Damn straight it is. The police are out of their league with this one, and it's up to us to stop the culprit."

Seeing his friend's honest conviction left Shirou torn. He felt he could trust Hanamura with his life if needed, but was vastly put off against that option. Hanamura's trust might be part of what Igor and Margaret told him about "Social Links" in his dream. To gain power through his connections of others, depending how close they were…

To be friends with Hanamura, it would mean to share the inevitable trials that wait in Teddie's world. He didn't want Hanamura, or Satonaka, or anyone, to be any part of this. He would save Inaba on his own terms, alone if necessary.

"Hmm? What's up?"

Emiya had stopped walking since Yosuke's last comment. After a few tense moments, the red-haired magus sighed and stared at Yosuke straight in the eyes.

"There's no 'us,' Hanamura. I'll stop the culprit alone."

Shirou watched as Hanamura stare back at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. He was utterly serious in taking this case all on his own, and would do so if to prevent some unforeseen consequence on the lives of his classmates. It might prematurely end their friendship here and there, but he was willing to bite the bullet for this.

He thought he had succeeded, too. But then Hanamura gave a sly, knowing smirk that could rival that of Shinji Matou. The likeness was unnerving, actually. "Oooooooooh no, Emiya. I see what you're trying to pull. Don't think the selfless hero card can work on me this time! It sure as hell didn't work on my Shadow, you know!"

Shirou flinched; while his new friend didn't have Shinji's graceful silver tongue, he certainly had the sting that came with it. "Hanamura, you've seen what happened in that world. The Shadows are dangerous!"

"Could've told me that when you were lying in a pool of your blood," he sarcastically countered. "And call it a hunch, but I only think it'll go downhill from here in terms of danger. Best resort to strength in numbers."

"I don't want you or Satonaka to get any more involved than you have to!"

"I think I'm already involved since I have a Persona, but Satonaka? That part I can get behind. Because unless you're willing to tell how you got your Persona that didn't come with a golden eyed clone, I really don't want to fight a Shadow Satonaka."

"I… don't even know how it happened." Shirou admitted. "I just heard a voice and then the Tarot card was in my hand."

Hanamura just shrugged. "Regardless, we want the same thing; to catch the TV killer. So being adamant about putting me in danger is moot if you plan to do the same thing. I wasn't lying when I said I couldn't put this case away if I tried. Besides, I can enter TVs too. I'd come running even if you tried to stop me!"

"But-!"

"Furthermore, we're partners in this-" Hanamura stopped himself, shook his head and considered his next words. "No, we're friends. And friends don't let other friends go out into danger without some backup."

It was such an alien feeling to Shirou. He couldn't remember the last time he heard someone willing to do something for him for the sake of friendship. As close as he was to Issei and Shinji, it was usually him helping them and them being grateful, not the other way around. In some ways, he should feel proud and glad to meet someone so willing to fight with him, in spite of being exposed to the world of magic in the least favorable fashion. Hanamura wasn't just willing to accept his status as a magus, but was willing to help him in spite of having nothing but his Persona.

Though, considering how powerful those were, that was still quite the tool.

He only had one question reeling in his mind to this revelation. "Why?"

Yosuke smiled in earnest. "Because you're the guy who apologized to me for making me go crazy when it should've been the other way around. At the very least, I want to make it up to the guy who saved my neck."

He walked up and extended his hand. "So like it or not, I've got your back… Shirou."

If the steadfast will to help him didn't surprise the magus, the use of his name did. In less than a week he had come to Inaba, he'd stumbled across a magecraft murder mystery, discovered a world inside the TV, and awakened a power that was beyond anything he'd accomplished in years of self-training.

He had also earned the trust of a fellow classmate to such a degree that he was willing to call him by his first name instead of formally referring to his family name. And he had just been proven he couldn't change his mind about fighting with him.

Shirou gave a defeated sigh, but decided that this was a good thing rather than a bad one. Smiling, he returned the classmate's handshake. "Fine, you win… Yosuke."

If Yosuke was willing to drop formalities between them, Shirou was more than happy to oblige. The grin growing on his classmate's face showed he was glad too. "Between the two of us, the killer doesn't stand a chance!"

The magus nodded, and felt a numbing sensation like yesterday. In his mind's eye, balls of light gathered to form a familiar blue Tarot card before turning to the face. A black flame was centered between black hands holding it at the bottom and a pair of eyes looking beyond it: it was like an image of a mage conjuring fire. Blue lines waved next to the flame, an infinity symbol was placed up top above the eyes, and the number of the card read "I". He then heard a familiar voice recite what sounded like a poem.

Thou art I, and I am thou.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Magician Arcana.

The card image faded as the words finished. If Shirou had any doubt about what he saw was an illusion (which he didn't), he felt a new sensation in his heart just… bloom into being. All he could tell as it was some sort of spiritual link with Yosuke Hanamura.

It was a weak one, representing how the two finally had come to terms of their position together, but Shirou knew it was similar to when he first held the Persona card. It would grow in time to be an unstoppable force.
As the two of them broke their handshake and hurried on to school, Shirou mused that maybe the Wild Card power wasn't as heartless as he had thought.

<><><>

Junes, After School

Chie almost didn't go to school today.

When she watched the Midnight Channel last night, she knew right away it was Yukiko; the two had been friends for years and she could recognize how flawless she looked in a kimono just from a silhouette. Recalling what had just happened to them in the other world, Chie grew frantic. That stalker they chased off didn't do this in retaliation, did he? He couldn't have.

Trying to keep all the bad stuff out of her mind, she sent an email to Yukiko before turning in. She lost sleep after the first one or two nightmares of Shadows chasing and killing the poor black-haired girl. She never returned the email, either.

She considered going to the police, or back to Junes, or do anything else except sit through school doing nothing but listen to lectures. She only went on the hopeful chance that she would be there. But she didn't, and the brown haired girl nearly had a panic attack. Why did Yukiko have to get herself kidnapped like this?

Emiya and Hanamura were shocked and worried when she told them that Yukiko was gone, but the former surprisingly kept a cool head and suggested she tried calling her cellphone again. She only got voicemail. Hanamura pointed out she was probably still at the inn. As it turned out, Yukiko answered when called there.

Chie immediately felt relieved hearing her voice, but decided not to worry her (pretty little head) about the kidnappings yet. She had been down and tense lately with the rush of customers, anyway.

Still, this disproved one of their theories that the Midnight Channel didn't show Yukiko being in the TV; it was just a silhouette. Or it could have been someone else that looked like her. In any case, the trio decided to check on Teddie after school, and see if anyone was over there yet.

The rest of the school day felt like it went on forever, in more ways than one. Whenever Chie wasn't feeling worried about Yukiko, she found herself side-glancing at Emiya. She only had a few select number of male friends, small enough that she could count them on one hand (including Hanamura), but Emiya stood out in the short time she knew him, especially after saving he-…everyone. The experience must have changed him too, because he seemed a bit more confident and charismatic than she remembered. Not to mention that open-coat look he's flaunting. Rrrwoar!

She chose to ignore whatever devil-voice was telling her such things, her facial expression betraying any sort of mental conflict between Yukiko or Emiya. And when the school day was finally over, Chie all but dragged the guys back to the Junes electronics department, intent to get to the bottom of the situation.

Her determination faltered when seeing the electronics store flooded with customers. It was a full house too, not just a small group wandering around. There were people by the radios listening to their favorite bands, people lounging in the electric massage chairs. Even by the TV they fell in, there were people watching other turned on TVs playing the same movie at once.

"Again?!" she cried. "This is the third time in a row this place got crowded!"

"Oh, that's right," Hanamura frowned, scratching the side of his head. "I forgot there was a sale on electronics today."

Emiya walked towards the big screen portal, a relieved smile on his face. "At least Teddie's TV is still here."

The Junes heir shrugged with a smile as well. "I wouldn't worry about the TV there," he assured. "With the price on that baby, it'll probably sit there as a pretty center piece for a long time."

"That better not jinx it," Chie warned. "But besides that, how will we get in without being noticed?"

"We don't need to necessarily get in," Hanamura answered. "We just need to signal him, if he's really waiting at the same spot."

Emiya stared at the TV with his hand to his chin. "I think I have an idea. Yosuke, Satonaka. Huddle with me."

Chie almost missed the fact he called Hanamura by his first name. The whole "saving his life" thing must have made the guys really respect and trust each other.

She and Hanamura walked close to the TV, forming a small half-circle around the TV with Emiya in the center. The intention was suddenly clear to her, as it was to Hanamura. "I get it," he smiled. "We stick our hands in this way while keeping ourselves discrete."

Emiya nodded, and moved his hand into the screen. Hanamura pushed his in as well, causing the ripple effect to double in size. Chie nervously looked around the store, wary of getting caught with such an obvious display. "Are you two sure this is a good idea?"

As if to tempt her, a loud chomp ran out just in front of them. The red-haired magus stiffened and let out a startled grunt. He immediately pulled his arm out (a little too suddenly in his own opinion) and examined it. There were evident square-shaped indents half-way past the palm, and looked like it was throbbing a bit. Both his classmates looked between his hand and tense face in alarm.

"D-did he really just bite you?!" Chie gawked. "Are you okay?"

Shirou winced but still smiled. "It's nothing. I'll be fine."

Yosuke smirked. "If you ask me, it doesn't even look that seri-"

CHOMP!

"YEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOW!" Hearing Yosuke's yelp, Shirou immediately forgot his own pain and pulled his friend back from the TV.

Chie almost scolded him for screaming (and causing nearly everyone in the general area to stare at them before moving on), but thought better of it when seeing the damage. Compared to Emiya's hand, Hanamura's hand was bulging red and double in size. It sported the same set of square marks, so the culprit was the same. She could swear the guy was holding back tears too.

The TV screen started to ripple again, even though no one's hand was in it. This time they went off like sound waves, going by the speed of the voice calling in instead of a slow water effect. The voice was a familiar one, for better or worse. "Hey! Yosuke! Shirou-sensei! Are you guys there? Did I win? Huh? Did I?"

"At least it's there," Shirou sighed before addressing Teddie. "We're not here for games, Teddie. We just came to check if there was anyone else in there."

"Hmmm… nope! Just me here! A lonely little bear as always… in a bear-en world…"

The three students were locked rigid but could feel large beads of sweat roll down the backs of their necks. As the seconds passed, Shirou turned to Yosuke and eventually broke the silence with an uneasy voice. "Did… did Teddie just make a pun?"

"Well, to be fair," Yosuke shrugged, blowing on his sore hand. "His name was a dead giveaway. Or its name. Whatever."

"Teddie," Chie hissed as loudly as she dared, partly trembling at the bad joke and partly to keep her temper in check. "Are you absolutely, positively sure that no one else is in that world?"

"O-of course I'm positive!" Teddie's voiced cracked. "My nose hasn't lied to me yet!"

"Well, I guess that's all we can get for now," Yosuke said. "Thanks Ted. Let us know when you do find someone."

"I'm on the case!" The bear declared jovially and the voice behind the screen receded.

Chie knew she could trust Teddie; the bear helped them when they needed it most, after all. A part of her still felt uncertain about the whole thing. "I'll go warn Yukiko, just in case." Can't let her leave without my say, anyway. "I think she'll be fine for the weekend because of the inn."

"You'll walk with her to school on Monday too, right?" asked Yosuke.

"Of course." She's that important to me.

"At any rate, let's all be sure to check the Midnight Channel too," Shirou reminded. "It's the only lead we have on who the victims are, so maybe there'll be another clue."

"That reminds me," Yosuke dug into his pocket and flipped his cell phone. "Shirou, mind trading numbers? It'll be easier to call each other right away after the Midnight Channel."

"Good idea," Shirou reached for his phone as well. It was an outdated flip-phone model that had a very basic plan, but it still worked and was more rugged than those "smartphones" he saw popping up recently. He never had much use for a mobile phone before, but Taiga bought one for him a couple years back in another hare-brained scheme to boost his social life. Considering the case he would now take part in, it was an investment he was glad his guardian made.

After adding Yosuke's number, he recalled the other member of the group. "Satonaka, could I get your number as well?"

Both his classmates stared at him. Yosuke's jaw slacked at his nonchalant request for a girl's number. Granted Chie was a tomboy, but… given how much she was blushing and stuttering, he figured she was just as shocked as he was, if not more. "Wh-wha-? B-but I-! You just-"

And then Shirou, in an amazing bout of cluelessness, had to ruin any chances of playing cool and be completely serious. "Amagi is your friend and you're in the know, so being able to stay in contact could be vital to the case."

Unknowing to either party, Yosuke blinked bewilderedly before slapping his not-sore hand to his face. "Idiot," he muttered.

Chie felt relieved (and a tad disappointed) that those were his only intentions. "Oh, right… the case. Yeah. Sure, sounds good." Even as she exchanged numbers, she once again ignored the dark thoughts that lingered within. I'm going to get you before Yukiko does.

<><><>

???, Midnight

"Good evening, everyone! Princess Yukiko is here with a special announcement!"

At the stroke of Midnight, on the screen of a certain number of TVs, the fair Yukiko Amagi appeared, speaking energetically to her hand mic that read "Mayonaka TV". Her choice of attire was not her school uniform or even her inn kimono. No, she wore a princess dress fitting of her perceived standards: pink lacey gloves that covered up to her mid arm, a golden tiara like crown on her head, and a pink-white dress stylized with roses at the helm of her chest and the cage frills. For the many viewers of this channel, they were ecstatic to see her in a beautiful costume.

But for three students that have seen her, there was nothing short of gaping disbelief at her wearing such a dress.

"Tonight I'm going to score myself a hot stud to be my new prince! That's right: it's 'Not a Dream, Not a Hoax: Princess Yukiko's Search for Her Prince Charming'!"

As "Yukiko" got further into her speech, a pink ribbon with glowing letters magically appeared before her reading the last thirteen words she uttered. For the many viewers, they were excited and hoping to be in such a position of her Prince Charming.

But for three students that knew her, they were more than a little concerned about her shameless way of talking.

"And for such a hull, I came prepared! I brought my lacey unmentionables on and everything! Oh, it gets me hot just thinking about it!"

Just for emphasis, "Yukiko" rubbed her crotch not-so discretely and pushed her arms against her modest bosom. For the many viewers, they were excited to see some of their fantasies of the inn heiress come to light.

But for three students that knew her, they were now really concerned abouther shameless way of talking… and acting.

"My heart is a special part of me, and I only require a special man to please me! But to make sure that happens, I'm off to catch a whole harem of the best dressed, stocked, and lovely princes out there! Well, wish me luck everyone! Here I go!"

The channel ended as she fled into the regal looking castle with the swirling red gate behind her. To the many viewers, they were put off of seeing it die when things were getting exciting.

But for three students who knew the connection to the channel, they could utter one word that summed up their fear and confusion, and with unaware unison.

"…what?"

 

[Kishou the Badger]

April 17th, Inaba Police Station, Afternoon

Ryotaro Dojima sat at his desk, reading the open case file of the recent murders happening in town. He believed himself to be a good cop, but years on the field told him that there was no such thing as an easy case. Some could be solved with time and thinking, finding patterns or certain clues left behind, but others could lead to dead ends and eventually become a cold case. As a personal rule, Dojima always sought to finish a case he was assigned to and see it through to the end. In his entire career, there was only one case that he failed to resolve, and much to his annoyance and fear, he was starting to see another one take form.

In just one week, two women disappeared only to be later found dead and suspended on telephone wires. Mayumi Yamano was found first shortly after her scandal was made public. Saki Konishi followed almost immediately after, presumably simply for finding the body. Considering the timing of the (supposed) homicides, one would think it had something to do with said scandal. The only problem was that both Hiiragi and Namatame, the two most likely suspects with motive were busy with work at the time of Yamano's death; they had eyewitness testimonies from several sources each. Their alibis were airtight.

The Konishi girl's death made even less sense: killing her to keep quiet about something seemed like a weak motive. It happened after she reported the body anyway, and she had no other connection to Yamano. It could mean anything, like another student was going to be kidnapped. Taiga Fujimura back in Fuyuki had actually called him last night because she was worried about Shirou getting killed and wanted him back home. A part of him didn't blame her for being overprotective, as he felt the same for Nanako.

And if that wasn't bad enough, another high school student disappeared the very night they were finishing round-ups at the site where Konishi died. It wasn't much, but it did offer some loose connection: the missing girl, Yukiko Amagi, went to the same school as Konishi and her family ran the inn that Yamano was staying at up to her disappearance and subsequent death. It might be something, but in a small town like Inaba, coincidences were pretty commonplace.

The only thing that could be certain was that the killer was still in Inaba, and probably wasn't planning on leaving any time soon.

"Dojima-san?"

The experienced cop spared Tohru Adachi a quick glance. The blue-suited cop had been recently transferred to Inaba, and was still as green as one could get in the force. He was enthusiastic at least, something a lot of the force lacked these days. They were assigned together in the Yamano case when it first came up, but with the way it was going, he'd probably see a lot more of Adachi. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing yet.

"What is it, Adachi?" he grunted, turning back to his file. He barely noted that the rookie looked more uneasy than usual, but brushed it off as him making another mistake like misplacing his wallet the other day. He wasn't in a mood to help him with his mishaps right now.

Adachi scratched the back of his head, a sure sign of nervousness. "You know that nephew kid that's staying over at your place? Shirou Emiya?"

Dojima's eyes hardened ever so slightly. Not even the police station was immune to the rumor mill of town, and him having a "ghost nephew" come to visit made the more superstitious ones think he had a hand in the recent murders. Adachi was one of them that had offered such "theories": he and the others were quickly reprimanded for that. He may not know Shirou well enough, but family was still family. "What about him?"

"He's, uh… well, he just got arrested."

Being a veteran cop on the field got you used to a lot of unpleasant surprises, some more gory and gruesome than others. But there was always the unexpected fear you'd never be prepared for, and such was a fear Dojima was experiencing.

Adachi had never seen Dojima look so scared before. It was quickly replaced with the most enraged look he'd seen on the cop (also a first), which made his incredulous cry all the more cringe-worthy.

"WHAT?!"

<><><>

Ten minutes later, Dojima found himself in an interrogation room with Adachi, a cop who was stationed at Junes, and three minors; two of which he recognized as his nephew and one of his friends. They were all wearing casual clothes for their day off: Shirou wore a simple white-blue t-shirt and jeans, unconsciously tugging on the neck of the shirt out of either nervous habit or to fight off the stuffy air. The brunette, Satonaka he recalled, wore a yellow-green jacket over a blouse and striped shirt, and a pair of shorts that looked too small in the detective's opinion. The third minor, the Hanamura family's kid, wore a white jacket over an orange shirt and green cargo pants. Both he and Satonaka looked everywhere but in eye contact with the police, fidgeting with their fingers and feet respectively.

The table between them had "evidence" of a blunt katana and a ceremonial nodachi, no sheaths. Both of them had fake blades and were more likely to be used for cosplay fun than random acts of violence. The room was silent and filled with tension on either side.

"So they were seen at Junes armed with these?" Dojima asked, lifting the nodachi for emphasis.

"Yes sir," the cop nodded. "One of them was swinging them around in the Junes food court, at the risk of everyone in the area. When apprehending him for questioning, he attempted to assault me with the weapons."

"No I didn't!" Hanamura snapped. All eyes turned to him and he quickly lost confidence. "I-I mean, I didn't mean to. They were just in my hands, you know? I mean, did you REALLY have to go and arrest us? Couldn't you just have taken the weapons, given me a lecture, and called it a day?"

"In case you've forgotten," Dojima said, putting the nodachi back down. "We have a serial murderer on the loose. The media isn't doing us any favors fanning the flames, and neither are you three, distracting us from our work with your stupid antics."
The minors lowered their heads in shame. "We're sorry," they chorused.

"Can I at least ask why you brought fake weapons to the Junes food court? You made a lot of people nervous, you know."

Hanamura paled considerably. "Uh, w-well, you see-!"

"It was my fault, Dojima-san," Shirou interrupted. "I asked Yosuke to show me his sword collection, and had him show them there."

It was obvious from his friend's facial expression that it wasn't the case. The look of surprise was more of sudden confusion than relief. Dojima refrained from commenting to see where their story went. "I didn't take you as the type to be fascinated with swords," the detective observed.

"Blame Fuji-nee. She insisted I learn some Kendo when I got old enough. I got interested through her," Shirou replied with a reminiscent smile. That statement was at least partially true, judging by how the redhead relaxed. Still not the whole truth, but the lie was buried deep.

"We were thinking about making a project with them!" Satonaka added. "Something with… Kung-Fu stuff! Hanamura provided the weapons and camera, Emiya and I would fight. Not for real of course!"

"Y-yeah!" Yosuke grinned. "Just a silly little project that we won't be doing again!" He kept the façade up a while longer before adding, "…please don't keep us here."

Dojima stared at each one of them before letting a soft sigh escape his lips. "Since this is your first offense, and one with no actual harm involved, you three are free to go." The students perked up at that.

The other two cops were just as surprised. "Are you sure, Dojima-san?"

"The Hanamura kid made a good point for just confiscating the weapons. It would be a reminder to anyone else not to make the same boneheaded stunt. We're supposed to keep our heads cool out there, not jumping at every shadow. Besides, we have bigger problems to worry about other than throwing some kids in juvie."

Adachi brought his hand to his chin, pondering in thought. "Oh yeah, the Amagi's daughter was kidnapped last night, wasn't she?"

The slip wasn't missed by the students: they all looked horrified. Trust the rookies to let their mouths run off without realizing that they're scaring civvies.

Trying to keep his tone soothing despite the urge to throttle his partner, Dojima quickly answered their silent pleas. "Don't worry about that: we're investigating everything we can about your classmate, but nothing points to kidnapping of any kind yet. Just go home and don't do anything like this again. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Hanamura said for them, and they all rose up to leave. The relief of not being thrown into jail was keeping them from all but bolting out the door.

A last-second thought prompted Dojima to address his nephew before leaving. "Shirou, you stay here. There's something we need to talk about."

For his part, Shirou didn't look as scared by the implications as his friends were. "Go on ahead, guys. I'll meet you outside."

Shirou sat back down to his seat, watching almost curiously as the other two cops led his friends outside. When the door closed, the veteran cop spoke, "Your guardian called last night."

Shirou blinked, suddenly somewhat nervous. "Fuji-nee? What did she want?"

There was no easy way to say this so Dojima decided to be as blunt as possible. "For you to pack your things and move back to Fuyuki."

Reasonably, Shirou was shocked. "What? But… but why? Is something wrong back home?"

"I know we thought a year here would do us all good," Dojima said. "But the timing couldn't be worse than what's going on now. She talked to you before about Yamano, right?" Shirou nodded. "She heard about Konishi too, and was worried that you would be next."

"But that doesn't even make any sense," Shirou argued. "Why would she think that?"

That's the first thing he wonders about? What kind of guardian wouldn't be worried about their kid being targeted by a murdering psycho?

"If I had to guess, it's because a student from your school was the second victim. We have no clue on the perp's M.O., but Fujimura's pretty certain that you'll draw attention to him at some point. She's also convinced that you'll most likely become a vigilante to try and stop him because of that hero dream of yours."

Shirou's head dropped to the desk with a dull thud. "She told you about that last year, didn't she? Nearly forgot about that…"

Dojima nodded. He still recalled the first talk with Taiga, and how she begged him to consider taking Shirou in because of his late father and how seriously he wanted to take his mantle as an "ally of justice". Sometime after the heritage was confirmed, he talked to her more about that goal of his to at least understand why he wanted to be a superhero. It was a nice dream, but as a high school student, there was no realistic approach to that except for law enforcement. In that perspective, it made sense that Taiga wanted him to come down here in the first place.

The redhead groaned slightly before picking himself up. "But what about Nanako?"

"What about her?" Dojima growled. He felt a tinge of anger that the redhead was shifting the topic in that direction. He didn't want his daughter to be a part of the discussion and bring up his own fears.

"How many nights will she have to spend alone while you're chasing this monster? This is probably the best time for me to be here and keep her company." The fact that he would defend his cousin with his life was left unsaid, but the message was clear.

Dojima was briefly taken aback by Shirou's intensity, but before Dojima could reply, a loud noise broke outside the room, followed by shouting. Their discussion forgotten, Dojima and Shirou bolted from the room to find several officers staring at the Satonaka girl, who was only barely restrained by Hanamura. She was glaring daggers at Adachi, who was pressed back against the wall and sweating in terror. If he wasn't paralyzed with terror, he would have probably bolted.

"I-it's just a theory!" Adachi weakly reasoned. "It isn't likely to be true, but it IS a possibi-"

"Yukiko isn't like that, you bastard!" Satonaka shouted, completely drowning out the disheveled detective. "She's a victim here, dammit! Not a suspect!"

"Pipe down!" Hanamura hissed, straining to keep the fiery tomboy from dragging him forward. "We just got out of being arrested! Don't piss them off more!"

Shirou quickly jumped between the girl and the cop, his hands slapping squarely on the girl's shoulders and looking her in the eyes. "Satonaka. Calm down." Something passed between them, and her anger broke, leaving her to slump weakly in the boys' grips.

"Yukiko isn't like that!" Chie cried despondently. "She isn't!" Innocent little Yukiko wouldn't think that defiantly, anyway!

"Don't worry, Satonaka," Shirou whispered quietly enough for only his two friends to hear. "We're going to save her. Trust me." His words earned him a nod of thanks. Yosuke smirked confidently behind her and let her go.

Watching the remarkably close exchange with a quirk of the brow, Dojima decided to let the moving plans wait for another day. If the Amagi girl turned up dead, he'd play it safe and send Shirou back. For now, he'd just keep investigating the disappearance and hope that things weren't going to get worse. Regardless, he was going to have a little talk with Adachi. The guy just had to open his big mouth again, didn't he?

"What did you tell her?" he finally asked when the teens were out of sight.

Adachi looked away, airing out his collar sheepishly. "N-nothing you'd like to hear, I'm sure, sir."

<><><>

Shopping District: Daidara's Metalworks

Between Shirou and Dojima's intervention, the scene at the police station fortunately didn't get any more awkward. After that, the trio quietly left the police station and walked back towards the old shopping district. None of them were exactly in a talking mood, and Yosuke focused his thoughts on the nightmare puzzle playing out around them.

The whole day had been a train-wreck from the start. The worries over Yukiko ending up in the TV world were realized after watching the Midnight Channel pass itself off as some low-budget program, and the Amagi Inn had only just realized that their daughter was missing during the breakfast rush. The trio ended up playing a bit of phone tag to coordinate, but Yosuke assured the group that he had a plan to go in prepared for the TV world this time.

Needless to say, he would never bring weapons to the food court again. Heaven knows Satonaka wouldn't let him hear the end of that blunder.

And then there was that Adachi guy with his "theories". He seemed loose-lipped enough, so Yosuke didn't think much of asking him what he meant back in the detainment room. It turned out that Mayumi Yamano had been staying at the Amagi Inn up until her death, but bitched out on the hostess, Yukiko's mother, until she ran herself ragged. The cops were thinking this to be the connecting factor between Yamano's death and Yukiko Amagi's disappearance, and the latter was now "laying low" after Konishi died too.

That was all they got out of the guy before Satonaka freaking tackled him to the wall and he had to practically pick her up to keep her from throttling the cop with her bare hands. That girl was freaking strong. The trio left the building shortly after, more motivated than ever to rescue Yukiko.

The problem was they were still weaponless. Oddly enough, the now calm tomboy had the answer, and led them to Daidara's Metalworks. Trust the Kung-Fu nut to know where to hook them up on that front.

Shirou recognized the store entrance from when he first came to Inaba, but had never found the time over the last couple days. It looked quaint enough on the outside, with a suit of red samurai armor mounted next to the door as the only thing making it stand out.

The inside of the building on the other hand was nothing short of a true middle-aged smithy: cold stone floors, a burning hearth in the back complete with bellows and various tools, and weapons of all kinds filling up the cluttered shelves and armors of all kinds sittting on racks and stands. How this store wasn't one of the ones that closed up like many other stores in the area was baffling to the students, but they weren't going to complain about a blessing in disguise.

"Looks like your Kung-Fu movies paid off big time," Yosuke teased, admiring a stand lined with ornate, decorative lances.

"Nah, I just heard about this place from some guys at school the other day," Chie said, glancing away at a Chinese long sword. "I only went here a few times before out of curiosity. You know, window shopping."

"Almost feels like a magus' workshop," Shirou noted quietly, tempted to touch one of the swords on display. "The only problem is getting these into the electronics section without getting noticed again."

"We'll figure something out," Chie shrugged, walking over to the gleaming steel breastplate displayed up by the front desk. "Maybe we should just stick with armor this time, though. They're easier to hide under bulky clothing than swords, and Shirou can do that thing he did last time on some tools."

Yosuke and Shirou exchanged uneasy glances. Chie continued to examine the display armor, unaware of their concerned expressions. "Uh, when you said 'we', do you mean… we?" Yosuke started carefully.

"Yes, we. Us. You, me, and him? I'm going too, isn't that obvious?" Stepping into the corner of the shop with the two boys, Chie planted her hands on her hips defiantly and silently dared them to say otherwise.

Ever the risk-taker, Shirou cleared his throat. "Maybe… you should sit this one out, Satonaka."

Chie looked like she had been slapped, her disbelief leaving her stunned for a second before she glared at the boys. "What?! How could you even say that? I have to go!"

"No, you don't. You're not right in the head for this," Shirou observed clinically. Amagi meant too much to Satonaka for her to throw herself into a rescue that might kill her before they reached their goal.

"Yes I do, and yes I am! Yukiko's in there and she needs my help!" Chie was almost shaking in anger and frustration.

"See, that's what we're talking about!" Yosuke countered. "You're too emotional about this and will only draw in Shadows. I know how you feel but-"

"You don't know shit about how I feel!" Chie snapped, stomping on the store floor for emphasis and startling the two much like the time at Yamano's room. "My best friend is stuck in that place, likely to die like the other two, and you jerks are telling me I can't even help her?!"

"We were nearly useless in there last time, remember? Shirou barely managed to keep us alive! The only thing that hurts them is a Persona, and last I checked, you don't have one!"

Chie bit her lip hard enough that it looked like she might draw blood for several uneasy seconds. Finally, she took a deep breath and visibly forced herself to calm down. "It's just my Shadow you're worried about, right?" Chie asked in an even tone. "I just have to accept it before it grows then. It's not like I have an ulterior motive for my own selfish needs to enter that place anyway."

She felt awkward making that comment. It was uncharacteristically bitter of her (even if the idiot had it coming) and the pained wince Yosuke wore told her he was still sore about the event. But she'd be damned if they were going to brush her aside from this when it had everything to do with her!

"I don't care what you two say! I'm going back there to save Yukiko and that's final!"

It was one thing to see Yosuke's conviction, but Satonaka's as well? As much as Shirou was amazed by his fellow classmate's willingness to help, he refused to see any of them get in harm's way if he could do something about it. Yosuke was an exception because he had a Persona of his own now, but Satonaka was liable to get herself killed; more so because of her erratic behavior and fear for her friend.

"It's just too risky to bring you back this time!" Shirou snapped back. "That world is no place for a girl!"

Time stood eerily still as soon as those words were uttered. Yosuke stared at his new friend in a mix of horror and bewilderment, silently questioning his intellect. Shirou, having said his piece (but feeling like he might have perhaps worded it a touch off), wasn't certain why the words caused this reaction, but knew they were the direct cause. And Chie…

She just stared at Shirou blankly, jaw slightly open and all traces of rage gone. "A girl," she repeated in a complete neutral tone.

"Yes!" Shirou nodded, oblivious. "It's not about whether you're capable or not. That place could kill any ordinary person at any time, and it would help me feel better that you're out of harm's way by staying here. I promise we'll get Yukiko back to you."

Chie's head lowered, and her hands were distinctly trembling. "But, Yukiko…"

"Oi! What's with the commotion?"

The three students jumped at the new voice addressing them as a figure emerged from the back room behind the counter. The swarthy man looked to be in his late forties, wearing a sweat-stained white shirt with matching pants and a brown work obi tied around his waist. He wasn't a particularly large man, but his thin frame was corded with cable-like muscles. His scowling face was less than welcoming, an 'X' shaped scar running squarely between his eyes and above his nose. He was bald on top, with red hair forming a ring from around his ears to blend into his mustache, and a lit cigarette jutted stiffly in the firm line of his mouth. A twisted white towel tied around his head in a makeshift sweat rag, the only thing that softened his fierce image.

The man blinked once he saw the three students, particularly Chie. "Oh, it's you again, Chie-chan. Come to admire my art again?"

"Not today," she replied, suddenly chipper again and walking up to the counter. "I was thinking about getting some armor and weapons. Been saving up, you see."

"Have you now?" the man smiled. "Well, what will it be?"

"Wait a minute, hold up," Yosuke interjected, before he and Shirou joined up at the desk. "You're the shopkeeper here?"

"Aye," he nodded. "I'm Daidara, and this is my shop. Haven't made anything unique in a while, but what I have made are top notch works of art." The man's grim demeanor softened and his chest swelled with pride as he turned an eye back to the racks of weapons and metal works around them.

"And you're willing to sell them to us?" Shirou asked. He'd expected that weapons and armor would cost more, even the cheaper scraps, to keep young students like him from purchasing them or at least to reflect the man's pride and hard work. It wasn't like he had an ID to prove he was of a legal age to buy these either. Though easier to attain than guns, weapons of any stripe were tightly regulated in Japan.

"I don't see why not," the shopkeeper smiled. "I only do this for the art of metal-crafting, and a small town like this doesn't get to appreciate it as much as your little friend there."

"So you'll get us cool weapons?" Yosuke smiled, struggling to contain himself.

"So long as I have made them, I'll sell them. I don't do custom orders without charging extra," Daidara declared sternly.

Shirou glanced back at the racks of weapons and found his answer. "If you have a long sword that you think suits me, I'll take it," he decided.

"Twin blades!" shouted Yosuke, raising his hand eagerly.

"Chain whip!" added Chie, doing the same.

Shirou and Yosuke turned to their classmate with incredulous looks at her choice. Yosuke expected a sword or a staff, and Shirou expected her to simply buy gauntlets and greaves. Why a chain whip? Yosuke in particular looked terrified at her choice as a chilling thought occurred to him…

"What?" she asked. "They're perfectly acceptable in Kung Fu and Wushu, and I can't just rely on my hands and feet all the time. They cover range, are versatile, and can even work with the movements of just the feet."

Deciding to go with her logic, as well as ignoring Yosuke's whimpering, Shirou pointed to the set of armor Chie stared at earlier. "We could also use some armor: lightweight but durable."

"I'll have to look through my wares, but off the top of my mind, I think what you want is some chainmail. Those cost 10,000 yen per set." Noticing the students' surprised and horrified looks, he chuckled a bit. "I didn't say I would give them to you cheap: I need to make a living, ya know. Things haven't gone smoothly here since that Junes building popped up."

The three students just about choked. That amount of money wasn't exactly easy to come by for a trio of high school students. Shirou had some money handy to buy several pieces, but that was still a pretty big bite out of his savings. For the other two… "How the hell are we going to afford everything?! The armor alone is 30,000 yen for all three of us!" Yosuke gasped out.

"I guess we just have to pool our resources and hope for the best," Shirou offered. Chie nodded in agreement.

Yosuke sighed, more upset than convinced. "Looks like I'll have to put off that motorcycle license for a bit longer…"

<><><>

The trio left the store with their purchases: three identical shirts of chainmail, a five-sectioned chain whip for Chie, a pair of simple hunting nata for Yosuke, and the functional but cheap katana for Shirou. Each of them carried an oversized, unmarked brown bag to hold their choices. Between Chie's allowances, Yosuke's wages from Junes, and Shirou's entire wallet spending cash, they were barely able to pay for the merchandise with pocket change to spare, and that was only because of the whim deal Shirou made.

Intent on avoiding another police sit-in like this morning, the students asked the shopkeeper Daidara if he had small, concealable weapons and armor that they could hide easily. Much to their surprise, he was actually enthralled by their request. It was apparently a bit of the inspiration he was missing, and he was willing to help in exchange for a discount. He only asked that they bring him materials that he could use to modify his designs. Being the helpful fellow that he was, Shirou accepted without much forethought.

"Where the hell are we going to get him materials?" Yosuke asked incredulously. "Find tabs from vending machine drinks?"

"I might have some stuff he can use," Shirou said. "But they're all the way back at my shed in Fuyuki. I like to fix things, so I have a bunch of scraps and parts of all sorts of things. I might have to ask Fuji-nee to send them over."

"Wait, 'Fuji-nee'?" Yosuke blinked. "I didn't know you had a sister. Then again you did mention her back at the station. Is she single?"

Before Shirou would awkwardly answer the question, Chie beat him to it with a growl. "Hey! Talk about girls later! Yukiko's in danger, remember!?"

Seeing her loud and eager again told them that she was still serious about going, and didn't take their words for merit. Whether they liked it or not, she was going to follow them unless they knocked her out; Shirou didn't have the heart in him to do it, and Yosuke didn't have the guts to risk her thrashing him. They exchanged knowing glances and finally relented.

"Fine," Yosuke groaned. "You can come, but stay behind us. You can be in charge of medicine."

Chie frowned at being given medic duty, but nodded in thanks. Suddenly she paled. "Oh crap! I forgot my glasses!"

Glasses? Shirou blinked. He almost commented aloud that she didn't wear glasses, until it hit him: Teddie's fog-filtering glasses from the other day. In the rush of getting over to the food court and seeing Nanako going about her day alone, he forgot to take them with him too.

"Looks like we all did," Yosuke said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "We might need to make a habit of carrying those at all times. Okay, so now we have to go home and pick up our glasses."

An idea suddenly came to the magus. "And change into our uniforms."

"What? Dude, it's Sunday! Won't a group of kids wearing school uniforms on a Sunday stick out?"

Shirou lifted his bag for emphasis. "No less than a group of kids walking around with huge bags concealing weapons. The uniforms are baggy enough to hide your knives and the chain whip and maybe even our chainmail. I also might have a kendo bag to hide my sword. And if anyone asks, say we're from cram school."

Chie and Yosuke exchanged surprised glances. "Can't argue with that logic," she shrugged.

"Yeah, sounds good," Yosuke agreed, before quickly making a plan. "Let's meet up the food court in an hour from now. If we all don't meet up at the same time, we go to the Junes food court and sit by one of the tables."

"All right," Chie nodded. "I'll be sure to get some medicine too. See you then."

They watched Satonaka leave, and began moving in the opposite direction. Yosuke took another look back to see her disappear around the corner and out of earshot. Immediately after, he smacked the back of Shirou's head with an annoyed expression.

For his part, Shirou quickly recovered before falling face first to the road. "Ow! What was that for?"

"'That world is no place for a girl'?" Yosuke repeated in an incredulous tone. "Are you sexist, or just stupid?!"

"Satonaka didn't seem upset," the magus reasoned.

"Are you kidding? She was pissed; biding her time for the appropriate comeback for your screwed-up logic. If that clerk didn't come in when he did, she probably would have given you an earful, or worse! She may not have a Persona, but she wasn't kidding the other day when she said that she could literally kick my ass!"

"I didn't mean to hurt her feelings! I just don't want her to die!"

"I get that, but that comment was still uncalled for. You tried talking me out of this just yesterday too, but that time you didn't say anything remotely as demeaning." The auburn haired student then pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Look, just… don't say that again. Like, ever."

"Fine," Shirou sighed, vaguely mulling over his classmate's words, and the two continued their walk. It was again interrupted by a brief flash of light. The next thing Shirou knew, he saw something in his peripheral vision and nearly gaped at the sight greeting him and how other civilians were walking by it without as much as a glance.

"Dude? You okay?"

"That depends," he answered. "Do you see a glowing door over there?" He pointed to an ethereal stained glass door in a blue-hue aura that appeared in the alleyway next to the weapon shop. He knew for a fact that it hadn't there before, and its sudden appearance was akin to magecraft.

Yosuke frowned, staring between the allegedly empty space and the redhead in confusion. "Uh… no?"

"Then I might be hallucinating," Shirou weakly reasoned. If Yosuke couldn't see the door, it might be more magecraft-based than relating to their Personas, or at least connected to him alone on some level.

Suddenly remembering his dream the other night, he reached to his pocket and pulled out the Velvet Key. It glowed dimly in his hands as if reacting to the door. It must be the gateway to the Velvet Room.

"Seriously Shirou," his friend asked. "What's going on?"

Shirou considered lying to him, but he was never good at lying, and Yosuke already knew the existence of magecraft to a degree. Not that he knew exactly how to tell him about Igor and Margaret, let alone his magecraft, but it wasn't like he needed to explain everything at once. There was no rule against telling or not telling his friends about the Velvet Room, was there?

Well, the fact that no one but him could see the door probably simplified matters as far as discretion went. Still, Shirou felt he owed his friend an explanation.

"Long story short, I'm being called by my-" he paused, trying to think of the appropriate term. "…benefactors. They're willing to help me develop my Persona powers."

"Benefactors, huh?" Yosuke had mixed feelings about Shirou getting extra attention. On the one hand, any help getting clues to the case, or more power to stop Shadows was okay in his book. On the other, it was Shirou's help that further drove the point that he had been chosen for something. Had he heard this before Shadow Yosuke, it would have added more fuel to the fire.

He was over the worst of it, but still had the nagging sense of envy inside him. Change doesn't come easy, after all.

"You go on ahead, Yosuke," he heard the magus say. "I might take a while."

"Alright," his friend shrugged, already walking ahead. "Don't forget: an hour at the food court." He gestured and pointed to his wrist for emphasis, even though he wasn't wearing a watch.

"I won't," Shirou replied, walking up to the door. He stopped just in front of it to notice the finer details, like how it looked more like a stained-glass window or painting than a door. There was no knob or keyhole anywhere on the surface, and it gave the mixed implication of being fragile and sturdy. It was unlike any door or portal Shirou had ever seen.

Just as he considered using Structural Analysis to find a way in, the Velvet Key shone even brighter. The door cracked away, revealing a gap of light into the unknown. Shirou hesitated for a moment, to check if anyone in the area was watching him, before steeping fully inside the gateway.

Had anyone been watching, they would have forgotten there was anyone there to begin with.

Velvet Room

Despite entering it consciously this time like he would any other room, Shirou found himself sitting in the exact spot as he had in each prior visit without ever physically doing so, and saw the limousine-like room before him. Just as well, the long-nosed man and his assistant were sitting just across from him, mysterious as always.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, Shirou Emiya," Igor greeted with his ever present smile.

"Glad that I'm not dreaming this time," Shirou quipped. He didn't mean to make it sound bitter, but he would prefer that his dreams be less ominous from people he'd never met before, even if they were friendly. It earned him a slight chuckle from the frail-looking man, which he hoped was actual humor.

"Yes, quite. Now, I understand you have questions for us?"

Shirou nodded. "This danger I'm facing… who or what is it?"

"That's a question we all would like to know, isn't it?" Igor pondered, tapping his fingers together and looking distant. "Your journey is to discover the source of the calamity and stop it, as you promised your friends."

Shirou frowned. Either Igor honestly didn't know what he was facing or just didn't want his "journey" to be a straightforward one and was withholding the answer. It appeared all he could count on Igor for was lending the power to fight it.

"You're not alone in this endeavor," Margaret reminded. "The Social Links you'll make, just as the one you've made with Yosuke Hanamura, will be there to guide you. My master and I are also here to facilitate your potential."

"How?" Shirou asked.

"I am able to create new Personas," Igor said with a touch of pride. "It is most appropriately called 'fusion', as I can transmute multiple Persona cards into a new, stronger form. This is the main boon of your Wild Card, for any Social Links you've made will grant a power to a Persona of the corresponding Arcana, like The Magician for example. However, just as your own gifts must be honed and controlled carefully so too must you build the strength of those Personas. I can only fuse a Persona as strong as your heart and bonds allow, so don't get ahead of yourself!"

Not that the magus planned on cheating Igor's system (and he was still questioning the moral merits of Social Links), but he was confused at the idea of using multiple Persona. "But, the only Persona I have is Izanagi," he explained, before a thought crossed his mind. "Unless, you're implying I should fuse with Yosuke's-"

"That won't work," Igor kindly interjected. "Yosuke Hanamura has not established a contract with this room, and will not likely make one in this year's duration. As I've mentioned in our first meeting, only those that have made a contract may enter, let alone see, the Velvet Room, with some exceptions. Your friend isn't an exception."

So that explains it. At least Shirou didn't have to worry about the secret of this room being discovered by the public or passing magi and risking the exposure of magecraft. "If that's true, how can I get more than one Persona?"

"As you may realize, Personas and Shadows are one and the same: the light and darkness of the human heart," Igor explained. "When you defeated the Shadow of your friend, it changed into a Persona, did it not? The same principle applies to the other Shadows you'll see in this world.

"When you defeat them, there is a possibility that it will revert to a Persona, without an anchor to the human that formed them. They may be hard to grasp, and it is entirely your decision to avoid them. But should you wish to obtain their power, you must master your fear and reach out for them."

"I too shall help in managing your collection of Personas," Margaret added, gesturing to the thick tome on her lap. "Any and all data on the Personas you'll find and fuse will be recorded here, in the Persona Compendium. Feel free to ask me to assist at your leisure."

The redhead nodded, almost missing the suspicious gleam in Igor's bulbous eye. "Anything else you wish to tell me?"

He chuckled and smiled, but was still serious. "Do you remember the reading of the Reverse World card?"

I couldn't forget even if I wanted to, he thought bitterly, but instead he solemnly repeated the words Igor told him a week ago. "'The coming year is a turning point in my destiny. If the mystery goes unsolved, my future, perhaps far more, may be forever lost. That is what the World foretells.'" The quote was almost seared into his memory, constantly goading him to action even as he struggled for a clue on what he needed to do.

Igor nodded. "I meant every word. Do understand that while defeat in battle is always a risk, it isn't the only unfortunate end to your journey."

Meaning that unless the case is solved, Inaba will face more than just serial murders in the future. It was an ominous thought, but it wasn't going to deter the magus hero-to-be from helping others. Yukiko Amagi was in need of help.

"I best get going then," he rose from his seat, heading for the limousine door to his left. "Amagi-san isn't going to save herself."

The long-nosed man gave a short wave in response as he left. "Until we meet again… farewell."

<><><>

Junes – Electronics Department

An hour later, the regroup at the food court was brief, as everyone wanted to avoid attention from the police again. After a quick drink of soda, the group headed down to the electronics department, trying to avoid being conspicuous as uniform wearing students could be.

Chie was the last one to arrive. Earlier, Yosuke briefly considered that the two of them should just head over on their own before she did. Shirou voted against that, if only for the trust in their friend, but he understood Yosuke's intention. He was worried that she might be going in for the wrong reasons as he did the other day and end up creating a Shadow that would hinder their search. He almost pushed away Yosuke in this investigation, only to fail because he was serious about the case.

The same could be said about Satonaka because of how she willingly wished to go back despite hating the last two visits. This was especially personal to her with her best friend now in such danger, just like it was for Yosuke losing Saki Konishi, as one-sided as that infatuation was.

"Well, we're here," Yosuke announced, standing before the giant TV that was looming almost ominously before the trio once again. The afternoon sales were dying down, and there were less people wandering around Junes for a few hours. The electronics department in particular was barren again, and they were going to take full advantage of this fact.

"Not too late to change your mind, Satonaka," Shirou offered as he reached for his white glasses. Just because he wasn't going to push her away didn't mean he wouldn't be concerned about her safety.

He flinched when the brunette glared daggers at him through her lenses. Apparently she was mad at him, and still is. "I'm going," she all but growled. I'm not going to be denied by anyone. Not again.

Yosuke threw his arms up in defeat after putting his pair on. "Alright, fine, have it your way. Man, I hope I'm wrong about this…"

The last bit of words was uttered to himself even as he climbed inside the TV. Shirou held his hand out for Chie, who hesitantly, maybe even timidly, took it.

"Hold on," Shirou said before they jumped inside. Chie nodded, only because she didn't trust her voice the moment her thoughts ran out.

"I never let go of what's important to me, Shirou-kun," the tiny, almost hissing voice seemed to brush across her thoughts.

<><><>

TV World – En Route to Yukiko

The group found Teddie "deli-bear-ating" in a corner about its nature. Apparently it had been doing that since yesterday. It did live up to its word in looking around, catching a whiff of something shortly after their Junes visit. After spending the day looking, it came up with the location but refused to go in because of the Shadows gathering around it. Teddie also didn't know how to contact the gang about his discovery, so it pondered about how to accomplish that. That line of thought led to it pondering its skills, which became asking why it could smell directions so well, and then question, once again, the bear's very being.

Not that Chie was in the mood of listening to its philosophical debates and wanted to save Yukiko now. With that goal in mind, Teddie dubiously lead them to where it had claimed they would find Yukiko. The mascot bear trekked ahead of them, with Shirou staying a few paces behind. Yosuke brought up the rear, his eyes darting around to cover their backs. Chie was behind Shirou, keeping watch for danger on the sides and holding the bag of Shiroku brand medicine slung under her shoulder. Without a Persona, she would have to largely rely on the boys in front and behind her. Yosuke took the rear guard, carefully watching over his shoulder in case a canny Shadow tried to sneak up on them. Thankfully there were none so far.

It was during the long walk through dark spiraling skies and distorted landscapes that Yosuke eventually broke the silence. "Say, Shirou?" he called up to the front, tightening their formation a bit.

"Yeah?"

"Now might not be a good time to ask, and I've been wondering about this for a while. How exactly does your… whatsit called work?"

"My magecraft?" Shirou guessed.

Chie blinked. "Mage-what?"

"Not the time, Chie-chan!" Teddie blurted from ahead. "We need to find this Yuki-chan of yours, right?"

"Why not talk on the way, since it's far?" Yosuke shrugged before glancing back to Shirou. "Besides, you did say that you owed us an explanation. It's a big secret, so what better way than to tell it where no one can hear us?"

Shirou winced slightly. He did promise them both an explanation, didn't he? Yosuke brought up a good point though: this place was probably the most secret place one could ask for. He stared up at the black and red sky that seemed to roll in the same direction they were walking, as if it were watching them and pondered the risks. He wanted to keep his word, but it would be another step into a world that was as dangerous as it was powerful.

Then again, this world within the TV was pretty much the same thing in that regard.

"Alright," he finally breathed. Yosuke pumped his fist slightly at having finally dragged the matter out of his tight-lipped friend. Chie also perked up, interested despite her worries over Yukiko.

"I guess I should start with the basics of the basics. Magic and magecraft are two separate things: magecraft is using magical energy to accomplish something that science can do, regardless of time or effort involved. You with me so far?"

"Sounds simple enough to me. So if you tossed out a fireball with magi-magecraft, a normal guy could do that with an aerosol can and a lighter," Chie still almost fumbled on the term, but it was a simple enough principle to understand.

"Right. Magic is something else, though. True Magic does something science can't do at all right now: things like making something from nothing, hopping into other universes or time travel. You can kinda guess that people who can do that are extremely powerful and rare," Shirou continued. "That's why I'm so insistent on calling myself a magus instead of a magician or Sorcerer. They mean different things to the magical community."

Let it never be said that Yosuke wasn't intuitive. "So there're whole cabals or groups who study this stuff? Do they rule the world from the shadows or something?"

He almost gulped when Shirou didn't reply at first. Shirou didn't notice, simply trying to reach back to Kiritsugu's lessons. "Well, there are organizations, but I don't think they do anything like rule the world, given that most ordinary pursuits don't interest magi. Dad told me that most of them are academics, even if they're powerful and organized. Also, magecraft has a flaw: the more people who use it and understand it, the weaker it gets. Mystery has power. On top of preventing mass panic, that's the main reason magi punish people who blab the secret carelessly so harshly. I'll warn you again. You can't tell ANYONE about this or they might get you and those around you killed."

"'Cause that makes sense," Chie snorted, but then, magic or magecraft, being what it was, probably didn't need to make sense. It just had to work.

"Hang on, doesn't that mean our Personas will get weaker too?" That was just plain bad news in Yosuke's mind. They needed every edge they could get.

"I don't know for sure, but the benefactors I mentioned told me that they'll get stronger, not weaker. Personas don't seem to work like any magecraft I'm familiar with. We'll need to wait and see, I guess. Anyway, the last thing is how magi work their thaumaturgy."

"Thauma-wha?" came two simultaneous confused voices.

Shirou simply chuckled. "Thaumaturgy. It's basically a word that magi use to describe the act of casting spells. Don't ask, I didn't invent the term. Anyway, there are two sources of power that magi use: the outer source, mana, which is drawn from the planet, and the much smaller inner source of personal energy, called od. That energy has to then be processed into a form that can work magecraft, so it's processed using Magic Circuits."

"I remember you saying something about that last time. You said yours broke? And you had to replace it?" Chie's eyes squeezed shut and a frown showed how hard she was trying to recall that event in the midst of the more violent ones.

"Yeah. I'm a third-rate magus at best, and not even a proper apprentice, so I only have the one I set at any given time, and they only work for about a week before they burn out and I have to do it again. Real magi can have several dozen at once, but they have generations of breeding behind them. I have to basically align my spinal cord to my od's flow and convert it into a channel for my magical power. It hurts, but I'm used to it. The first rule magi learn is 'a magus walks with death.' A lot can go wrong in magecraft, and it's a pretty unforgiving lifestyle."

Good lord! From the heat he put out last time he must be pretty much setting himself on fire every time! No wonder he could shrug off getting pummeled! Yosuke couldn't help but gawk. "So why do it at all?"

That was an easy one for Shirou. "Magecraft might be dangerous, but one day it'll give me a way to help others like it helped us last time we were here. Besides, what's life without a little risk?" he finished with a cheeky grin. Turning his eyes forward again, he finished with a warning: "I want both you to keep an eye out, though: not every magus sits back and studies quietly. My father told me that there are rogues who don't care what they do so long as the magecraft organizations don't catch them. Considering this place, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if our killer was a rogue magus. Watch for things like strange symbols, eerie feelings or odd rumors like the Midnight Channel. It might not mean anything, but magecraft leaves a mark if you know where to look."

The exact details of things like Sealing Designations and the like were ultimately unimportant at the moment, so Shirou left the nuances for later if they were still interested. From the looks on their faces, it would take a while to digest all this anyway, and the gist was there. Details were more important if they wanted to study the art, and Shirou doubted that the risks would be worth it for them in the long run. Even if they did have their own Magic Circuits, they had no real support or experience to help get them anything meaningful.

Maybe Igor had some ideas…

"Wait a minute," Yosuke broke the silence again, a thought occurring to him. "You just said 'your father' warned you about rogue magi? And earlier, your 'dad' told you that magi are usually just a bunch of scholars?"

"Yes," Shirou nodded. "What of it?"

"That means your old man is also your magecraft teacher, right?"

Shirou was starting to get an idea of Yosuke's question, and felt more than a little nervous. "Well, yes, but he-"

A wide smile grew on the teen's face at his discovery, unaware of his friend's unease. "Then that means we can call on an expert adult to help us, right?!"

Chie brightened at the idea as well. "Hey, yeah! We can't contact the police for obvious reasons, but we can still get help from your dad! After we rescue Yukiko, maybe you could call him over and help find the killer!"

Shirou winced, not looking or feel as thrilled as his classmates. "I'm afraid that's not possible."

The nervousness of his tone wasn't missed to either of them. He sounded like he was hiding or avoiding something. To Chie, it reminded her of the first day when they were walking with Yukiko. Come to think of it, he never said anything about his parents. Could it be that those magecraft rules he just told them prevented his dad from helping or something?

"Hey guys!"

The tense confusion passed and the group looked up in surprise at Teddie. The bear, after calling their attention, pointed down over the hill it stood on and to a regal, baroque castle.

"We're here!"

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 18: The Castle

Yukiko's Castle, Front Gate


The quartet walked down the wide path of stone tiles leading directly to the large castle towering over them. Stone fences taller than they were lined either side of the path, dividing it from the green gardens for visual's sake. Statues of rearing horses made of white marble faced the road at regular intervals. Up close, the central keep loomed tall and lined with so many red-tinted windows that it was hard to tell where the roof ended and the red and black sky began. The castle was actually of a Western baroque design rather than the Japanese style. The outer wall before them kept them from reaching the keep without passing through a partially open rolling portcullis and the all-too familiar color-changing portal just beyond.

"Well, this certainly looks like the place we saw last night," Shirou noted. "Good job, Teddie."

Satonaka looked around with a frown. "I don't see any cameras. Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Whoever filmed this place probably packed up and ran after the 'show,'" she spat. She looked like she wanted to kick something.

"Again with this 'filming' thing?" Teddie asked bewilderedly. "I already told you that there's none of that here."

"You're absolutely sure there's no one else here?" Yosuke asked the bear dubiously.

The doubt apparently struck a nerve, and Teddie flailed its arms angrily and gnashed his teeth. It almost gave Shirou the sense that he was channeling Taiga… almost. "YES! How many times do I have to repeat myself?! The only things that live here are me and Shadows! It's been like this since the beginning, and I never sensed anything different until people were dropped in a week ago!"

"That still doesn't make any sense!" Yosuke argued. "'Since the beginning' of when?"

"How should I know?! I'm a bear, not a clock!"

Shirou hummed, trying to ignore the escalating fight between man and mascot at his side. "I doubt there's any real filming involved for this. Most magi have a rampant dislike towards anything electronic when they can use magecraft to do the same thing. Though it could still mean the culprit is in the minority if he was studying the Midnight Channel and its ties to TV."

"But Yukiko was on the channel before was she kidnapped," Satonaka reminded. "What does that mean?"

"It could mean anything, but we'll have time for that later. We can ask Amagi-san herself if she knows anything after we rescue her." Shaking off the questions with no answers, Shirou turned towards Yosuke and Teddie, both almost nose-to-nose and growling.

Chie nodded, ignoring any and all impulse to just rush on ahead while Shirou calmed the others. She feverishly wanted to find Yukiko now, but Yosuke did the same thing the other day looking for the Konishi store and nearly gotten them all killed by a bunch of Shadows for his trouble.

Awkwardly fiddling with the rolled-up chain whip at her waist and the bag over her shoulder, she calmed herself with deep breaths. She had to believe that everything would be alright.

Unfortunately for her optimism, the whip might not do as much as she wanted: in order to make it more portable, she had Daidara make it shorter, something he had no experience with. A five-section whip was less deadly than the traditional nine-section one, but at least the tip was still sharp. The image of her using it effortlessly to save Yukiko from Shadows and Shirou watching was a helpful motivator, or so she told herself.

<><><>
Yukiko's Castle, First Floor

The inside of the castle was just as regally appointed as the outside. Brilliant red carpets with golden linings were laid out in center of the hallways and placed over red and gray checkered tiles of glossy stone. The walls and ceiling were all tall, with the same colors seen on the floor. Vast windows framed by red and gold curtains towered over them, though they could see nothing through the blanket of red-tinged fog outside. The walls towered so high it was impossible to see the ceiling in areas, though high arches periodically stuck out from the shadows from which crystal chandeliers hung. Doors they passed by or walked through were of gold-plated wood, and had a somewhat mystical chink to whenever they swung open. The more the explorers saw the castle, the more they were convinced it had some sort of magical grace to it.

There was also a thicker bank of fog inside than out. The glasses filtered away what was right in front of them, but even these couldn't pierce the fog more than a dozen meters before everything blurred into an impenetrable haze. Every sound had the quartet freezing in place, ducking behind pillars in case Shadows roamed the halls. None of them wanted to fight if they could avoid it right now, especially with Yukiko somewhere waiting for them.
Teddie again proved his worth by guiding the trio through the maze-like building. Whether just from having a good sense of smell or something more supernatural, he only needed a few sniffs to guide them away from Shadows and dead ends, and he remembered each turn they took unerringly. He even "smelled" someone on the floor above them, all the more prompting Chie to egg him and the boys to hurry.

It actually looked like they were going to slip through the entire labyrinthine first floor without issue until they came to yet another sharp turn in the hallway. "Wait," Teddie squeaked, stopping and sniffing quickly. "Shadows at 3 o'clock."

Yosuke smirked. "Oh, so you are a clock after all."

"Yosuke." The warning tone from his red haired friend quickly diffused any growing argument with Teddie on the spot. As quietly as they all could, the four crowded at the corner of the wall and peeked around it.

Some ways down were two different kinds of Shadows: one was similar to the Slipping Hableries in appearance but with a zebra striped pattern and black tongue in contrast to its pink lookalike. The other took the form a spiraling length of paper-like ribbon with several fins sticking out so that it resembled a fish. The body had small rune-like letters that would glow red and fade away periodically. All the fins (the tail, head, and sides) appeared to be made of stained glass, and a feminine noh mask marked "II" was placed in a way that looked like its eyes and face towards the fish's "head."

Most frustratingly, just beyond the milling Shadows there was a staircase leading higher into the castle.

"A Lying Hablerie and a Calm Pesce," Teddie whispered. "I think the first one is similar to the Shadows you fought the other day, Shirou-sensei, right down to the weaknesses. But you might have trouble with the other one."

"Is there no other way around?" Satonaka asked.

"No. The stairs are just past these Shadows, and I know this Yukiko-chan girl is higher up in the castle."

"Guess it's a good thing you have me around then," Yosuke smiled. He looked a bit excited at the idea of a fight… too excited.

"Wait, Yosuke-!"

He ignored Shirou's warning and jumped out of the corner, pushing the play button on his MP3 as he did so. A power-up theme song was what he needed for his first big entrance. Then he gave a loud whistle with both hands to call their attention. When they both turned to him, he cupped his hands and yelled at them. "Hey! Lockjaw and Flounder! Mark this image in your heads before you die!"

"What the hell is he doing?!" Chie cried from her hiding spot.

Ignorant of their worries, Yosuke calmed himself, closed his eyes and held his hand out. This was it; his big moment. Shirou was a magus, but if he could manage to summon his Persona, so could he. He knew the power was inside of him. Hell, he could feel it, just waiting to be released, and he was going to show these Shadows he meant business.

Right… "Per-"

About… "-So-"

Now! "Na!"

His hand clenched to… nothing. Slowly, he opened his eyes and kept opening and closing his hand, starting to realize something was off. No floating card, blue glow, no ninja-frog-man, no swell of power… He did it right though, right? Then again, how the hell did those shonen heroes do stuff like this in the first place?
The Shadows exchanged brief glances at the slightest turn of their bodies, showing their confusion in dull reaction. The students and bear were just as baffled. "He's… doing it wrong, isn't he?" Satonaka finally asked.

"Yep," Shirou answered. It never occurred to him that he didn't teach Yosuke how to awaken his Persona until now, either, so he felt partly to blame.

Ignoring the blank looks from both his friends and the Shadows he swaggered, Yosuke calmed himself and tried again. "COME, JIRAIYA!" This time he outstretched his hand high above his head, finger wide and hoping something would fall or fill into his palm. Still nothing.

He clapped his hands together, forming a popular hand-seal he saw on a show once. "Persona Release: Jiraiya Jutsu!"

When the silence continued, he drew his nata and crossed them to an X shape. "Bakunetsu Tenkyoken!"
In a panic, and unaware of the growing sweat rolling the present faces of everyone (even the Shadows), he spouted more words and did more stances, each more ridiculous than the last. "Fang Blade! Bankai! It's Hero Time! I Choose You! Kaioken!"

Teddie blinked at the last phrase. "Kai-oh-what?"

"And he has no idea what he's doing," Satonaka said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Nope," said Shirou, solely tempted to mimic her expression.

"PERSONA!" Yosuke shouted, going back to the original phrase with different octaves and swinging open to the air for a card that wasn't appearing. "PersoNA! PerSOOOna! PER-sona! Persona! Persona! PersonapersonapersonapersonapersonapersonaPERSONA!"

It was this final attempt that the Shadows lost patience and charged him. The floating mouth reached him first, opening its maw so comically wide the bottom and upper lips nearly touched the mask on the back of its body. The tongue of the growing darkness lashed out to bind Yosuke place just to make the full body bite accurate.
Fortunately he saw it coming, but had nearly wet himself seeing the pitch-black void of the mouth with wide eyes and shrunken irises. "YIPE!"

He only intended to hop back a short distance away, but instead he found himself propelled all the way to the wall as if launched there. He slid down to the floor, confused at his speed while the Shadow painfully crunched on its own teeth.

"Whoa…" He never felt so nimble before in his life!

It was at this point that Shirou decided to step in, and properly showed how it was done. Without a word, he marched by the corner, held out his hand, and crushed the Izanagi card. The Persona materialized right by his side, hovering beside him and mirroring Shirou's movements exactly.

Before the large-mouthed Shadow could recover, man and Persona struck as one with their blades piercing flesh. It was still strange to see himself both using his own katana and Izanagi's naginata at the same time through their connection, even if the nature with his power letting him handle the information smoothly. Shirou and Izanagi pulled back their blades to strike the finishing blow but failed to notice the fish-like Shadow swim through the air behind their backs. He turned just as it was half-way into a backflip, intending to club him with its heavy tail fin. He hesitated in surprise, and was sent flying by the blow.

"Emiya!" Satonaka cried.

Yosuke broke out of his stupor from his brief moment of superhuman reflexes in time to see the two Shadows corner his friend. Like the other day, a sense of fear nearly rooted him rigid to the floor. It quickly passed, as if his desire to fight back was answered by the inner spirit in him (whether it was his Persona or just adrenaline, he didn't know or care). "Not while I'm here you won't-!"

Before he could even think about what he was doing, he sprinted forward until he was up to the flying fish and drew his knives. The moment he reached the Shadow, he slashed horizontally with the first knife before bringing the second down on the startled creature's back and dropped into a crouch. Winding up, he brought the first knife back up in a rising uppercut that sent the Calm Pesce spinning into the air before it flopped to the ground.
Yosuke was the center of attention once again by all parties, and even the auburn haired student couldn't believe what happened. He knew there was no way he was that fast or strong in the real world.

The pause quickly passed as a thunderclap went off and a blue bolt struck the Lying Halberie from above. It flinched as if emitting a voiceless scream as electricity crackled around its body before it slumped to the floor with its kin. Izanagi stood in the distance, hand outstretched towards the fallen creature. Shirou, still on the floor, had his hand out in a similar gesture as if guiding his Persona.

Remembering himself, Yosuke went over and pulled him to his feet. "Thanks for the cover, man."

"Likewise," the magus smiled.

"Guys!" Teddie called out. "The Shadows are down, but they'll recover soon! You have to finish them off before they get back up!"

The students looked at the downed Shadows: the Calm Pische was on its supposed belly as if washed up on a beach, but its fins were already pushing against the floor as it attempted to lever itself back into the air. The Lying Halberie was lying on the side of its mouth, tongue lolling on the carpet and staining the carpet with its drool even as it started trying to curl the slimy appendage under itself.

"Should we focus our attention on the fish first before the mouth?" Shirou suggested as he shouldered his sword while his Persona readied its weapon for another attack.

Yosuke stared at the Shadows a moment longer before smirking. "I got a better idea. Shirou, follow my lead!"

"What le-"

"DOGPILLLLLLLE!"

As he shouted, Yosuke charged again and started hacking at both Shadows while staying on top of them. Shirou hesitated for a second before joining him, stirring the fog into a whorl around them as they continued to hack at the Shadows alongside his Persona. Any movement was met with brutal hacking and kicking to keep them pinned down as they ripped them apart.

From Teddie and Chie's perspective, the fight was obscured by the cloud of disturbed fog their friends were making and the various sounds of battle. They thought they could make out a few swords, arms, fins, and other parts popping partly out amidst the chaos, but it was all too fast to get a clear picture. When the fog finally settled, Shirou and Yosuke were sheathing their weapons, and Izanagi faded into his owner's body. The only thing left of the Shadows was a single mass of black-red ink slowly dissolving.

"Wow!" Chie whooped, rushing over to them. "You guys make fighting Shadows look easy!"

"That's because it was easy!" Yosuke winked. "Though to be fair, they looked stronger the other day at the fake Shopping District."

"Small Shadows like those can swarm together, but are easy to beat if you take advantage of their weaknesses," Teddie explained. "There're a whole lot of them in this castle though, so fighting non-stop could get exhausting by the time you run into a big Shadow, like Yosuke's."

Or Yukiko's, thought Chie. If her friend was thrown into a world that had their own emotions kill them, it was only a matter of time before it showed up to do just that. I have to save her. Only I can save her. Or so she told herself.

Chie had tried to ignore the sense of hopelessness in watching her classmates fight. As expected, Emiya made use of the sword better than the golf club, with Izanagi following like a dance partner. Hanamura screwed up on his first big summoning (something she would probably tease him about if she wasn't so tense) but had managed to jump right back into the fighting. In a way, it was brave of him to fight the Shadows without knowing how to call his Persona, and a massive improvement from back at the distorted shopping district.

The guys looked about ready to move on, but Shirou stopped and stared at a blob of black that resembled the Lying Hablerie. "Emiya?"

"Come on, partner. Let's go."

"Don't worry Shirou-sensei; the Shadow is dead and nothing else is going to pop out from it."
Shirou ignored them, instead walking closer to the dissolving Shadow and, to his friends' vocal dismay, touched it. Idly casting Structural Analysis, he saw that the majority of the remains read as made of shadow just like the door in his dream with the fog and the Ghoul. But he could also make out a few flickering lights inside, each brimming with an untapped power: one was white and dull as glass, with a shattered image at the center. Another looked like a dark and red X with as much foreboding feeling as a Shadow. The third looked like a yellow-orange glow that had some power inside it, and vaguely reminded him of a regular Tarot. And the last one was a blue flicker, with a picture of a small winged girl shown.

Then he recalled what Igor said to him earlier today, on how Persona and Shadows were one in the same. "When you defeat them, there is a possibility that it will revert to a Persona, without an anchor to the human that formed them."

As his hand neared the lights, they started dancing faster, going in their own orbits and threatening to erode faster in the Shadow's remains. Shirou had a feeling he could only grab one of the lights before the others disappeared, and that he did not want to accidentally get the black-red X light.

"They may be hard to grasp, and it is entirely your decision to avoid them. But should you wish to obtain their power…"

The magus watched carefully on the blue light, circling further and slower than the other lights. He eased his hand to make the right timing, ignoring the possible consequences of catching the wrong card or extending his time limit.

"-You must master your fear and reach out for them."

With Reinforced reflexes, he snatched it in his palm and closed it tight. Similar to when he summoned Izanagi, the sound of glass shattered echoed from his hand and burst into light that briefly blinded the hall. The darkness subsided immediately, the other lights disappearing with it. "WHOOOOA!"

Yosuke slowly lowered his arms from his face, prior rising to block out the sudden flare. Chie and Teddie did the same. "What just happened?"

"I think… Emiya summoned his Persona inside that muck?" Chie guessed.

Teddie blinked, noticing Shirou and the new guest in front of him. "But… was Izanagi always a small winged fairy?"

Shirou himself was surprised. He didn't exactly know what would happen when he would catch the card, but hovering before him (as well as the others) was a small red-haired girl with teal-colored wings. He could barely make out her smaller features, as she was about the size of his palm, but he could see her blue leotard and matching arm gloves and stockings.

The fey took a look of her surroundings before staring back at Shirou. "So you're the one who freed me."

The students and bear gaped at the fairy-like creature's words. "I-it… she talked!" Chie cried.

"Of course I talk!" the fairy huffed, turning to her. "Just because you don't see us Pixies all the time doesn't mean we don't exist or don't know how to talk!"

"Pixie?" In his mind, Shirou gulped. Magi had stories about faeries, and whether you survived an encounter with your body or mind intact was basically a coin toss. It was unknown if this was Persona or an actual faerie masquerading as one if that was possible. Again, he silently wished that he was a more knowledgeable magus.

The dubbed Pixie nodded back to Shirou. "Yep yep! And I need a new home to get my strength going. Let's see…"
She took a quick glance around the group, and settled her eyes on Yosuke. "You!" pointed the Pixie. "Your energy is closely related to mine, so you'll be a good vessel!"

"V-vessel?!" Yosuke paled, tempted to simply run away from the manic little sprite. It sounded ominously close to being possessed, and like hell he was going to let that happen! Too bad she was flying faster than he expected.

"Heeeeere I gooooooo~!" she sang, making a beeline for Yosuke's forehead…

BONK!

…And, accompanied by a sound akin to two coconuts knocking together, the fairy and the human collided and fell backwards onto their backs. Pixie recovered first, sitting upright with tears in her eyes and a big red bump on her head. "Owwie… I thought he looked empty, but his head's already full: someone beat me to it. No fair." Despite the situation, it was hard to be angry at the tiny pixie as she rubbed her head with a confused pout.

Yosuke, also sporting a red bump, was barely coherent from the head butt. He was currently seeing a swarm of Pixies flying around in circles over his eyes. "Whoz uppdee haded?" he slurred from on his back.

Chie and Teddie quickly went to Yosuke's side, propping him upright and trying to rouse him back to awareness, leaving Shirou to pick up the Pixie. However, he did so up by pinching her wings, which caused her to yelp and squirm away not even half-way up.

"OWOWOWOWOW!" she snapped, beating her small hands against his fingers. "Watch the wings, buster!"

"Uh, sorry." Shirou, nonplussed at hurting the possible Persona, let go. She caught herself before she had dropped a few inches with a flutter of her wings.

Pixie frowned and crossed her arms, staring at the magus intently from top to bottom. "Hmm…" She flew up to Shirou's head and knocked on his forehead softly. "Looks like you've got more room than him, but there's something already in there… weird."

She drifted slightly away for another once-over. Apparently satisfied, she smiled. "You're not exactly my type, but you did save me. And you seem to be connected to your idiot friend over there."

"Hey! Yosuke isn't that bad," Shirou defended instantly without a second thought.

Pixie giggled. "See, that's what I'm talking about! Keep that up and I'll be charged up in no time!"

The magus blinked. He had no clue what she was going on about… although… maybe the Social Link he established with Yosuke yesterday? Before he could ask the Pixie about it she added, "Is it okay if I tag along? I'll help out anyway I can!"

Seeing a chance, Shirou immediately took it. "Then, could you help us find someone?" he asked, hoping the former Shadow had more information than they did. "A young girl named Yukiko Amagi."

"Name doesn't ring any bells, but sure, I'll help! Just call out my name – Pixie – and I'll be there in a flash!"

She flitted back an inch or two, and then sped forth into Shirou's head. This time she disappeared in a veil of blue light and Shirou felt the Pixie's energy seep into his own, settling right next to Izanagi deep inside. It was not as strong a sensation as his first Persona, but he could tell she was inside him, at least.

"Ooooh… " Shirou turned to the sound of the groan. It came from Yosuke, who had just managed to get himself back to normal by means of vigorous shaking from Chie and a few slaps from Teddie. "Where'd that Pixie-thing go?"

"Uh, I guess she became my new Persona… sort of." The students and bear blinked owlishly at his vague answer, which left Shirou himself honestly confused. Luckily before it got any more awkward, Satonaka shook her head as if dispelling the odd images in her head.

"Ugh, never mind. Let's just put that aside for now; at least until after we save Yukiko."

The collective nods approved of her vote and they hurried onwards.

<><><>
Yukiko's Castle, Second Floor

For his part, Yosuke ignored the ecstatic praise Teddie gave to "Shirou-Sensei" on the fight earlier: calling him a natural and how great he was. Shirou was being modest about it, but it was clear he was in the limelight as far as Teddie was concerned. The whole Pixie thing made them forget about his earlier screw up, and while he wasn't too keen on being butt of the joke all the time, he was thankful for it happening this time.

Yosuke didn't know why Shirou could easily summon Izanagi from the get-go while he couldn't do the same with Jiraiya. He knew he had a Persona and felt some of that power flow through him when swinging his blades, but it was no hovering swordsman throwing thunder bolts. He considered asking Shirou for tips and pointers, but Satonaka was constantly egging them to hurry on and find Amagi. That was more important right now: this was a rescue op, and if they were lucky and found her, maybe they wouldn't have to fight a giant Shadow version of the inn heiress. Those Shadows down below had been utter chumps in comparison to his own inner demon.

The quartet quickly reached the flight of stairs, seeing a short hallway and a large set of gold-gilded doors. Again Teddie stopped, sniffing intently in front of him. "I smell… a human on the other side! I think it's that Yukiko-chan girl!"

That was all the encouragement Chie needed before she bolted past the others and threw the doors open, completely ignoring her classmates' startled cries. It led to another hallway… and a black haired girl in a pink ballroom dress walking away from them sedately deeper into the castle.

"Yukiko!" Chie cried, running further ahead to see her with a surge of relief and joy. Yukiko was safe! Her best friend was safe! And I'll make sure she's never in harm's way again!

She stopped just a short distance from her, wanting nothing more for her to turn around so she could hug her face-to-face. "Yukiko, it's me, Chie! Don't worry! Everything's going to be okay now!"

"Chie?"

A cold chill running down her spine nearly tore the smile off of Chie's face. It was Yukiko's voice, wasn't it? Then why did it sound like it had some sort of cheap voice modifier over… Why did it sound like Yosuke's…?

Her fears were realized as Yukiko turned around gracefully. She had the same black hair, the same high cheek bones, the same soft, pale complexion, and obviously the same princess dress she wore last night on TV. This time though, the girl's bangs shadowing her face highlighted the glowing golden eyes replacing her normal brown ones, and, now that Chie was close enough to see it, a faint dark aura surrounded her, billowing like flame.

In that brief pause, Shirou, Yosuke and Teddie caught up to the girls and skid to a halt as they spotted the obvious differences from the normal Yukiko. The eyes alone were all the evidence they needed to know what they were looking at.

"Shit," Yosuke bit out.

The Shadow was unaware of their apprehension: in fact she was ecstatic and clasped Chie's hands into her own, a wide, warm smile lighting up her face. "Oh it is you! I'm so glad you decided to come! I was getting worried that I wouldn't find anyone in a large castle like this, and here you are, right as rain!"

"Amagi-san?"

She looked up to Shirou and the others, her smile growing. "And you brought guests! Are they suitors as well? Not quite what I was expecting, but I could always use a new stuffed bear!"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Chie finally squeaked.

Princess Yukiko giggled. "Why, my search for Prince Charming, of course! Didn't you see my special last night?"

The chestnut haired girl broke her arms free, stepping back to fully pull out her whip. While she knew the moves used in the movies with this weapon, she had no experience drawing it or setting her stance. She almost clumsily fished it out and ran her hand along its length to straighten it between her hands. "Where's the real Yukiko?!"

"I am Yukiko," she answered innocently, seeming to not understand the question.

"No you're not! The Yukiko I know is sweet and shy and would never go off trying to 'score hot studs' wearing frilly dresses! You're just some monster trying to kill her!"

"Yukiko" recoiled as if stung. "How could you say that?" The Shadow asked, and held up either side of her skirt helm slightly. "Don't tell me it's the clothes? I know they're a bit too bright on the pink side, but I thought of you when I picked them."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You said red looked good on me."

Chie flinched, and her chain slackened in her hands. "Huh?"

The Shadow stared off to the side with a sad expression. "Yukiko: how I hated that name. Yukiko means snow. Snow means cold, melting, transient, worthless… and all those describe me perfectly. All I have going for me is inheriting an inn and even that…"

As if remembering a bitter memory, Shadow Yukiko trembled. When it passed she smiled, clasping her hands together as she turned back to her friend. "But just like that, you found a silver lining in my life and said I looked good in red. You're always so strong and cheerful, never afraid to do anything you set your mind to. My life was worthless before I met you and yet you always protect me. I could never thank you enough for all you've done, Chie."

From the sidelines, the guys watched on with worry for a breakout that might happen. For now, the Shadow seemed civil and calm around her friend, speaking out her mind as if not knowing or caring they were within earshot. "Are these really Amagi-san's thoughts?" Shirou asked aloud.

"Speaking from personal experience?" Yosuke shrugged. "My Shadow told me exactly what I was thinking deep down, and we heard…" Yosuke paused there for a brief moment, swallowed and continued. "We heard Saki-senpai just before that too. Amagi-san and Satonaka are practically inseparable, so I don't see why they would lie to each other anyway. Unless if each Shadow is different, or they can lie to other people but not themselves. What do you think Ted?"

The bear was too engrossed in his own thoughts, complete with a furrowed brow and a hand scratching his "chin" pose to hear. "Score hot studs…" it repeated cryptically, with a slight note of yearning.
For the students, it was the first warning of what was yet to come from the bear.

Meanwhile, Chie stared back at the Shadow with wide eyes. Never in her wildest dreams did she believe she made Yukiko feel important. If anything, it was the opposite. And to hear it almost encouraged the little devil half of her conscience to take advantage of it.

No, she wouldn't play on those desires, but she wouldn't deny what she heard. Not like Yosuke. "Yes… I do protect you, because you're Yukiko too," she slowly slipped her hands out of the Shadow's hands, still fixed on her gentle Yukiko-like smile. "And it's why I need you to tell me where the other Yukiko is and bring you back home."

Shadow Yukiko's smile dropped slowly, morphing to a confused look. "Back?" she muttered softly. Almost so soft the distorted amplifier wasn't there, and it gave Chie hope.

"This place is dangerous, Yukiko! That's why we came in here to save you – both of you! – before something bad happens! Everyone back home is worried sick, especially your family at the inn-"

"NO!"

Streams of flame suddenly roared out and raced along the walls of the hallway, sending the would-be rescuers scrambling in shock at the literal eruption. Worse, the fires were no mere illusion or metaphor: the heat flashing across their faces was very real. Teddie's puffy tail very nearly caught fire, and only a quick roll had spared the mascot from any serious damage.

It was far worse for Chie, who had witnessed the flames rage outward directly from the Shadow itself. The blast of heat had formed a searing aura around the Shadow that refused to singe it in spite of the heat, and the force was nearly enough to send her flying. It was still burning around her, a visual representation of her anger.

"I've wasted enough of my life slaving away at that 'hot spot' eyesore!" Shadow Yukiko scowled darkly, her voice nearly unrecognizable. "I waited years for a chance to finally get out of it, and I'm not about to throw it away because they miss their little heiress doll."

The Shadow turned like a noblewoman would, complete with a lift of her chin. "If you want to help me get away, you're more than welcome to join me. If not, you can go back and tell everyone I've happily eloped with my soon-to-be-Prince, and will never be coming back!"

"E-elope?!" Chie gaped. The very idea of that was ridiculous, and completely not like Yukiko. Did she seriously mean to run away from home?! From me?!

Then she remembered this was a Shadow, not the real Yukiko, and if Yukiko didn't accept it, she would die. If the Shadow was this angry over something Chie had never heard from her friend before, then death was almost a given should they meet. "That's it! You're going back into Yukiko's head and back home to your worried family right now!"

"I'm NOT going back, Chie," the Shadow growled, marching away without looking back at her.

"It isn't up for discussion!" she snapped back, charging forward while twirling her whip to put her in her place.
Realizing that Chie was no longer thinking straight, Shirou bolted forward to stop her from attacking. "Satonaka, stop!"

Shadow Yukiko strode over to a gargoyle ornament hanging by the side wall, trailing her hand over the head as she passed by it… and then "accidentally" turned the head a perfect ninety degrees to the left. "Oops."

With an ominous thunk, the hallway floor suddenly collapsed on itself beneath the magus and the tomboy, sending them tumbling into the darkness below. "Whaaaaaaaaaah!"

The section of missing floor filled the entire width of the hall and covered nearly ten meters in length. There was no way across to pursue the Shadow. Yosuke and Teddie ran over to the edge and lost sight of their friends.

"Shirou!" "Chie-chan!"

The Shadow simply laughed haughtily and walked deeper into the castle, the event literally behind her.

<><><>

When they finally hit the ground, they did not land in the center of the room beneath them. The trapdoor dropped them into a large open room, like a ballroom or forum. Rows of empty benches lined the perimeter of the room for visitors to watch a debate or watch a show. Pillars dotted the space at regular intervals, each with a red and gold banner draped down one side. Two rugs were placed in center at an angle to each other, with an ornate golden chandelier illuminating the space directly over the center.

Shirou forced himself to his feet, lightly shaking his ringing head while checking his hip for his sword and adjusting his glasses. Satisfied he could see and he was still armed, he quickly spotted Chie some distance from him on her hands and knees.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he walked off the aches, lending a hand to help her up.

Chie remained hunched slightly on the floor, not even noticing her classmate. "-she really-"

Shirou blinked at her muttering. "What was that?"

"Does she really… hate Inaba? So much that she doesn't want to go back? I get that the town's boring and all, but I never imagined she was putting up with so much." She looked up to the magus, frowning. "Does she hate me too, you think?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But if she really hated you, her Shadow wouldn't have been so cordial, would it?"

"Maybe? I don't know…"

"Well, let's find out then. We came here to save her, didn't we?"

Shirou offered his hand again, smiling in encouragement. Chie sat and stared for a moment longer before returning the smile. "Yeah," she nodded, and took his hand.

Whatever peaceful moment there was between the two of them died the moment a third voice filled the room. "Yeah, she better not hate me! After all I did for her!"

Chie paled and turned behind her. From behind a pillar, a Chie-lookalike stepped into view with the familiar tells: a subtle blue-black aura, golden eyes, and a twisted facial expression from a cynical smile.
"Yo-you're… you're-!"

"We are talking about THAT Yukiko, aren't we? You know, the little princess who says I protect her?" The Shadow asked incredulously, almost breaking out with laughter. "She actually believes that she's useless without me! Oh, that's rich, coming from her!"

Chie glared at the accusation. "Excuse me?!"

Shadow Chie walked around the balcony, purposely swaying her hips and brushing her hand through her hair. "Everyone knows that Yukiko's the pretty one: long black hair, meek mannerisms, flawless skin, and a sexy figure that guys drool over."

Her tone grew annoyed and bitter as it trailed off with the last thought. "How many times did I have to stand by and listen to boys ask her out without even noticing me? Or the fact she turns them down willy-nilly? She doesn't know how damn good she's got it, and I'm never given a chance as even a rebound suggestion! She gets all the attention. All of it."

Those words… they were-

"Satonaka, calm down."

Emiya's calming voice managed to break Chie out of her trance, and she immediately started slowly breathing to center herself. Her Shadow's words were so hurtful, so real, that she couldn't brush them off as simply as she expected. She had thought that after seeing Hanamura go through this she was ready for it, but all it took was a single minute to almost tear her apart.

Turning back to the redhead, she felt a wave of relief seeing him looking at her with concern even as he kept a sharp eye on her Shadow. He wasn't judging her on this. Hanamura and Teddie wouldn't either, she knew it. This is me. She is me.

With a clearer head, she let out a long breath and turned back to her Shadow. "Yeah, you're right. It hurts." The Shadow stopped walking, the smile falling away to be replaced by a confused frown.
"I was jealous of Yukiko, and how all the guys followed her. Yukiko was the only one who noticed me, and it was a relieving feeling. It only grew knowing she feels the same as me. That envy… it's a part of me I hated and wanted to forget for her sake. You're a part of it, and I'm sorry for ignoring that all this time. You're me… and I'm you."

For a long while, the two Chie stared at the other's mismatched eyes. A sense of calm filled the room, dwindling by the second. The relieved tension gave the students a sense of hope that they would walk out of this without a fight.

Then the Shadow broke into a knowing smile. "Ooooooh, I get it now~! You don't really accept your flaws. You're just saying that so you can get the kind of power Shirou-kun and Hanamura have and fight monsters. To be stronger, to keep precious Yukiko safe, and keep your leash on her with it."

Chie flinched, especially at the mention of "Shirou-kun", but remained undeterred. She just had to keep herself open. "I… might have thought along those lines, yes, but-!"

"But nothing!" Shadow Chie pointed. "You thought that if you can't get away with being as pretty as Yukiko, you might as well be strong enough to protect her. And you can't even do THAT anymore, not like the guys and their Personas. Your confession isn't genuine!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it's not! You just want to accept me and pretend everything's fine before I tell you the 'real' bad stuff: like the Junes-sized crush you've been picking up on Shirou-kun."

Chie's face paled. Her Shadow wasn't really going to go there, was it…?

Shirou's reaction was just as bewildering, and didn't help at all for her emotional roller coaster. "Cr-crush?"


"Yes, crush." The Shadow smiled softly, striding over to the magus. "A crush on a new student who offers an umbrella to a wet stranger under a gazebo. A crush on a level-headed boy who isn't swayed by Yukiko's very presence. A crush on a magus who took control of an otherworldly situation like a leader. A crush on a hero who would give his life to save the people around him, just because he wanted to." By the time she finished her list, she was up in front of Shirou and giving him a quick once-over. "I would've preferred a guy a little smarter to help me out on study dates too, but I'll take what I can get."

Both students didn't know what to think at the Shadow's confession. For Shirou, he was surprised to hear anything remotely towards a crush aimed at him when he did nothing extraordinary to earn it. Chie, on the other hand, felt an odd mix of horror and shame hearing the Shadow blab about her most private thoughts.

Shirou recovered out of his stupor first, seeing Chie close to hyperventilating at the unintended reveal. "N-now Satonaka," he regarded the Shadow, doing his best to avoid stepping away. "I'm flattered, really, but I'm no one special. Hell, I'm a third rate magus at best. I'm sure Yosuke would be more than cordial if-"

"Your naivety is only cute in small doses, Shirou-kun," the Shadow cut him off. "And I don't want Hanamura. I want you."

Between his own surprise and Chie's growing panic attack, he could only stammer a weak reply. "B-but-!"

"'That world is no place for a girl'!" The Shadow mocked his tone. There was more surprise in the words she used than the tone in them. "That's what you said to me. I kind of hated the fact of being branded as some useless damsel. But I can't remember the last time any boy called me a girl before so protectively. It made me… happy."

The Shadow smiled seductively, lightly pulling his shirt closer to her. "Yukiko can get her harem all she wants: I'll reel her in for myself later. I've always supported her, protected her, and no one's ever thought of doing that for me; except you, Shirou-kun. You're mine, and not even Yukiko gets a say otherwise." Her head leaned forward with parted lips to a stunned magus, while her other-self watched with wide, fearful eyes.

Fortunately, Yosuke and Teddie just barged into the room and saw the others. They were too far away to see the real action, but could tell that Shadow Chie was too close to Shirou for anything more than a verbal beating. "Get away from him!"

On a later date, Yosuke would look into his instinctive summoning and wonder at how he just knew how to call Jiraiya properly upon seeing his friends in danger. But as it was, he was too focused in punching the Shadow away to think of anything other than the means to do so. So it came as an instant surprise to everyone but him that he swung his nata, slashed a card that just appeared in front of him, and his Persona vaulted across the room with a rotating star on his pulled back hand, open for a palm strike. Shirou barely had time to pull himself away before Jiraiya was within striking distance.

WHAM! The metal cracked to her face, leaving a large, star-shaped bruise on her cheek. The force of the hit also sent her flying, crashing against the far wall hard enough to leave an impact mark sunk into the stones.

"Booya!" the headphone student cheered, raising his fist triumphantly in the air. His Persona quickly mimicked the action. "Satonaka's Shadow is down and out on the first strike! Who's the man? Who's the man?!"

"Yosuke!"

"That's right! It's-Oww! Teddie, what-?" His cheering stopped when an annoyed Teddie bopped him with his hand. It took him a while to realize that he called his name in scolding, and that he could be at least a little threatening with that mean scowl when he wanted to be.

"Yosuke, you idiot!" the bear cried. "You hurt Chie-chan!"

Shirou was just pulling himself up from overstepping his retreat, and almost missed Teddie's critique. In worry, he looked around and saw Chie sprawled a ways away from where she was standing a second ago. There was a star-shaped mark on her cheek just like the one on her Shadow, and her. Immediately he ran to her as Yosuke stared in horror.

"B-but I hit her Shadow!" Yosuke defended, rushing over to her. "I know I did!"

"Her Shadow is still a part of her as long as she doesn't reject it!" Teddie explained, also running to her. "You can't kill it without killing Chie-chan too!"

Yosuke gulped, starting to realize how massive a blunder that would have been if his attack had been fatal. In the end, he couldn't do anything unless Chie rejected the Shadow… and he might have unintentionally made it worse by hurting her.

Chie literally didn't know what hit her: one moment she watched as a small, lithe version of Shadow Yosuke spring forward to attack her Shadow, the next she felt a sickening, invisible force sock her across the room. Her head hurt, it felt like the room was spinning, her mind and emotions were running wild… and seeing Shirou running towards her made her panic again and attempt to crawl away. "NO! Get away from me!"
Shirou stopped in concern, as did Yosuke and Teddie as they caught up. "Satonaka?"

"Do-don't look at me! None of this is real! It's NOT ME!"

"Quiet, you idiot!" Yosuke seethed. "Don't make the same mistake I did!"

"I can't do anything right on my own!" Shadow Chie mocked, pulling herself out of the wall and walking back to the group. Her aura was growing larger and more visible. "I can't win as a girl. I can't win as a protector. I can't even win against myself! How can I live with myself if all I'm just second best at EVERYTHING?"

"That's not true!" Shirou snapped at the Shadow before turning back to the real Satonaka. He wasn't going to let her tear herself down like this. "Satonaka, you came back here because of Amagi-san, right? You came back to save her even at a disadvantage. You're much stronger than you give yourself credit for, I know it!"

Chie seemed to ease at his compliment, looking back at him with a bit of surprise. His words, however, also encouraged the Shadow, who smiled affectionately in response. "Awww, that means so much coming from you, Shirou-kun!"

Chie paled again. Shirou stuttered. Teddie and Yosuke glanced at him in surprise. The latter pointed to the Shadow while asking, "Did she just-?"

"SHUT UP!" Chie cried, huddling closer to ground. "EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" Why, oh why did more people have to hear about this too!?

The boys flinched back, glancing between the hyperventilating girl and her growing Shadow. "This is beary bad!" Teddie shivered. "Chie-chan's Shadow looks about ready to burst!"

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Shirou whispered. He knew trying to calm her down would only add fuel to the fire (especially with Yosuke and Teddie around), but he didn't like standing by before something happened.

"You can't keep denying me!" Shadow Chie snapped. "At the end of the day, I'm Chie Satonaka too, and I'll scream to the world until I get what I want!"
Chie pulled herself up, glaring at the double-ganger with growing hatred and ignoring the others. "Shut up, you, you-!"

The Shadow threw her arms wide and glanced up to the ceiling, emulating her world-wide proclamation. "I want Yukiko! I want a boyfriend! I want security and power and everyone to be my BITCH!"

The words came out before she could stop herself. "YOU'RE THE BITCH, YOU FAKE!"

A deathly silence followed, not unlike the other day. Chie clasped both hands over her mouth, staring with wide, worried eyes at her Shadow. Shirou and Yosuke tensed their hands over their weapons, waiting for the fight to start like on a Western shoot-off. Teddie cautiously stepped away from the two, warily watching the scenery as dark particles suddenly started filling the room.

"There's one thing," Yosuke finally answered, as Jiraiya floated behind him. "Get ready for a fight."

"I was afraid of that," Shirou grimaced, but all the same summoned his Persona card in his hand.

The Shadow grinned wildly even as flecks of darkness flowed from the air and into her growing aura. "Man, are you stupid! All that preparation and all those fancy speeches, and you still manage to screw it up!" It threw back its head and laughed joyously as its form was increasingly obscured by darkness. "Don't worry though! When I'm done, I'll get what I've always wanted: what you were too scared to take!"

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 19: Shadow of the Dominating Self

Chie's mind went almost completely blank. She had practically rehearsed her acceptance speech, tried to take a hard look at herself in order to endure whatever the Shadow dug up, and she still couldn't stop herself from denying it. Now her Shadow was going to kill her, as if to mock her understanding of her shortcomings.

She felt empty now, like the knowledge of her own helplessness had taken all of the life out of her.

With an explosion of dark power, Shadow Chie revealed itself in full: she had taken the form of a towering woman with charcoal-grey skin. She was clad in high-heeled boots, short shorts, corset and long gloves. The Shadow's face (save for her malevolent eyes) was completely covered by a tall hood like that of an executioner. Her entire outfit was a bright yellow and lined with metal studs aside from the hood, which had a smiling face doodled in red ink over the forehead. From beneath the hood, a veritable wave of black hair fell and pooled along the ground for over a dozen feet. Her tendrils rose upward like snakes, clumps twisting and melding together to form large cleaver blades at the tips. In one hand the Shadow held a coiled whip as thick as a telephone cable while it rested its chin on the other. The latter hand also clutched onto a set of chains-like reigns.

Even seated, the Shadow was over six feet tall on its own, which is to say nothing for the "throne" she reclined on that lifted her higher: three life-sized marionettes clad in the distinct girl's uniform of Yasogami High were stacked on top of each other. They were barely able to support the weight of those on top of them, the Shadow atop them with the haughty posture of a queen. The chains in the Shadow's hand were connected to metal collars on their neck, completing the image of a dominating tyrant.

"I am a Shadow: the true self. Now, I've got things to do and people to leash, so let's make this part quick!" the Shadow declared as it let the whip in its hand uncurl and raised it overhead.

Even with the looming threat of imminent death, Chie couldn't find it in herself to run. The world seemed… diminished and almost hazy. She felt no fear at what was likely her last moments, merely a growing sense of apathy. It felt like she was missing a key part of herself. Thus she made no effort to run when the whip curled up on her body and dragged her in towards the Shadow and the mannequin tower… and the sudden dark vastness within.

She thought she heard people call out her name, but couldn't tell for sure. Was it at least from Emiya? Why was his concern important again? It had to be something if it made her chest hurt. The only voice she heard was what sounded like herself:

"Enjoy the confines of your new 'home', me!"

Her eyes stared vacantly into the darkness. There were so many people, and they all looked similar. All in the same school uniform, all with small slip-on shoes, all with short white hair, and all having blank faces with upside down crescents where the eyes should be. They looked like frowns or dreary eyes, but Chie wasn't sure. She couldn't count how many of them were dangling in the darkness, or how close they were to her, brushing against her arms and legs, but she felt muted in what should be… fear? Disgust? All Chie could be sure of was that they reminded her of someone. Someone she felt close to, and felt something towards. And they looked like they wanted to claw at her and tear her apart. Why else would their hands scratch away her skin and clothes? It hurt and she thought about screaming, but the darkness was just so numbing.

Her increasingly hazy thoughts were shaken by loud noises of metal and lightning. Then a light broke into the darkness from behind her. She felt something large scooping her up and carrying her out of the cold darkness and into the warm light. Chie slightly turned as the protector hugged her close, eyes stinging from the sudden brightness.

She couldn't tell who it was, but she felt she knew him, or it. She didn't know why either, but she felt safe enough to trust this being. So after a minute of staring into the metal face and glowing eyes, she felt herself lose awareness of everything around her.

<><><>

Shirou breathed a sigh of relief before setting his stance as well as he remembered from Taiga's "lessons" in kendo. He had failed to stop Satonaka's Shadow from snatching her into her own abyss, but Izanagi had managed to rescue her back through a tenacious and furious assault through upon the "throne". Zio spells were cast viciously between sword strikes, and Izanagi had come out of it with only the edge of his coat clipped by the Shadow's last whip strike. Thankfully the attack hadn't damaged him with any feedback.

The Shadow's whip had enough force behind it to leave a gouge in the floor the size of a beach ball, and a thin line extended from the hole from where the whip had managed to slice into the floor after the initial impact. He was just lucky she didn't decide to end Chie that way, all things considered.

"That cut it a little too close, partner. Is Satonaka-san alright?" Yosuke asked as he spun the knives in his hands into a reverse grip.

Izanagi looked down at the girl in his arms and Shirou replied, "Her clothes and skin are a little scraped up from inside, but nothing too serious. Aside from the strain knocking her out, she's fine."

"Dude, you aren't even looking at- whoa, this is trippy." Yosuke seemed to just now notice the seamless sense-sharing he had with Jiraiya judging by the way the ninja was glancing around. Shaking himself to refocus, the teen watched the Shadow as its tower of slaves strained to bring the Shadow to face her enemies. "…And I thought I had issues. You ready for this?"

Shirou sharply nodded as Izanagi brought Satonaka to their side and set her down gently. "Teddie, stay close to Satonaka and keep us informed of anything useful you find on the Shadow."

"Got it, Shirou-sensei! Be careful though: this one's even stronger than Yosuke's because it was able to absorb more roaming Shadows." The bear tried to keep his fear down, but his fur was still bristling and his paws were only steady from holding onto Chie's body as he ducked behind the nearest pillar.

Shadow Chie narrowed her eyes behind the mask, a disdainful sneer undoubtedly on her face. "So you two want to save the 'real me?' Go ahead and try! I'll put you both in your place before long!"

Before any planning could be done, the Shadow snapped her whip against the ground, and only heightened reflexes allowed the two humans and their Personas to dodge the sudden eruption of icy shards beneath their feet.

"Shit! Shirou, you alright?" Yosuke called as the crackling subsided. He and Jiraiya had landed on the upper benches of the chamber, and he winced at the sight of the veritable wall of ice that had sprung up at the Shadow's call. The chamber was starting to mist over from the rapidly crumbling glacier and he couldn't see anything aside from the Shadow slowly advancing on where Satonaka and Teddie were hiding.

His answer came in the form of a lightning bolt striking the Shadow squarely on the forehead, leaving it to stagger in pain. Just to the right of a pillar across the room from Yosuke, Izanagi emerged, its massive polearm sweeping away the mist as it held a hand towards the Shadow-Chie. Shirou followed a moment later, his sword held at his side with his face in a stoic frown. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. We have to protect Satonaka." Izanagi brandished his blade and charged, Shirou close behind.

Despite the danger before them, Yosuke couldn't stop himself from smiling, knowing that Shirou had his back. "Good answer!" In response to his will, Jiraiya flipped forward and brought a leg up for a crushing axe kick aimed for the Shadow's smiling mask.

Both attacks were met by long tendrils of black: Izanagi's curved blade clanged harshly against the cleaver at the end of one long mass of hair, while Jiraiya barely managed to avoid severing his own leg against another by bringing his armored hands underneath his falling leg.

"Don't you dare look down on me!" the Shadow howled as its slaves steadied themselves. With another crack of the whip, more ice exploded into being around her, forcing the two Personas to dodge and backpedal frantically. Shirou barely managed to stagger to a halt at the edge of the ice blast, leaving him exposed for when the Shadow smashed the wall with a lazy-looking kick, peppering him with razor-sharp shards. Her hair blades lashed out in a wide circle, keeping the Personas at bay. She focused her luminescent gaze on Shirou who had flattened himself against the ground to avoid the attack. "That's better… That's where you should be: on your knees before me!" Her whip came up and seemed to move of its own accord in her hand.

Yosuke's eyes widened at the sight. The hair blades continued to chase after Izanagi and Jiraiya to keep them from interfering, but he was apparently too far away to be considered a threat.

It was hard to tell if he was meant to feel insulted by that or not.

Either way, he had noticed something that might turn this whole thing around. Jiraiya flipped around another tendril and landed at his side out of reach, lifting its hands out at its sides. The shuriken attached to its palms began to spin with a building howl. Yosuke kicked forward off the bench at the instant Jiraiya flung its arms forward, firing the shuriken as nothing less than razor disks. "Heads-up, banana head!"

The Shadow bristled at the insult and briefly turned her attention away from Shirou. She scoffed at the blades heading her way and once more brought her whip up for another ice wall. Turning away from Shirou cost her.

"Zio!" The lightning bolt crashed against the Shadow's arm this time, disrupting its spell just long enough for Jiraiya's blades to slam hard into the legs of the bottommost slave with an explosive bang before they vanished back to Jiraiya's palms.

"Now! Bring it down!" Yosuke shouted as he lunged and drove both knives into the same spot, causing the slave tower to falter, Shadow Chie squawking in pain and the tendrils of hair stilling.

Shirou didn't need to be told twice. Izanagi snapped its fingers again, swathing Yosuke in golden light. "Tarukaja!" Yosuke's instantly enhanced strength drove the knives deeper while Shirou threw his Reinforced and already enhanced body into the Shadow's legs. The stunned Shadow toppled but did not fall completely, its curtain of hair stiffening to keep it from hitting the ground, but rather than push herself upright, she snarled and snapped her whip several times. The slaves strained to get back to their feet, all but ignoring the two teens.

There was no need to coordinate their actions. The four immediately dogpiled the Shadow, the Personas hovering above to tear into the Shadow's main body while their summoners attempted to hack the slaves out from under it. The mannequin-like bodies were tougher than they looked, but every strike seemed to send ripples of pain through the entire creature. Izanagi stabbed downward trying to pierce the Shadow's armored hide, and Jiraiya laid into it with punches and kicks strong enough to pulverize concrete.

Even while mobbed so relentlessly, Shadow Chie still managed to strike back unlike the lesser Shadows from before. It managed to land a clean kick to Izanagi's chest, the feedback sending both him and Shirou away and skidding across the chamber. Jiraiya and Yosuke were forced back by a stabbing hair tendril. "Damn it, I thought we had her! You all right Shirou?"

Pulling himself upright while Izanagi floated back to his side, Shirou winced but nodded. "I'm fine! Don't lose focus!" The Shadow had managed to force its slaves to their feet again. That look of utter disdain she had worn was replaced by something darker and more deliberate.

"That was a bad idea, boys. Kid gloves are officially off." With her whip striking the ground harder, her slaves staggered forward.

Shirou said nothing, willing Izanagi to renew his earlier spell on Yosuke. "Tarukaja." The remaining pool of energy he felt for the Persona's magecraft was starting to feel dangerously low, but Chie's Shadow was too powerful to hold anything back. After all that, the Shadow barely looked scuffed, let alone hurt.

When it attacked this time, the bladed tendrils of hair moved with greater purpose, each of the four cleavers chasing after a different target.

Jiraiya bounded out of the way, moving with an agility that was completely beyond humans while the tendril twisted on itself trying to head off the frog-ninja as it weaved and bounced off the walls and ceiling. Yosuke simply settled for ducking low and then trying to scissor the tentacle with his knives to limited success.

Shirou and Izanagi however refused to move. The blades clashed harshly against both of their weapons, driving them back but ultimately grinding to a halt. Izanagi shoved the blade down and charged in, grinding the blade along the length of the hair tendril to keep it down. The Persona almost made it to the Shadow before she lashed out with her whip hard enough to cut into Izanagi's shoulder, nearly collapsing Shirou's stance from the feedback in spite of his armor somehow taking some of the brunt forcce for him. He'd think more on it later.

With a roar, Shirou reset his stance and pushed against the blade harder, his twice-enhanced body barely able to keep the blade at bay as it increased the pressure on his katana. He would rather die than give an inch of ground.

After all, he was the last obstacle between the Shadow and his friends.

The Shadow ambled forward several more feet, and Shirou was pushed back very slightly. "Out of the way, Shirou!" Her eyes focused on a panicking Teddie and the other Chie resting by a pillar next to him. "That grubby bitch is dead!"

"No! I'm not letting you hurt her!" he roared back as he advanced a single step before Shadow Chie's strength redoubled.

While Shirou weaved around the still striking blades, Jiraiya and Yosuke tried to find an opening for another attack of their own. So far they couldn't get close or even line up a shot. He wracked his brain for anything he could use, but even throwing some of the rubble they were making was doing nothing to even catch the Shadow's attention.

There had to be something he could do. He wasn't some side character! Somehow Shirou was able to fling lightning around, and he had the same power, right? There had to be a way to do something similar: drop something that went right by those defenses. As it was, Shadow Chie was still slowly making its way to its goal in spite of their dogged resistance.

As another blade smashed into the space he had been occupying a second ago, Yosuke felt something tug at his mind as the dust and fog stirred around the tendrils chasing him and his Persona. It was like he could see the way the air moved around even in the clearer spaces, like he could follow the currents to their source… He could feel them dance around his fingers, each twist of his knives stirring them… and then a word formed in his mind.

"Garu!" his voice came from both his and Jiraiya's mouth, and a blast of green vapor howled forward from the ninja's hands, winding around the tendrils easily and slamming into the Shadow before seeming to explode into a miniature tornado. It wasn't in Yosuke's nature to take joy in seeing someone in pain, but the Shadow's shocked scream, the slaves dropping into a heap and the tendrils all going limp was so damn satisfying.

Wasting no time, Izanagi stomped the blade of his geta on the now-limp tendril, severing it from its hair blade while Shirou did the same with the other in front of him. Jiraiya's shuriken spun like buzzsaws in his palms as he severed the last two. The four converged on the Shadow unimpeded, again hammering away at the giant Shadow with their full strength. They could see their attacks doing damage, but unlike before, there was a delay before their cuts were healed by the black shadow-stuff that formed the thing's innards. They could only hope that they were wearing it down.

Shadow Chie finally screamed in frustration and pain. She unleashed her ice blast again, forcing them all back long enough for her slaves to push her upright on their shoulders. Shirou and Yosuke were dusted with frost but had dodged the worst of it, and their Personas settled at their backs.

Behind them, Teddie's high voice caught their ears. "That's it! The Shadow's weak to wind! You can beat it!"

The news was heartening for the fighters. Shirou was still moving well enough through the pain of his numerous small cuts, but inside he felt exhausted. His prana reserves were running on empty and his Persona had almost nothing left to give, maybe two or three more lightning bolts. "Yosuke, that last attack… can you do it again?"

"Yeah. Ready to finish this, partner?" Yosuke replied. He was in better condition than Shirou, having only just started tapping into his Persona's powers. "Here we go! Garu!"

"Zio!"

The maelstrom erupting from the Persona's hands once more slammed into the Shadow, followed immediately by a bolt of lightning that left her limp with pain. "Had enough yet? We can keep going if you like!" Yosuke taunted when the Shadow twitched but made no move to stand.
If anything, those words were far more effective than they should have been. Shadow Chie almost exploded in rage. "Don't you DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME!" she shrieked as she finally forced herself upright, her mannequins cracked and flaking in places, but still holding her on their shoulders. She had lost her haughty posture and now actively focused on them as enemies rather than mere obstacles. "Don't think you understand a damn thing about me!"

The Shadow snapped its whip, and this time a massive crackling ball of lightning exploded in front of her, sending arcs shrieking all across the room. "Kneel before me! Mazio!"

"Oh, that's such bullshi-IAAH!" Yosuke managed to deadpan before being electrocuted, failing to dive away in time. The scream that was torn from his mouth when he was still clipped by the blast was surprisingly short despite the agony sending him to the ground motionless. Jiraiya dropped like a puppet with its strings cut at the same time.

"Here it comes! Bottomless Envy!" Without letting up, new tendrils rose from within her hair and struck at the grounded Yosuke, piercing him like a pincushion. His second scream was a voiceless gasp of air, gouged from his arms and legs and body that all but gushed blood out of him. Yosuke found himself unable to do anything but take shallow breaths as his increasing dizziness led him towards unconsciousness and death.

The remaining sparks from the area attack reach Shirou as well, but he managed to simply endure the pain. Izanagi's resistance to electrical energy turned crippling pain into a more manageable burn. It was a secondary concern compared to his friend's critical condition. "Yosuke!" Without thinking, Shirou moved in front of his downed friend while Izanagi braced himself if the Shadow moved towards Satonaka again. For Shirou, the fact that his Persona functionally let him be in two places at once here in the TV was worthwhile in itself.

But Yosuke wasn't moving. It might be paralysis, but he was also very weak right now, with his Persona on the verge of fading out like his Shadow before. Satonaka and Teddie had the medicine, and the gargantuan Shadow was menacingly marching on her "throne", wanting to personally end the fight by her heel. Acting on instinct, the magus willed his Persona forward to strike the Shadow, and then solely focus on blocking its advance like last time.

Shirou wasn't sure what to do: none of their attacks were slowing her down, and he felt the effects of Tarukaja already wearing off. Even if he held it off long enough for Teddie and Satonaka to run away, that still left Yosuke at risk. And getting them close enough to pick him up would endanger them too. If only Yosuke could stand back up-!

"Hey! Listen!"

Shirou looked behind his shoulder, but saw no one. He could have sworn the voice sounded like-

"You wanna save your friend, right? I know two ways to do it!"

He then recognized the voice that belonged to Pixie, and quickly asked, "What can I do?"

"Well, the best way would be to take that golden sheath out of your body and put it in your friend!"

The magus blinked in confusion. "What golden sheath?"

"The one inside you, along with that Izanagi guy! The thing that has subtly kept you healthy, as well as pouring energy into your nerves for what seems to be, like, years?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Pixie," he said as sternly as possible, still staring at the Shadow as it dueled against Izanagi.

Silence was all he got back from his head, so he assumed Pixie tuned him off out of annoyance. As it turned out, she was merely shocked, as her next words conveyed it clearly. "Oh my gosh."

"So, about the-"

"OH, my gosh!"

"P-pixie?"

"OhmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshOHMYGOOOOOOOOSH!" The fey screeched, much akin to an overexcited school girl. "You have the greatest gift of all of the fey and you DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THAT IT'S BEEN INSIDE YOU THIS WHOLE TIME?! Granted, this is a good thing since humans have been known to exploit stuff, and as the fairy godmother once told me: 'Humans are the reason we can't have nice things.' Because they're greedy jerks and lose our stuff, like this sheath here, but still! Of course, what would I know, I'm just a figment of some-"

"Pixie. Yosuke?" he said quickly, feeling nervous as the Shadow cracked its whip.

"Oh. OH! Right. Well, the first option's a bust, so you'll just have to summon me. You remember how, right?"

Shirou would have smacked himself if not for the timely, risk-ridden battle, so instead he held out his hand for her card. "Pixie!"

In an instant, Izanagi vanished and a new Tarot card hovered in Shirou's grasp. Guess I can only summon one Persona at a time, he thought before crushing the card and revealing the fey.

He managed to analyze the card as it surfaced out of his subconscious. In almost every way, Pixie was Izanagi's inferior with even lower stats and no battle skills. However, the fey possessed two supportive spells: Patra to clear one's mind of several mental ailments, and Dia, which was akin to light healing.

"Rise and shine, handsome!" Pixie winked, before raising and cupping both hands together. "Dia!" A ball of purplish light surrounded the downed teen, shining briefly a shade brighter. Before their eyes, the gashes from Shadow Chie's tendrils vanished, and he looked less pale now.

"Green Shield!" Shadow Chie used the pause in fighting to gather her magical energy before her, weaving it into a translucent green barrier that rapidly faded from sight. "What has she ever done for you to deserve this, anyway? She'll just toy with you like does Yukiko!"

"He's still not getting up," Shirou said to the fey, pointing his sword at the towering Shadow. "Is your healing working?"

"Of course it is, but not with his dizziness!" Pixie snapped. "The healing stabilized him but he's on his own in getting mentally better. Man, this would be so much easier if I had Re Patra instead of regular Patra, then I could do it instantly."

"Make do with what you got then. Another healing should do." Shirou said, narrowly dodging a tendril swipe at his legs.

"Good plan. Here's one on me. Dia!" This time the circle light enveloped Shirou, and he felt his wounds close and heal quicker. He was still tired, but much less so and felt amazed at how similar and different the feeling was from Reinforcement and his enhancement spells.

Yosuke blinked the spots from his eyes and gradually roused himself back up. That last attack had reallyhurt. Apparently Jiraiya and lightning did not mix, like how Izanagi and wind didn't. He looked up to see Pixie smiling down before fluttering away. Then he saw Shirou's hand come into view, the magus himself standing at the side with his sword angled at the Shadow like a fencer. "Can you stand? If you have to, grab Satonaka and run."

"Thanks, partner," Yosuke replied as he let himself be pulled to his feet. "But you don't need to pull the heroic sacrifice thing this time. I can keep going." To emphasize his words, Jiraiya kipped up to its feet and readied itself in a martial arts stance that Yosuke had seen in one of Satonaka's movies.

Shirou's brow furrowed uncomprehendingly for a moment (which only Pixie from near his shoulder noticed) before he shook his head with a smile. "All right, but be careful: I saw her set some sort of Bounded Field around itself while we were recovering."

"Dude, I have no idea what any of that means," Yosuke muttered before both Persona users dove for the benches to avoid the cracking whip seeking them out and tearing the ground wherever it touched. "So save the Magecraft 101 lessons after I blow this fruit tyrant to smithereens!"

Seeing what he was planning to do, Teddie quickly cupped both hands to warn him. "Wait! Yosuke! Green Shield-!"

"Garu!" Yosuke invoked again, his Persona blasting another green whirlwind into the Shadow…

…Only for the winds to gutter out almost completely on contact with a crystalline wall. The Shadow winced a bit, but the confident sneer was back as it forced its bearers towards Yosuke and Shirou, who stared back slack-jawed and wide-eyed respectively.

"-protects the user from wind attacks," the bear finished weakly, looking just as squeamish.

Shirou simply couldn't believe it. Even without the hair blades, this thing was a veritable tank that could use both ice and lightning. And apparently it could toss up Bounded Fields to shore up weaknesses even if it couldn't completely protect itself from harm.

"Um," the fey Persona nervously spoke up, turning the magus to her. "Not that I'm scared or anything, (especially since you're still clueless about the whole 'sheath-in-your-body' thing) but I really think you should rely on the guy with the pole-thingy to handle the rest of this fight. I'll be cheering you on in spirit in the safety of your mind, though! Kay-thanks-bye!" At the rushed string of her last sentence, Pixie waved and poofed back to his subconscious.

The red-haired student sighed, but figured it was better this way. Her healing helped Yosuke and himself to a second wind, so he could focus back to fighting the Shadow. "Izanagi!"

The God Persona appeared once more with the ninja Persona, holding its naginata like a katana poised to strike. At once, they charged together and attacked the tendrils with renewed gusto; Izanagi with slow but heavy strikes and Jiraiya in a constant barrage of jabs and kicks.

Shadow Chie angrily lashed her whip out to toss Izanagi aside before focusing her attention solely on Jiraiya. "I don't get why you idiots bother. It's all going to end the same anyway. So do yourselves a favor and kneel, then I might consider letting you live as my lackeys."

Izanagi took advantage of having the Shadow's back to him and prepared to cleave its head from its shoulders with a wide sweeping slash. The blade met the coils of the whip in her hand, but it still managed to bite into her shoulder despite her best efforts. "I! Said! KNEEL! Magaru!"

Add wind to that list… Shirou mentally sighed right before impact.

Pain exploded against Shirou, the feedback sending him flying back when the spell slammed into Izanagi point-blank. Jiraiya leapt behind him and caught the teen before he hit the wall. "We're getting nowhere fast! Any ideas?" Yosuke growled as he ducked behind a pillar just in time to dodge another bolt of lightning. Instinctively, he put a hand over his racing heart and let some of his Persona's power calm him down.

Shirou and Izanagi forced themselves upright from their respective heaps. "Just one at this point: Rakunda!" Shirou could feel blood making part of his shirt sticky and the chainmail was scratching at the cuts even through the padding beneath, but his Persona moved quickly at his order, gathering the last of its magical energies and releasing the spell. For a second, it looked like a ball of purple light constricted the Shadow before fading, but there was no other visible effect. Rakunda did bite though, weakening the Shadow's hide and magical defenses almost like a botched Reinforcement.

There was no time to hesitate. The curse would only last a short time before it burned out. Shirou roared and charged the Shadow, Izanagi attempting to catch the Shadow between them both. "Hit it with everything you've got!"

Yosuke smirked as he hit play on his MP3. "Ready or not, here we come!"

That got Shadow Chie's attention, and Shirou found himself all but stymied by wild blasts of wind as the Shadow tried to keep him and his Persona away. Yosuke simply acted, trusting Shirou to keep the Shadow's attention. Jiraiya leaped as high as he could, planted his feet into the ceiling and rocketed down on the distracted Shadow's head with a full-body tackle. It happened so fast that the Shadow didn't even realize that she was under attack until Jiraiya's shuriken bit into her collarbone. Yosuke drove both knives into the slaves nearest him, further disorienting the Shadow.

"NO! STOP IT! I CAN'T LOSE!" The Shadow screamed as she gathered her magic again, temporarily disregarding the redhead and his Persona. The lightning bolt she summoned to dislodge the frog-ninja met Izanagi's back, staggering Shirou but doing nothing to stop him for long now that he was free to attack. "ALL I WANT IS-!" Shirou impaled the Shadow's leg and wrenched as hard as he could, ruining the limb. There was no finesse to the assault; the Shadow was almost literally being torn limb from limb with everything the two teens could bring to bear.

Shadow Chie screamed and lashed out wildly with her whip in clear desperation. Jiraiya bent his body at a nearly impossible angle to dodge, leaving Izanagi free to grab the outstretched weapon and he hauled it over his shoulder with all of his strength. The Shadow was pulled upwards and met Jiraiya's spinning shuriken, cleaving it down the middle. That finally overwhelmed the Shadow's regeneration completely, the body rapidly losing color before seeming to collapse into a mound of black and red muck at their feet.

The substance rapidly dispersed, leaving the human form of Chie's Shadow behind. She laid on her stomach, arms and legs outstretched, and didn't move. Her golden eyes stared vacantly across the room on her side. The dark aura she had once exuded was muted to little more than a hazy outline. The tension all but evaporated with the darkness around her, leaving the castle almost oppressively silent in its place.

Yosuke unconsciously dispelled Jiraiya and let himself fall on his backside, a heavy exhaustion catching up to him. "I think we got her…" he wheezed tiredly. "How are you holding up, Shirou?"

Shirou let himself down to one knee but refused to drop his sword. "I've had worse, but this is still pretty high on the list." With Yosuke helping him and having proper weapons and armor, this battle hadn't turned out quite as bad for him as fighting Yosuke's Shadow. But his body still ached, his prana reserves were basically empty from the constant Reinforcements, and he doubted be could conjure another Zio at this point.

"That's good," The fawn haired teen nodded, before sighing in exasperation. "Though since when could you do that Rakunda thing?"

"Learned after the fight with your Shadow, I guess."

"Then do me a huge favor," Yosuke regarded seriously. "The next time we fight a Shadow Someone? Start with that spell."

"It would have only lasted for a minute and a half," his friend noted. "And it's no different of lowering an enemy's defense than it is raising our own offense."

"That would still be one less minute and a half to fight and even less time if you used them both at once. Use your head once in a while, idiot."

Despite himself, Shirou laughed. A part of him felt so thrilled and exhausted fighting alongside a friend towards a common goal of helping others, but it seemed oddly nostalgic to be reprimanded by someone who could pass as a more polite Shinji.

Although a critical tongue seemed to be the only similarity between Yosuke and Shinji, as Yosuke started to laugh too, if only at the simple fact that they were alive. All of them were; including Teddie and Satonaka. And Yukiko was still around too somewhere, even if they hadn't found her yet. The only silver lining to that was that her Shadow didn't either.

"You did it!" Teddie cheered, squeaking over as he carried Chie. "You guys defeated Shadow Chie-chan!"

"Was there any doubt?" Yosuke smiled, pained slightly as he pushed himself up to greet the bear-

And nearly froze enough to slip and fall back to his rear. Teddie held Chie parallel to the ground, with his paws under her and spaced out like she was a box. But his paws happened to be supporting her chest and crotch respectively. It was at that moment that Yosuke felt jealous, amazed, shocked, and pissed off all at once. It was an amazing feeling, really.

"Uh… Teddie?" Shirou ventured, feeling just as awkward. "Why are you holding Satonaka like that?"

"W-well, I've been here for a long time so I don't really know how to hold someone. Shadows tend to be the types to 'Eat first, ask questions never', not that I usually talk to them. So, I figured the best way to hold someone is to hold where your paws are most comfortable."

Yosuke grimaced. "Yeah, if you want to come across as a pervert. That's like the number one way not to get into someone's pants."

Teddie gave an innocent blink. "I have to search her pants while holding her? Well, they're torn up a bit anyway, so…"

Both boys paled considerably, but the bear ignored them as he moved his paw to reach for her skirt. That promptly snapped Shirou out of his stupor to scold him. "Teddie, no!"

Chie's tattered skirt was tossed aside, revealing a pair of long, strong legs with thin scratches and black biker shorts relatively untouched. "Huh, I guess she does wear pants under this. They look short though."

Shirou and Yosuke felt a great surge of relief (and subconscious disappointment) to see that she wore black shorts under her skirt. She was smarter than most schoolgirls in that regard to avoid the indignity of a panty shot. It made sense to them though, given that she's the most physically active girl of her year.

A thought seemed to occur to Teddie as his eyes widened. "Oooooh! Is this scoring a hot stud?"

Frankly, Shirou felt he knew too much about her already than he felt necessary to even look, and stared awkwardly at a pillar next to him. But Yosuke found a new appreciation seeing her legs without being aimed at him. "More like scoring a hot chick. Say, Teddie, how soft is her rear end?" he asked with a lecherous grin.

"Teddie, don't answer that," the magus sternly cut him off, disappointed that the bear went ahead and groped her. "In fact, put her down before-"

"AAAAAAAAAH!" SMACK! POW! THNK-THNK-THNK!

"-that happens," he finished. Not that he felt Teddie could hear him with a ringing headache from her punch and kick combo.

As the bear wailed on the ground nursing the multiple bumps on its head, Chie quickly reached for her skirt and slipped it back on. Then, with an angry flushed face, she marched over to the boys and held a threatening clutched fist to Yosuke's scared face. It was almost amusing to Shirou in ways he didn't understand. "If you ever take advantage of me like that again-!" she started, but never got to finish.

"Please…"
The students and bear suddenly forgot themselves and turned to the source of the voice. They saw the once haughty Shadow of Chie Satonaka sprawled on the floor like a ragdoll, sounded so weak it was almost hard not to feel pity.

Chie felt relieved in a way. Hanamura and Emiya defeated her Shadow. She knew it was still her, and she felt ashamed she got them in trouble like this. But she was still wary; the last time she tried talking calmly to her Shadow, it still found a means to belittle her. "What's the matter? Got nothing to say anymore?"

"Please," The Shadow said again, and shook slightly. "Don't leave me… Yukiko."

Again Chie was taken aback. In fact, she felt her own eyes sting and water a bit. Was she crying? But, it was her Shadow crying, right?

"All I wanted was to feel needed," cried the other Chie. "To feel like I belonged with someone, somewhere. If you're gone… what will happen to me? All the years together, all the laughs we shared, doesn't it matter Yukiko? Why do you want to leave me? Yukiko…"

A somber silence filled the room, with only the silent cries of a Shadow. What came across as a dominating, oppressive being was just a sad girl crushed with the prospect of losing her friend one way or another. If not by the killer kidnapper, then by her own subconscious decision to "elope" with a Prince, and neither of them sounded promising.

"Chie," Yosuke called softly, surprising the girl at his casual use of her first name. "I'm not going to ask what happened before Teddie and I got here-"

"I won't either," the bear chimed in, looking apologetic to her.

"But I can assure you I know exactly what you're going through," the student continued. It surprised his classmates at the level of maturity he held. "When my Shadow came out, I felt like a piece of me was missing. My courage, maybe, because I just wanted to bail at the first chance and silently wish for my friend to fail. I'm not proud of it either, but you guys saved me. Not just Shirou with his Persona or Teddie and his nose, but you specifically jumped in and pushed me out of the way. None of you had any obligation to risk your neck out for me on my little adventure, but you did anyway."

Chie was surprised. She did jump in for him, didn't she? That day had been so chaotic that all she remembered was Shirou's fighting and how Yosuke's adventuring nearly got them killed twice. In a way, he knew that she had forgiven him despite her bitterness.

"I can't promise what will happen after we rescue Amagi-san, other than that we will," he assured, and gave a warm smile. "And that you guys are the best friends I could ever ask for. I'm not going to leave any one of you hanging because of some skeleton in your closet. We all have our bad sides."

"Yeah, it's like what Shirou-sensei said!" Teddie added. "You're better than what you think you are!"

Shirou, unsure how she would take his words after last time, just smiled and nodded. If anything, he empathized with her struggles and didn't think of her any different than before.

Chie looked around, having almost expecting to see repulsion or pity or even self-righteous "I told you so" expressions in light of her Shadow. But they were all supportive and forgiving. They were such good… friends? Yes, it was appropriate to call them that, even Teddie.

"You know what to do," Yosuke said, head tilting to the Shadow. Indeed she did.

The brown haired girl rubbed her eyes clean and then took a deep breath, slowly exhaling all the tension in her like a sigh. "For the longest time I thought Yukiko to be my best friend," she started, walking slowly to her double. "I guess somewhere along the line I grew desperate to keep it stable."

Then I met Shirou Emiya. The meeting seemed simple enough, but through him I grew to know more about Yosuke and learned about Teddie's world. I wasn't a dominating force in this odd circle of friendship yet it was refreshing. Not that she would admit that out loud to the others, especially anything about her budding crush on Emiya.

"This last week had some of the scariest yet exciting days of my life, especially when Yukiko herself got dragged into this. In a way, I wanted to keep her at a distance from the adventures that were happening because I… liked them. I liked keeping close to Yukiko as she's my friend, but I enjoyed being myself and getting noticed by other people just as much."

She was right beside her Shadow now, kneeling down and helping her sit up. Her yellow eyes were puffy and tear rimmed, but they were beautiful with no malice.

"Hearing Yukiko's Shadow talk like that really hurt us," Chie told her Shadow, like a mother would a child. "Not just because we felt obliged, but because she really was our friend deep down. You only wanted to make sure she didn't leave us."

The Shadow nodded sadly, having long lost the will to speak.

"We're going have to face her next time. She might deny going back again. But things will be different. When the time comes, we'll be standing together." Chie then pulled her Shadow into a warm hug, smiling. "You won't mind, right? You're still me."

Chie didn't know how her other self was reacting to this, but given the returned hug, she knew she had done the right thing.

Indeed, it further came apparent when she was blinded by a blue light and her Shadow vanished from her arms. Chie was almost worried and frantic at the thought of losing her, standing up to try and find her. Almost immediately she saw her Shadow, transfigured as a Persona, standing gallantly in front of her. There was no tower of carbon slaves under her, and she stood tall and proud with thigh-high string boots. There was no whip or reins in her gloved hand, but a long, glowing, double-bladed naginata. Her body was covered in a yellow body suit with black lines trailing along her arms and chest to her groin, covered by her six-part chainmail skirt. Her arms, legs and abs showed considerable muscle under her suit, as did her modest-sized bosom. Her smooth black hair was now down to her mid-back without sentient tendrils, growing under her white horned mask with yellow eyes and full red lips seen through the visor. Above the visor were two small holes dotted on both sides, and the sides of the horn that topped her face sported tomoe symbols.

The image was fitting enough because that was her name: Tomoe Gouzen.

An instant later, the warrior Persona was whisked out of view and a floating card was in her place. Chie cupped her hands together to catch it, but it melded inside her upon contact. She felt a warm presence envelop her, almost as if her other self was hugging her again. The moment passed, and Chie felt the world spinning under her legs.

She would have slipped and fallen too, if not for Shirou and Yosuke catching her on either side. "Upsidaisy," the latter grinned, lifting her arm to drape on his shoulder. Shirou mimicked the action and helped her stand. She couldn't really feel her legs, and her head was splitting worse than when they all first fell into the TV days ago. But for the first time since that incident, she was content.

She turned to either of the guys, as well as Teddie who waddled over, and gave just as tired a smile. "Well, that wasn't so hard, eh?"

<><><>

TV Gate

It wasn't easy for anyone, but Yosuke convinced the group to fall back for the day. The last Shadow battle took a major toll on them, and no one was confident that they'd be able to take on Shadow Yukiko should the fight come to pass. It was disheartening though, that they had failed to make it past the first floor due to an untimely meeting with a trapdoor, and almost died a third time in a Shadow encounter.

Not that the journey wasn't fruitful; Teddie was able to guide them to the location. Shirou found a new Persona capable of healing. Yosuke made clumsy yet vital discoveries on his own abilities and the connection between Shadow hosts. And Chie finally had her own Persona to fight alongside the boys. In a way, they accomplished a lot, and it was enough for Yosuke to convince his stubborn classmates that Yukiko could be saved at a later date; mostly due to verified facts and backing from Teddie that she would be safe as long as it didn't rain too much in Inaba. The fact that Yamano and Konishi both disappeared and died within relatively small windows and a very rainy week was something none of the students wanted to dwell on.

"Okay, so we're all in agreement then?" Yosuke asked, just as the group arrived back at the TV stand. "We work together, no one goes in alone, and we come back as often as we're all open after school. Oh, and days off, too."

"Got it," said Shirou, supporting Chie on his own. The chestnut haired girl nodded as well, too drained from her Shadow to do much else. "

"So I guess you guys will be heading back now?" Teddie asked softly. The tone and body language made clear he wasn't looking forward to their departure again.

"Just about," said Yosuke. "There's one more thing I want to address."

With all attention on Yosuke, he exhaled a deep breath. He considered clicking through his MP3 for a song to calm his nerves, or at least fit the mood, but stopped himself from the reflex. "I like to think that we're getting the hang of this, but we only escaped death a few times through some magecraft stuff and no small amount of dumb luck. When you get down to it, we're just a couple of kids in way over our heads in another world with a talking bear. We're not going to half-ass this or try to blitz through on our own; that much we agreed on. But if we're going to solve this case, let alone save Amagi-san, we're going to need a leader to keep our heads in the game."

Letting the words sink in, he turned to the red-haired magus, and stared intently through his orange framed glasses. "Shirou, I want you to be our leader."

Yellow-gold eyes widened behind white framed glasses, disbelieving. "Me? But, we wouldn't even be back here if you hadn't figured out the connection between the TV and the murders. Shouldn't you be the leader?"

Yosuke shook his head. "Hey, just because I put two-and-two together the other day doesn't make me a leader. You're the brave, fearless fighter, and I'm the idea-making advisor guy. It's cool though; I don't mind playing second banana." He immediately winced, and noticed that Satonaka had twitched over Shirou's shoulder. "Erm…wrong choice of words."

Ignoring the all-too-soon reference to Shadow Chie, Shirou pursued the issue. "You're still better suited to this than I am. I'm just-"

"Where the hell have you been the last few days?" his friend cut in. He held out his hand, ready to raise a finger for each point he was about to make. "You're the one who took charge when the three of us tumbled into this weird world. You're the one who knows how to fight worth a damn. You're the one who gave orders and directions immediately after our Shadows broke off. You're the one who awakened your power first, and most of all, the only one who can make heads or tails of this magecraft stuff involved in the case. Plus the fact that you got your Persona without a Shadow, on top of that little fairy too, I say you're more than qualified."

More so than me, Yosuke bitterly thought, feeling a slight pang of jealously grow from his friend's heroism. He had to put it aside though and realize that they had to do this right, as they only had one shot. Not just for Amagi-san, but for everyone in Inaba, so that there would never be another Saki-senpai.

Chie, who had been quiet since leaving the castle, stirred herself out from Shirou's shoulder. A few moments of her relaxing in a standing position, she turned to him and smiled. "I think Hanamura's got the right idea," she said. "A leader is sort of like a hero, you know? You saved me… and Hanamura-"

"And me too!" Teddie chimed.

"-from ourselves, as corny as it sounds. I don't know, you just have this air around you that draws us in and trust you. I'd feel better about this case knowing that you're the one calling the shots."

"And my pillow will be a lot more comfortable too!"

The trio of students stared dubiously at the bear. It never occurred to them that Teddie needed to sleep before. "You have a pillow?" Shirou asked.

"Of course I do," Teddie explained. "I use it to help sleep every night, along with my blankey."

In Shirou's mind's eye, he saw Teddie sleeping on a pillow larger than him, tugging a blanket to his body in one paw, and sucking his thumb(?). He almost broke out into laughter of the ridiculousness of the mental image, and judging from the stifled giggles from his classmates, they thought along the same lines. As it was, he just smiled, but it was still a nice small relief from today's events. Still, a hero…

The pause in debate gave the magus time to think. He really wanted to argue against this position of leader, if only that he saw everyone in the group as equals. And again, there was the wary feeling of getting too personal with people around him. Just because he would allow Yosuke (and now Satonaka) to fight with him didn't mean he would exploit their feelings through Social Links.

But for each of their reasons, they were counting on him to make the decision. They trusted him enough to be their leader. It was an odd feeling, knowing their unconditional support in him in such a position. It was almost like being thanked for helping others. It gave the magus a thrilling sense of accomplishment.

So, looking between each of his comrade's glances, he shrugged in admission. If they were that willing, he couldn't say no. "Well… guess that makes me the leader."

Yosuke and Satonaka smiled, and Teddie could barely contain himself in a cheer and dance.

"All right, with that said," Yosuke started. "I hereby christen us the Investigation Team!"

"Whoopee!" the bear cheered.

Chie clutched her ears on reflex, cringing. "Teddie, could you lower your voice? My migraine's still killing me." Teddie frowned, but whether it was from being scolded or bothering her it wasn't clear.

Shirou himself didn't ponder much on it, for he started to feel the same sensation from yesterday, almost expecting it really. This time, there was a familiar card image that represented his Arcana.

Thou art thou, and thou art I.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Fool Arcana.

Shirou could already feel a stirring connection through this new trust between his classmates and the bear. This social link was entwined with not just him but each other, making a mutual web with the group. It was a peculiar link in that it was between friends instead of one on one, and he could tell everyone else felt a sense of camaraderie over the last week.

With everyone's help, I just might be able to save the world, after all.

<><><>

Samegawa Flood Plain - Evening

Once again, Emiya and Chie walked the road down to their houses, but without the bitter drizzle of rain to damper the already tense mood. It was a small blessing to them; both relieved to be alive and that Yukiko should be fine as well. Of course, they were both glad that their clothes returned to their normal state when passing through the TV (especially Chie), but not even Teddie knew the answer why.

The tension was not unlike the first time they walked together. Chie was more than willing to break the silence to try and get her friends to talk. But Yukiko wasn't here, and her crush on the new student was all but blabbed about in front of him. He had saved her, true, but there was a lingering doubt in her, almost like her Shadow was still haunting her.

But does he even like me?

Her brooding must have caught the magus' attention, for he addressed to her, "Are you alright, Satonaka?"

Hearing him call her by her family name just complicated things. While relieved to hear him still call her that, it only seemed to mock her. Chie wanted to pretend that none of this happened and that it didn't bother her, but wasn't that what had almost gotten her killed in the first place? What would happen if Tomoe reverted to that "dominatrix banana-head" Shadow again because she couldn't even make eye contact with Shirou Emiya? Part of the reason it flailed out was because she was afraid of losing Yukiko out of her own terms. What if she failed the chance with Emiya as well because of the unintentional confession?

One thing was for certain: Chie would never look at bananas the same way again.

"Sh-…Emiya," she said, not emotionally ready to cross the same border as Hanamura yet. "You heard my Shadow talk about my… feelings. Mostly about Yukiko and then, well, maybe, just a tiny bit of admission that made it sound like I mighta, sorta, kinda… like you."

The embarrassment was so much that her cheeks started to burn and her voice gradually broke down to a whisper. At least Emiya heard her, if his cheek-scratching finger was any indication. "Yeah."

"I realized that I, uh… that is, in the confusion of the fighting and how she almost k-ki-ki"

Emiya needed a moment to recall what she meant. "Kissed me?"

"That. Definitely that," she confirmed quickly, her face glowing a shade darker. He didn't have to put it so bluntly though… "S-so, what do you think?"

"About what?"

Chie stopped and stared at him like he had grown a second head. Great; she had to like the slow, oblivious type. She didn't know whether to be thankful or pissed, but she was leaning towards the latter if he was just ignoring what was obviously a traumatizing confession on her part. She almost considered dropping the topic, but she had to know something before moving on and focus on saving Yukiko.

So she stopped and turned fully towards him with a serious look in her eye. Emiya had stopped with her, curiosity and concern on his face. After several tense minutes, Chie murmured, "About… me." A pause, and then she forcibly added, "About me… lllllllikingyou."

The red haired magus blinked. Then his eyes widened and cheeks colored slightly. "Oh."

"Oh" was a start. Not a good one, but not a bad one either. Perhaps he wasn't entirely clueless about the fairer sex after all. Though shameful as it was, she couldn't help agree with her inner voice as it cried, "Oh thank god."

"Well," he started, sounding just as awkward as she felt. "I was surprised, to be honest. I mean, I heard all the reasons, but I still find it odd to warrant a crush. This has never actually happened to me before."

"A girl liking you?" Chie asked, sounding a little too hopeful.

"Not intimately, anyway," he nodded. "I know two people back at Fuyuki I see as the sisters I never had before. I would have assumed that it would take a bit longer for platonic affection to happen, or that I had done something to earn that admission consciously."

"But you're amazing!" she cut in. "You saved me-us-multiple times all week! You're a hero, and now our leader, and… and I'm just so confused. This isn't how I wanted to let you know at all." She then blushed and quickly added,"Not that I planned on revealing it so soon, if ever."

Another awkward moment passed, before he suggested, "Maybe we can start over?"

Chie tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"

"Well, if I recall," Emiya explained. "It was your Shadow that made the confession. She was a part of you, true, and you were able to accept and come to terms with why she attacked you. But you weren't in consensus with what she said. That's why it mutated and tried to kill you. I think the fact that she became a Persona is the first step in making a change and addressing your problems."

Awed by his insight, Chie nodded.

"So, until you're ever ready to address your crush again," he shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll just act like it never happened. Or at the very least, keep it to myself and not tell Yosuke or Teddie. I'd like for us to still be friends, though, and see where it goes from there."

Chie blinked and thought over what he said. Technically he brushed around the question and made an excuse. Shirou didn't say what he thought of her, but he acknowledged her unwillingness of the reveal. She was right; he didn't judge her before, and he wasn't now, not even with her crush.

Maybe he was just as unsure of his feelings right now as she was? If so, she could very much relate. Having more time to sort everything out was a generous gift in itself, and he wasn't letting down her trust in him. She couldn't but help to feel grateful for that.

"Thanks," she smiled warmly. "I'd really appreciate that, Emiya-kun."

Shirou nodded back, and the two of them resumed their walk back. As they parted ways to their house, he watched her walk back with a skip in her step, despite fatigue. He could only guess that, even though Amagi was still in captivity, she had a great deal of relief from both her Persona and their talk. The proof came to him in the form of a card forming through her budding trust in him, representing the Roman number "VII".

This card showed a red-armored Roman-esque knight in center, sitting above and between two black and yellow lions of similar design but opposite coloring. Other points of note were the yellow room in the black box with curtains behind or surrounding the knight, the red seat he was on, and the wheels behind each lion on either side. The more Shirou saw it, the more he realized it was a chariot rider facing the face of the card, and in turn, facing him. Almost ironic this happened when he was facing Satonaka's back as she was walking away.

Thou art thou, and thou art I.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Chariot Arcana.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 20: The Beginning of Everyday

Chapter 20

April 18th, Morning, Dojima Household

Dinner last night was tense to say the least. His uncle didn't say anything, but Shirou had the sinking suspicion that the incident at the station still shook him up. Dojima spent just as much time glancing back to Nanako as he did eating his food and staring at Shirou. The red-haired magus figured that if she wasn't in the room at the time, he would have had another stern discussion with him about Taiga's concerns.

I can't back out of this now though. Amagi-san's still in danger. But it's not like I'm breaking any of her promises, and I am hanging out more at Junes lately.

As Shirou finished straightening out his uniform and checking his bandages again, his cellphone started to ring. Thinking it to be Fuji-nee or one of his friends, he flipped it open on reflex and answered. "Hello?"

"Good morning. This is Margaret."

Whatever drowsiness was still in Shirou was sapped away by his caller's voice. "How did you get my number?" he asked, more bewildered than paranoid.

"Forgive me, but there was something important I forgot to mention during your last visit. You expressed discomfort at being pulled from your dreams before, so I thought contacting you by phone would be more appropriate."

He wanted to say he was surprised, but at this point he really wasn't. Igor and Margaret had already proved to be enigmas from the moment he met them, and if they could talk to him in his sleep, then using conventional means (no matter how taboo it was to other magi) wasn't that far off either. Conceding that fact to his unanswered question, he sat on the couch to relax himself. "What is it then?"

"I understand that you are using your power to help others. My master informed you that defeat in battle isn't your only concern, but I feel you were misinterpreting his words on one detail."

Shirou blinked. "Are you saying I shouldn't save Amagi-san?" The very idea was foreign to him, yet his father had stressed the fatalist nature of magic and advised against helping others. Mostly due to the fact that "saving someone means not saving everyone else," whatever that meant. If he had even a little power to save lives or make a difference (and he knew for sure that he did now, if Yosuke and Satonaka were proof enough), why shouldn't he use it?

"Far from it," said Margaret, dispelling his doubts on the matter. "It is indeed a noble goal and my master and I fully support it. However, we cannot help you to the full extent of your power if you just throw yourself into one battle after another. You need to balance the time devoted to your goals and time with in your social life."

"Again with the Social Links?" Shirou asked, suddenly irritated as he caught on her meaning. "I don't time for that! We don't have time for that! A girl is trapped in another world with a serial killer probably in waiting for the next news story to follow-up! And you're telling me I should work on my social life?!"

"I understand you're pressed for time," she reasoned. "But the power of one's heart can only go so far unless you master your virtues: the courage to face challenges in life, the knowledge of your limitations, the diligence to push forward, learning to understand others and the ability to freely express yourself. You may harness one or two of these virtues through independent work and studying, but only through interacting with others can you truly learn and appreciate their meaning. At least consider time off from fighting for your own sake: even Allies of Justice need to rest."

He bristled with a blush at her last comment: he could've sworn she had a teasing tone there too. He had no reason to distrust Margaret or her master other than the fact that he was really opposed to their ideas. He also didn't know for sure if they could give him more power, but they were the only likely source of help in this otherwise fool's errand of a murder case.

Shirou wanted to admit he wouldn't use Social Links and fight on his own terms, but he made a conscious decision accepting Yosuke's help and the position of team leader. Even Satonaka, when he just talked to her and offered a clean slate, had counted.

Shirou didn't notice her mannerisms at first, but just as Yosuke Hanamura reminded him of Shinji Matou, Chie Satonaka reminded him of Taiga Fujimura. Or at least, how a high-school aged Fuji-nee acted when Kiritsugu was still around. Not that she acted any less of a teen in her late twenties. The energy was there, as was the violent protective nature that would befall their loved ones. There was also the fierce appetite (or at least an allusion to it according to Yosuke), athletic form and even the short brown hair and brown eyes. She'd probably be a monster in kendo too if she were ever taught that. Hell, she might even be a relative, lost or distant, to the Fujimuras too.

Having been silent in thought from his side of the conversation, Margaret spoke up again, breaking his train of thought. "Do you understand, Shirou Emiya?"

He did, but he didn't like it. But they came to him in earnest goodwill to help when they could have just otherwise left him to fare on his own, with an advanced warning no less. The fact that they could be murderers never even crossed his mind; Igor and Margaret deserved the benefit of the doubt, and he saw no reason to stop using Social Links other than personal conflict. "All right, I'll try."

"That's all we can ask for," Margaret said in earnest. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"Wait a minute," Shirou spoke quickly, hoping she didn't hang up as he had no immediate way to contact her back. "There's something I wanted to ask you, since you're on the line."

"My master is more suited to whatever questions you may have, but I'll answer to the best of my ability."

"Fair enough. I was fighting Satonaka's Shadow when my second Persona, Pixie, was talking to me. She said something about a-…" He paused as he recalled the words, even though they still perplexed him. "…-'golden sheath' inside my body."

"'Golden sheath'?" the apprentice repeated. "You have no idea what that pertains to?"

"It was the first I've ever heard of it," Shirou shrugged. "Figment of imagination or not, Pixie's a fey and recognized whatever was inside me as something important."

Her end of the line was briefly silent. "I'll need to consult with my master on this, but it may take time. Admittedly, this isn't within our field of understanding."

"I just thought I'd ask. You two are the only magi I know for miles willing to help." His father had made it clear to keep his magecraft a secret; not just from his family and friends, but from the second owner of Fuyuki, who was more or less the magi representative keeping the status quo in check. He honestly didn't expect to run into magi or a murder mystery in his uncle and cousin's hometown, but was thankful of not going in totally blind.

That is, until Margaret dropped a bombshell. "When did either my master or I admit to being magi?"

What?

He opened his mouth to answer, almost ready to accuse or question, but closed it as he realized that they never did allude to the fact. Not that they tried deceiving him either. The master and apprentice just offered assistance on a silver platter and he believed they were similar to magi when all evidence pointed otherwise. He flushed in embarrassment, partly in his failure to think of a response and partly to the false observation he'd made. His silence was more of an answer than a fumbled one.

"Let this be a lesson to you on regards of searching for truth," the attendant spoke neutrally with only the faintest hint of annoyance. "Do not make assumptions on matters you think you know without consulting all known facts."

"I'm sorry, but I haven't had a magecraft teacher in years, so I couldn't even tell with my third-rate training. I don't know where else to get my facts."

"The library's always an option," she offered before cutting the line. "Good day."

<><><>

After School, Yasogami Front Gate

After the call, Shirou had a light breakfast with Nanako before leaving. On the floodplain path, he heard a couple of students on the walk over that the sports clubs were accepting applicants tomorrow. The girl that mentioned this was more talkative than her friend, and went off on a tangent between considering basketball or football to studying for midterms to finally a rumor about the town shrine being haunted. And Margaret says I need to concern myself with this?

By the school gates, everyone was talking about the missing Yukiko Amagi, whether it was about the murder case or seeing her on the Midnight Channel last weekend. A disheartened student was talking to his friends that he tried watching the channel last night but couldn't see anything, only to be teased and reminded that it wasn't raining.

That whole day, everyone hushed up and avoided Chie whenever she walked by. Considering what happened yesterday, Shirou and Yosuke were worried that she was ready to snap at someone like she did the cop, but she just acted like her usual self, insisting to the gossipers that asked her (and possibly herself) that Yukiko would be back before anyone knew it.

Meeting with the group just outside the school after the final bell, Shirou had to be the one that told her it couldn't be today.

"And why the hell not?!" she cried, breaking her façade at his denial. "Is this one of those sexist comments again?!"

Yosuke was equally livid. "If it is, I swear Shirou, I'm gonna smack your head again and I won't be gentle."

"It's not that," he groaned, not wanting to remember what happened at Daidara's. "I have work today and we still haven't recovered fully from the last fight. I'd rather get another day's rest before going back in again"

While Yosuke rubbed his chest guiltily where he had been stabbed and electrocuted, Chie huffed indignantly and childishly. "Look, you can afford to miss a few work days. You were both fine the day after fighting Hanamura's Shadow, and I'm as fit as ever and running at 100%! Really, nothing's wrong!"

"You almost dozed off during Morooka's lecture and had to ask me who Francis Bacon was when he called on you."

Chie bristled and flushed at the comeback. Yosuke just grinned. "I'm surprised you even slept through that. Guess even guys with food names can't interest you into studying."

"Sh-shut up! You're one to talk! You're even worse than me in class, staring off into space with your headphones on-"

"I'll share study notes with you two later," Shirou quickly interjected. "But Yosuke was right; we only have one shot at saving Amagi-san, so let's go in when we're certain and fully rested. For that reason, I suggest we take the day off and go back tomorrow or the next day."

His classmates exchanged glances. "Well, you're the leader," the other male student shrugged.

"Tomorrow," Chie insisted. "We're going tomorrow."

Satisfied, the trio walked towards the gate, before being intercepted by a loud "Head's up!"

Shirou saw it coming in an instant. A monochrome ball with hexagonal spots shot from behind, spinning so fast as a black-and-white blur. Judging by the trajectory was about to pelt Chie in the back of the head. Acting without thinking, he moved behind her and swung his arm down and hard like it was a hammer. He intercepted the round bullet and watched as it ricocheted to the ground and bounced away.

Caught unaware, Chie ducked and yelped "Aaaah!" thinking she was being attacked instead of protected.

Yosuke watched the whole thing play out beside him, particularly how red Shirou's hand turned after punching an association football, and how he just ignored it like it was nothing. In hindsight, he was probably resistant to pain after turning his body into a furnace for years on end. The more Yosuke played over the event, the more he felt awe and jealousy at his friend. How does he make it look so easy?

The threat averted, Shirou quickly knelt to his panicked classmate to help her back up, despite the blushing shyness on her part. Yosuke deftly and discreetly looked back to the school, spotting two students running towards them. One had dark blue hair and wore the school uniform traditionally, who looked otherwise ordinary aside from his lengthy limbs. The other had brown hair, brown eyes, and a blue gym uniform with the letters "Y H" on either side of the zipper line. He was much more easily distinguished with his choice of clothes and the small bandage over the bridge of his nose.

"A bit late in the warning, Daisuke," Yosuke smirked, picking up the ball and throwing it to them.

"Sorry," the brown-haired student smiled as he caught it. "Kou here gets just as excited in football as he does basketball."

"I was just trying to get you to go all out for once," the dark-haired student, Kou, quipped. "Since you were so eager to get started on soccer. Or whatever the Americans call it over there-" His bitter mood morphed into shock as he recognized the girl he had almost struck. "Oh crap! Chie-chan!?"

Helped up by Shirou's hand, Chie glanced over to the other student with blinking eyes. "Oh, Ichijo-kun, didn't see you there."

Kou stared at her with concern and fear, almost hesitant to reach over and apologize at the risk of being too forward. As it was, he eventually noticed the person who was holding her up; a student that he didn't recognize before. "Huh? Who are you?"

"Allow me to do the honors," Yosuke grinned, waving his hands out to the side like a show magician. "Shirou Emiya, meet Kou Ichijo and Daisuke Nagise, second year captains and star players of the basketball and American soccer teams respectively."

"Yo," the soccer player waved.

"N-nice to meet you," Ichijo nodded, staring at Shirou's hands on Chie's arm.

Without skipping a beat, Yosuke twirled and pointed dramatically to the red-head, while his other arm was open to them and inviting. "Kou and Daisuke, meet Shirou Emiya, second year transfer student all the way from Fuyuki City!"

"Likewise," Shirou nodded, following Ichijo's comment.

"That was some killer form you got there," Nagase grinned. "You play a sport before, like baseball?"

"I just train a lot," he vaguely answered. "Though I was on the archery team last year at Homurahara Academy."

This surprised everyone, including his friends who never heard him speak much of his home city. The soccer captain stroked his chin in contemplation.

"Archery, huh? Well, we don't have any bows and targets, but if you slack on your training, your metabolism rate will drop." Nagase's smirk turned feral, reminding Yosuke of a similar event last year, right down to the glint in his eye. "So join my club! With your archery hands and posture and my soccer speed and stamina, you'd be an unstoppable athlete!"

Ichijo's expression blanked and he whipped towards his friend in an incredulous rage. "Wa-wait a minute! Our basketball team is very low on numbers! And he'd get the same possible workout if he's dribbling a ball around the court! If anything Emiya should join the basketball team!"

"And I say it should be soccer!" Nagase quipped back.

Yosuke blinked as the two continued to bicker. "Whoa. Serious déjà vu here."

"This has happened before?" Shirou asked.

"Yeah, when they were trying to recruit me," Yosuke nodded. Then he angrily turned to Chie. "Of course, they were offering to help regulate my body heat as a means to avoid freezing myself after a certain somebody watched me slip and fall on my butt last Valentine's Day!"

Chie feigned innocence the only way she knew how: whistling, despite how annoyed or confused her teammates looked. Kou stopped arguing with Daisuke in a sudden epiphany, largely due to the words "Valentine's Day", and despite the fact the holiday was nearly a year away.

"Right, Chie-chan," he whispered to himself, and turned with a smile, having been trying to figure out a lead-in to talk to her since last year. He saw what was most obvious and went with it. "Say, where's Amagi-san?"

He would have kicked himself if he could, seeing Chie's animated face suddenly turn sober. Yosuke and Emiya looked tense as well. "She's just… on an extended break from work. She'll be back soon."

"Really?" Nagase blinked. "I could've sworn I heard rumors that she ran away as a princess and thinks the killer to be her prince charming or some-"

"Yukiko isn't like that, dammit!" Chie bellowed.

"Okay, okay!" Nagase relented. "It's just a rumor I heard, geez…"

Honestly, Kou was surprised himself; Chie had reacted pretty violently to Daisuke, and Yosuke and Emiya had the workings of a frown themselves. He didn't know what to think about Emiya since he just met him, but his old classmates, particularly Chie, took him by surprise. How much had they changed since last year?

"Okay, I believe you," Kou interjected. "It's just I was worried, you know? You're almost never without Amagi-san and imagining her gone…" What he had meant was imagining Yukiko Amagi gone would break Chie Satonaka's spirit, and the cute tomboy he had gained feeling for would be gone. Unfortunately, the context had an entirely different meaning, due to increasing rumors and old habits.

Chie's eyes hardened again as she made her own conclusion. "Well I'll be sure to wait patiently for entry #38 of 'The Princess Amagi Challenge'."

"What?" Kou blinked, before realizing his blunder. "Wait, NO! No, Chie-chan, it's not-!"

"See you guys tomorrow," she said bluntly as she turned and left school grounds with a little stomp in her step.

Kou could only stare wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the departing girl, with only the company of not-so sympathetic guys staring back at him. Eventually he slapped his face with the palm of his hand, wanting to hide his shame. "God damn it."

Yosuke couldn't help but to make a jab. "Was that what basketball players would call a 'flop' or a 'prayer'?"

Shirou's frown grew. "Yosuke-"

"Just asking," his friend quickly shrugged.

"He's kinda right, you know," said Nagase. "You messed up big time."

Kou removed his hand to glare at the soccer player. "Shut up! You could have helped me out there, Daisuke!"

"You're on your own with girls, man," his friend frowned.

"Ichijo?" Calling his family name was the red-haired teen, who stepped up to him tentatively. "Satonaka is just very stressed and worried about her friend. She has other… priorities at the moment and will likely be focused on them for the next few weeks."

"Besides," Yosuke added. "I think the last thing Satonaka needs is a boyfriend."

Kou's reaction was understandable; a blush of having been so exposed through his blunder. Shirou, however, just turned back to his friend with innocent confusion. "Boyfriend?"

Yosuke's confusion was mirrored. "Wh-are you serious?! Kou just went out of his way to talk to her and would've probably in some roundabout way asked to hang out until Amagi-san came back! It was so frigging obvious!"

"It was?" both Kou and Shirou asked; the former in a defeated tone, the latter in a perplexed one.

The headphone-wearing student could only gawk and blink incredulously at his friend's cluelessness until it hit him; the guy was oblivious to the opposite sex. Like, shonen hero level. Suddenly the phone number exchange at Junes made a lot more sense. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the cruel irony so he did the next best thing. "Idiot," he groaned after palming his face.

Shirou's confusion, however, was short-lived to the situation regarding Satonaka. "Listen," he tried again with Ichijo. "I know for a fact that Amagi-san will be all right. Call it a hunch. When that does happen, I'm sure Satonaka will feel better, and I can put in a good word for you to her."

The other male students were surprised by this, but none more so than Kou. "Y-you really mean that?"

The red-haired teen nodded. "You care about Satonaka a lot, so I figure she deserves to know that and it was just a misunderstanding. It's the least I can do."

Kou's mood brightened considerably. He'd had some doubts about Emiya, but just like Yosuke, he was no less a helpful, swell guy. "Thanks, Emiya!" he smiled and shook his hand enthusiastically. "I don't how to repay you! Well, except maybe a guaranteed spot in the basketball team, whaddya say?"

"Didn't you just say you were low on members?" Daisuke said, but was ignored.

Shirou recalled that Mitsuzuri encouraged him to join a team at Yasogami so he wouldn't "waste potential", and that Margaret encouraged him to do more outside of fighting. But he couldn't handle the commitment of a sports team. That would mean more time making arrangements to their schedule and less time solving the case. However, if their schedule was doable alongside going to Junes and MOEL… "What times do you meet?"

"Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday," Kou smiled. "Starting tomorrow, and not on rainy days or finals week."

"Same goes for soccer too," Daisuke offered.

…no way it was going to happen then. "Sorry, wouldn't have the time," Shirou answered honestly.

"That's a shame," Daisuke frowned. "Still, the offer's open year 'round if you change your mind."

"I'll consider it," Shirou answered as he waved bye and left the gate. Yosuke followed him, but had been staring at him with a flat gaze ever since his offer to Kou.

The odd thing was that he could almost tell that Yosuke was… disappointed in him, for some reason.

"FYI, he's disappointed in you."

"What?" Shirou blurted out; he hadn't expected to hear Pixie's voice again so soon.

"You sure were nice to Kou, back there," Yosuke said, assuming the "What?" was directed to him. His tone betrayed not for or against the notion, though, just an observation.

"Well, he left a bad impression," Shirou shrugged, ignoring Pixie for now. "I'm sure he means well, and would make a nice boyfriend for Satonaka."

"Kou's a great guy, don't get me wrong. But if they were gonna date, he would have acted on it last year."

"Like you and Konishi-senpai?" Shirou quipped before he could stop himself.

"Bad move."

Pixie's observation rang true at Yosuke's pained flinch, but he recovered. "Point taken. But shouldn't you consider other people's feelings before making promises like that?"

The magus raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

His friend then smacked his head dramatically. "Riiiiight, oblivious to the nth degree, completely forgot about that!" The mock humor was completely gone as quickly as it came, and Yosuke was now staring hard at Shirou with a hint of anger. "Look, I don't have the time or patience to fully go over the Birds and the Bees with you today, so I'll keep this short: you obviously have Kou's best interests at heart, but after that little stunt, I'm starting to wonder if you even care about Satonaka."

"Of course I care!" he snapped, glad that there was no one else around. "I saved her! We saved her! We're fighting the Shadows to save Amagi-san as well and prevent anyone else from ending up like Yamano-san and Konishi-senpai! How can you even accuse me of that?!"

But Yosuke wasn't moved; he just shook his head with a bored, dull glare. "You really don't get it, do you?" He was starting to feel sorry for Satonaka right now. "Forget it. We'll continue this another time."

The magus could only stare dumbly as his friend stormed off, wondering what he had done to upset him.

"Well, that could have gone better."

"Be quiet," Shirou snapped to the fey inside his head. He knew he was right anyway. Satonaka wanted to have care and affection from others, and her Shadow lashed out to the (seemingly) only two people that do. If Ichijo could prove that fact otherwise, it would be all the better for her esteem.

Besides, she deserves better.

<><><>

MOEL Gas Station

"Don't stand too close to this truck, now," Nami smiled. "Or else you'll get run over."

Shirou, filling up the parked truck with gas, stopped and looked up when Nami spoke. Looking around, he saw his on-break colleague talking to a young, black haired girl wearing a pink sweater standing on the sidewalk just parallel to the gas station, staring at the parked truck. Nami himself was close to the building, claiming to be not a morning or sunny person. He joked about the sun being harmful ("The light! IT BURNS!"), before laughing it off and continuing work. Apparently he favored rain and foggy weather over sunshine, but Shirou never got around to asking why yet.

"I've decided," the girl said simply. "That I won't go home until the third truck enters and leaves this gas station."

Despite himself, Shirou was surprised and concerned. "Why won't you go home?" he asked.

"Because I decided that," she answered stoically. "I won't go home until the third truck enters and leaves." She turned her gaze to the truck in question. "Trucks don't come around often either."
It made the magus uncomfortable to hear her passive refusal, but Nami pressed the issue at hand. "You're free to stay here, but only as close as the sidewalk. Like I said, you wouldn't want to get run over by this truck here."

The spacey girl turned blankly to each attendant and the pick-up truck in question. After a moment of contemplation, she walked away and sat by the sidewalk facing the road.

It was at this point that a boy wearing a green sweater was walking down the street from the direction of the shrine. In his hand were a few bags from the Shiroku Store, and he muttered under his breath along the lines of "stupid sister" and "no money". Just was he was walking by the gas station, he noticed the girl sitting in front of it and stopped.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm waiting for three trucks to enter and leave MOEL," she said. "I've decided that I won't go home until then."

The boy looked confused. "Why three trucks?"

"Because I decided that," she said, before mumbling softly to herself, "I won't go back."

Shirou was growing more concerned about the girl's situation, but didn't know even how to begin to help her through this problem. Was it something serious?

The boy looked at both ends of the street, seeing the usual lack of traffic. He then looked at his bag, face scrunched in internal thought. "Can I wait with you?"

The girl turned to him in surprise. Shirou and Nami also raised their eyebrows at his offer, though the children didn't notice. "Why?"

"You look lonely," the boy explained, sitting beside her. "I got nothing better to do than run errands for my sister, and I can't even get paid for work yet. So, I'll keep you company."

"Trucks don't often come by," the girl said. "The next two might take a while."

"I don't mind," the boy said, and the two of them stared ahead in silence. The boy broke it quickly enough with a smile to the girl. "By the way, my name's Hiraku. What's your name?"

"…Haruka."

Shirou allowed himself a smile at the scene. It was nice to know he wasn't the only one who would help others, even in small gestures.

"Ah, kids," Nami grinned whimsically. "So young and idealistic in believing the whole world is ahead of them with their simple choices. It's cute in a way… but also sad."

"What do you mean?" asked Shirou, eyes torn away from Hiraku and Haruka.

"The human life is so fleeting that there can only be so many people to know and interact with within a lifetime. Yet so many of them constantly wish to know more, want more material things, and compare themselves to others just for self-validation. Children are innocent to this, but they almost always grow up as blind as their parents or suppressed by the masses of popular opinion."

"You don't know that," the magus argued. He honestly couldn't picture Nanako growing to be as jaded as Nami insisted, even if she was forced to mature.

The gas attendant turned to him with a sad, knowing smile. "I've been around for a long time, Shirou-chan. I've seen a lot of kids grow bitter at adolescence when they realize this one truth: that the world is unforgiving."

"Surely there are some of them that don't follow that norm, and stay hopeful?"

"Granted," he admitted. "But that would be a minority, and even then they would relapse sooner or later."

"Maybe they just need to hope again. More Allies of Justice… or heroes."

Nami chuckled at Shirou's weak proclamation. The tone was more amused than mocking, but his laugh did little to alleviate his colleague's blush. "Again you admit that. You still seem to cling to that childish naivety, but you sound so serious-"

"That's because I am," Shirou cut in, in spite of himself. Just because he didn't admit his dream enough didn't make his goal less desirable. He would always work to being the hero his father wanted to be but couldn't.

The proclamation gave the attendant surprise. "So you truly mean to save the world? It is a big place you know; much larger than humble Inaba. What makes you think you, a single person, can handle the responsibility of all the lives around you, good or bad?"

Shirou frowned, unintentionally thinking back to a bad memory of a burning Fuyuki City, followed by the night Kiritsugu died. "I was told that to save one person means to not save another. That just never sat right with me, and I want to prove that theory wrong by saving people without compromises."

Nami sighed. "Such a naïve reason for a naïve wish," he lamented. "Still, perhaps I can be a bit hopeful of the world too if our serial murderer is caught by the end of the year."

"I'll hold you to that," Shirou smiled, discreetly admitting he'll find the killer. He considered the matter closed as he walked over to the next car that pulled in, but Nami, after a fleeting moment of thought, stopped him.

"Say, Shirou-chan?" he called out. "Have you ever heard of a talking board?"

Shirou blinked, not expecting such a question. "It's claimed to be a divination tool, right?" he asked cautiously. While Igor wasn't a magus, Tarot cards were just as supernatural to be used by magi for mediums and mystic codes.

"Yeah," Nami confirmed. "They used to sell a few of those at the toy store here; before Junes anyway. Kids liked playing with them thinking they could communicate with spirits, because it requires such a deft touch and, once again, a little belief."

"Well, I don't have one if that's what you're asking," Shirou said.

"No, I wasn't. I was actually leading up to a new rumor I heard about the Midnight Channel." Shirou's eyes widened under the brim of his MOEL cap, but he politely kept quiet to let Nami finish.

"See, people have said they saw some of the girls on the Midnight Channel before they went missing; Saki Konishi and Yukiko Amagi specifically. Doesn't make much sense that we would see their shadow, however unclear it is, and not the real thing, right? But considering that the channel works under already supernatural circumstances, why can't it be that the channel is just a giant talking board, and everyone that watches it is spiritually aligning it to ask 'Who is my soul mate'?"

Shirou knew this was important; Nami had been the first one to tell him about the Midnight Channel, and seemed knowledgeable enough about the rumor mill to know when to keep his ear to the ground. But as much as this sounded like a revelation to the case- "I'm not sure if I'm following you," he honestly stated.

Nami sighed before speaking again. "Well, how a talking board works is when two or more people put their hands on a planchette, move it around in circles and then ask a yes or no question. If this doesn't work, they circle around again to warm it up. The planchette moves over the yes or no or even the letters to answer the question given. For the latter, the letters spell out a name or word. There're a lot of rumors, even outside of Inaba, that claim that talking boards are cursed with spirits, but I firmly believe that the subconscious is involved.

"Say you want to ask the board 'Who loves me?' You might think of the girl you want to love you and your fingers subtly move the planchette towards the letters to spell her name. This might not even be because of your crush on her, but because you hear her name and you want to know her better. The same principle applies for the Midnight Channel. People want to know their soul mate and are all subconsciously thinking to Mayumi Yamano, Saki Konishi, or Yukiko Amagi. And because so many people have their subconscious towards the same person at the time of each showing, the picture gets clearer as they all edge to the same image. You follow me now?"

Dumbly, Shirou nodded. The way Nami explained it made so much sense. Never mind how he heard such a rumor, but the fact that the criminal magus would make a universal channel that allowed anyone who watches it make their own image a reality was simply mind-boggling. Then again, I can't be sure if there really is a magus involved.

The duo continued working in silence after the discussion, until Shirou had to leave. The magus would continue rolling Nami's theory in his mind until he had to go to bed.

<><><>

April 19th, After School, Yukiko's Castle, First Floor

"2days teh day 2 save yukiko. c u @ junes aftr skool."

That was the text that Chie sent to both boys of the group. For Shirou, he couldn't begin to read what she said, but Yosuke translated for him. Whether she wanted to remind them or stress the fact of going to the Castle again, the group was in consensus to jump in, but not before passing by a friendly Daisuke and awkward Kou about sports clubs starting today.

A quick regroup at the food court, trek to the big TV and a one-sided happy reunion with Teddie later, the group made it back to the castle for round two.

"Not that I don't think we should hurry on to find Yukiko as soon as possible," Chie began as they reached the front garden. "But I still don't know how to summon my Persona."

"Me neither," Yosuke grimaced. "I mean, what happened with your Shadow? I think that was a one-time thing. I'm surprised Jiraiya didn't fizzle out when I got zapped like that, because if he did, I don't think I could have summoned him again."

"And that's why Shirou-sensei is a natural fighter!" Teddie beamed, ignoring cross looks from the others. "Mind sharing your fruits of knowledge, Shirou-sensei?"

The magus shrugged. "I just… knew I guess. But I suppose I had the benefit of knowing Structural Analysis and using it to understand the layout of my body from time to time."

At the other's confused blinks, Shirou explained further. "Structural Analysis is a spell that allows me to understand an object in detail. Composition, structure, condition, even the history of the object is scanned to the smallest detail. Or at least it can be, depending on how well versed the magi in question is. Though until recently, it was the only spell I could do on a regular basis and couldn't do much else with it."

"That sounds pretty handy, actually," Yosuke smirked. It would be like having a scouter to read power levels off the scale… or possibly a way to know any girl's measurements.

"What about the other thing you did?" Teddie asked. "The 'reinforcement', was it?"

Shirou nodded. "It works exactly as expected in the name. Through prana, I can harness any sort of aspect of the material as needed to make it stronger, harder, and even without changing its form. But there's still a limit to how much change an already established object can take."

"So, it's like trying to add ice into the drink without having it spill over the cup?" Yosuke offered.

"Something like that."

Chie knew this was distracting further from the original intent of the discussion (finding out how to summon Personas) but she was just as interested as the others in what their leader can do. "Anything else?"

Shirou shook his head. "No, that's about it."

The others were shocked and surprised. "Seriously?" asked Yosuke. "I would have expected something more from magi, like… fireballs or lightning or even disintegration beams."

"I told you, I'm a third-rate magus," he stressed. "In theory I know only one other skill, and that's only because it's a higher form of Reinforcement. Not only have I failed to get it right, but it's actually kind of useless."

Teddie tilted his head/body to one side and scratched the other side of his face in confusion. "Useless?"

"Projection magecraft is where the caster uses their prana to create an image and give it shape and form. It's simple in concept, but the created objects are usually hollow compared to the original thing. The image also tends to break down, though a more creative and clearer design by the caster means it'll last longer.

"Magi actually find this technique impractical. Unless they need an item for immediate use like ritual offerings, it's better in the long run to create the item through natural means. An object created from thin air is going to fade away as soon as you make it. It's one of the reasons why magi sometimes call it 'Gradation Air'."

Teddie, for some reason, looked horrified at the end of his explanation. Chie and Yosuke exchanged disbelieving gazes at their own silent questions. Then, Chie blinked and removed her glasses.

"Wait a minute," she said, holding them out in front of her. "When Teddie made these glasses the other day… didn't you say 'Projection magecraft'?"

Shirou had nearly forgotten about them, so he was just as surprised as Yosuke as she came to that conclusion. "I'm… not sure," he admitted. "It has similarities to the craft, but that would mean Teddie's-"

"I knew it," the bear spoke; his voice deeply depressed. "I really am useless."

"What?" Yosuke gawked. "Teddie, no, no one said that!"

"Shirou-sensei just did," he weakly argued, trotting away a few steps. "I don't know who I am, I can't fight, and what I have is useless. What good is making stuff if they just go 'poof' later? My nose is nowhere near as good as his Structure scanning, and I can't even make reinforced stuff! What good is a bear like me here?"

Chie, sensing a breakdown coming, knelt down with Teddie to calm him down. Shirou just watched the scene unfold, wondering where it went wrong. Surprisingly to the red-head, he felt the familiar sensation of a palm smack at the backside of his head. And Yosuke, once again, had a sour expression on his face. "Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a thing?"

"Only if you continue acting like a dope," his friend whispered back.

"How was I supposed to know Teddie would get his feelings hurt when I was criticizing my skill set?" Shirou retorted, rubbing the back of his head.

"It doesn't matter whether you're self-depreciative or obliviously insensitive!" Yosuke snapped back with an accusing finger. "You're our leader now, dammit! And a leader is supposed to inspire confidence, not undermine it!"

The magus flinched. A leader was to inspire confidence? He never had to do so before, let alone learned how. But everyone would be looking up to help not just in helping others but setting an example. Do allies of justice even need to learn this?

"Cheer up, Teddie," Chie cooed the bear. "Emiya-kun didn't mean it. He was just being stupid."

The bear sniffed and turned to her. "R-really?"

"Really. I mean, I don't know anything about magecraft other than what he's told us, but your glasses are great! We were stumbling around like idiots the first time over before you showed up, and now our heads don't feel like they're splitting open because of the fog."

"Your nose is pretty helpful too," Yosuke added. "You led us to Saki-senpai's place and this castle where Amagi was. We'd probably never have a snowball's chance in hell finding Amagi-san, let alone saving her, if we didn't run into you."

The mascot bear beamed a little more from the praise. Shirou decided if there was a time to add and make amends, it was now. "Teddie, I'm sorry for what I said. But it's true that Projection magecraft is seen as pretty useless."

"Shirou!" Yosuke scolded, as Chie glared and Teddie frowned.

"On the contrary," he quickly added. "What you do is vastly superior."

Startled, confused blinks were his response. Shirou smiled and fiddled with the side of his fog glasses. "Any other projection attempt would have broken down by now, but these have stayed stable for over two days now, even when outside of the confines of your world. I'm not sure whether nor not your other creations did indeed go poof, but I think these glasses are a testament to how vital they are to the murder case.

"You may not have the same powers as us, or are able to fight, but that doesn't make you any less valuable. Please don't think otherwise."

Chie gave a small smile. "Emiya-kun…"

"Now that's more like it," Yosuke grinned.

Teddie simply bawled up in tears. He had been crushed to hear of his skills seemingly brushed aside as useless, but his own sensei was convincing him otherwise, and Yosuke and Chie-chan were just as supportive. It was so good to have friends, to have people to trust. It took all his willpower to not jump from his seat and tackle him to with a body hug. "S-shirou-sensei! Everyone…!"

"In fact," said Shirou with a growing smile. "I think because of you, I have an idea how to explain summoning our Personas."

"Whoa, seriously?" asked Yosuke.

"I haven't perfected Projection myself, but I've been teaching myself how through a step-by-step process. I believe only the first three are necessary for this."

Hardly containing their excitement, Chie and Yosuke gathered around in a circle in front of their leader, who first instructed them to keep calm and close their eyes. "Now, the first step: Judging the concept of creation. You both saw your Personas and the cards they came from. Imagine again in your mind's eye what they look like." Yosuke and Chie did so.

"The second step: Hypothesize the basic structure. They represent your bodies, even as an external spirit, and should feel just like yourselves."

"Can you make that sound more sensible to us non-magi guys?" Yosuke quipped with a peeking eye.

"Shut up, Hanamura," Chie quipped back, trying hard to focus on Shirou's voice.

"Now the third step: duplicating the material, or in this case, grabbing it from within. Because once the image of your Persona is there, it answers the call. And once it does…"

The Izanagi card fluttered before him, emitting a soft blue light as it spun. No sooner had that happened, two other cards appeared before his classmates.

"You did it!" Teddie cheered.

"Wow," Chie breathed, cupping the card in her hands again. It was only a day ago, but the light and warmth of her Persona was just as welcoming… and it was still a surprise to her that it came from something so dark and repulsive inside her. I have to make sure I never lose this glow…

Yosuke was in awe of his summoning as well, but a thought struck him and he started looking over his hands and body in worry. "This isn't a dream, is it? I haven't passed out turning part furnace, right?"

"You're fine, Yosuke," Shirou grinned. "Now, who's ready to save Amagi-san?"

<><><>

Yukiko's Castle, Fifth Floor

Shirou should have gotten used to the unexpected surprises since his visit to Inaba. The murder cases, the on-and-off dreams, the Midnight Channel, the Yasogami teaching staff, Teddie, and killer Shadows from suppressed selves. There was also Igor and Margaret, but that was before the latter dismissed the magi claim.

And the Personas were just another thing entirely. He resolved to do as much research on the matter as soon as possible after Yukiko was rescued. Not because of his classmates having Shadows representing caricatures of their flaws. Not because of his Wild Card ability having two or more Personas at once. It's not even because each Persona he's seen is as colorful and different like from the ball-monster collecting franchise.

No, the reason being, after Shadow Yukiko left them a giant chevalier-styled Shadow to distract them, and he somehow succeeded in grasping the Persona card light in its remains… he is seriously questioning what constitutes as a Persona.

The new Persona, a red armored knight holding his lance in the air and mounted on a large brown steed, bellowed a cry as he was made visible to everyone. "Hear my name! For I am Eligor of King Solomon's Ars Goetia! I bid you greetings, summoner! To whom does this Duke of Hell owe his service?"

Shirou could only blink dumbly at the towering knight and ask the most sensible question at the moment. "…what?"

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 21: Shadow of the Caged Self
<><><>

April 20th, Daidara Metalworks, After School
A lot had happened during the second trek through Yukiko's Castle yesterday, Shirou reflected. Despite the fear of facing Yukiko's Shadow, the group had decided to abandon stealth and fight their way through any other Shadow in their way as a form of training with their awakened powers. Yosuke's initial trouble in summoning his Persona nearly got him killed if simply having access to one didn't make him so much faster.

Much to the group's surprise, many Shadows left bits of themselves behind when they dissolved, usually bits of teeth or strips of the strange materials that made up their combat forms. Shirou collected the spoils to figure out what to do with them later. Even a third-rate magus like himself could appreciate finding obviously magical materials for possible use… not that he had any skills in processing them.

Odd as those bits were, there were stranger things in the castle. Yosuke, being a casual gamer, was at first excited of finding golden treasure chests in a few of the castle's side rooms, all but vaulting for them and expecting new weapons or valuable gems. While the contents invariably disappointed Yosuke, they weren't a total loss either. Rather than riches, they tended to be random odds and ends that you could find at Shiroku's General Store in the Shopping District. Some of them were useful and practical, like the pain medicine and bandages, while others, such as the firecrackers and peach seeds earned a few raised eyebrows. Among all the treasures they found though, Teddie insisted that the almost glowing purple-blue hard candy "Soul Drops" were rare and very useful, though he wasn't clear on precisely how aside from them being "invigorating."

The further up the castle they climbed, the more they heard voices echoing through the halls. Most of them were the gibbering nonsense of the agitated Shadows, but there were times where Yukiko's voice was loud and clear in their ears. The Shadow claimed to be "waiting for her prince" on one floor, while another had her politely greeting someone visiting the Amagi Inn. No one took the time to debate or question these voices and focused more on searching every part of the castle for Yukiko.

And just when they thought they had finally caught up to Shadow Yukiko, they ran into a Shadow shaped like a hollow suit of armor riding the barding of an invisible horse. It was stronger than all of the other Shadows in the castle they had fought to that point, but was fortunately weaker than Shadow Yosuke or Shadow Chie.

This of course led to Eligor. Unlike Shirou, neither Satonaka nor Yosuke knew anything about the Ars Goetia, so hearing the transfigured knight introduce himself as a "duke of Hell" had certainly set them all on edge. When the Chariot Arcana spirit had easily joined with Shirou, it cast some uncomfortable possibilities on what their Personas might really be.

At least they had found the glass key needed to reach the next flight of stairs from the Shadow's remains.

The Shadow might have been defeated and progress made, but the quartet was absolutely exhausted by all of the running and fighting up to that point. Frankly, Shirou was amazed at how long they lasted before having to turn back. Real fights were extremely draining on top of exploring the maze-like interior of the castle, but it took over a dozen fights to the death to slow them down even a little.

Just as the group was about to trudge their way down through the five floors once again, Teddie surprised them all again with his ingenuity. The bear was amazing when he put his mind to it; pulling out what looked to be a small diorama of a house from…somewhere, it called the group around and dropped it to the floor, shattering it in the middle of them all. There was a flash of light, and then they were standing on the road leading up the castle's gates. Outside.

Initial gawking aside, Shirou made sure to be the first among his friends to praise the bear; it needed every bit of self-esteem he could get. Besides, even if it was limited to simply taking them back to the red and black door at the castle's entrance, it was still an incredible feat of magecraft to move them all safely. If Teddie ever figured out how exactly he pulled off half of the Projections he did, Shirou would be first in line to take notes.

That was for later, though. Exhaustion had the group reluctantly agreeing to take today off to recover their strength before they dove back in to hopefully finish the job and get Yukiko safely home. As eager as they were to find her, it would do her no good if her would-be rescuers ended up dead before even reaching her. Even a good night's rest was not enough for the worst of their wounds to scab over, even with the reduction that came from leaving the TV World.

Chie left for home as soon as school got out and Yosuke decided to follow Shirou after hearing he was heading to the Metalworks after grabbing a bag from his house. Meeting the redhead at the shop, Yosuke shrugged off his jacket and visibly cringed at the shop's heat as they stepped in. Even if the early spring weather was clear and warm over the last few days, it was nothing compared to the dry heat of Daidara's burning forge.

"You're back," the scarred blacksmith grunted when he saw the two teens. "Want anything new?"

"You said you wanted materials for inspiration, correct?" Shirou asked. Without waiting for an answer, he unslung the Junes-brand bag and displayed the contents. Seeing the bits of Shadows that Shirou had salvaged from the TV World so openly in this world nearly made Yosuke lose his balance; how the hell was he going to explain having broken teeth that big, let alone the more bizarre materials?

"Shirou, what the heck are you-?" Yosuke started to protest before he saw the look on Daidara's face. There was a gleam there now in the blacksmith's eye, as he gazed hungrily at the seemingly random mess of objects.

"Where'd you get all this?!" Daidara demanded, never taking his eyes off of the bag.

"I have my ways," Shirou answered with a half-shrug. "I take it you want them?"

The blacksmith stood upright, nodding once. "I do, boy. I've been looking for something new, and I think I just found it. Come back in… a week. I'll have something for you and your friends by then."

Now, Yosuke was no expert in forging, but that seemed crazy even to him. Shirou's reaction only confirmed it. "A week, Daidara-san? I don't doubt your skills, but I thought forging weapons or armor took longer."

The muscled man let out a short bark of laughter, "I have my ways, kid! One week!"

With that, Daidara heaved the bag up and almost ran to the back room with the forge, the gleam of inspiration in his eye even brighter than earlier and an almost manic grin on his lips.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Yosuke said after a few moments of silence. "I was expecting him to push you more for details."

"Daidara-san did say he needed material. Maybe showing him something new was enough to get him to overlook it," Shirou shrugged. "And it would have been a waste not to use them." Though, depending on what was made from all of that scrap, he might need to confront Daidara about his profession. There was no way an ordinary blacksmith/metalworker could forge high-quality weapons and armor in a week.

But a magus might.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Yosuke draping an arm over his shoulder. "Well, since we have nothing else better to do, how about that beef steak I promised you?"

<><><>

Souzai Daigaku
The food stand that Yosuke led Shirou to was small and nestled between two closed buildings. Somehow, despite larger stores dwindling down to bankruptcy around it, Souzai Daigaku managed to stay afloat with but a single clerk in the back managing the grill. There was only one table made from a simple plank of wood on some crates and a few chairs set up for customers to sit and eat; the majority ordered their food to go from here.

Shirou quickly discovered the reason why this food stand's business was still booming. It was nearly unorthodox to stick pieces of steak in croquettes, but each piece was well seasoned and thick in fat. It might as well be eating well cooked beef already cut for the buyer. Sure it was a little tough in places, but the flavor was superb even then.

"What'd I tell ya?" Yosuke smiled from across the table. "These croquettes are as delicious as they are weird. Tough to chew, maybe, but still."

Shirou licked his lips at the third chunk. "Indeed, their meat is very tender." He would have to remember to ask the clerk where her meat comes from. Cooking for a certain ravenous tiger had instilled in him an appreciation for high-quality ingredients, especially when making meat dishes.

"Man, you almost sound like Satonaka," Yosuke chuckled. "But you seem to eat yours just as fast as she does. What kind of teeth do you two have?"

"A martial artist's, I'd assume."

"Excuse me?"

"If we can't hope to even digest our breakfast, we'd shame our disciplines."

"That's kinda deep. Too bad your friend has no idea what you're talking about, let alone me."
Shirou ignored Pixie's quip and Yosuke's owlish blink, resuming his meal. The breading was still a little greasy in his opinion, but such was the price for a quick meal versus his usual standards.

Yosuke shifted in his seat and opened his mouth to say something when two women spoke up from a short distance away, just loud enough for the boys to hear.

"Say, isn't that the Junes boy?"

"I believe he's classmates with Sato-san's son."

"The poor thing; I heard they went out of business last week."

The two continued their walk as if Yosuke hadn't heard that tidbit of information. He stared at their retreated backs with a blank gaze and clenched fists before turning back to Shirou. "Sorry 'bout that. I'm kinda infamous around here."

"He looks bored, but what those women said really got to him." Now that Shirou looked with Pixie's words in mind, he could see the way he slumped slightly more in his chair before forcing himself back into his usual carefree posture.

"It must be tough," Shirou said neutrally, hoping to steer the conversation away from them.

"Eh, not really," Yosuke shrugged. "It's my parents that get the brunt of it. I'm not that involved with the 'Junes Invasion' other than being another employee, but everyone knows my name and face. Not that I mind, but it sucks having to keep a lid on all the time, ya know?"

"I can imagine," Shirou nodded, feeling he should say something to take the focus off of the subject. "I used to get into a lot of trouble fighting bullies growing up."

"Whoa, really?" Yosuke never would have thought Shirou to be the kind of guy to-…well, okay, after what he saw in the TV world he could believe that. But as a kid? That part was a bit of a stretch. "How old were you at the time?"

"Eleven or so. It just wasn't in me to stand by doing nothing, so I couldn't ignore them as well as you did right now." He chuckled a bit at the memories of trying to stare down his dad after coming home covered in bruises and bandages back then.

"Well, picking a fight with some gossiping women is a lot less cool than with bullies." And that was the end of it. Yosuke was already smiling again and putting the matter behind him. Having someone to confide in had taken some of the weight off Yosuke's shoulders.

I think I understand him a bit better now. Shirou couldn't help but smile.

"Da-dadada-DAAAAAAAAAA!"

As soon as Pixie sang, Shirou felt something tug from the theoretical line between himself and Yosuke, causing him to freeze mid-bite for half a second. The bond between them felt a little thicker and stronger, built up from their short heart-to-heart.

Yosuke seemed more bothered than Shirou at the recent development, and started to pad his body for something.

"Something wrong?" asked the magus.

"I just felt a little funny all of a sudden. Not sure why though." He kept probing his body and turning his hands, before shrugging it off. "Ah, it's probably nothing. Another order of croquettes, then!"

The two ate and chatted casually for the rest of their meal before heading their separate ways, the unspoken agreement to meet up and finish the battle after school tomorrow passing between them.

On his way back to the Dojima home, Shirou passed by the book store with a sign on the window for new arrivals. Normally, Shirou would just walk on by unless there was a particular book he needed for something, and even then he usually just borrowed it from the local library. Unfortunately, Inaba was too small for a full library, and he didn't exactly have a lot of cash right now anyway. Being a secret hero was proving frustratingly expensive.

He was about to move on, but Margaret's words about his personal life (more accurately his lack of one) brought him to an almost reluctant halt. While none of the new titles displayed interested him (fishing guides and study aids weren't needed, and he had never heard of self-help books like The Lovely Man before), there was always the chance there was something interesting in there, too. Maybe a book or two wouldn't hurt.

Shirou once more felt like the hand of fate was guiding him when he spotted a lone translated copy of The Ars Goetia in the shop's extremely small occult section. At the very least, it might serve as decent reference for demonically themed Personas like Eligor. With a shrug, he ended up taking it and a copy of The Lovely Man.

Upon arriving back home, cooking a simple dinner with his cousin pitching in where she could made for a fine close to the evening.

<><><>

April 21st, Dojima Household, Morning
Shirou now knew what it felt like to lose a few years of your life to a sudden scare. The moment he woke up today, he nearly had a heart attack at the hissing patter of rain hitting the gutters. If it rained too long, it would fog over and… Amagi would-

The magus quickly turned on the TV and checked the weather report, pacing his room furiously through every commercial and useless morning gossip show.

"Calm down, Satonaka. I got the TV on now. The weather report is just about to start."

It was truly a uniquely frustrating experience for Shirou trying to juggle calls from his two friends. He never had so many phone calls at the same time before, especially with the calls and voice mails bouncing around like tennis balls between the three of them. He idly wondered if there was a way to set them all up to talk at the same time for situations like this. It would certainly be useful in the future.

"Yeah, that's right. Rain should give way to clear skies by the time first period is over. No fog for another few days, it looks like."

Relief passed through every one of them as they saw patches of blue sky grow over the course of the morning walk with no fog in sight. It was still a grim reminder that time was running out. They needed to get through that castle and get Yukiko out of there as fast as possible.

<><><>

Yukiko's Caste, After School
After diving into the TV World, the trio tore their way through the first few floors with almost frightening ease compared to previous visits. The Shadows on the lower levels were predictable and slow compared to their own enhanced abilities and Personas, and each strike from their weapons all but pulverized the formerly vicious creatures. One of Chie's kicks alone was enough to imbed a Shadow halfway into a wall at one point.

The higher they climbed, though, the more diverse and bizarre the things became. Some were simple creatures, like animated silk gloves the size of large dogs, with masks sticking out of the opening. Others were even stranger, such as a stationary table. That one gave them all headaches as it levitated knives, torches and cups to keep the trio at bay. It wasn't terribly powerful, but it was a nuisance.

While none were as dangerous as his friends' Shadows or the hollow knight, there were also Shadows that were genuinely frightening to face, such as the Phantom Mage and the Black Raven. The former resembled spinning scarecrows with long green cloaks, and the latter were pitch-black birds that each carried a lit oil lantern in their claws.

After the first few names Teddie gave out, the trio was already fighting in sync and cared less about the details other than their foes' elemental weaknesses.

"Garu!" A viridian gust spiraled up beneath the spinning shadow, nearly tearing off its cloak along with bits of loose straw. Yosuke, crouching low and having pointed at the Phantom Mage, turned his knives to the direction of a Laughing Table throwing its floating utensils. His Persona spun behind him, projecting another gale that blew the attack away and sent the Shadow flying.

Seeing the other Shadows move in to counterattack, Yosuke jumped behind Chie, his Persona moving with inhuman speed and flexibility to join him as his teammate darted forward. A massive scarlet and gold beetle flew to meet her with a shriek, and she almost jumped to meet it when Teddie called out to her.

"Chie-chan!" the bear called from behind a corner away from the melee. "Burning Beetles reflect physical attacks! Use your magic instead!"

"Got it!" Instinct and practice took over, and the blue card of her Persona appeared before her. A flick of her wrist brought her whip down through the card, and her Persona rose into existence behind her. It always felt like the she was taller when Tomoe appeared, possibly from the shared link she was still getting used to. And although the action wasn't necessary, Tomoe stabbed her glowing blade into the ground behind her before cupping her hands together and thrusting them forward. Chie imagined this to be an easier, if not cooler, way to cast magic, as well as go with the intended suffix at the end.

"Bufu-ken!" Frigid ice formed in the space between the Persona's palms, and was propelled out and through the air like it was a cannon ball. The blast met the beetle in mid-air, stopping it in mid-flight before the ice shattered, sending the Shadow sprawling on its back.

Chie smiled at her success, and was about to follow up with another Bufu-ken when she heard a hawk-like screech. Persona-enhanced reflexes kicking in, she dropped down in time to avoid the Black Raven's diving beak.

Even as the Shadow opened its wings and swooped upward for another pass, it was blasted from the air. "Zio!" A thunderclap later, and the bird Shadow too sprawled to the ground with the rest of its comrades, twitching in pain. Shirou and Izanagi stood a distance from the other two, striking from afar while watching for ambushes from any Shadows drawn to the scuffle.

Although I would prefer taking them down first in case the Shadows proved too much for them, but they both beat me to the draw.

With all of the Shadows down and immobilized, there was one thing left to do. "All right guys! Pile on!" Chie shouted and uncoiled her whip, Tomoe taking her blade up from the floor and following.

With their friend leading the charge, the others joined the fray and smashed into the Shadows in a wild, unorthodox melee. Teddie had to look away from the sheer brutality (although he did try peeking from behind his mittens out of curiosity, his view was obscured by the growing dust cloud of the brawl regardless). As it was, the fight ended with the students brandishing their weapons and dusting their hands off, Yosuke checking the group over for any injuries.

When Yosuke first learned that Jiraiya could patch up injuries with the Dia ability the last time they were here, the group had stopped to incorporate the new trick into their plans; Shirou's Pixie could heal wounds as well, but splitting his reserves between healing and fighting with Izanagi, not to mention the delay in switching Persona, meant that it wasn't ideal to rely on just her. Jiraiya was also much faster to use its magic, making Yosuke's Persona ideal for support.

The basic stratagem for the team was thus: Chie would take point in assault and use Tomoe's Bufu on the select enemies Teddie pointed out as vulnerable to ice, though with much more reserved control than her classmates due to Tomoe's low magical ability. She would make up for this with extremely strong strikes from her Persona and herself, easily the hardest-hitting of them all. Yosuke would single out priority targets like magic-using Shadows with hit-and-run tactics to take advantage of his enhanced speed, using wind and healing magic whenever necessary. Shirou, being the toughest of the lot but the slowest, would serve to "draw aggro" (Shirou had to have the concept explained to him, as he had no experience with video game lingo) from Shadows and overpower the ones that his teammates couldn't finish off quickly, especially on enemies weak to electricity.

"You know, I think I'm finally getting the hang of this," Yosuke smiled.

"I'm not sure if I ever will," Chie winced as she rolled her shoulders. "I mean, it feels fun, but it can't be healthy to feel that if we're just killing monsters all the time. I think I'm already starting to get nightmares."

"You worry too much," Yosuke shrugged. "Just pretend we're in a video game. You already made homage to Street Fighter, anyway." It certainly helped that they weren't nearly as badass in the real world as they were in here with their Personas. It created a sense of separation that made the transition easier for him.

"Don't even joke about that, Yosuke," Shirou chided from his rummaging of the Shadow remains. "An experienced magus always runs the risk of dying from unexpected circumstances, and we're treading a thin enough line as it is. But I think we'll be alright with our Personas for the time being. They represent our will, so they keep our fears and worries in check to protect us when they're active."

Though their friend clearly meant it as a warning, the casual reference still bothered Yosuke and Chie. Neither of them forgot that he "walked with death" as all magi did, but he never explained further than that. "Listen, Emiya-kun-"

Whatever Chie was about to say would be left unsaid; the room grew loud with the echoes of Shadows within the walls. Just like before, voices that came from Yukiko's life came through mockingly distorted.

"Excuse me! We heard you're the new manager of the Amagi Inn. Is it true you're still in high school?" a particularly greasy voice called out.

Yosuke blinked. "Wait, isn't that the TV announcer that interviewed Amagi-san?"

Neither Shirou nor Chie replied, tightening their fists around their weapons, scowling deeply.

"That's none of your damn business," The voice of Yukiko snapped with none of its usual reservation or gentleness.

"Someday, though… That aside, wow! You're looking gorgeous in that kimono. You must have a lot of male visitors."

"Shut up!"

"And your inn's hot springs are all natural, yes? I recall you sometimes allow-"

"Leave me alone!" Yukiko's voice broke out, effectively drowning out and silencing the reporter's. "I'm sick of everything. I'm sick of it all." The Shadows calmed down shortly after her outburst, leaving a chilly silence behind.

Shirou decided then and there that, when this was over, he was going to punch the reporter. Preferably in the mouth.

He realized that Yosuke and Teddie were suddenly staring at him rather incredulously. It took the magus another moment to realize he had spoken out loud, and he turned away in embarrassment. He usually kept his more snide comments to himself except when bantering with Taiga or Shinji. Anyone watching that would have assumed that was simply him dealing with familial affection with the former and a defense mechanism against the latter, but never as a personality trait that defined him.

Chie however, didn't seem to mind, adding her own comment: "You'll have to wait in line."

All eyes turned to her in surprise again as they digested her words. By the time they managed to shake off their stupor, the tomboy was already halfway down the hall, leaving the boys and bear scrambling to catch up.

<><><>

Yukiko's Castle, 7th Floor

"Hasn't my Prince come yet?" The halls echoed with Yukiko's voice again the moment the quartet reached the top of the stairs. "My dear Prince… Please hurry and take me away! Somewhere, anywhere, to a world where no one knows me…"

When the halls fell silent again, Shirou turned to their unlikely guide. "How much further, Teddie?"

"She's close," the bear sniffed. "Real close… she's on the next floor up!"

Chie nearly buckled between relief and anxiety, just barely keeping herself from bolting ahead while Yosuke looked around apprehensively. "We haven't run into her Shadow yet though. What if she's at the next floor waiting?" he asked, flipping his knives in his grip.

"Doubt it," said Teddie. "I can only smell one Yuki-chan upstairs, and she's definitely human. I can't tell where her Shadow is, but I don't sense her on this floor, let alone the one below or above. That's all I can be sure of."

"So we managed to get a head start," the magus deduced. "Let's make for the stairs then. If we're lucky, we can grab Amagi-san and leave without triggering her Shadow."

Chie frowned. "But what will happen to her if she doesn't, you know… accept herself?"

"I could only base this on what happened to the last two people in here," Teddie started to explain. "But after their bear-zerk rage and killing their hosts, they ran deeper into the fog attacking other Shadows. Normally their sense of self would keep them together, but they gradually grew more and more distant from their host, since they killed the person that defined them in the first place."

"I almost hate to ask," Yosuke gulped. "But what happened to the Shadows of the announcer and Saki-senpai?"

"Still fighting and assimilating other Shadows, I'd assume. At this rate they might even become…"

"Become?" the teen urged.

The bear stayed silent, internally debating the issue, before shaking its head rapidly. "No! That's not even certain to be the case. Saving Yuki-chan is more important anyways!"

"He's right," Shirou nodded. "We can figure out what to do after we make sure Amagi-san is safe. For now, let's just focus on finding the stairs this time; no unnecessary fights."

Stealthy as they were, the group was only forced into one fight with a much smaller and weaker Avenger Knight patrolling the halls. A few doors later, and they found the final ascending staircase.

"Praise our Persona Gods!" Yosuke cheered and high-fived Shirou.

Chie could barely contain herself anymore, rushing ahead of the group. "Yukiko, we're almost there!"

Teddie was in the midst of dancing when his nose twitched. "Waitaminute… Chie-chan, watch out!"

The bear's last second warning proved vital as a white blur dived for her with a sword extended outward. She dodged to the side at the last moment, feeling a thin needle of steel cut through her sleeve and graze her arm, but barely had time to wince when her assailant landed before them.

The Shadow landed gracefully on both feet, and rose to its full height to gauge its enemies with its shining steel mask… which wasn't high to begin with. Barely meeting the teen's chests, the Shadow was of the comical variety with a stocky, almost gourd-shaped figure clad in bright medieval clothing. It wore a small red frock coat with yellow stars decorated across it, a blue mantle reaching its mid-back, a monochrome striped underdress, and pointed yellow boots. It also wore a small yellow crown topping its oddly realistic yellow locks. And, of course, it was armed with a rapier: the very same sword it used to attack Chie. Apparently through gauging them, the Shadow lunged towards Shirou, blade held high.

Instinctively, Shirou brought his katana up and parried his shorter opponent's clumsy slashes, but couldn't set his stance with the Shadow striking so quickly. Yosuke immediately summoned his ninja-frog Persona and had it help the only way he could think of: kicking the Shadow aside from its blind spot.

"Thanks," the magus said quickly, eyes not leaving his enemy.

"Be bear-y careful, Shirou-sensei," Teddie warned. "This is one tough enemy."

"We've faced worst. Now, Per-"

The Shadow reacted first, trembling with a red aura that gave Shirou pause. It reminded him vaguely of the dream apparition he fought, and how it glowed before summoning a Ghoul and blinding fog. Then, the Shadow screamed.

A sense of terror overwhelmed him, freezing him in place. His ears rang in pain but he couldn't even cover them with his hands rigid before him, his sword shaking in his suddenly too-tight grip. A miasma of light and shadow seemed to swallow the castle interior, and he swore he was seeing flames and corpses in the light blots.

The burning fire. A wave of black mud. The fleeing screams. Hell on earth. Death. Murder. Anger. Hatred Rage Anarchy Rape Drug Depression Envy Wrath Pride Lust Gluttony Sloth Greed Sin Vanity Melancholy Die Die Die die die diediediethestartingpenaltyisfive

Make it stop. Make it stop! MAKE IT-!

A painful slap impacted across Shirou's cheek, and the illusion immediately shattered with Yosuke's voice suddenly filling his ears. "-hold of yourself NOW, man!"

Snapping to awareness, Shirou saw he was still in the castle with the others; Yosuke was practically shaking him senseless with Teddie behind him. Chie and her Persona were standing a close distance between them and the Shadow, which was now lying face down at the bottom of the stairs.

As it stirred again, Chie invoked Tomoe's magic again. "Bufu-ken!" An ice block projectile shattered against the comical Shadow, once again forcing it back down and disorienting it.

From the looks of things, it would take far more than just blasting it with ice magic and smacking it around to put this Shadow down. It was barely showing any damage despite Satonaka's attacks. There was no reason to fight this Shadow now that Yukiko Amagi was within reach.

"Leave it!" he ordered. "Just hurry to the top of the stairs!"

No one needed to be told twice; they all ran up and left the Shadow as it struggled to stand back up.

<><><>

Yukiko's Castle, Top Floor

Only when the group opened the large double doors at the top and closed them behind them did the quartet slump in relief and exhaustion. Shirou was especially drained after the Shadow's vision. He finally had time to collect himself and push down the memories.

After a moment of relative silence to catch their breaths, Yosuke's voice pulled Shirou's attention back to the present. "Shirou," he started carefully, "what happened back there?"

Not wanting to bring up those painful memories again, Shirou kept his answer brief and discreet. "I saw something no one should ever have to see in their lifetime." The tone in his voice was clear to everyone, and they offered understanding, if not comforting, gazes before dropping the matter.

It was just as well, when the Investigation Team found themselves speechless of the room they were in. It was similar to the ballroom Shadow Chie appeared from, but larger and even more regally appointed; red drapes covered over window spaces and gilded candle-lit chandeliers were suspended on either side of the room, with a large metal dome akin to a bird cage made of gold wires forming the ceiling over them. The carpet that acted as the group's winding road ended at the stoop ascending to a single throne crowned with a red tarp roof. The back of the throne had two drapes pulled closed together, with a decorated image of what looked like a heart with wings stretching upward.

Teddie sniffed again, unaware of Shirou's watching eyes; he had started having suspicions that the bear really was attuned to magecraft on some level. Shirou himself could vaguely determine the presence of magecraft through a sort of phantom smell, but an almost electrically-charged sting was the only scent he could ever pick up anywhere in this world. If there was any other "scent" here, it was so faint and distant that he couldn't pick up on it at all. He wasn't entirely sure if Teddie's senses were more refined or just plain different. Unless Yukiko was an active magus using magecraft, there would be no way for him to know.

"Yuki-chan's just behind that throne!"

Well, that's one mystery solved. Different it is.

Once again Chie ran ahead, but the others were just as excited as they followed her. Beyond the curtains was another room, about a fraction of the size of the throne room. It was most appropriately a bedroom with a side room stylized as a bathroom, a few open cupboards full of snacks, and the large, queen sized heart-shaped bed smack dab in the middle of it all.

And there, peacefully lying on the center of the bed, Yukiko Amagi was sleeping with the covers up to her stomach, still wearing the same pink kimono as when they last saw her at the gazebo. For someone lost in this place for so long, she looked healthy and remarkably clean.

"She's not-?" Yosuke asked, the immediate concern hanging in the air.

Chie ignored him, already leaning over the side of the bed to her friend. Her hands hesitantly reached for her shoulders. Taking a moment to just feel the presence of the girl under her hand (if only for reassurance), she gently shook her. "Yukiko, wake up. Yukiko, it's me."

A soft gasp passed her lips as she stirred at the sound of Chie's voice. Amagi slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times. To everyone's immense relief, they were a dark brown.

"C-Chie? What-?"

She was cut off when she was pulled upright from her bed and into a hug with her best friend. Chie, her face close to Yukiko's hair and shoulder, freely cried tears of relief and rubbed her back in reassurance, almost afraid of letting the moment end. "You're okay," she wept over and over.

Shirou and Yosuke weren't nearly as emotional, but enjoyed a great sense of relief and accomplishment all the same. Aware of the other's good cheer they exchanged glances, a smile and grin respectively, and bumped their fists together. Teddie watched the gesture in awe before staring at his paws and clapping them together curiously, much to Yosuke's amusement.

Amagi, however, was both surprised and confused by the sudden tearful reunion, turning to the boys. "Um… am I missing something?"

"Nothing's wrong now, Yukiko!" Chie sniffed. She finally broke out of her hug and let out a big, teary smile. "I'm just… really glad you're alright!"

"So, who put you in here?"

So caught in their elevated cheer, the human members of the IT were caught completely flat-footed when Teddie trotted up to the girls with an innocent yet blunt question. Amagi was visibly startled by the bear, but not as much as everyone was expecting. "What are-? Uh, I mean, who are you?"

"I'm Teddie the Kuma!" the bear said. It stopped itself and tried again. "Wait, no, that's 'Teddie Kuma the bear'. You know what? Just call me Teddie. So, back to my question, who put you in here?"

Yosuke, Shirou, AND Chie were all contemplating smacking Teddie for his sudden questioning after so much had happened here, but Amagi's quiet answer brought their attention back to her.

The inn heiress frowned in strained thought. "Put me in…? I… can't remember. I think someone called my name, but I can't remember who or why. The next thing I know, I'm here. I'm sorry, uh, Teddie."

Teddie hummed, walking away while rubbing his chin contemplatively. "That doesn't tell us much."

"It tells us plenty," Yosuke affirmed, following him out of the bedroom. "If someone called Amagi-san, they kidnapped her and threw her in this world before anyone had a chance to notice."

"This also proves the culprit knows magecraft, at least to a level of using memory-altering hypnotism. It's not much, but it's a start," Shirou added.

Amagi blinked bewilderedly. "Mage-what?"

"Not here, Yukiko," her friend whispered, partly dragging her out of the bed.

Teddie paced away from the bed, pondering in deep thought as he stepped down the stoop. "She said it was someone she didn't know, so the culprit is someone unfamiliar to her. Chie-chan's her best friend, and she's in the same school as Shirou-sensei and Yosuke, so she has to know them too. Then that means they couldn't be the culprits that killed the other two like they said, and I won't have to leave them stranded here when this is over after all!"

The room was suddenly tense and quiet. Teddie stood up rigid and scared. "Oh whoopee cushions, I just said that all out loud, didn't I?"

"Teddie," Shirou slowly asked. "Have you secretly doubted our innocence this whole time, after you've been helping us from the beginning?"

The bear turned around and, not surprisingly, found Shirou, Yosuke and Chie all glaring down at him from the throne's dais with varying levels of anger. "W-well, I never doubted you, per say, Shirou-sensei!" Teddie reasoned more animatedly than necessary, sweating all the while. "M-more like keeping a… an open mind for reasonable doubt, ha ha! But I've ALWAYS supported and trusted you guys 99%! I just, well, needed the 1% to not trust you on the off chance that you'd, you know… be liars?"

"Says the lying sack of honey," Yosuke seethed and stomped towards Teddie. "I can't believe you considered leaving us to the Shadows again!"

"Shadows?" Chie's rage quickly shifted to confusion and then to panicked realization. "Oh crap! Yukiko's Shadow! It's still looking for her!"

In all the excitement, the others had forgotten about her Princess persona as well; Yukiko's rescue wouldn't truly be a victory until she made peace with herself or they escaped without running into the Shadow. If she was even aware of the depths of her suppressed feelings, it wouldn't accomplish anything to simply acknowledge them head on. Chie was proof of that.

Yosuke turned to their team leader. "Think we can take her on?"

If Yosuke had asked that when they were in peak condition upon first entering the castle today, Shirou would have tentatively said they had a chance. As it was, they had depleted most of their Soul Candies on the way up, and still used up a bit of their energy to get this far. Even with Satonaka joining the fight with her powerful Persona and martial arts skills, she was still one more potential casualty he would have to focus on defending. For Shirou, it was both easier and harder to fight Shadows with more people in the party.

And even if they did win the fight, wouldn't that mean that Amagi would gain a Persona and would fight alongside them? He couldn't ask that of her. He wouldn't ask that of her. She had no personal motivation to help them like his classmates did and was too feminine to risk her future fighting for her life regularly in this hidden world. Not that he'd ever say that out loud to either of his teammates, especially after seeing how much Satonaka's self-confidence suffered with Amagi's said femininity.

No, it was better to cut and run rather than pick a fight with something that dangerous. "I'm not sure, but I don't plan to stay and find out. Let's do what we came for and take Amagi-san home," Shirou decided.

Yukiko turned to him, surprisingly more startled than she was by every other revelation. "Wh-what?"

"Fine by me," Yosuke nodded before turning to the bear with a relaxed grin. The little guy was actually pretty useful even if he couldn't fight at all. "Teddie?"

"One Goho-M, coming up!" The bear smiled, clapping his hands to conjure a new diorama. But just as soon as it appeared, a white blur smacked the bear aside and snatched the newly crafted item. "Aaaah! Help me!"

The new enemy smashed the diorama to pieces, cutting off the IT's means of escape. It took a moment for everyone to recognize it.

"It's that Shadow from before!" Chie cried after helping Teddie up.

"Damn," said Yosuke. "It must have followed us here!"

Shirou was already drawing his sword as he gave orders. "I'll take point. Satonaka, Yosuke, follow my lead and cover your ears the moment it trembles. Let's-"

"WAIT!"

The Persona users were taken aback by the sudden outcry, but were absolutely floored when Yukiko jumped between them and the stout Shadow, arms spread out as if protecting it. "Don't hurt him!" she cried.

The others stared back in bewilderment, silently questioning the girl's sanity. Chie recovered quickly and pointed to the Shadow. "Yukiko, I know it looks cute and harmless, but that Shadow attacked us trying to get up here! Hell, I'm pretty sure it even gave Emiya-kun a seizure!"

"Prince-kun would never do something like that!"

"You haven't seen what the Shadows ca-" Yosuke stopped himself with a confused blink. "Wait: Prince-kun? You named it?"

"Technically the Shadow's full name is Charming Prince, so-"

"Not helping Teddie!"

"Prince-kun watches over me," Yukiko explained patiently. "Ever since the moment I woke up in this place, he was there. He found me, saved me from monsters that look like pinned together zombies, and then led me to this room."

"To keep you prisoner," Yosuke accused.

"To protect me!" she snapped. "Prince-kun's been nothing but accommodating in my wellbeing! He even brings me food and water whenever I need it!"

"And you haven't been getting any sort of headaches from being here?" Shirou asked, remembering the first time the three of them entered the TV world.

"To be honest, I just sleep a lot in the back room. I get so dizzy that I barely have the energy to go leave here even if I wanted to."

Yukiko patted the Shadow's head affectionately, smiling as she did. "It's not all bad; Prince-kun is always there when I need him, bringing me food and water and whatever else I need when I ask. And maybe when I get better, I can see the rest of the castle with him protecting me. It's a little scary at first, with all the monsters around, but it's also exciting. It's like I'm living in a fairy tale!"

The Investigation Team exchanged knowing, winced looks. Teddie looked the saddest. "She should have seen this place before people were dumped in."

Chie took a single, slow breath to relieve her tension. "Yukiko," she spoke softly. "We don't have time to explain everything, but this place really is dangerous. You know the TV announcer Ms. Yamano? We found the room she could have been in while stuck here. And that school announcement you missed last week? One of our third year classmates died recently, but the timing and circumstances are too much like Ms. Yamano. We think you could be next."

Yukiko had the decency to look alarmed. "What? How?"

"I just said I can't explain everything," she calmly reasoned. "But you just got to have to trust me so we can all go home."

"I'm fine here. Prince-kun takes care of me."

"Even if you're safe here, you've been missing for five days! You have to come back!"

"Well maybe I don't want to go back!"

A deathly silence followed in the wake of Yukiko Amagi's outburst. The Persona fighters stared at Yukiko, wide-eyed at the violent confession. Even the heiress was surprised by her sudden choice of words, staring faintly at her once clenched hands in horror.

"Yukiko…" Chie's voice cracked, about ready to burst into tears. Does she really-?

"Chie, I-!"

"Oh my! This room certainly looks crowded!"

Yukiko froze, surprised to hear someone sound so similar to her. Looking up, she saw Chie and the others looking past her, stiff in horror. She instinctively reached for Prince-kun's hand, but she was standing alone. Turning around in a frantic search for her Prince, she saw a lookalike to her in a frilly princess dress with a scary looking smile.

It was worse than any nightmare she'd ever had, because she wasn't waking up.

"Aaaaaand of course the Shadow would show up at this moment," Yosuke sighed.

"Amagi-san, get back, cover your ears and wait for us," Shirou said as calmly as he could muster, never taking his eyes off of the Shadow. She didn't listen, but the trio moved in formation between the two Yukikos.

"So all this time, you three was all out looking for little old me?" The Shadow grinned. "I'm flattered, really, but none of you properly look the part. No matter! I can fix that!"

As she spoke, Shadow Yukiko whipped her gloved arm around in a circle and her aura twisted in reply. She finished with a flick of her wrist, sending a plume of blue dust at Shirou, Yosuke, and Chie, engulfing the trio in a flash of light.

When the light faded, the only thing that changed was their attire, and what they saw struck them silent in awe and more than a little confusion. Yosuke's clothes had changed from a black school uniform to a white service dress military uniform and pants, made more official with yellow epaulettes on his shoulders and service ribbons on his breast. The clothes made him look regal, but from a low, honorary standing.

Shirou's outfit was a slightly baggy coat and pants combo, lined with gold marks around the edges and center of the cloth. This was barely seen, however, by the large black overcoat with the top flaps near his neck buttoned together. The suit struck a certain chord as being dynamic and dramatic, though it felt best worn by someone of great tactical leadership; something Shirou was only starting to get the hang of.

Chie's was the most surprising; she was now wearing a red jacket with a yellow insignia outlined around the zipper line in front of her chest. The outfit was complete with matching red pants, white knee high boots and white gloves. It was obviously feminine, but almost tailored to be worn like men's clothes.

Teddie was bedazzled by the student's change of attire, and looked over itself to see if it received the same costume change. When the bear saw no change in itself, it comically made an angry-looking pout. Yukiko found herself blushing at how beautiful the clothes looked. Especially on Chie-

"So strong and dashing," The Shadow sighed dreamily. "Yes, these clothes really do make you look like princes!"

Yukiko felt her heart skip a beat. Her classmates just looked up in confusion. "Princes?" Emiya asked.

"Th-that includes me too?" Chie glanced down at her outfit again, albeit timidly. She knew Yukiko sought her out as the better girl, but to have the allusion be taken this far was unbelievable.

Shadow Yukiko walked closer to them, personally examining the students in line. "But I wonder… are any of you the kind of prince that could help me escape?"

Yosuke was suddenly stricken with a brilliant idea; if he could appease the Shadow enough to follow him as her "prince", then they could avoid a fight altogether and rescue Yukiko Amagi! On the plus side, if it worked well enough, he might even get the cute heiress as a girlfriend! Motivated by both noble and selfish intentions, he stepped forward with an eager smile and spoke in his best British accent. "Allow me, my princess! I shall be the dashing hero who will whisk you away by the powers love and magic!"

Chie was gobsmacked by his sudden charisma, but passed as she picked up the intentions. "Love and-Hanamura!"

"Shirou-sensei!" the bear whispered to his idol. "Is this 'scoring a hot babe' that Yosuke mentioned before?" The magus, feeling a heated glare from the red "prince" turn his way, wisely chose not to comment.

To her credit, Shadow Yukiko spared time to assess Yosuke. "Kind of cute, but… I'm drawing a blank. Who are you again?"

The white prince was crushed; he shouldn't be surprised since he kept mostly to himself the semester he moved to Inaba, but was he really that bland? Well, she said she was cute, so there was still hope. "Uh, Yosuke Hanamura? The guy who your best friend kicked in the nads a while back?" A bit of recognition started to dawn on her, so he kept going. "I also asked you out last year but you turned me down."

Frowns were mirrored on both Yukiko's faces, but the Shadow's was more hostile, and started to turn away from him. "Oh, you're only another peasant suitor from school. I've dealt with enough of you posers to last a lifetime. Pass."

"But if you could just recon-"

"NO."
The casual, blunt refusal was powerful enough to break the illusion on Yosuke's clothes, morphing them back to his school uniform.

"Thaaat'll teach me to get my hopes up," he sighed dejectedly, before tugging his jacket and bitterly adding, "Could've at least let me keep the clothes…"

"And then there's Shirou-kun," The Shadow cooed, walking to the black prince seductively with wandering eyes. "Now here's a prince worth mentioning. Yes, a foreigner from the city, who was suddenly forced to move and live in a rural prison, who is strong, kind, polite and chaste. It's so much like a story book fairy tale where the prince from far, far away who meets his true love in shared melancholy and they manage to escape and live happily ever after!"

It was déjà vu for Shirou; a Shadow was making open advances to him because of some subconscious attraction again. He certainly thought of the fairer sex from time to time, like Sakura's growing beauty over the years, or the idol of his last school Rin Tohsaka, but he never believed himself to be worthy of female attention. As it turned out, he didn't need to worry about making a calm refusal to the Shadow, as she turned away.

"But that image was broken when you admitted you chose to come to this hellhole on your own volition and to see your gods-ridden extended family. The only family me and my prince would need is from our own children, not from wicked in-laws."

Shirou blinked incredulously, barely registering his cape and dress clothes morphing back to normal. Did she just insult Dojima and Nanako? Or was she displacing her own family experiences on him?

"Last but not least, Chie-chan," Shadow Yukiko smiled brightly, taking the flustered Chie's hands in hers before doing a mock dance. "Cute, little Chie-chan, who is always by my side and making me feel safe. It's not as classical, but the childhood friend who saves the princess is even more of a romantic tale."

"B-but I'm a girl," Chie weakly argued.

"That's fine; I'm willing to try something new for my prince."
Chie blushed, and she turned worriedly to Yukiko as if for clarification. Yosuke, Teddie, and (to his chagrin) Shirou did as well; Yukiko looked thoroughly embarrassed, and suddenly self-conscious of the stares. Uncaring of the reaction, Shadow Yukiko continued waltzing.

"Yes, I wouldn't mind spending all of eternity together in bliss, just the two of us, because you're a kind, strong prince."
She ended their dance with their faces close to one another, almost close to a kiss. Then the Shadow's good cheer disappeared and she shoved Chie away. "Or at least you were."

Like Shirou before her, Chie was too stunned at the turn of events to notice or care her prince clothes disappearing. "'Were'?"

"You're just not good enough. You can't hope to rescue me, let alone yourself. You needed the help of two wannabe princes to even get this far. I believed in you, thought you were different and could help me, but you told me I had to go back home! And what was that you said the other day again?" The Shadow spread her arms out wide, her tone loud and mocking. "'I want security and power and everyone to be my BITCH!'"

Chie flinched at every insult, feeling worse than when her own subconscious snubbed her face in it). She knew Yukiko would never mean or say this out loud, but deep down she felt betrayed. Just what the hell happened to their friendship to come to this? "Th-that's-!"

But the Shadow ignored her, and marched to the top step of the throne with anger. "You're just like everyone else, telling me what I can or can't do! 'Go run some errands for me, Yukiko'! 'Greet your guests with a smile, Yukiko'! 'Stop dilly-dallying and do as you're told, Yukiko'!!"

Yukiko had enough, and followed her Shadow to the bottom step, to the worry of the others. "You stop this right now, whoever you are. I don't know why you look like me, but you have no right coming in here and insulting everyone! You better apologize to them right now!"

"'Apologize'?" The princess turned to her double, her aura darkening as she spat the first word. "For what? Being born already chained down to a 'historic family inn' in the middle of a shitty little town? Or perhaps thinking that I hate everyone for having such high expectations of me when I never had a choice once in my entire life?!"

"Wh-what are you implying?"

The Shadow's mouth quirked to a smile, but the look in her eyes was vicious, predatory. "Why do think we share the same face? Or sound alike? Or how I know what you know? It's because we're the same; I'm Yukiko, and Yukiko is me. Isn't that right, Prince-kun?"

To everyone's surprise, the Charming Prince, once so protective of the inn heiress Yukiko, was kneeling in reverence to Princess Yukiko, who fondly patted its head like it was showing affection to a pet. The tension in the room grew subtly between human and Shadow, and the Investigation Team was stuck watching it play out for the third time.

"He's my real prince," she cooed seductively, kneeling down and caressing its cheek with her hand tenderly. "Saving me from the monsters like a hero and whisking me away in his little arms! Keeping me nice and safe from all that I could care less about, and from that moment on, I knew he would be the one to guide me away from all my troubles. And the best part? He's soooo much regal than that Hana guy, soooo much cuter than Shirou-kun, and SOOOO much reliable than Chie-chan."

"Oh, this is not going to end well," Yosuke grimaced. The obvious pointed jabs to them were bad, true, but that was distracting from the real escalating problem.

"Can't we do something?!" Chie whispered frantically. They all knew exactly what this was building up to, but stopping it was proving harder and harder.

Yukiko's stern facade faltered, and the horror that was in the back of her mind since seeing the double was slowly setting in. It was worse that Prince-kun, her protector, was standing by the fake's side and had betrayed her trust. And that this witch was saying those same hopeful wishes she kept to herself as if she had them first! "How dare you! Prince-kun is my friend!"

Shadow Yukiko turned with a mock smile. "You want him? Come and take him." A moment passed, and she found herself rooted on the spot, too afraid to act. "I knew it. Even when you want something so much, you never had the nerve to go do it yourself. You hate the life you never wanted, you hate your family for controlling you, and most of all you hate yourself for being so passive! Even your pet bird was tired of you and flew off!"

"That's not true!" she argued. "I would never-!"

The Shadow then turned opposite to the Prince and looked longingly in the distance with her hands cupped together in prayer. "I just want to go somewhere far away, anywhere but here!" She spoke partly dramatic, partly mocking. "Someone, please take me away! I can't leave here on my own! I'm completely useless!"

"Stop it. Stop it, please…!" Yukiko's voice grew weaker and shakier with every word.

"We can't hurt one without hurting the other," Yosuke reminded as the rant went on. "And anything we say will only make things worse. You just heard what she really thought about us."

Regardless of the logic in his argument, Chie wasn't at all happy with it. "So we're just going to stand around like idiots and do nothing?"

"Teddie will carry Yukiko back to that room before the Shadow transforms," said Shirou. "After that, we'll fight it out."

"But you said-!"

"We don't have the choice in the matter anymore, Satonaka." The magus's voice was resigned at this point. It was like Teddie's world put in extra effort to make you face yourself or die, no matter how much it hurt.

"I have no hope if I stay, and no courage to leave," the princess continued, ending her rant with a deliberate plop onto her throne. "So I sit on my ass fantasizing the day my Prince will come. I don't care who he is. I don't care where we go. As long as I'm not anywhere near that pile of bullshit they call the 'pride of Inaba', I don't give a damn!"

Guess the Shadows of Yosuke and Amagi-san have a lot more in common than I thought, Shirou mentally noted as he glanced back to his friend. From his slightly bewildered expression, he must be thinking along the same lines.

"Wh-why?" Yukiko weakly scolded. "Why would you say such awful things?"

Her lookalike just smiled back. "Because that's how I really feel… me."

Yukiko had never felt so insulted. All those hurtful things this person said, and claimed to be her? After she insulted her friends, family, and stole Prince-kun? But… all those things she said, how could she have even known? Is she really-?

"No!" She suddenly cried, denying both the Shadow and her internal thoughts. This wasn't possible, it just wasn't!

"Yukiko, no!" Chie cried, hoping beyond hope that she would listen. "Don't say-!"

"You're not me!"

The magus was already moving, not waiting for the Shadow's transformation to even start. "Get her out of here now," he ordered the bear.

"Good luck, everyone," Teddie said, pulling on a suddenly very tired girl by the arm. "This way, Yuki-chan. Hurry!"

It wasn't clear if she was really listening or not, but she was nonetheless dragged away as her classmates grouped together before Shadow Yukiko. The princess rose off of her throne with a giddy laugh as more dark particles streamed into her.

"Yeeees, this wonderful feeling!" The Shadow cooed, one arm hugging her chest and the other rubbing… in a discreet place lower down. "It keeps building up inside me, more and MORE. If this keeps up, I'll… I'll…!" Then she screamed as if in ecstasy and the darkness around her exploded.

For the briefest of moments, and despite the danger that presented itself, Shirou felt exasperated that a Shadow had made such an innuendo as it transformed. As if her actions weren't obvious in the Midnight Channel.

The mental jesting stopped as they saw Shadow Yukiko's new form. What they saw in front of the throne was no longer a princess, but a giant red bird, standing tall on golden talons. In the place of her arms, red feathered wings were outstretched nearly three meters each. Her chest area had white under feathers that was shaped perfectly like a heart and suspiciously made her chest look well endowed. Her neck was long and lanky like a giraffe's, with three lines of pink feathers ringing her throat. The head however, was not birdlike at all, but nearly a mirror of Yukiko's own, headband and all, the face colored the same vibrant red as her plumage and long black hair. The horrific difference was that her face was frozen in position like a mask, with golden eyes blank of emotion and her mouth set in a thin, disapproving line.

"I am a Shadow: the true self," she spoke, though her mouth did not move. "I'll allow you failure princes to dance with me, if you can keep up." The Shadow bird immediately took flight, one beat of her slender wings sending up a veritable storm of wind and dust at the trio, stopping them cold as she ascended towards the ceiling.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Yosuke powered through the winds first, his card floating before him. "Let's do this, Jiraiya!" The moment his knife passed through the card, his Persona exploded into action, leaping into the air with a perfect flying kick… that the Shadow gracefully dodged with a mere turn of its wings.

The bird's expressionless face somehow conveyed mockery as it turned to Yosuke. "What was tha-AH!" Before she could even finish the sentence, Jiraiya had kicked off the towering chamber's ceiling and grabbing a wingtip, swinging his body under the Shadow and yanking the wing across the Shadow's chest as he went. With its wings tangled, the Shadow was sent into a wild tumble downward while Jiraiya leaped away to land gracefully at the edge of the chamber.

With the winds halted, Shirou and Chie invoked their Personas as well. The magus reacted first, invoking his Persona's weakness curse. "Rakunda!" Like Shadow Chie before her, the purple light orb flashed to life around the avian before constricting and sinking into its flesh. For ninety seconds the bird's physical and magical defenses would be sharply reduced, a fact that Tomoe took immediate advantage of, twirling her two-bladed naginata overhead and bringing it down in a vicious whirling slash. Shadow Yukiko's shriek of pain was equal parts distorted human and birdlike.

In spite of the gash ripped into his hide, the Shadow hopped back with surprising agility, though nowhere near the insane level of Yosuke's own Shadow. Before anyone could close the distance, the Shadow released an eagle-like scream before exhaling a massive torrent of fire straight for the group. Izanagi was clipped by the onslaught. Shirou's face flushed and small burns marred his body and a scream was torn from his throat.

"Emiya-kun!"

"I'm fine," he assured Chie, calming himself through hastened breaths. "But keep your guard up, Satonaka." Like Izanagi's weakness to wind, they had discovered the hard way that fire was Tomoe's weakness, though Chie and her Persona's agility were usually enough to avoid the worst of it.

It was harder to focus than he liked, though. The Charming Prince's scream had dragged hellish memories long buried back to the surface like ripping open a nearly-healed wound. Forcing the feelings down for now in spite of the burns, Shirou grit his teeth and set his stance. They had to finish this quickly. Numbers were in their favor now, and even if she had a few surprises of her own, they had their own- wait, why is she glowing?

It took a moment to realize she was bathed in purple, sparkling light that reminded him of Pixie's Dia, but larger and much more effective. When the light faded, the massive scar she had received from Tomoe was gone, leaving Shadow Yukiko as good as new. She craned her neck affectionately towards the culprit: her Charming Prince settled down as the last traces of concentrated prana left its body.

"Thank you, Prince-kun!" she doted as a loving wife would. "You're so thoughtful!"

Yosuke threw his arms down, almost tempted to throw the nata down as well. "Oh COME ON! She has a back-up healer?! That's so not fair!"

That new wrinkle complicated things, but the fight wasn't over. "Satonaka, you distract the Charming Prince while Yosuke and I fight Amagi's Shadow," Shirou said as Izanagi shifted its grip on its polearm.

Chie blinked. "Huh? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, shouldn't we all gang up on him and get rid of him quickly? Healers gotta go down first," Yosuke asked as Jiraiya tossed its shuriken at the Shadow, doubling it over for a moment from the impact.

Shirou shook his head. "I was hoping to use that tactic for Amagi's Shadow, but as long as the Prince is healing her, it'll only make things harder for us. Same problem applies to attacking the Prince together; she'll likely take us all down in one strike, especially if she cares that much for him. Satonaka's vulnerable to fire attacks, but her ice ones can put a buffer on the Prince, who is her ideal target. She doesn't even have to defeat it; just hold it off and prevent it from healing so we can finish the fight."

The tomboy had to admit the plan was sound. She'd be no good to anyone if she got caught vulnerable to an Agi, especially if the Prince could heal whatever damage they dealt away. "Leave it to me! I'll have him wiped out no problem!" she smiled, and dashed off to her new opponent, with Tomoe leading the charge. "Bufu-ken!"

The ice bullet pelted and knocked the Charming Prince down into a double backwards roll before landing flat on its back. At the same time, Izanagi and Jiraiya threw their own elemental magic towards the avian Shadow, who screeched as wind and thunder struck her body. The pause was short lived as she flew down in an attempt to scratch Yosuke with both talons. The headphone wearing teen jumped back at the last moment, nearly landing back to a tumble, and his previous spot was marked with two large gouges in the carpet. She didn't pull back quick enough before he jumped back and cross slashed her neck while Jiraiya threw another gust of wind her back.

"Gotta be quicker than that, Princess!" Yosuke smirked even as he jumped away from her fire attack.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Yosuke!" Shirou warned, keeping a steady guard and distance from the Shadow with his Persona attacking. No sooner had he made the call, Jiraiya flipped away from the flailing Shadow, keeping low to the ground and bounding like a frog as it dodged darts of flame and blade-like feathers.

"I got this! Now toss me a Taru! I got an idea!" Shirou, though uncertain, did as he was told and invoked the offense enchantment spell.

Taking flight again, Shadow Yukiko set her sights on the airborne ninja who was bouncing from walls, ceilings, and sometimes nothing to make fast strikes against her. She barely stopped herself in time to avoid a downward kick that would have smacked her head down. Wary of retaliation, she followed his descent as he landed on the floor and then sprang up again to uppercut her chest. This one was a direct hit, stunning the Shadow as she gagged, and she momentarily lost sight of him before he attempted a haymaker on her back, which she air-rolled away from.

"That does it!" The Shadow screeched, positioning herself and then flying towards the Ninja Persona with quick reaction time. "Get back here, commoner!" she shouted before unleashing another raging inferno. Burns formed on Yosuke's clothes as Jiraiya bounded just outside of the flames' reach. Still releasing the flamethrower-like blast, Shadow Yukiko opened her wings again and pulled out of her dive, sweeping her head towards the would-be rescuers.

Before she could finish off the Persona users, Izanagi impaled the Shadow in the side, cutting off the flames and drawing a squawk of shock and pain from her throat. The bird flapped wildly and slashed at Izanagi with its talons, but found little purchase against the long coat he wore. She finally dislodged the spirit by whirling in a wild roll and pushing off as hard as she could, sending Izanagi into a wall with a resounding boom. Shirou felt that and grimaced as the impact transferred to him.

Back in the air and regenerating the black scar in her plumage (thankfully not as fast as Shadow Yosuke did), the Shadow opted instead to stay on the move rather than hover in place like before. Even as Jiraiya started upwards with his bounding leaps, Shadow Yukiko kept on the move, not willing to be a stationary punching bag anymore.

Even so, trying to counterattack was even harder with the two entities constantly on the move. Down below Shirou and Izanagi held up a hand each, but Shirou refused to release another Zio until he had a clear shot. Instead, he made sure to recast Rakunda and prepare a Tarukaja for the instant Jiraiya had an opening. At least those curses didn't need to strike the target, merely willed into effect.

Jiraiya continued to keep the Shadow on the move, the shuriken flashing out to try and hem the Shadow in even as it displayed more aerial agility than something its size should have. "I can do this all day, you overgrown flamingo!" Yosuke taunted again. Shirou was left to worry about his overconfidence, but simply focused on keeping Rakunda and Tarukaja working for as long as possible.

On the far side of the throne room, Chie had reached a bit more of a stalemate with her own opponent. Due to her already weak and low magic reserves, she couldn't pelt him to submission with ice as much as she'd like to. At best, she had three shots left, and couldn't afford to miss even one. That left her with going with fighting head on. She awkwardly stood in place while spinning her chain whip parallel to her body. It was a basic technique, and not something really useful in hindsight, but it kept the Prince away from her lest it got smacked by the spinning flail.

She had Tomoe fight back sword to spear, and despite its stout figure, it was just as easily fast as it was strong. Tomoe had the edge earlier for being taller and with a longer weapon, slowly but surely cutting the Shadow to pieces. Chie had thought the fight was as good as over, but then the gourd Prince invoked a green light around it and started all but dancing around the samurai Persona. Attacks that would normally be blocked by its sword would now be dodged outright and expose her to a counterattack by its agility. Chie gritted her teeth with each new cut on her body, but she persists in keeping the link open.

It seemed like an eternity before she saw one: a sudden, sharp drop in its speed unbalanced the Charming Prince and left it overextended, and Tomoe took full advantage of the lapse. A strong kick shot the Shadow up into the air, and Chie followed through with her limited magic reserves. "Bufu-ken!" To her delight, the Shadow flew higher and higher...

Right into Shadow Yukiko line of sight. The fighting stopped as everyone turned and watched as the Charming Prince sail through the air with crushed ice crystals before falling down in a metallic thud. The Investigation Team all felt an immediate shift in the larger Shadow, and though her face remained frozen, the emotion seemed to spark with rage anew. Chie nearly flinched and felt her whip dart to the floor as the Shadow turned her predatory glare on her... and flames that started to burn brighter than before. "No one hurts my Prince-kun! Not even you, Chie! Agi!"

"Shit!" Yosuke cursed; both at the level of danger their teammate was about to face, and to himself for not doing anything to stop her. There was no time to get in the line of fire or push Satonaka away from their angle, so he tried the next best thing; punching the Shadow to divert the trajectory. Had Jiraiya struck earlier, he would have done just that. But a second difference was still vital in a fight, and though he struck another powerful blow to her, the fireball still found its mark by Chie's feet. It was enough.

"Aaaaaah!" Chie cried in pain as she was blown away. Her sweater quickly caught fire before she rolled on the ground to smother them. Tomoe slumped and started to flicker.

"Satonaka!" Shirou's heart wavered for a moment; his attention focused solely on his teammate's safety. It was with this pause that his heart subconsciously dismissed Izanagi from the fight and that, while still under the passive blessings of his Persona, ran for her.

"Damn it," Yosuke cursed. He couldn't blame the magus for his actions, and he had been fighting the Shadow himself this whole time, but it would help to have his Persona as moral support. If he could keep this up though, he could win. She hadn't even hit him yet! Though why was he feeling so tired all of a sudden?

Shirou felt the bottom of his stomach drop out at the sight of Satonaka lying on the ground in pain. Regret filled every fiber of his being; he should have never allowed anyone to be here with him. No one should ever risk their lives other than his own. Now one of his first friends here in Inaba was hurt and it was because of his stupid plan! If she (had) just stayed safe in the normal world and lived in ignorance, she would never have to endure this pain. Worse, he could switch Izanagi out and heal her, but if he did, Shadow Yukiko would be free to rampage. He could feel Izanagi straining to hold her down through their link.

He would have reached down to pick her up, but Chie immediately reached up and took his hand. "Okay, now I'm mad. Those two are going down!" she declared before giving the obviously bewildered Shirou a slight glare. "What? I'm not out of this yet! Help me up!"

Any protest Shirou had to the demand died at the look in Satonaka's eyes. He felt that trying to convince her to step back would only end in pain later. It also reminded him that this was not the place to argue with her. With a pull, he helped the girl to her feet and turned back to the Shadow, who was pursued by Jiraiya but a lot less aggressively. Somehow, the tables have turned and it was the avian that was dancing in circles around the ninja Persona now, and it left both Shirou and Chie a feeling of worry and dread, especially when he would occasionally flicker between tangibility every few seconds.

"Yosuke, what's wrong?" Shirou quickly shouted, taking note of the way his friend was visibly trembling, like he could barely stand.

"I-I don't know, partner! I feel like I just ran a marathon and a half!" he wheezed, his breathing obviously ragged.

Teddie provided the answer from the throne room's door, dreading the thought of having to go deeper into the castle with a weakened Yukiko. "Yosuke's been using a lot of power to let Jiraiya use his techniques so much! He's bear-y drained right now!"

Shirou bit back a curse. Moving and controlling a Persona normally took no effort, but there was a drain whenever they used their Persona's special powers, physical or magical. Yosuke must have been too caught up in the battle to even notice! He'd need to restore some of his strength to keep him fighting; maybe Pixie could help?

Shadow Yukiko, now perched atop a chandelier, laughs triumphantly. "You three think you're so smart, but you aren't the only ones with tricks up your sleeves. Prince-kun! Let us dance!"

As if reinvigorated by her "princess's" voice, the Charming Prince flipped to its feet instantly. Dark power gathered and it began to shake in a familiar manner. Clapping his hands over his ears, Shirou braced for the memories as the Shadow screamed…

Nothing. No fire, no anguish. Shirou blinked to awareness slowly, noticing that everything was still the same. He didn't need to look long and hard to figure out why. He wasn't the target.

No, this time it was Yosuke, sporting an unhealthy mix of pale white and blue, that was affected. Jiraiya, a hair's width away from striking the avian Shadow, froze and flickered away, not unlike what happened to him as Shadow Yosuke. The trauma by the Charming Prince's fear scream was so strong it overrode the power of Persona itself. "S-Saki-senpai? But..."

With a haughty laugh, the Shadow flew off her chandelier perch and higher up to the ceiling. "Now stay right there, and I'll show you a dance I like to call, the 'Shivering Rondo'." Then in one strike with her talons, she severed the chains supporting the chandelier before letting gravity take over.

There was no time to think. Shirou took off towards their friend, faintly aware of Chie running behind him. He desperately called to his Persona, any Persona, to help him close the gap in time. He pushed his body as far as he could, ramping up his Reinforcement. They were too far away but he just had to reach him in time. He had to! "YOSUKE! LOOK OUT!"

Another ten yards and he could have shoved Yosuke aside. He could have at least put himself in the way, maybe absorbed some of the damage and healed later.

But fate was cruel.

A loud crash shook the room, and the magus was nearly blown back by the force. Debris and dust from overturned, broken tiles was just settling down, and left no imagination to the damage done. Metal bars once supporting candles were bent and broken off, littering the floor around it. Or at least the ones closest to the ground as the chandelier crashed at a tilted angle to the side. The candles themselves were either burnt out or weakly burning to the floor and caved open tile spaces. There was no trace of Yosuke above the structure.

The scenario slowly settled in of their friend's demise. Chie knelt back down to the floor sobbing. A coldness spread through Shirou's entire being. Two failures back to back. He had power now, but what good was it if he wasn't able to save everyone here? He had pulled it off against the other Shadows, so why was he failing so miserably now? What did he do wrong? How could he call himself an Ally of Justice like this? "Yosuke…"

"I knew it," said Shadow Yukiko. "He really was such a worthless commoner pretending to be someone else. He couldn't even make a proper escort. Isn't that right, Prince-kun?"

Shirou snapped to the Shadow and saw red, figuratively and literally. He cared not that she was now a myriad projection of Amagi's feelings made reality. She was an insufferable, violent monster who needed to be stopped. Acting on his growing desire for righteous fury, his newest Persona beckoned to the call and he answered it. "Eligor!"

Like a chevalier racing to his fellow jousting opponent, Duke and steed galloped from the spiritual flames of their shattered card. With breakneck speed, their distance across the throne room shrank by the second and the rider drew back his weapon, armed and poised towards its grounded enemy. The Charming Prince, as if sensing its impending doom, started to flee as far as its little legs could carry it.

"If thou calls itself royalty, than accept death with dignity!" Eligor roared, just before he approached striking distance and struck. "Poison Skewer!"

SRICK!

"Prince-kuuuuun!" Shadow Yukiko screeched, watching in horror as the deed was done.

The lance pierced the Shadow's lesser armor, already weakened by Tomoe. Its smaller body mass left it embedded on the lance's point as the gallant knight slowed to a stop. As if disgusted with his meager kill, and resonant to Shirou's thoughts, the Duke of Hell flicked his lance aside, flinging the dead Shadow away. The red avian flew down to the prince's side, craning her head to its side affectionately. It was for naught as the Charming Prince dissolved to black nothingness, and no trace was left.

"No… no!" the Shadow cried, ending with a long, loud primal screech to the heavens. Though her grief was far from gone, it was replaced with anger as she directed her gaze to Shirou.

"YOU!" She roared at the magus. "How DARE YOU kill my one and only true love?!"
He simply stared back, hands gripping his sword tightly. Eligor righted his lance in position between them, his horse brushing its leg back for another charge. Chie was slowly pulling herself up and wiping the still tears off her eyes before joining the fight.

"None of you are worthy of me, so you decide to take it out on my Prince-kun? Well you can all die like the worthless commoners that you are! Just like your little friend!"
Eligor charged forward to strike, but the Shadow was already in the air and beyond his reach. She climbed into the bird cage structure on top of another chandelier which was large enough to fit her inside. She perched herself just outside of the now swaying cage with her wings fully outstretched and paid special attention to the lit candles.

"Now burn to ashes!" she wailed, and then flapped her wings. The candle flames grew larger, and embers parted them as they flew and rained down on the room, which only grew worse with the constant moving of Shadow Yukiko's perch. Other chandeliers were blown forward by the wind as well, and in response, more embers scattered.

In less than a minute, the throne room was engulfed in flames that threatened to burn everything in sight. Chie could already feel the stinging smell of smoke build up from the carpets and drapes, taking extra precaution to dismiss Tomoe while avoiding falling debris. "What do we do now?"

She hoped that Shirou had a plan. If not, at the very least respond with assurance that they would get by somehow. But when she maneuvered her way next to him, he was in a trance again. Not like seeing Yosuke die, but when the Prince terrorized him into a seizure. He was now staring blankly around the room, as if looking for something. Possibly Eligor, for he upped and vanished around the time the fire started.

"Emiya-kun?" she tried again, but no answer. Things were going from bad to worse, and everything was literally coming down on their heads!

"Shirou-sensei! Chie-chan!" Teddie finally called out from the back. "This room is gonna fall apart any second! Get out of there, hurry! And don't worry; I bearly fetched Yosuke in time, but he'll live! He's right here resting with me and Yuki-chan!"

If the situation wasn't so dire, she'd probably weep with relief and forgive Teddie for doubting them. But she was stuck with a nearly unresponsive leader in a burning room and a psychotic bird waiting to kill them. "Emiya-kun!" she shook his shoulders. "Snap out it! We need your help! Emiya-kun!"

When that didn't work, she slapped him. She felt a little guilty, but it seemed to work with Yosuke earlier. To her relief, she got it to work too, and the redhead's eyes blinked as if waking up. "S-Satonaka?"

"No time, just run!"

She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the back of the hall by the staircase, narrowly avoiding burning ceiling beams blocking their path and/or nearly crushing them. As the bear said, Teddie was waiting near the stairs with two laying down students. Yukiko was leaning against the corner wall, making tired pants and close to passing out due to her Shadow's presence. Yosuke looked far worse, flat on the ground with rags that was once his school uniform. Teddie was just finishing covering his head gash with wrapping tape before moving to the cuts from shrapnel across his chest when the duo arrived.

"Things are beary bad out there," Teddie shock nervously even as he worked. "If this keeps up, we'll all be bar-bear-qued!"

Chie winced from the searing hotness and the painful pun. Shirou himself ignored it and considered their options. "Any chance we can escape?"

"The door's barred," said the bear, pointing to a large pile of burning wood in front of the stairway. "And this castle is eight stories high; I counted. Even if we get past here, we have so many other floors to climb down that it'd be too late."

The students exchanged forlorn glances, but fortunately for them Teddie wasn't done yet. "I made another Goho-M," it said after patching Yosuke, lifting a house diorama for emphasis. "But I was hoping to use it after we beat Shadow Yuki-chan. I… I don't want to think what would happen if she was left alone, whether or not she killed Yuki-chan."

Chie herself didn't want to think what would happen to Yukiko either if this issue was ignored, now that she thought about it. But they were so weak and the fire was getting closer. "We can't beat that thing on our own. Not without Hanamura. Can't you heal him, Emiya-kun?"

He didn't answer, but called out Pixie to check their teammate. After a quick look, she sadly shook her head. "This is beyond me. Only alternative is to use some revival beads or that… well, you know."

"Beads…" Teddie said aloud even as Pixie dismissed herself. Then he smacked his paws together. "Oh! I know what Pixie-chan's talking about!"

"Do we have any to use?" Chie asked hopefully.

"Nope!" Teddie smiled, much to the dismay of his friends. "But I can make one!"

Teddie clapped his hands twice, and cupped them together and produced a small curved, clear colored magatama and pressed it on Yosuke's body. A moment later, he gasped awake, lunging up abruptly and looking around frantically. He calmed down upon wincing in pain and noting his body bandages. "We're not dead yet, are we?"

"Not yet," Shirou weakly joked. "Now the Shadow's trying to burn us out. You and I could probably make it, but Satonaka…"

"I only have two ice shots left in me," she finished.

"So that's it then?" he asked. "Man, if only Amagi-san could accept herself."

Chie's expression brightened at the idea. She turned to her friend resting in the corner, and slowly walked over to her before kneeling down. "Yukiko, can you hear me?"

The inn heiress moaned weakly, barely keeping her eyes open before focusing on her friend. Chie could relate, and she was certain Yosuke could too; the sudden loss of feeling and awareness, where you'd rather just doze off and let yourself roll over and die. It was easy to understand why Ms. Yamano and Konishi-senpai died after their Shadows were born, and it was tempting without a heart to react. But if Yosuke was able to admit his problems to his Shadow under the influence, then so could Yukiko. She just needed to be reminded that her best friend was here for her.

"Yukiko, I'm sorry. You were right; I'm not good enough, let alone strong enough to help you. I never even noticed all of-"

"Run, Chie."

Chie's planned speech was interrupted and thoroughly derailed by Yukiko's words. They were soft spoken as a plea, but had finality to them… and defeat. "Wh-what?!"

"Run," she said again, slowly but strongly. "Go and save yourself. It's me that thing wants, isn't it? I'd never forgive myself if you died in my place."

"We're not leaving without you," said Shirou.

"Damn straight we're not!" Yosuke added. "We came all this way in the first to rescue you, Satonaka especially! We might not be the princes you were hoping for, but don't we get points for trying?"

Yukiko turned to Chie, who nodded in answer. Then the black haired girl chuckled, again with futility. "You were right. This place was dangerous. I knew it from the start, even with Prince-kun by my side. But I'm just like a bird in a cage. I don't have the strength or courage to leave on my own."

A birdlike screech drew Yosuke and Shirou's attention back, seeing the Shadow's form blacken and falter. The moment passed and she flapped out more embers and flares to further ignite the room, growing steadily closer to their spot. "Where are you peasants?! I know you're in here!"

"Is her guilt a form of confronting her Shadow?" Shirou asked.

"That's how it started with me, too," Yosuke said. "But unless she fully admits it to herself, we're literally toasted!"

"I found a baby bird in a dropped nest," Yukiko continued, eyes focused on her attentive friend. "I saw myself in him; alone and unable to take care of himself. So I took him home, bought a bird cage, and fed him every day. All of last year I looked forward to seeing him grow bigger and stronger, as he was my excuse to believe everything was okay.

"Then one day, I forgot to lock the cage and he flew away. Everyone thought I was heartbroken, but I was really devastated. A bird had more courage than me to leave his prison, while I need someone to open my door. But I ignored that fact and just went on with my life, pretending it never happened," Yukiko's eyes moistened, and she covered her face to hide them. "Because it would remind me how trapped I feel… and how horrible a person I really am!"

She could tell the others were all watching her. She could hear the red Shadow screaming and yelling both in pain and anger, but she was too ashamed to care. Ashamed of her real desire to run away from home and needing someone to do it for her. The fact she was telling all this to Chie, her best friend, and the one person she secretly hoped to be her savior, did nothing to alleviate her feelings.

"So what if you're horrible? I'm just as bad, if not worse."

Confused, Yukiko looked up from her hands to see Chie. Strangely enough, she looked just as guilty as she was. "Huh…?"

"I understand, really. I had a Shadow too recently." She sighed, steeling herself. "I'm… not as strong as you think I am, either. I'm not as popular or smart or pretty as you. You get boys asking you out every other day and they all just see me as your keeper."

She lowered her head and started sniffling; death was the farthest thing on her mind, as feelings of shame crept into her. "You're my best friend, Yukiko. I would never lie about that. But, *sniff* I was always so jealous of you, getting all the boys and attention, that I wanted to feel important like you were all the time. I just wanted to be noticed so badly. And I felt happy when your Shadow said you depended on me, when for years it felt like the other way around. So happy that… I wanted to keep that feeling and never let it go."

When she looked up, her face was red and tears were sliding down her cheeks. "I needed you Yukiko, just to get by. But I wanted you to need me to feel better about myself. Because if you didn't, if you left me… I'd have nothing."

"Chie…"

"But… now I'm convinced more than ever that it's okay to have bad qualities. I was afraid you'd hate me for being so selfish, and here you are, telling me to run away because you care, just like always." She gave a soft smile that Yukiko had grown to appreciate as strong and comforting. "I don't know my good qualities yet, but I figure I could make it up to you by being there when you need me. You know… because we're friends."

Yukiko felt so silly in comparison. It was never that she needed Chie or Chie needed her; they needed each other because they brought out the best in one another. The only one keeping her locked in the cage was herself, afraid of going out alone. But what was to be afraid of? Chie wasn't her rescuer, but someone who'd always be by her side, and was waiting for her to leave on her own.

Yukiko was right that she was like the bird she'd adopted in the past. And she found her courage to take the first step forward.

"Chie…"

"Yukiko…"

The two friends embraced one another, tears of joy and relief freely falling from their eyes, overwhelming ones of grief and sadness. They were close before, but even the boundaries of their secrets couldn't drive them apart. And as he watched from afar as they whispered thanks, Shirou smiled to himself, glad to know their friendship was saved.

"LIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

The whole room shook violently, and more flames erupted out uncontrollably. Everyone turned to the source to see the Shadow discharge like crazy and repeatedly flail in her cage perch while weakly fanning flames around. The desperate action would no doubt engulf the whole castle in flames if not for her body phasing out.

"Liar liar liar liar liar liar LIAR!" she bellowed. "No one can save me but my Prince, and YOU MONSTERS KILLED HIM! I can't do anything without him so STOP SPREADING LIES!"

"The Shadow's weakening!" Yosuke smiled. "This is our opening!"

"Be careful!" Teddie exclaimed. "She's like a cornered bear now!"

"So are we," said Shirou, feeling his body tension rise as he projected his Persona card. He turned to his injured comrade. He almost lost his friend, and would want nothing more than for him and Satonaka to never fight again. But they were both stubborn and loyal to a fault, and he would insult them telling them otherwise. All he could do is ask if they were still willing: "Think you can still fight, Yosuke?"

His partner merely grinned. "Who the hell do you think I am?"

"Right," he smiled back, before crushing the card. "Persona!"

The Duke Persona once again galloped into the main hall, effortlessly stomping over the now weakening flames of the Shadow's rampage. Though he couldn't reach her, he made due with taunting her. "Come, duchess of flames! Joust me if you wish to avenge your spouse!"

"If you must refer to me by title, it's PRINCESS Yukiko! And I'm more than happy to oblige!"
Her retort made, she cut the chain on her chandelier and watched it fall to crush him.

This wasn't the case as Eligor and Shirou knew what to expect. With expert handling, he heeled his horse at the last moment before the chandelier would land. "Next," he challenged, trotting his horse around.

Shadow Yukiko dived down with a screech, head first, and bashed firmly at Eligor's breastplate. The knight gagged on reflex, with Shirou mirroring the action with their synchronized link. The large Shadow kept flapping her wings for momentum in an attempt to topple the rider off.

But Shirou gritted his teeth and held his ground. Through Eligor's reins his mount did the same, and slowly but surely forced the attack to a stop. Then he completely overpowered the Shadow and pushed her back with a screaming charge.

"HUOOOOOOOOOOOOOA!" cried magus and knight, their actions one. The horse joined them, with a hearty neigh.

"Wh-what?!" the Shadow gasped, and found herself flapping to get away instead of advance. She was also constantly conjuring Agi after Agi at the knight, hoping to stop him. "Get back! Begone! Away with you! Why won't you die? WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?!"

As one of the many Dukes of Hell from the Ars Goetia, it was fitting that Eligor had control in Agi-aligned magic, and that he was just as resistant to the element. Through the link, Shirou felt each fireball pass over him like heat from an open flame against his face. And that was for the attacks that actually continued and didn't fizzle out.
"Surprise!"

Shadow Yukiko's retreat was stopped in its tracks when the Ninja Persona, mimicking Yosuke's voice, struck her exposed back with both hands and their spinning discuses. Her cry of pain doubled when Eligor closed the small gap between them with his piercing lance. Then the Duke Persona backed away before flicking the avian Shadow into the air, and Jiraiya propelled her with a well-timed Garu.

"Satonaka!" "All you!"

Now standing in front of the staircase, Chie stood firmly in place, arms pulled back and cupped together. Tomoe was floating above her in a similar position, and her hands were glowing bluish white.

"This is gonna get messy, Yukiko," she warned her friend, the only one who followed her while the others split off for the final assault. "You should run when you get the chance."
But her friend shook her head confidently. "I'm not leaving, Chie." It brought a smile to her lips, and gave her the needed boost to finish the job.

"Double… Bufu… KEEEEEEEEEN!"

She had no idea how fighting game characters really used their hypothetical energy to make their attacks bigger, so she went over Shirou's instructions on Persona summoning, as well as a bit of wishful thinking of "I want to use two Bufus at once."

The result for Tomoe was a very draining, very bright, very big, and very cool-looking ice blast that moved and acted more like freezing wind than anything else. And it was fired directly at the avian sent flying towards her.

"Noooooooo!"

And Shadow Yukiko was defeated. She crystalized on the spot into an ice sculpture, but with the fight over, the ice cracked and gave away moments later. With the ice shattered, Shadow particles melted away through the cracks and evaporated helplessly on the ground. All that remained was the Princess lookalike standing in the center, looking more somber and calm than she'd ever been.
Chie exhaled and dismissed Tomoe, gauging the now silent Shadow. "I'm sorry for all this, Yukiko," she said to both human and Shadow. "I was so caught up in my own problems I didn't know how much you really needed me for you."

"I wasn't very considerate either, Chie," the heiress admitted. "I just wanted an easy way out of all of my problems without facing them head on." She walked slowly to the Princess, feeling the empty haze clear more with each step. It had already eased up considerably after confining in Chie, but she had to look to herself in the mirror and admit it, so to speak.

"'I want to run away.' 'I want someone to save me.' I really did have these feelings, but I felt so bound down that I was ashamed to admit it." She gently took the Princess' hands in hers, giving them an affectionate squeeze. "I'm sorry I didn't it get sooner… me."

The Shadow smiled faintly and nodded. Before the girl's eyes, she was enveloped in a bright blue light and transformed. Hovering before them was a young woman in a white skirt, black stockings and thin knee high boots. Her upper body bore a skin-tight white and pink shirt, with the white outlines covering her arms, abdomen, and chest a familiar heart shape, and her face was covered with a bright pink mask similar to the super hero shows. Each corner of her head sported a floral hair decoration of a bloomed sakura. A similar design of sakura was seen attached to both her wrists, but made much larger and mechanical like a chain weapon of sorts that was linked together.

Yukiko didn't understand why she knew it was now a Persona like what her friends were using, or how she knew her name (Konohana Sakuya), but she accepted her other self for who she was, no matter the change. In another flash, the being vanished and fluttered down to her open hands as a Tarot Card.

When she felt the card melt into her soul, she suddenly lost feeling in her legs. Chie caught her right away and smiled. "Don't worry. It was rough the first time for me too."

Yukiko smiled back. Then she realized something, back during the fighting. "Is Prince-kun really-?"

Chie's smile quickly faded, and she shook her head. "I'm sorry Yukiko. I know how much he means to you, but when we thought Yosuke died back there…"

It was understandable. She thought she had something close to the Charming Prince in the days depending on its care, but it was just a facet of someone to save her, not an actual person. Rather, it was the one keeping her in her gilded cage, and it wasn't until she realized the people that truly mannered were right in front of her that she had the strength to get out.

"To be honest, it was Emiya-kun that did it. I think the last time I saw him that pissed was- wait a minute. Where is Emiya-kun? And the others?"

The girls took careful notice of the changed scenery since the final attack. The throne room was a mess; piles of ceiling wood were still scattered across the room, and carpets and drapes had been burnt to the point of being unrecognizable. The fire was all gone now at least, but somehow the room had changed from bright pink to dark blue from the sudden flash freeze. At least the castle wasn't in danger of burning to the ground now. That positive thought gave Chie the confidence that the guys came out all right.

"Ah-CHOO! Oh, my f-fur's all w-w-wet."

Turning to the noise, both girls gasped at what they saw, and Chie mentally corrected herself to mostly all right.

As Yukiko was beside Chie at the time and thus behind the blast radius, the girls were completely healthy despite feeling a slight draft. Shirou, Yosuke and Teddie, on the other hand, were all comically hugging their shivering selves, topped with snow on their heads and shoulders, and were trying their darn hardest to fight back their sneezes.

"WhwhwhwhwhwhwhWhat the HELL was that?!" Yosuke chattered. "W-w-were you tr-tr-trying to freeze us all to d-d-death?"

Chie had the decency to blush and rub her head sheepishly. "Heh heh, sorry guys. Didn't mean to go that far."

"H-how you even managed that s-surprises me," the magus admitted. He couldn't hold it against her for the unseen circumstance, and he knew she didn't mean it.

"I didn't know I could do it either," she agreed, teasingly flexing her arms for emphasis. "But man, sometimes I scare myself with my own strength."

"Y-your ice was b-beary amazing, Chie-chan!" Teddie smiled, despite the cold. "I-I wish I could do ma-ma-ma-magic as nearly as c-c-cool like that!"

"I s-s-swear, it's Fe-Fe-February all over again," the headphone teen shivered. "N-n-next time? Warn us before you give us a g-giant c-c-cold blast!"

Chie was about to reply that she would, but Yukiko, who had been quiet since the boys arrived, snorted. Confused, everyone turned to her and saw her trying to keep a serious face, and failing miserably. And then another snort, with it a smile and giggle. Chie couldn't believe her eyes. "Is she really-?"

"BWAAAA-hahahahaha, ahahahahahaha!" Finally unable to control herself, Yukiko laughed. She laughed and laughed and laughed until she cried. She laughed as she leaned on her friend for support, and pointed at the bewildered bear and students.

"Y-your faces," she squeaked between giggles. "Your fa-a-a-aces! They're so-ahahaha! And the snow! Ahahaha, the sno-o-o-w! It's-it's-it's on your heads li-like a little ha-ahahaha, like ahahaha!"

Yukiko continued to laugh blissfully, ignoring any looks she got as she did. Yosuke broke the stunned silence, face torn between hurt and accusing as he pointed to her. "I-i-is she la-laughing at our pr-pr-predicament!?"

"Don't take it personally," Chie explained, eyes rolling and hand patting her friend's back. "She always gets like this when she finds something funny." Then she sighed and half muttered to herself "But she used to only do it around me."

"Hahahaha-like a Haaaaaatahahahaha!" Yukiko finally said, and would have likely gone on laughing further before she started coughing rather violently.

"Yukiko!" Chie cried, her annoyed expression giving way to worry that mirrored the freezing boys.

"S-sorry," she smiled, forced to calm down. "It hurts to laugh, I guess."

Shirou gave a strained smile. "W-well, y-you're safe now, that's all that matters."

"Yes," Yukiko nodded, and forced herself up. She turned her attention to everyone, one by one.

To Chie, who had always been her support, and always a dear friend through thick and thin.

To Hanamura, who she considered an acquaintance at best but proved to be as loyal as when he first moved to Inaba.

To Emiya, the one she believed to be her savior from afar, and was right for the wrong reasons.

And to Teddie, who she knew nothing about but was still someone who risked his life for hers.

With a grateful smile, Yukiko bowed deeply in front of them. "Thank you for saving me everyone."

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Fuyuki Gaiden 1: The Sunny Days are over

My name is Taiga Fujimua. I've been called many things, from teacher to Yakuza Princess to human rocket to even… that word. I always strive to be a role model for my students and peers. It's not my fault they don't know how to have fun most of the time.

My little protégé-slash-student-slash-cook-slash-brother Shirou is always a handful, getting riled up at the most harmless of my pranks, but we get along well. I worry sometimes that I can never quite help him or reach that level of closeness to do it, but I suppose that's the downside of not being related by blood.

I admit that I wasn't the best older sister figure most of the time, but I believe I finally came through for him with the chance to reconcile with his extended family. This fact alone is what keeps me sleeping soundly (and with a slightly smaller stomach) for the first few nights.

But I still feel… uneasy. I haven't forgotten about the blue butterfly that night. I tried doing a bit of research, but nothing I found came even close to what I saw. If I was a little more paranoid and wary, I would think that the butterfly spoke to me that same night.

Right, and Homurahara High School is secretly teaching students magic. Like I said, "If I was a little more paranoid and wary."

That aside, I still wonder if there was some warning of things to come that would happen to Shirou. Something that might happen to his family after all the time and effort I went into looking for them. It was part of the reason I pushed him along to his school year transfer. I didn't like it any more than Sakura (and I might have backpedalled into reeling him to cook for me again) but I knew he needed this. I just wished I thought of this sooner. Like, five years sooner.

When Shirou called me two days after he left (despite interrupting my beauty sleep), I was thankful he didn't automatically forget about me. The last thing I would want is to be forgotten because he didn't have me mooching off his food anymore. But it still reminded me that he might get back to his old habits of being helpful.

I would also find myself watching the news every day just wondering how he's doing. My… intuition (which is clearly NOT the same as paranoia, which I already explained) told me to keep an ear low to the ground on whatever could happen to Shirou and/or Inaba. It wasn't easy because that town is literally in the middle of nowhere, but it wasn't hard to pick up how hard they were milking the "Yamano Love Scandal" for days.

Some days I wished I hadn't.

Days after it went public, said scandal had an unexpected and startling twist that resulted in the former news anchor's death; hanging off a telephone pole no less. It was almost as unexplainable as the string of child killings in Fuyuki a decade ago. To this day, it's still a somber topic for high school students who were children at the time because of the terror they felt and the friends they lost. I think I also heard rumors that Rin Tohsaka miraculously survived the encounter with the serial killer.

Instead of grieving though, the Inaba newscast team was ecstatic; going over the mysterious death and anything else relating to the scandal like they had found a way to kill Gojira. A part of me was angry at how careless they were all being, but I had other concerns on my mind. I tried to keep myself calm, thinking that it was just an unfortunate coincidence that happened just as Shirou moved over. The murder topic would eventually die out, and then he'd enjoy the rest of the trip with his family.

<><><>

The next day I dialed Shirou's home phone to Ryotaro Dojima's cell. He picked up after two rings. "Dojima spea-"

"I want Shirou to move back in Fuyuki City right now."

I was never one for tact, but Dojima-san was smart and caught on to things quick. True to my theory, he sighed in a way that indicated he knew who I was and what I was calling for. "You heard about the announcer's death?"

I turned back to the house TV. "I'm watching the news right now about a student's death."

Saki Konishi, a third year student from Yasogami High. As usual, the news media was effectively grave-robbing her identity for a story in a complete 180 of doctrine and hiding her face and voice from the public only a day ago. The only details I cared to get were her name and school, especially how close this was all coming to Shirou.

Dojima wasn't happy either, but he seemed more annoyed and muttering about the news for some reason. Not that I cared at this point.

"When I agreed to send him over for his yearlong stay, I expected him to be in a nice, quiet environment to study and get to know you and Nanako-chan better," I explained calmly. I can't help but to feel a bit vindictive after the pause. "Not to be caught in the middle of some Western crime drama!"

"You can't blame me for how and when these perps act up in this town!" Dojima argued. "Besides, he's in no more danger than the rest of his friends are."

I wanted to believe him, and if it was anyone else I probably would, but I knew that bonehead better than he did. "This is Shirou we're talking about. If there's one thing he won't tolerate, it is injustice. And maybe bad cooking." Oddly enough, his passion for food was probably one of the more normal tidbits of his personality and what he'd be open with.

"I still don't see how this is a problem."

"Tell me; are you anywhere close to knowing who did this?"

"The bastard knows how to cover his tracks," the detective sighed.

"Then it's only a matter of time before Shirou gets the brilliant idea to go try chasing the maniac himself or die trying!"

The line was quiet as my words slowly sunk in, and I realized just how scared I was for Shirou. I knew I was ever since the first killing, but it just hit me like a ton of bricks in my own argument.

"You're kidding," Dojima replied, as if trying to convince both of us that it was a bad joke. And I honestly wish it was.

"He got into a lot of fights with bullies growing up," I frowned, recalling those memories. "And he lost. A lot. Had bandages over his arms and legs every other week, and tried brushing it off like it's no big deal until the next injury would happen."

Why else would I want him to rethink the whole "Ally of Justice" nonsense? It was a cute dream for him as a kid, but it's only that; a dream. If he was a bit clearer as to why or how he'd go about it, I'd be more than welcoming of his attitude to change the world, but he's either always vague or half-hearted in explaining what it means. The only person who could probably explain it (since it was his dream to begin with) was Kiritsugu Emiya, and he's dead (God rest his soul). Not to mention that Shirou would still act so immaturely that I wonder if he even knows how much Sakura-chan really cares about him. In hindsight, I should have pushed them together a bit more.

But despite this, Dojima gave a small chuckle. I was about ready to snap at him that it was no laughing matter, but his next words stopped me. "He'd make one hell of a cop, then, if he could take a beating."
Shirou, a cop? The thought honestly hadn't occurred to me before. Still, it helped cheer me up a bit. "I fancy him as a part time chef with a food truck."

That got Dojima laughing harder, as it did with me. A traveling chef might suit him, really. Making fine cuisine dishes and ending world hunger in all the small European countries too poor for anything else.

"In any case," he said after we calmed down. "I'll let him know you called and see how he feels about moving back."

"Thanks. Good luck on the case."

I hung up, left once again alone in the empty house. A big, fancy rich house that according to my grandpa's records was bought by Kiritsugu a few days before the Shinto district fire. It had a lot of rooms, lot of space, classic sliding doors, and a large open yard space with its own storage annex that Shirou has a strange fixation towards for some reason. But it was missing people to fill in that void, and two to three people was never quite enough to fill that space.

This must have been what Shirou felt every time Sakura-chan and I left for our own homes each night. A constant reminder for five years that there was no family or friends around when sleeping-

Wait a minute.

I hurriedly dialed the phone again. Three rings this time. "What is-"

"What was that you said about Shirou's friends?"

The talk following that was mostly short, as Dojima-san stressed he needed to get back to work before complying. My head was still ringing. Two girls. First day of Yasogami High and he was socializing with two girls his same year.

Dojima-san only knew this because they were walking home from school while he was on duty, looking over the announcer's dead body. This is all well and dandy but WHAT THE HELL?! The first day in a new school and he's already got two girls walking with him?!

I could seriously count on one hand the number of people Shirou knew personally in Homorahara, and they weren't at all instant made friendships! First was Issei Ryuudou, Reikan's younger brother and current student body president. Problem is he tends to look a gift horse in the mouth concerning Shirou. Not that I blame him, since he's probably the closest semblance Shirou has to a friend worried for him.

Then there was the archery team captain, Ayako Mitsuzuri. From what I know, Shirou used to be in the club before some accident convinced him to drop out last year. She's been pestering him to join back ever since, but they get along like former acquaintances at best.

Then there's Sakura's brother, Shinji Matou. Enough said.

Adding Sakura and myself, that's a whole hand! So why would he suddenly get attention from girls?!

Wait… THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE HE PERSONALLY KNOWS ARE GIRLS! OH MY GOD HE'S GOING TO GROW UP TO BE A WOMANIZER!

<><><>

"Uh… Taiga-chan?"

I lifted my aching head from the table. Ugh, stupid hazy thoughts. I could barely recognize the room though. Copenhagen, right?

"Don't you think you've had enough to drink?" I turned to the speaker, and it was 'ol Neko-chan in all black attire; shirt, pants, apron. Yep, Copenhagen; which means I came here for a heavy drinking binge, as seen by the empty mug in my hand. Next to about a dozen others.

Damn, why'd I drink so many again?

Oh that's right, something about a murder of a student in Inaba, and Shirou walking back with two-

"Nope!" I slam my glass mug down. I was suddenly sober from that thought, and had no wish to be tonight. "Give me another!"

<><><>

I called Dojima the following evening, ready to chew him out. This was the third missing person, and it's only a matter of time before she became a streetlight ornament. I was in my house this time; hand on my cell, foot tapping, and my gaze glued to the Inaba local news.

He finally answered at the fourth ring. "He's staying."

Well, color me surprised. The detective can predict when I-wait, what?! "Excuse me?"

"Shirou's staying here, at least for now."

Okay, what the hell?! He has no right to claim custody like that! I'm his legal guardian, damn it! What possible reason could he have to keep him down there?!

"I don't know when this case will be solved, and things are only getting worse with a missing student." Exactly my point! So why-?! "I'm most likely going to spend a lot of late nights finding this guy while Nanako's alone in the house."

Nanako?

"You told me once that I should consider my daughter's feelings with her mother gone and me always working. That was the only reason I even considered meeting half-way to this whole "long-lost-nephew' thing. I don't know about Shirou in all this, but Nanako's just starting to open up more now that there's more company at home. They need each other."

…I'd forgotten. In the whole spiraling worry of Shirou's wellbeing, I didn't consider how bad it would be for Nanako-chan. And even if I devote more time and attention to him and remind him (that) he's not alone, the same couldn't be said for Nanako-chan.

I feel ashamed for even wanting to break up the family that I'd started and help mend. But it doesn't help that there's still a murderer out there, who'd ruin that family connection anyway by killing Shirou.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. And I damn well want to hit something right now. Instead, I breath out the leftover anger and guilt away in a long, exhausted sigh.

"…All right," I agree. "But if I hear or see the news going over a third murder victim, I'll come over myself and drag him back home if I have to."

"Fair enough," he replied back. He then adds with a bit of annoyance, "Though you're making it kind of hard to do my job."

"You're Detective Ryotaro Dojima," I said with a smile. "I'm sure you'll figure something out!"

I hung up, torn between being relieved and upset. That idiot was making a connection by channeling his helper attitude as usual, but the timing couldn't be worse. I guess the best thing to do would be to call Shirou and see how he was dealing with the whole thing. He was just a call away, like his uncle.

But why do I hesitate to dial the number?

<><><>

Good news, the Amagi Inn girl who went missing for almost a week had finally returned; alive, no less. She didn't make another appearance like in that one-sided interview, because the mother and father assured that she was safe and sound while recovering. They also kept the questioning short and returned to their business, so good for them.

But then there's the bad news: Shirou won't be coming back yet.

Well, not that I would have been happy for that girl's death in any case. I want to eat his delicious free food again, but I also want him to get along with his uncle and cousin.

It was then, sitting in his empty house once more that I decided to call him and see how he was. One ring goes by. Then two-

"Hello? Fuji-nee?"

How I missed hearing him call me that. But I can't let him know my weakness though.

"Shirou, it's good to hear from you! Haven't had any problems yet, right? Are you studying hard? How's Junes? Did you buy me any souvenirs yet? What about their recipes?!"
That should throw him off a bit.

"Sl-slow down! I'm fine with studying, Junes is great, I'm working on the souvenirs, and I'm considering how they make their steak skewers…"

I absently lick my lips. Steak skewers? That sounds kinda-wait. He skipped one. "So I take it you are having problems?"

I didn't need to see Shirou to know he was looking panicked at his blunder. "Uh… no?"

"If you have something to say, you better say it now before I beat it out of you, one way or another."

I was angrily tapping my finger to the table. He seemed to clue in to my behavior, for he sighed and said, "Okay, I do. Though it's… kind of embarrassing to say."

I grinned and silently urge him to continue. He'll admit he's caught up in the murder case, she'll talk him out of it, and he'll be out of risk of endangering himself and Nanako-chan. Plain and simple. "Just say it, Shirou. I won't judge." Much.

"Well…" he sounded doubtful, but went ahead anyway. "What do you do if you found out someone is… attracted to you?"

…

"And that you found out about it in the most… humiliating way possible?"

…

"And you want to try and help them see someone else but can't because of a misunderstanding?"

…

What?

Did Shirou just… is he seriously asking me… love advice?!

"Fuji-?"

I hung up, unable to listen to his innocent questioning anymore. It took all I had in me to fight back the urge to run for Copenhagen. Remember Taiga, getting drunk off your ass won't help anyone. Getting drunk off your ass won't help anyone. Getting drunk off your ass won't help anyone.

…Oh who the hell am I kidding?! SHIROU'S A WOMANIZER! THE APOCALYPSE IS UPON US!

Wait. What if it's Sakura?! Maybe… maybe he's finally realized that she has feelings for him and was legitimately asking for reasonable advice regarding his underclassman sweetheart! This changes everything!

I quickly redialed the number, excited and grinning from ear to ear, despite him not seeing it. "Fuji-nee, you're back! What happened?"

"Phone died," I lied easily. "Got it back up with a quick charge. So, mind telling more about this lucky girl?"

"W-well, she's very energetic, for starters. A bit violent, but also very protective."

I nodded. Sounded like a bit of a handful, but nothing Shirou couldn't handle. But if she was violent, she couldn't be Sakura-chan, though. "Yes, yes, go on."

"She's also very strong and athletic. With a healthy metabolism to boot; meaning, she eats a lot, but she works out to keep her figure fit, I'd imagine."

Strong and athletic? That'd suit more of Ayako-chan's description than Sakura-chan's, and even then they're both archers. But it's definitely not Sakura as I usually out-paced her in eating. So it wasn't her after all…

"Fuji-nee?"

"Sorry," I said and smiled again. I should be happy for him, and at least determine who this crush girl really is. "How did you know she likes you again?"

"I, uh…" he fumbled. He really was nervous about this. "I walked in and heard the alleged confession. Among other things I shouldn't have."

Ah. That's always a hazard to go through. I would hate for someone to get the wrong idea of me sleeping over at Shirou's place every night. I lost count I had to stress it otherwise to more than a few students curious of our arrangement, especially Ayako-chan's brother. "And what's this about a misunderstanding?"

"I was hoping to help someone else get to know her better but there's still the fact that she likes me."

Huh. Well, I got to admit Shirou's in a real pickle concerning this mystery girl and whether or not he wants to let her down gently. It was almost cute in a way. Still, she sounds vaguely familiar. The description, the rumors… if I didn't know any better, this crush girl sounds just like-

The smile on my face froze. Painfully.

"What do you think I shou-?"

I hung up again. Screw the power of mental persuasion. I REFUSE TO BE WOMANIZED!

<><><>

"Taiga-chan, I really think you should-"

"Nope!"

<><><>

Meals with Sakura-chan became a rare occurrence now. I was devastated at first, but it turns out Sakura-chan took Shirou's move harder than I thought. I convinced her to at least come over every Sunday and spend the entire day in the house with whatever she needed; we could study in separate rooms and she'd cook for both of us all three meals. It's a good thing because it'll spare Neko-chan and myself from another night at the bar, for both our sakes.

Tonight was a simple teriyaki chicken dish with fried rice; not as extravagant, but we both had no real reason to stay longer than necessary. I'd never admit it to Shirou of course, but Sakura-chan really is the better cook of the two, even with the most simplest and bare of ingredients. She just had the unfortunate trade-off of not being around as often as Shirou in the household; prior to this year, anyway.

Sakura-chan would never say why she would suddenly go straight to her estate, or what her sudden disappearance would be other than "family matters". Sakura-chan loved her brother more than he deserved, but she never liked talking about her family so Shirou and I never pushed. We just stayed stagnant at our little table for years, enjoying wonderful food and pretending nothing was wrong.

Pretending that Shirou didn't miss Kiritsugu. Pretending that Sakura-chan didn't have an unhappy life outside of the estate. Pretending that I just wanted to have responsibilities without really acting on them.

"I miss Senpai," Sakura spoke softly. She was lightly eating through her rice (with her) head hanging down.

"Yeah," I agreed, going through my third helping. Things just weren't the same without him to tease around. Dinner wasn't lively anymore with just the two of us. Perhaps this was another reason I always ate here.

"You never should have made him leave."

I looked up, surprised to see cute little Sakura-chan glaring at me. It was only a stern frown, but this was still a first from her. I was almost inclined to agree with her, though. But Sakura-chan was ignorant about the murder cases and there was no sense in getting her more worried. As far as she knew, nothing was going on in Inaba.

I simply shrugged. "I see this as doing it more for Nanako-chan at this point. She's lost her mother, and her father's too busy to take care of her all the time. Shirou would make a great nanny for her!"

I could already see it; the two of them sitting by a small table in princess dresses and large stuffed animals sitting around them, drinking tea that he'd no doubt make for the occasion. Shirou's lack of backbone led him to be everyone's favorite fake janitor, but there would be nothing wrong with allowing himself to go along with a little cousin's play time. In fact, it would sound kind of cute… and hilarious. I honestly had to laugh at the image.
But I realized that Sakura-chan wasn't laughing with me. Her glare broke down to a sadder frown, and she ducked her head down as if trying to hide from under her bangs.

She really was against Shirou's trip from the start, huh?

Well, as much as we both hated it, the decision was final and he won't be back until spring. There was nothing to worry about either; there hasn't been another murder yet from what I've kept up in the Inaba news. Shirou would be fine, and this whole murder crime spree will be a distant memory by the end of the year.

…I hope.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 22: Like a Dream Come True


April 24th, Dojima Household, Afternoon

It had been a few days since Yukiko was rescued. Officially, the story was that she was found at Junes with no memory of how she got there. It was partially true as her mind was still muddled on the details of being inside Teddie's world, and she needed plenty of rest. This didn't seem to satisfy the police, least of all Dojima, as the culprit was still at large, but they allowed the Amagi's their peace.

And so, with no reason to stress themselves over fighting Shadows for a while, and deciding to wait for Yukiko's full recovery before making their next decision, the Investigation Team was left to go about their daily lives as high school students. Chie practically embraced her textbooks, knowing that her friend's safety meant the return of normality. Yosuke, on the other hand, was somewhat torn between being relieved of being alive and wanting to fight Shadows again.

For Shirou, he just couldn't stop feeling giddy. He had learned more and grown stronger in the eight days acquiring the power of Persona than he did studying eight years of magecraft. He had always thought that it would take him years longer with unrelenting persistence to break the threshold of his training and actually achieve true Reinforcement. It was only by the influx of prana from Teddie's world that it was even possible, but that still paled in comparison to how he and his classmates had gained the power to face the Shadows on even footing.

He couldn't forget the feeling of pride and confidence he had when he first summoned Izanagi, as if he was finally rewarded for his hard work despite it being unrelated to magecraft. Then he fought Shadow Yosuke, which had subsequently humbled him. He still felt thrilled about saving Yosuke from himself of course, but the fight proved his nagging doubt that he still had a long way to go before becoming a true Ally of Justice.

Shirou also felt unease concerning Shadow Yosuke and Shadow Chie; he'd saved the same two people he had endangered in the first place. Perhaps if he had never stuck his hand in the TV of the electronics store, he never would have forced them into fighting alongside him. But he knew that Yosuke was right on some level; that unless they worked together, they wouldn't be able to save Yukiko Amagi, let alone anyone else.

And they did save her. That alone was enough to make their past week of struggles all worth it. Shirou expected himself to be the one truly thrilled, but all his Personas felt a resonance that he knew from his heart what they meant.

A sense of accomplishment from Yosuke. Tearful relief from Satonaka. And a budding sense of camaraderie as a team. The feelings were all pleasant to Shirou, even the latter emotion.

But three concerns still weighed Shirou's mind. The first was that the killer, whoever he was, was still an unknown and free to act at his leisure. Directly linking to the second was unless Amagi could help identify the killer, they would most likely be stuck waiting until he made his next move. The last concern was to get strong enough in time to prevent the next attack and apprehend him.

Staring at the full body mirror in his casual clothes, Shirou sighed and asked himself rhetorically, "But how in the world am I supposed to do that?"

As if answered by divine intervention, his phone started to ring at that moment. Startled by the call, he quickly checked the caller ID, initially expecting it to be Margaret again. Then he answered, "Good morning, Satonaka."

"Good morning Emiya-kun!" she said in such a way that he could hear her smile. "Say, I was wondering if you were busy today."

"I was going to make breakfast with Nanako," he answered honestly. Since moving in, the two had an unspoken agreement that Shirou would assist Nanako in managing breakfast while they would switch roles for dinner. Shirou took pride in making any course meal available, but he wanted to encourage his cousin to feel more at ease with him by taking charge and sharing a hobby. So far it was working.

"So you're free this afternoon?" Chie asked, slightly hopeful. "Because I was wondering if you'd like to meet up today. At the floodplain, near the gazebo where we first met."

"Any reason why?"

"I thought it'd be a good spot to train."

Shirou was surprised by the offer, but Chie continued when he didn't answer back.

"We promised Teddie we'd stop the killer from ruining his home, right? And make sure other people don't end up like Yukiko? We can't do that if our fighting skills aren't up to snuff. I got in trouble already with the umbrella and shoji, so I can't train at home, but I was wondering if you were willing to train with me! I-if that's okay I mean…"

Another pause, as Shirou considered the offer. Training by Samegawa wouldn't be considered odd as long as it was a simple workout. And there was a higher benefit if two or more people worked together than doing it alone. He had some slight reservation about training with a girl though-

"And to be perfectly honest," she added. "My brain hurts from all the studying these last few days. I seriously need to get my mind off it."

"Just do it," Eligor spoke from within. "This is your best chance to know her better." Social links again. Well, if nothing else, it would give them both an excuse to exercise.

"Sounds fine," Shirou nodded, before a thought occurred to him. "Should I also invite Yosuke to-?"

"Absolutely not! A third wheel has no place in such an engagement!"

So taken aback by the Duke of Hell's dismissal he almost missed the meaning of his words, as well as Chie's reply. "I, uh, already called him. Said he was busy with Junes and homework. Besides, he doesn't have the motivation to work out and would rather go right into fighting Shadows again. All gain and no pain, you know?"

"Good. The engagement shall commence without falter or distraction."

Ignoring the knight, Shirou decided that it was probably for the best that it was just the two of them training. Though she came late to awakening her Persona before himself or Yosuke, Satonaka took to it as naturally as he expected someone enamored with kung-fu. It would probably help if he saw her not as a girl, but as a younger Fuji-nee for their training.

Speaking of which, Fuji-nee never did help him figure out a way around her crush on him. Oh well. "How does eleven by the river sound?"

She didn't respond right away, but when she did she sounded relieved and excited. "Sounds perfect! See you soon!"

<><><>

Samegawa Flood Plain, Afternoon

As the one with more self-taught understanding of exercise, Chie was the one leading Shirou with the workout routines. Starting with basic stretches for warm-up, the two students trained vigorously with kata stances, blocks, punches, and even frog leaps. By the time the sun was setting, both were resting on the bench facing the riverbed, panting and sweating.

"Hah… hah… whoo!" the tomboy heaved. "I can't remember the last time I worked myself this hard."

The red-haired magus only panted and nodded. What Chie said left him thinking about all the nights he would train his magecraft, always driving himself to the point of exhaustion and no clear achievement ever made. No, not magecraft; this was more like the physical workouts in Homurahara's archery club with the intent of training his muscles than his magic circuits. He had almost forgotten what it was like.

"I'm kinda surprised though," she continued, turning to him. "I would have thought you'd given up about halfway through the day."

"Not likely," he smiled. "Compared to magic circuits and fighting Shadows, this is nothing."

"I can imagine." She still shuddered at the memory of him making a circuit at the TV world liquor store.

"Besides, this case is far from over, and I can't afford to let the killer get away with this."

"We can't afford him to get away with this."

Shirou turned to her, confused. Chie simply scowled at him. "We all made a promise to Teddie to help him. I get (that) you're worried about me, but I'm not helpless or senseless enough to let you go alone. Besides, the bastard made it personal by kidnapping Yukiko, and I want to be first in line when he gets a square ass-kicking."

It was oddly comforting and troubling to hear that Chie was also willing to help, but he knew he would grow used to it. This wasn't just about him and his altruist quest anymore; this involved the rest of the team and they had their own reasons in finding the culprit. Yosuke to avenge his senpai, Teddie to save his home, Chie out of concern for her friend, and Yukiko-

"I guess that means that you'll want Yukiko close by when we go back to Teddie's?" he asked rhetorically. He almost expected her to smirk or confidently agree, showing that she trusted her friend enough to help.

Instead, she flinched and turned away, unsure. "Actually, I would prefer if she just went about with her life and acted like none of this ever happened." Then she sighed. "But that's probably my Shadow talking, wanting to keep a hold on her ignorance. I don't want to push her away if she wants to help, but… gah, you probably don't get what I'm trying to say anyway."

Shirou actually had a good idea what Chie was trying to say; it was pretty similar to how he felt about how she and Yosuke were now involved in something no non-magi teen should be caught up in. He wanted to do the same in regards to Yosuke before, but he was determined to help solve the case. Chie was worried it might be the same for Yukiko.

Silence passed between them, and the two of them sat quietly enjoying the scenery. The chirping birds, the running water, the slight growing hue of dusk.

Then she broke the silence. "You know, I almost didn't call you today. Because of my Shadow, and all those things she said…"

Shirou said nothing, but he had the decency to blush and look away. He honestly had no idea how to handle this situation…

"It makes feel a bit pathetic," she sighed. Then she brightened with clenched fists. "But it also makes me want to work harder, and prove to you there's more to me than that other me!"

If nothing else, her enthusiasm was contagious. "How is it that you're so full of energy after that long workout?"

She chuckled good-heartedly. "I could do this all day! What about you? You've been pretty chipper yourself after training."

"Well, it's just…" he smiled whimsically. The feeling of elation and accomplishment just couldn't leave him, even after acknowledging it. "We actually did it. We saved Amagi."

Having been teased and mocked for proudly proclaiming his dreams for years, Shirou had grown to accept that he may never find someone who would understand, let alone acknowledge, his dream as an "Ally of Justice". It might be easier to explain to his new friends now that they were aware of his secret double life, but the context would most likely still baffle them as to why his dream was so important to him.

So, it came to him as a complete surprise when, instead of dismissing his joy or nodding off, Chie Satonaka turned to him with an ecstatic expression. "I know, right?!"

Shirou simply stared back in wide-eyed surprise; no one had ever reacted that strongly before, let alone positively. And that pure joy wasn't linked to Chie's gratitude of her friend's safety. It was something else, much more basic.

Chie suddenly remembered herself, blushed, and sat back firmly in her seat. "I-I mean, I know… right?" she fumbled and squirmed. "W-we did great out there, considering our situation; a group effort between the four of us, armed with some expensive weapons and armor out of our own pockets and going through so many other Shadows trying to kill us. But hey! Yukiko's safe and it was all worth it. And that's what being a hero is all about, right?"

Silence again. Chie couldn't believe how stupid she sounded. Going off in a tangent about heroism and openly admitting to wanting to be one? Now she was self-consciously aware how much this sounded like trying to woo him into liking her. Well, it can't be THAT bad, right? Timidly, she turned to see Shirou's reaction-

He just stared at her with the same shocked expression, which somehow escalated over time. "A hero," he said in a calm, neutral tone.

That was my reaction. Dammit!

She immediately snapped her head to the setting sun, too panicked to fake her surprise in her escape. "Wow, look at the time! Better get home for dinner before mom throws a fit and feeds my share to Muku again!" Grabbing her bag, she sprung up and out of the bench and ran for the stairway out of the riverbed. "WellitsbeenfunLetspretendthisdidnthappenokayOkayByeeeeee!"

"Fool! Stop her!"

"S-Satonaka!"

Shirou's words came out a bit louder and forced than he intended; the extended arm she noticed when turning back didn't help. As it was, Chie was near the top of the stairs and was flushing red in embarrassment and trying hard not to look back.

"Now listen," said Eligor. "She earnestly empathizes with your ideals but is still worried of coming on too strong since the premature confession. She wants not to have her feelings returned now, but to know she hasn't made a mistake admitting this to you."

Weighing the Duke's words of wisdom, Shirou exhaled a deep breath to calm his nerves. Honestly his head was still reeling from her admission to be a hero, and wanted to ask her more about this. But her reaction showed that she wasn't ready to confront her feelings just yet. It was as Eligor said; she needed encouragement that nothing had changed.

After a long enough silence, he smiled to her and said, "Let's train again. Same time, next week?"

Chie turned back to him, not expecting the question. A part of her felt annoyed and upset, but a much larger part of her felt relieved and it clearly showed as her shoulders relaxed. "Yeah," she smiled back. "I'd like that."

"Hmm. It's a start."

The bond of the Chariot grew subtly stronger from that moment, but both teens didn't even notice.

<><><>

April 29th, Dojima Household, Evening

"'In Japan, the government is run by a constitutional monarchy with an emperor. However, the Emperor of Japan is not a typical king like in the Eastern countries, but a symbol of the state and the unity of his people. The position for Emperor is for life, and for each Emperor reigning, we celebrate his birthday as a national holiday. Each year on the Emperor's Birthday, the Imperial Palace has this big party and invites everyone to celebrate! Today's era is Heisei, and our current Emperor, Akihito, has his birthday on December 23rd.

"'Akihito's father was Emperor Shōwa, and his birthday was today. After Emperor Shōwa's death, it was renamed to Greenery Day, to honor his love for plants and nature. But later in May 2005, a law was passed to make a new holiday on this day two years later, while moving Greenery Day to May 4th. This holiday was made to honor Emperor Shōwa's birthday, how we worked hard to rebuild the country after World War II, and to think about our future.'"

At the end of her speech, Nanako smiled and raised her finger knowingly. "And that's why we don't have school on Shōwa Day!"

After Shirou prepared dinner, the family enjoyed another group meal by the couch and kotatsu. They waited for the news to start, and Nanako passed the time explaining what she knew about the holiday. Both Shirou and Dojima knew about Shōwa Day off-hand, but were amazed and impressed by how much she knew in-depth about history.

"You're really smart, Nanako," the magus said honestly, to which she beamed.

"My teacher talked all about it yesterday!" she said. He would have commented more on this but the news report drew their attention back to the TV.

"Due to the weekend weather, clear skies seem unlikely in the area," the weather announcer explained. "A thick fog is expected to set in tonight and remain until tomorrow morning, with heaviest concentration in the Inaba area. Anyone planning to go out tonight should take care. Now for our hourly weather breakdown…"

Dojima tuned out the rest of the news and shook his head. "Just what we needed; more fog. Can't remember the last time we've had this much." He tried to ignore the detective's intuition in him that explained that it would mean more bad things to come…

He did, however, catch on right away when Nanako pressed a button on the remote. "Nanako," he said sternly. "What did I say about changing the channel?"

The little girl's head lowered in shame before answering. "Ask permission first."

Dojima nodded, but didn't say anything else. He didn't mind the channel being changed as the news would have wailed once more about Yukiko Amagi's reappearance and coming up with conspiracy theories on the last two murders. It was infuriating to him how quick everyone complains about their change in the status quo despite treating the murder case as if it was the best thing to happen to their town. If it weren't for Chisato's killer still being out there and needing money to support his daughter, he probably would have quit the police force years ago.

A commercial broke his reverie, as well as cheering Nanako up right away. "Have a great day even during Golden Week at your local Junes! Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products!"
As usual, the commercial ended with their catchy jingle that Nanako sang with on the spot."Every day's great at your Junes!" as the commercial ended, she turned to Dojima with a smile. "Did you hear that, dad? They're open during Golden Week!"

Dojima smiled; it was that time of year again, wasn't it? "Yeah, I heard. How about we go somewhere during the long holiday?"

Nanako's eyes widened slightly. "Really? We get to go somewhere?"

"Why not? It'll be good to get out of the house once in a while." Dojima had been banking on his days off for Golden Week, and was able to get the 4th and 5th of May open, less than a week from now.

"Yay!" the six year old cheered. "Let's go to Junes!"

"I was thinking somewhere further out. Somewhere like…" he turned to Shirou and smiled. "Fuyuki City."

The red-haired teen gawked in surprise. "My home?"

"That's not a problem, is it?"

"Well, no, but I wasn't expecting to go back until spring."

Dojima shrugged. "Come on, it's Golden Week; it shouldn't be too bad to spend a few days back there. I'm sure your guardian and old classmates wouldn't mind seeing you again."

It was perfect, really. Any other destination would be crowded with vacationing families, and he didn't want to leave his valuable break time up to chance. It would also give Taiga some reassurance in seeing Shirou again. He could tell from the growing smile that Shirou was excited at the idea as well.

"Yay! Fuyuki! Fuyuki!" the girl jumped and cheered. It was short-lived as she stopped and stifled a yawn.

"Looks like it's someone's bedtime," said Dojima. "Shirou, think you can put her to bed for me?"

"Sure. Come on, Nanako." He walked over and held her hand, gently guiding her to the stairs.

"Every day's great at your Junes," she sang between yawns, a soft smile on her face.

Dojima watched them go with a smile, and held it until they went upstairs. He really wanted this trip to happen, but past experience told him something would come up. Maybe it would be the killer again, and maybe it would be another case that someone would slack off on.

Ryotaro Dojima wasn't going to take any chances. Even if he wouldn't be around, Nanako and Shirou will still have their Golden Week vacation.

With that, he approached the house phone and dialed a number. A few rings later, he got an answer. "Taiga, it's me. …Yes, Shirou's doing fine. Listen, do you have any plans for Golden Week?"

<><><>

After putting Nanako to bed, Shirou paced restlessly in his room. Even though Amagi was safe, he and the others decided to check the Midnight Channel whenever possible to see if another kidnapping had occurred. It might have been pointless, but the news would talk about nothing else concerning the found inn heiress like the Yamano Scandal at the beginning of April. The fact that it had rained nonstop for the last three days didn't help to assure their success, or that the midnight fog had rolled in. Tonight would be the boiling point of all Shadows and they would kill any trapped humans like the last two victims.

So, when the Midnight Channel flickered to a dull yellow screen with no silhouette inside, Shirou had finally allowed himself to relax. It was official. Yukiko Amagi was safe, and he turned himself into bed for the school day tomorrow.

<><><>

April 30th, Yasogami High School Rooftop, After School

It came as a pleasant surprise to everyone that Yukiko finally came back to school, and with more energy than anyone remembered. When asked, she told them that her mother had started again since Yamano's visit and that she was being given a lot of supportive care from the inn staff.

Many boys tried comforting her and were willing to spend time with her on a masked veil of a date. But after what the dark haired girl had experienced in Teddie's world and her Shadow, having the courage to say "NO" was simple. And not just a simple "no" or one with a capital N, but one with both of the capital letters and uttered just before her would-be suitors could finish their questions. And Yukiko would say it with a straight smile as if she would accept before crushing their spirits. She broke a lot of hearts that day, and Chie had never felt so proud of her.

With the school day over, the Investigation Team decided to ask Yukiko privately about what had happened on the night of her kidnapping. After getting instant noodle boxes for Chie and herself, she admitted that she didn't remember anything more than what she told them back at the castle.

"I thought that maybe the memory would have come to me if I waited, but instead it just got hazier," she sighed. "I'm sorry I couldn't be much help."

"Its fine, Yukiko, really," said Chie.

"Still, that's one daring criminal," Yosuke frowned. "I mean, ringing the doorbell? Calling out Amagi-san's name? Might as well wear bright yellow clothes while you're at it and scream 'I'm the culprit, try and catch me!'"

"I can attest that the inn was busy when I went missing, but I don't know why I can't recall the person. Is it because of this 'hypnotism' thing magi use?" Yukiko asked innocently.

Shirou tensed and stared at her in alarm. Then he looked between Yosuke and Satonaka. The former looked just as confused, but the latter flinched in guilt.

"Well, uh," she began, finding everyone to be staring at her. "I might have told her everything you told us about magecraft when I visited her while she was recovering the other day?"

"Satonaka…"

"Hey! I know the risks and told her about those too! You were the one who blabbed the word out when we found her!"

Shirou flinched at her accusation. He was doing a horrible job keeping this a secret, it seemed. Still, no use crying over spilt milk. Magecraft may or may not play an important part in the case, and being upfront to Amagi about it might help. Taking the time to look back at the door to the stairs, he decided it was safe enough to continue on.

"I'm not entirely sure if the culprit is a magus or not," he admitted, still thinking back to Margaret's dismissal of being one. "But it's likely. Magi are deadly serious about the secrecy of their arts and identity from the general populace. Hypnotism is a mind-altering trance that is done to make people forget what they see, and is mainly one of the two methods used to keep magecraft secret."

"What's the other way?" Yosuke asked.

Shirou paused for a short moment before speaking again. He didn't wait for anyone to dwell on the implication, if they ever got it. "Regardless, all we can do now is to try and guess the culprit's patterns before he throws someone else into the TV."

Yukiko's eyebrows shot up in alarm. "You're going to try and find my kidnapper by yourself? I-I'm flattered, but you don't have to do this on my behalf."

"It's not just about you Amagi-san," Shirou shook his head. "He's killed two people already, and made an attempt on your life. This is beyond something the police can handle."

"Besides, he's not on this alone." Yosuke smiled while throwing his arm around Shirou's neck. "He's got me to watch his back, and my Persona."

"Me too!" Chie pumped her fist in the air. "He's gonna regret the day he pissed Chie Satonaka off!"

"Every guy regrets the day they piss you off," Yosuke reminded.

"Exactly!"

Yukiko said nothing else and stared down at her bowl of heating noodles, lost in her thoughts.

"Okay, so let's try and figure out what ties the victims together first." Yosuke held out his hand with extended fingers for each tally. "First was the announcer Ms. Yamano, followed by… Saki Konishi-senpai. Third so far is Yukiko Amagi. What do they all have in common?"

Shirou couldn't tell if there was something very abstract for them, between a city announcer and two high school students, so he opted with the obvious. "They're all female?"

"Bingo."

"Damn perverted freak!" seethed Chie.

"Our second lead," Yosuke continued with surprising focus. "Is that they are connected to the first murder victim, Ms. Yamano."

"Something about Konishi dying after seeing the body, and Yukiko's inn being the place she stayed at?" Chie asked. "Couldn't that be just coincidence?"

"Possibly, but there's no reason not to suspect their connection," said Shirou. "For now let's just assume that's the main motive and keep watch on the Midnight Channel. It's our last and most important lead that can help us."

"So we just have to wait until it rains again?" Yukiko spoke up again. Both Chie and Shirou turned to her in surprise.

Whether Yosuke also noticed or cared, he merely nodded. "Yep, that's the plan. It's hard to tell who's on at first, but they appear there before they enter the TV, like a ransom note. We're still not exactly sure why it works like that, though."

Yukiko nodded back, and Chie coughed awkwardly for her attention. "Now Yukiko, when you say 'we'-"

"I want to help."

Shirou winced. Yosuke grinned. Chie paled.

"That's alright, isn't it?" Yukiko asked them.

"I don't know." / "Of course!" / "Absolutely not!"

Yukiko blinked at the diverse opinion on her. Yosuke, on the other hand, looked between Shirou and Chie, and facepalmed.

"Seriously, guys?" he groaned. "You're going to turn down the only other person here that has a Persona and wants to help us?"

"It's not so much as turning down," the magus reasoned. "It's just that-"

"It's dangerous!" Chie cried, glaring fiercely at her friend. "We just risked our lives getting you out of the TV, you're finally all better, and the first thing you want to do is go back?! No Yukiko, you're going to stay here in the real world, where it's safe! We can handle things from here!"

"Damn, you really do have a control thing over her, don't you?"

"Yosuke!"

The barb hurt both girls, Chie especially. It was bad enough she was acting like her Shadow in trying to subconsciously keep control of Yukiko again, but she was trying to chain her down to her insecurities again. "Oh no. Yukiko, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's all right, Chie," said her black-haired friend. "You're right that it's dangerous, and it's selfish of me to go right back to that same world you saved me from. But all I've ever done was 'sit on my ass' waiting for someone to come rescue me. If I just stayed behind knowing you would keep fighting for my sake, as well everyone else's, then I'd just be running away again."

Yukiko's brown eyes hardened to a stare, and everyone could see how committed she was. "If someone hates me enough to want to kill me, I want to know why. And I want to make sure what nearly happened to me doesn't happen to anyone else."

Chie was conflicted. On the one hand, she was torn to see Yukiko act so defiantly in a short amount of time that made it hard to relate to her. On the other, she was proud of her for taking a stand and change so quickly that she wanted to accommodate for her wish.

Shirou was thinking along similar lines for Amagi, and weighing the consideration for her on the team. Yosuke had a point that the chance of finding other Persona users was unlikely, but it defeated the purpose of saving her if she was just going to follow them back into the fray.

Then, he heard a familiar voice. "Thou shall be blessed in numbers, and thou look no further for a worthy companion than one such as the Priestess. Trust her."

For a moment, Shirou was perplexed; it was almost like the voice he heard before summoning Izanagi for the first time, but he hadn't heard him since. Pixie and Eligor would talk normally when summoned or in interacting with his friends, so why now with Izanagi?

That's right; you're connected to the Fool Arcana, aren't you? No voice replied back. Shirou had half-expected that, so he decided to act on the advice.

"Perhaps it would be safer if Amagi's with us instead," Shirou suggested, to the surprise of his classmates.

"What?" Chie spat, torn between confusion and outrage.

"She was targeted by the killer for a reason we don't know yet," he reasoned. "We can't be certain she won't be thrown in again, or killed outright, if left alone. At least if she's with us in the TV, we can keep an eye on her while fighting."

"I can fight, too," Yukiko added, sounding both hopeful and determined. "I can do anything, just please let me help."

Shirou nodded, turning to both members of the IT. "Is that acceptable?"

"Aye!" his auburn haired friend chirped, raising his hand. Everyone turned to the Chie for her input.

After a long moment, Chie sighed. "Fine, you can join us. Just... don't stay too far away from me, okay?"

"I wouldn't dream of it, Chie."

The girls smiled at one another, and the matter was settled. Yukiko Amagi was officially a member of the Investigation Team, and with it the bond grew slightly stronger.

The moment ended when everyone heard a loud growling noise. Embarrassingly, Shirou patted his stomach and blushed. "I, uh, guess it's close to dinnertime."

Chie brightened as she remembered the soba on her lap. "Oh that's right! Chow time!"

At once, both girls tore off the lids of their meals, taking a moment to savor the smell of a fresh meal before pulling out their chopsticks. The boys also caught a whiff of the aroma, and were suddenly feeling ravenous and jealous.

Absently licking his lips, Yosuke took a step forward with his hands together in pleading. "Say, uh, Satonaka? Could I try some of that? Just one bite?"

The brown haired girl glared, protectively moving her bowl away. "Hands off the soba pal! Get your own meal!"

Yosuke frowned, and was considering either cutting his losses or begging harder, but Chie didn't notice. She instead saw Shirou past his shoulder, looking away and pretending to be uninterested. He was probably just as hungry as Yosuke was, if not more, and wasn't asking for anything. He wouldn't think twice about doing favors for others, but he was still shy enough not ask the same courtesy towards him.

Chie looked down at her soba, a little crestfallen. Then she stood up and walked over to the boys.

The teen with headphones nearly jumped in glee, ready to accept the bowl to eat on, but Chie stopped in front of the magus instead, thrusting her food bowl to him. "Here."

Everyone stared at her. Between Yukiko's blinks and Yosuke's dropped jaw, she ignored them. She focused only on Shirou, who looked just as stunned as last Sunday. Annoyed, she lightly shook the bowl in front of him for emphasis. "Well? Aren't you going to have some? Or did I mistakenly hear your stomach growling?"

Finally he recovered, but held his hands in a rejecting manner. "I-I appreciate it, but I can't eat all of your food, Sat-OPH!"

Expecting an argument of fairness, Chie took the chopsticks in her hand, twirled a good portion of noodles in them, and shoved them into his open mouth mid-sentence. "Of course you aren't going to have all of it, idiot. I'd kill you if you actually did that. But I wouldn't feel right if you didn't have enough to at least quiet down that racket." She plucked the chopsticks back, still annoyed with Shirou staring at her with a mouth full of soba. "Well? What are you waiting for? Eat!"

He reluctantly did so, chewing lightly on the noodles. It wasn't just the aroma, but the flavor and texture combined that made the meal satisfactory, even if it was a simple mass-produced instant noodle bowl. Embarrassingly enough, he wanted more, but knew better than to ask for that.

He swallowed, and decided he would be in the mood for soba later tonight. He then noticed Satonaka was still staring at him expectantly. "It was good," he nodded. "Thank you, Satonaka."
She smiled and bowed, quickly hiding her lightly flushed cheeks. "You're welcome."

As she walked back to her spot next to Yukiko, Yosuke recovered from his shock and tried again. "So, can I have some now?"

"You have a pretty bad memory," she frowned. "I thought I told you to get your own."

"Oh come on!" he snapped. "I'm starving here too! Why does he get some?!"

"Last I checked Emiya-kun was the only one with a growling stomach, and the only guy here who isn't a pain in the ass."

Yosuke gawked at her insult before glaring darkly. "That's a low blow, Satonaka."

"Turnabout, Hanamura," she smirked with a deliberate point with her sticks. "Turnabout."

Satisfied, she dug her chopsticks in for another morsel, and was about to happily take a bite. However, she realized that she was about to put her chopsticks into her mouth… after she had forced them into Shirou Emiya's. As the thought rolled in her mind, she awkwardly put her chopsticks down and lowered her face to hide her blush. Fortunately, no one noticed.

Yukiko didn't know the extent of Yosuke's Shadow problems, but instead noticed how pained he was at being turned down food. While surprised by Chie's preference to Emiya-kun (as well as a little jealous), she figured it wouldn't hurt to share her food either. Sure she thought of Yosuke Hanamura as annoying and bland at times, but he was also dependable when it counted. "Would you like some of mine, Hanamura-kun?"

"Would I?!" he replied with a sudden burst of glee. Walking over to her, he all but snatched it from her hands and stared lovely at the bowl of food. And in the span of a few seconds, his excited look turned into one of horror and disappointment, and he handed her back the bowl. "O-on second thought, I think I'll pass. Thanks anyway, Amagi-san."

"What's wrong?" Yukiko asked. "Don't you like fried tofu?"

"Of course not; I'm allergic to tofu. Like, deadly allergic. Last time I ate the stuff I had to get rushed to the hospital!"

Shirou and Yukiko winced sympathetically. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know."

"Yeah, well, I think it's about time I head over to Junes anyway," he shrugged, making his way to the roof door. "We just got ourselves a new grill, and I'm in the mood for steak."

Chie's head perked up in his direction. "Steak? Did you just say steak?"

"Yep. I believe we started selling grilled steak today, too, to try and spread the specialty meal around."

Before anyone knew it, Chie had abandoned her soba bowl next to Yukiko and latched onto Yosuke's arm with a wide, predatory grin. "Why didn't you say so sooner? What kind of steak? Is it filet? I hope it is! Filet sounds nice and delicious. Ooooooh, filet, filet, filet mignon!"

"Wh-hey! Don't expect me to pay for you after what you did! Besides, you still have a full bowl of soba left!"

"Emiya-kun!" she called back over her shoulder. "You can have my soba. I won't need that anymore when I can have STEAK!"

With that, Chie bolted for the roof door, and dragged her screaming teammate along without care. The two remaining teens stared and blinked at the roof door long after it closed, and eventually Shirou walked over to the soba. It would be a shame to waste food, after all.

"Can I sit here?" he asked her, who nodded. They then sat and ate in silence until they both finished and returned home.

<><><>

May 2nd, Yasoinaba News Channel, Evening

"Our main story tonight," the lead anchor announced as the early evening news started. "An Inaba Credit Union ATM to the north of town was destroyed by an earth mover. The vehicle was reported stolen by a local contractor. Security quickly chased the suspect out of the abandoned vehicle, and he proceeded to flee the scene of the crime in a light green Suzuki along with all the cash contents of the ATM.

"However, in a startling turn of events, a brave young woman intercepted the culprit with her own motorcycle, and then proceeded to hold him down until authorities arrive."

The news changed to show the street of Inaba on a security camera. The Suzuki car appeared first, driving down fast, only to be stopped when a motorcycle crashed into it from the side. The rider, wearing a helmet and a long dress, rolled over and out of her motorcycle due to the collision.

Surprisingly, she got back up, rushed to the driver's seat of the car, opened the door and pulled the man out, who was holding a large sack. This escalated to a fistfight between them as the man fought desperately to escape, dropping the sack and spilling out yen bills. It was all in vain as the rider easily overpowered him, forced him down to the ground, and mercilessly pounded him until the police arrived, two minutes later. They had to forcibly pull her away from the driver, who seemed all too thankful to be arrested and away from his assaulter.

As the video played, the news anchor narrated the two people fighting. "The robber was later to be identified as Pumena Sushin, a 26-year old employee to the company owning the stolen earth mover. Police are currently investigating on his motives and now hold him in custody. As for our Good Samaritan, who wishes to remain anonymous, she had this to say to our on-the-scene reporter."

The scene changed to the biker, still clad in her helmet, standing tall and hands on either side of her hips, talking to the reporter who had "interviewed" Yukiko Amagi.

"Miss, what was going in your head when you were speeding towards the criminal?" The reporter asked before moving his microphone towards her.

"A man's vacation was at stake," she said. "The police department's all tied up with the recent murder case, and the stress is showing. The last thing they need is some idiot who decided to get himself a fat paycheck."
"But it was still a dangerous way to stop a criminal. Aren't you worried about the damages done to your motorcycle?"

"Mine? Oh, no, I just, uh… borrowed it from a good friend. Had to get to stop him in time so I used the first bike I could fi-uh, borrow from someone. The owner understands."

"I'm sure he does, because those were some tiger-like reflexes you showed us!"

The biker stiffened and lost her triumphant posture. Instead her arms dropped her sides and her helmet tilted down slightly. "…What did you just call me?"

"Like a tiger!" The reporter praised. Either he was unaware of the reaction that the word was making, or was misreading her body language. Regardless he continued. "Your motorcycle charge was like a pounce, from start to finish! Then you rolled back up and went in for the kill, mauling the criminal down like a cornered rat! Now that has a good ring to it. The Metal Tiger, a vicious biker who is part animal, part machine! Can I get a quote for reference, Metal Ti-GAAHH!"

The reporter was suddenly grappled by the neck of his coat and viciously punched in the side of his face. The camera shook as if in response, due to the cameraman's surprise at the attack, but still managed to catch the biker's sudden burst of rage. All of the sudden, she lifted the man high over her head, her primal scream drowning out his.

"DON'T CALL ME TIGERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

And then she threw the reporter at the cameraman. The camera itself caught only his close-up of the suit before falling to the side of the road. Static overrode the screen feedback and it instantly flashed to black. Immediately after, the screen flashed to the logo of the news station, followed by a loud and long beep sound. The text on the title card read:

We are expecting technical difficulties. Please stand-by.

<><><>

May 3rd, Dojima Household area, Morning

"Well that was… new," was Chie's first choice of words after the live news broadcast was cut off (she also laughed at the slight irony of them). The channel recovered about a minute later with the news anchors obviously as surprised as she was, but they continued on to discuss the weather report. Other than the reminder that it would continue raining into the night, there was nothing else really interesting.

She stayed up until the Midnight Channel went on, but couldn't recognize the person as well as she did Yukiko. The figure was lean with a round head, fixed in a fighting pose like in her kung fu movies. She was probably the biker on TV, but not even the news crew knew her name. Calling between Yukiko and Yosuke (while ignoring the latter's dirty jokes) told her they didn't know either.

Emiya didn't answer though, which was strange. Then again, today was Constitutional Memorial Day. Didn't he say yesterday that he would be out of town for the rest of Golden Week? A few days off with his uncle and cousin, actually.

Yukiko probably didn't mean to sound rude, but she must have thought about her own personal struggles instead of his feelings when she said "That must be tough." Emiya actually sounded excited to go out for an outing, so it was no surprise he looked a tad hurt and surprised Yukiko would say something like that. Chie herself would have said something, but as quick as the awkward moment came, Yukiko changed the subject and Emiya politely kept quiet.

Chie decided to pay him a quick visit before leaving, and see if he knew anything about the Midnight Channel. So, after a surprising run-in with Adachi, she was able to get the directions needed toward the Dojima residence. She still didn't trust the guy to be competent; the night she was eating steak at Junes, he came over to her and Yosuke's table and talked a bit about Yamano's murder and Saki Konishi's connection to it. Nothing really pointed to the "silencing" angle unless she saw something of great significance only to her… and then he ran off, worried after realizing that he had said too much. Policemen were horrible heroes…

Shaking off her thoughts on Adachi, she was glad to see the familiar redhead ahead of her. Judging by the box in his hands and how he was moving it into an open seat of the car parked outside, he was just about ready to leave. She ran over to him, waving and smiling. "Good morning, Emiya-kun!"

Shirou turned around, his eyes wide in surprise. "Satonaka? What are you doing here?"

"I just thought I'd see you off," she said, glancing at the car. "You're seriously leaving for the whole week in that?"

"Only as far as the station," he answered. "We'll ride the train the rest of the way to Fuyuki, and come back the same way on Children's Day."

"Fuyuki… isn't that the city you're from?"

He nodded with a slight grin. "Nanako and I have been looking forward to this all week, and I really owe Dojima-san and Fuji-nee for making this possible."

"That so? Well, hope you have fun. Oh, by the way, have you-"

Her voice trailed off as she noticed a brown haired girl she had never seen before come up from behind her. She wore a pink and white patterned dress and carried a black box, as big as a bento, in both her hands. "Ummm…"

"Oh," said Shirou. "It's okay Nanako; she's just a friend from school." He gestured to the older girl in green in introduction, before extending it out to Nanako. "Satonaka, this is my cousin Nanako."

Ever the friendly girl, Chie smiled and gave a slight wave to her. "Hiya!"

Nanako blushed and ran past her, ducking behind Shirou's legs and was very close to climbing in the car herself. "She's very shy," he explained.

Chie didn't mind; Yukiko was the same way before they were friends. It was kind of cute, really. "So, Nanako-chan," she said, kneeling down to her height. "What's in the box?"

She stared down to the road, clutching the box ever so closely to her body. "Lunch," she answered softly.

"A box lunch, huh? Did you make it?"

Nanako shook her head. "He did." 'He' being the red-haired magus unintentionally shielding her.

Chie turned to Shirou with new respect. "You can cook? Well, I guess it makes sense with how strong your hands are-uh, I mean, not bad, big bro!"

Nanako blinked, repeating the last two words uttered. "Big bro…"

"But I can cook too!" Chie continued, a bit forcefully. "Sometimes, maybe. But I could have definitely made a bento meal if you had asked!"

She was glad Yosuke wasn't here right now, so she couldn't hear him insult her in casual conversation. He wasn't a bad guy per say; he just had the tendency to act like he knew everything and that he was a chick magnet.

"Do you know how to make one?" Shirou asked innocently.

She didn't want to come across as ignorant wholly in cooking, but she(had never actually made a bento before… or anything else. "No…"

"I could teach you if you like."

"W-would you?" she asked excitedly, to which he nodded in response.

"Shirou! Nanako-chan! Are you two ready?"

Again Chie was surprised by a new arrival. Or two, as she saw Detective Dojima was with them; from the two encounters she had had with him, she could tell he was one of the more serious cops, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad thing yet. He might figure out that they're involved in a case they shouldn't be, and through that find out about magecraft…

That train of thought ended when she saw the woman that had called out. She was fairly pretty, first off, and her attire was simple. She wore a long green dress that reached to her mid-thighs and a yellow shirt with thin black stripes across it. Chie could also see she wore a matching pair of small studded earrings.

Everything else was like looking at a mirror to the future. True, brown hair and eyes were pretty uncommon, but she was still taken aback by the young features on the woman before her. So much that she couldn't help but wonder if she would age just as well, as she walked up to her and Dojima just for a closer look…

"Shirou," the woman asked, eyes still focused on Chie. "Who's this?"

"A friend from school," he replied.

"I'm Chie Satonaka," she nodded. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Dojima-san!"

In Chie's case, though the woman looked young, she was also old enough that she could have been Nanako's mother because of the same hair and eye color. But everyone just stared at her, making her wonder if she was making the wrong assumption. Dojima even let out a side cough. "No? Auntie then?"

Rather than let her keep embarrassing herself, the woman chuckled a bit behind her warm smile. "I'm actually Shirou's guardian, but I like to think of myself as a stand-in big sister." She then extended her hand in greeting. "I'm Taiga Fujimura. It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Chie-chan."

She nodded dumbly and shook her hand. "Sorry about that. I just thought because you two look so similar that-" she stopped herself as a thought occurred to her. "But wait, if you're not her mother, then where's-"

Again the mood grew awkward, but in a more somber way, given how everyone looked away from her. In hindsight, she wished she had stopped herself before saying that sentence out loud too.

"My mom died in an accident."

Now Chie felt like kicking herself. Anyone could have told her that, but did it really have to be the six year old girl? Turning to her, she quickly bowed and apologized. "Nanako-chan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

But surprisingly, the girl shook her head. She didn't look as sad as she'd been a moment ago. "It's okay. Even if I don't have a mom, I still have a dad." Her smile grew, looking up to Shirou. "And now I have a big brother too."

Now it was Nanako's turn to be the center of attention. The little girl grew self-conscious and worried by the stares, looking back to her cousin/brother. "You don't like it?"

"I'm just… surprised," he said softly as he recovered from his shock. "But I wouldn't mind being called your older brother."

Nanako cheered up right away, and hugged his leg. "Yay!" her action got more than a few good-hearted smiles and laughs.

"Aww, Nanako-chan, you're just too cute!" Taiga gushed. She walked over and picked the little girl off the ground, or at least did so partway to twirl her around before setting back down. "Please feel free to call me your big sister too, Nanako-chan."

"Okay!"

"Big sister?" Shirou asked with a teasing smile. "You only just met her last night."

"I happen to have a way with children," Taiga countered. "Besides, it was because of me that we could go on this trip in the first place."

"Which was moot because your stunt almost cancelled everything," Dojima frowned, speaking up for the first time today.

"Dojima-saaaaaaaan!" she wailed comically. "That's mean! I caught the runaway robber, didn't I?"

"Yes, but you also attacked the news reporter unprovoked, on top of totaling two motor vehicles and nearly traumatizing Sushin."

"'Unprovoked'?! He called me tiger! And that guy deserved at least a beating for almost costing you your break! I wouldn't have to step in if your cop buddies stopped calling sick for stupid reasons!"

"D-don't put words in my mouth!"

Fortunately, Chie broke off the fight with a question and startling epiphany. "Wait a minute; you were on the news special last night?"

"And had literally dodged a bullet from the news station pressing charges," Dojima added, glaring sternly at the shameless star. "I called her down here as a back-up so at least Nanako could still go on the trip, but instead she had to make such a scene."

Taiga huffed. "Well, it all worked out, didn't it? I stand by my claim that the reporter had it coming-"

"And it was awesome!" Chie exclaimed, much to the surprise of everyone else. "I wanted to deck that guy for weeks and you just threw him at the camera like yesterday's garbage!"

Dojima and Shirou both felt sweat roll down the backs of their heads, while Nanako tilted hers in confusion. Taiga flushed at the praise, but took it in stride. "W-well, I'm not one to brag, but I have been practicing my technique on that move for quite a while now…"

"And then how you attacked that criminal!" Chie gushed on. "You literally came out of nowhere and were on him like a tiiiii-"

She noticed, partway into saying a specific word, Shirou's eyes widened, shook his head frantically, and made cutting notions with his neck. Then she remembered how Taiga reacted on TV, when the reporter called her that word. Suddenly she was very scared, and ended with the only other English word she could think of.

"-iiiiiide?"

"Like a 'Shio'?" the older woman asked in confirmation, while Shirou sighed in relief.

"Yeah! Tide! Like a tide! Or a wave, really because you just went up to him, and splash! Heheh!"

Taiga blinked, and then looked thoughtful. "Never thought of that before. I kinda like the name. Taiga the Tide… no, how about Taiga the Riptide!?"

Chie shrugged. "Well, if it's any consolation, you'll be famous around here in Inaba." She meant it as a comforting thing, and Taiga's nod took that into consideration. But her epiphany caught up to what she saw last night, and the Midnight Channel…

Oh no.

Dojima took a quick glance at his wristwatch and blanked. "Whoa, look at the time. We better going if we want to catch the train."

"Right!" Taiga raised her arm into the air, her mood chipper again. "Onward to Fuyuki City!"

"Fuyuki City!" Nanako cheered, mimicking the action, and the two of them hurried off to the car.

"Emiya-kun, wait!" Chie whispered, alarmingly gripping onto his hand. "I need to tell you something!"

Fortunately no one caught the embarrassing implication of her words as they all entered the family car. But she did notice Shirou staring at where her hands were holding his. There shouldn't be a big deal about it except oh god their hands are touching-

Like dropping hot iron, Chie pulled her hands away, and Shirou reflexively pulled his back. "Sorry," they both muttered with blushed faces. It was worse for Chie though. The last time they'd touched hands was in Yukiko's Castle and she didn't even notice or care. Of course, her Shadow happened to pop up at the same moment, so maybe she did.

Shaking those thoughts away for now, she focused on her main concern. "Aren't you worried about her?"

Shirou blinked. "Nanako or Fuji-nee?"

"Your guardian!" she snapped. How could he be missing the obvious?!

"Fuji-nee always overreacts about little things," he answered. "And she's the best kendo fighter in all of Fuyuki. The guy was lucky she didn't have Torashinai with her." He shuddered at the thought; demonic weapon or not, it was always painful to get hit by that particular shinai.

Chie stared at him incredulously. Did he seriously not know? Did he not watch the Midnight Channel last night? How else could he be so oblivious to the fact that his guardian was in danger?

Taiga Fujimura had appeared on the Midnight Channel. Though she was in her biker suit for both the real and supernatural broadcasts, the fact was she was on it. Could the killer somehow discern her identity and then throw her into a TV? Could he do so even when she would be all the way out of Inaba? What could it mean?

Sensing her silent apprehension, Shirou asked, "What's wrong, Satonaka?"

She wanted to tell him, to warn him, or maybe even get confirmation. That maybe, just maybe, Taiga Fujimura was the person she had seen on the Midnight Channel and was next. It might be true, or it might be a false alarm, but she would hate to have Shirou be put in the same situation as she had with Yukiko; constantly worrying about someone close being next on the kill list.

She couldn't tell him; this was Golden Week. They had rescued Yukiko and deserved some time off. He wanted to enjoy his victory as long as possible, and she would endorse that. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin it for them with Shirou constantly worrying over his guardian. Plus, they were looking a bit impatient now that she was delaying their trip.

So she shook her head and forced a smile. "It's nothing that can't wait," she told him. "Have fun at Fuyuki!"

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 23: What is a Bond?

-May 4th, Fuyuki Train Station, Afternoon-

Nanako had spent all day peering out the side windows, watching as the scenery rolled by. On the first train ride she saw all of the green scenery, from the mountains to the field plains, and even a few tunnels that scared her at first going through them.

The young girl was so excited to get off the first train and see all the people in front of the station. She hadn't left Yasoinaba since before her mother died, let alone go to the park they always visited. In her excitement, Nanako had all but dragged Shirou and Dojima to the next train, with Taiga laughing behind.

In contrast to the amount of nature Nanako saw on the first train ride, she saw a lot of industrialization of the cities rolling by. Nearly every building had a sign of some sort advertising new phones or food, and she was really excited to see big videos play of Queloire Magic™ starring Risette. She was her favorite idol.

Maybe next time she could try Rise-chan's soda with some of Shirou's cooking. She was too shy to bring it up before, but she really liked her cousin's- no, her big bro's cooking. But he, dad, and Taiga were all sleeping because of the long trip and there was nothing else to do but wait. Nanako couldn't sleep even if she wanted to. She didn't want to miss the moment they arrived.

"Attention passengers, we are now approaching Fuyuki Station. I repeat, we are now approaching Fuyuki Station."

Nanako smiled, and started shaking the sleeping adult sitting next to her. "Dad, wake up! We're here, we're here!"

"Ugh… five more minutes," Dojima grumbled, but opened his eyes all the same. His drowsiness snapped away as soon as he looked out the window. "Whoa! And I thought Okina was packed!"

"Yeah!" said Nanako. "Everything's so big and white!"

From their side of the train, the Dojimas saw tall buildings with a metal sheen to them. Everything glowed in brilliant white from the towering buildings to the ground tiles below. And even at the speed they were going, there were so many people walking from all around, either heading for work or enjoying the week-long break.

It was a stark and overwhelming difference to Inaba.

"We're in the Shinto section now," Taiga explained, also roused up from the announcement. "Back in the 90's, the area east of Fuyuki was just a big wasteland before the local government pooled together for a redeveloping project. The idea was to turn the area into a thriving business district, and I think I speak for everyone to say that it's working. See that tall building over there? That's the city's Hyatt Hotel, new and improved. And just across the station is the shopping mall."

"Shopping mall?" Nanako asked.

"It's like Junes, but bigger," Shirou explained. Nanako beamed at the comparison.

It was here that the train finally came to a stop, allowing everyone to carry their bags out. Nanako dragged Shirou by the arm, giggling for every sight she pointed at. Her father was worried that they would be lost in the crowd because of the amount of people walking all around the plaza.

"Did the fire really happen here?" Dojima asked Taiga. From what he'd heard and read, that incident destroyed over a hundred buildings full of people, the radius equivalent to that of a large bomb. But what he saw held no evidence of past scars or tragedy.

Taiga smiled and waved dismissively. "Ah, it was years ago! Everyone here had plenty of time to rebuild everything here." Her smile faltered in worry. "Well, almost everything."

"Be careful, Nanako, or you'll hit-Ack!"

"Big bro?"

The two adults snapped their attention ahead and hurried past the crowd. Shirou was down on his rump, slightly dazed, while Nanako stood at her "brother's" side. Across from them was a young teen also down due to the collision, but shook it off quickly. Dojima's critical eye took note of his features: he was a short, young boy wearing a blue cap over his matching hair, nearly hiding his bluish gray eyes. His figure was lean and rather petite, wearing black slacks over blue shoes, a light blue shirt and a long yellow tie. Next to him was a small rolling suitcase, dropped and turned over since the collision.

"I apologize," the boy said, as he slightly adjusted the helm of his cap. His voice was surprisingly an octave deeper than Dojima would expect from a boy his size. "I was in a hurry to the train, and did not see you."

"No harm done," Shirou smiled as he pulled himself up. "I should apologize as well, on Nanako's behalf."

He meant it as teasing, because he didn't entirely mind getting dragged along the station. But Nanako turned to the blue-haired boy and bowed, taking responsibility. "I'm very sorry, mister."

The boy smiled softly. "Ah, well, it's quite all right… Nanako-chan, was it? Is this your first time in the city?"

At the boy's kindness, Nanako's smile returned. "Yeah! I came all the way from Inaba to visit!"

"As in Yasoinaba?" the boy asked. "I'm actually bound for a train there today."

"Really?"

"What's the occasion?" Dojima cut in, slightly tense.

"I recently finished some business in the city, and have no other clients at the moment. Until then, I hope to visit and spend some time with my grandfather."

Dojima relaxed at the explanation, but not completely. For years Inaba had been just a quiet town with nothing noteworthy about it, but the recent crime spree had drawn the media to it like bees to honey. The last thing his town needed was a bunch of tourists hounding for more unexplained murders like the first two victims.

"Clients?" Shirou blinked, giving the boy another appraisal. "You mean you work? But shouldn't you be in high school?"

The boy's eyes narrowed with annoyance under his cap. "Possibly, but further education is not something I have the leisure for. It would just get in the way, rather."

As the family mulled on his cryptic words, the station bell chimed for the 15th hour of the day. "Ah, I best hurry on then," the boy grabbed his case and hurried on. "Good day."

"Bye!" Nanako waved to the boy, and watched as he disappeared in the crowd of busy people.

"What a strange boy," Shirou said aloud.

"I don't know," Taiga coyly smiled. "He kinda reminded me of you."

"Don't be ridiculous, Fuji-nee."

"Polite, blunt, a workaholic-"

"Let's just hurry home," he lifted his bag and stormed ahead, not in the mood of being teased.

"But I want to go to the mall!" Nanako whined. It was the closest equivalent of her ever going to Junes.

"We still have our luggage to carry, Nanako," her father reminded. "We can sight-see tomorrow, after we get everything set at Shirou's place. That'll be fun, right?"

"You promise?"

"Of course," Dojima smiled. "I didn't break this one, haven't I?"

<><>

-Miyami Crossroads-

When they first arrived to Fuyuki City, Dojima expected Shirou's place to be at least within the urban area of Shinto. Nanako was happy to see more of the city as they walked by, including the Copenhagen bar where they were greeted by Taiga's friend and Shirou's boss. They were happy to see him again, as well as meeting his new "little sister" Nanako. Though a bar didn't sound like a good place for Nanako to be, Dojima wanted to try some of their liquor at least once before the week was over.

After saying their farewells, the quartet later crossed the bridge connecting the Shinto district to Miyami. He'd known that the two halves of Fuyuki were different, but it still baffled him to go from newly constructed buildings to old traditional ones. At first he felt right at home, and his daughter was just as mesmerized by the change of scenery.

But more little differences came up along their walk. The buildings were rustic enough for the area, but a number of them from the southern end were, for the lack of a better word, foreign. Their designs matched similar households from the west he saw on TV, built several stories high with large glass windows and door hinges that swung open instead of slid. Then as they progressively went closer north, the houses looked like more traditional, old style Japanese households from ages past.

The one out in front of them was actually a perfect example; there was a large gate fashioned with both wood and stone, covering the entire exterior, along with a healthy array of trees growing tall enough for the leaves to be seen. The gate itself had an impressive design of an arch-roof over the gateway, and it looked like no one had lived inside the residence for years. Well, it goes to show how well people take care of historic landmarks like-

"We're here! Casa de Emiya!"

Wait, what?

Dojima looked around the neighborhood, nearly in disbelief. But strangely enough, Taiga's cheer and arms were gestured towards the ancient house gate in front of them. Shirou dug out a key in his pocket and unlocked the door, and Nanako rushed ahead.

"Woooooow!"

Ryotaro Dojima found himself sharing his daughter's awe.

The house yard was just as big as he expected from the surrounding gate, if not more. He could see the main house in front of them. He could see engawa hallways stretching left to the entrance. He could see foliage of all kinds growing well enough without tending and just managed to give the right atmosphere to the area. It was as regal as expected from the entrance, and nothing short worthy of a feudal lord.

The cop turned to his nephew, an incredulous expression on his face. "You live here?"

"Why is that so surprising?" Taiga asked.

"I asked about the place he lived in before, and he said it wasn't much to look at. I assumed he meant it was a small house like mine, but he never told me it was an estate!"

The English teacher frowned disapprovingly. "That's just like you Shirou, taking everything in your life for granted. Did you really not want your relatives to visit?

"It's not like that," the teen protested. "I just didn't think they would appreciate so much space."

"Appreciate?" Dojima barked a laugh. "More like jealous! There's enough here to fit our house twice over! Why, if you wanted to, you could turn this place into an inn!"

"I doubt my dad would like that. See, Shirou was too young to inherit everything, let alone manage the household, so dad's the landlord that takes care of all of the financial stuff while I take the face of Shirou's legal guardian."

"So it was just you here?" Nanako asked her cousin.

"And me sometimes," Taiga answered for him. "And Sakura-chan, his kouhai."

Nanako turned to Taiga. "Do you live here?"

"Well, sort of. We just visit daily for breakfast and dinner on school days."

"But do you sleep over?"

Taiga scowled. "Of course not! The last thing I need is for rumors circulating about me be-uh… being in the same house as a high school student!" It looked like she had to hold herself back; Nanako was a little girl and shouldn't know about male sexual hormones and the phrase that sounded suspiciously close to "bedding a student".

But Nanako still frowned. "So you don't live here."

It was something disarming about the simplicity of a child's direction of inquiry. It was not quite like a detective's, but pretty damn close. So it wasn't a surprise that Taiga was taken aback and could only answer "Well, no."

The six year old looked at the house again, without the excited bewilderment. When she glanced back to Shirou, a frown had grown over her face. "That sounds lonely."

A minute passed since her epiphany, and the courtyard winds never sounded as loud as they did then.

Shirou broke the silence with a smile and patted her shoulder. "It's fine Nanako. I know the house looks big, but it's nice once you get used to it. I see Fuji-nee almost every day, and I like the private moments to myself at night, so it's not as lonely as you would think."

Nanako didn't look convinced, but nodded all the same. Shirou then held her hand and guided her into the house. Dojima followed suit, wondering just what kind of life led his nephew to be so independent and carefree about everything.

He then turned back to Taiga, who had been stiff as a board for some time now. "Coming?"

"Huh?" she blinked, suddenly aware of everyone heading inside. "Oh, uh, yes! Yes, I'm coming in!" She rushed in with her luggage before Dojima could further question what was wrong.

<><><>
-Emiya Residence-

Upon entering and slipping their shoes off, the quartet were quickly assaulted by a flood of smells. "Hmm? What's cooking?" asked Dojima.

Shirou and Taiga, while having their suspicions, were honestly surprised to arrive home to the scent of food. Leading Ryotaro and Nanako down the corridor, they came around a corner and found a guest cooking in the kitchen.

She was a young girl with shoulder-long purple hair and a ribbon braided close to her left ear. She looked just a year shy from Shirou's age, still happily humming and swaying her purple hair slightly in her wake. Her choice of clothing was simple yet elegant; an open pink jacket over a white blouse and tannish yellow skirt reaching down to her ankles. Of course, she wore a pink apron as well over her clothes, and showed surprising focus all over the kitchen counter. She was just in the middle of turning to the next task when her purple eyes caught sight of them.

"O-oh! Senpai!" she stuttered. Her face portrayed a flurry of emotions, too quick for even Dojima to catch all of them, before she bowed in apparent shame. "I'm very sorry. I hoped to have finished preparing dinner before you arrived as a surprise."

"You knew I was coming?" Shirou asked.

"Fujimura-sensei told me," the girl nodded. "I know it's only as long as the weekend, but, I'm really glad to see you again, senpai."

Shirou blinked, and then smiled at her. "I'm glad to see you too, Sakura."

The young school girl blushed and averted her gaze. Dojima cracked a smile but decided from commenting; he didn't want to embarrass the poor girl any further with what he thought was a reunion between dating students.

Taiga coughed very unsubtly, directing the attention to her. "Sakura, as you recall, this is the Dojima family, Ryotaro and his daughter Nanako-chan. Dojima-san and Nanako-chan, this is Sakura Matou, a fellow student at the high school just up the hill from here."

"A pleasure," Dojima greeted with a hand wave, to which Sakura nodded.

"Oh!" said Nanako. "You're the other person that sort-of lives here."

"Uh, yes," replied Sakura. "And you must be senpai's cousin."

"Uh uh! I'm his sister."

"What?"

Nanako latched her arm around his hand, beaming. "Shirou-nii is my big bro now!"

If Sakura was confused before, she was clearly bewildered at the young girl's words. Sakura's expression soon hardened to a slight frown as if scolding her. "Nanako-chan, you really mustn't say things that aren't true."

"It's all right, Sakura," said Shirou. "I actually don't mind being called her brother."

"Big brother!" Nanako smiled wider.

Dojima scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "To be honest, it took me a while to get used to the idea of still having a nephew around, but if calling him her brother makes Nanako happy, I'm not complaining."

Sakura's frown grew. "I… I see." Remembering her dinner, Sakura resumed cooking, conveniently turning her head away from the others. "Everything should be ready in a few minutes," she said. "Just remain seated until it's done. You too, senpai."

After leaving their bags and suitcases at the corner, Taiga led the Dojima's to the foot-high table across the room. It was another traditional throwback where the people would sit or kneel on pillows while eating the food within reach of the small table. As Taiga left to fetch more pillows, Shirou, having started walking over to help cook, was caught knowingly by Sakura even before she finished her instructions. Honestly, the covert magus was more than a little miffed of being denied the kitchen. "But I can help, Sakura-"

"There isn't much left to prepare, and this was a welcome home dinner meant for you and the Dojimas," she smiled condescendingly. "This is a time for you to relax, senpai."

"But cooking helps me relax," her upperclassman weakly argued. "At least let me carry some food over-"

Taiga chose this moment to grab him by the shirt and pull him back to the table. "You heard her; let your protégé handle this."

"Protégé?" Dojima asked from his side of the table as Taiga put his and Nanako's pillows down on the same side.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Taiga smiled as she settled down. "Shirou's always been our head cook, even when Kiritsugu was still around. When Sakura started coming over, she just started learning from him and has been assisting him for almost a year straight! She's good enough to either help out make the same meals to Shirou's level, or even make Western meals that Shirou can't even compare to! No offense, Shirou."

"None taken," he smiled. "It really is Sakura's specialty. But I'm surprised you're trying traditional Japanese food. Is it udon?"

"Nabeyaki udon," Sakura answered. "I'm making enough for everyone, along with some tempura and white rice."

"Five nabeyakis?" Dojima blinked. "That certainly is a lot of food."

"We usually have more and prepare a full table spread full of side dishes and everything," Taiga pouted. "But we sort of learned not to be so picky since Shirou moved out."

"Wow, you're amazing, Shirou-nii!" Nanako smiled. "I want to be a protégé!"

"I'd be more than happy to teach you what I know."

"Can Sakura-chan teach me too?"

Sakura stopped and stared at the young girl sitting. "Eh?"

Nanako turned to her, still smiling. "I want to be the best cook I can be, so I want to be your protégé too!"

"I-I'm not that amazing," Sakura blushed, resuming her work on boiling the tempura. "All I learned was from senpai, after all."

"But you're still amazing to learn so much from him!"

As she thought about it, Sakura smiled softly at the earnest praise. "Yes… I suppose I am."

Minutes later, dinner was finally prepared in the form of five hot soup bowls, along with condiments and a bowl of rice. Dinner in the Emiya house was livelier than it had been for a while, and the Dojimas were still awed at the house itself. For a while, it was quiet as everyone gathered their bearings, Ryotaro turned to his nephew with the starting conversation.

"Say, Shirou, mind if I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Shirou asked before taking a bite of his fried shrimp.

"You aren't involved with any strange business in Inaba, are you?"

Suddenly, the mood grew very tense at the dinner table. Shirou in particular gulped quite literally in slight anxiety. Everyone else looked on with varying levels of confusion and worry. "What makes you say that?" he asked, as nonchalant as possible.

"I just can't stop thinking about what happened at the station the other day," the cop admitted. "Maybe it was just coincidence, but… is there something you're not telling me?"

"Senpai?" / "Dad?" / "Shirou, what is he talking about?"

Shirou tried to smile and brush it aside. "Oh, nothing serious-"

"He was arrested." Dojima deadpanned.

"What?!" all the females were startled in surprise.

"Senpai, is it true?!" / "Dad, when did this happen?" / "You didn't say anything about this on the phone!"

"Everyone, calm down!" shouted Shirou. "It was just a misunderstanding because Yosuke brought fake weapons to Junes and caused a scare. That's it!"

Taiga's eyes narrowed. "So what, you took the fall for him so he could get out of punishment?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing like that," Dojima shook his head. "He and Chie Satonaka were arrested as well along with Yosuke Hanamura. From what I recall on the report, they resisted arrest when the cop approached Hanamura."

The red haired magus bit back a growl of frustration. "We were only trying to make him let go of the weapons because he kept waving them around and running his mouth."

"You were all lucky I was there else it would have been on your permanent record," Dojima reminded, more so to ease the other's concerns. "But that's beside the point. I've also heard that you've been hanging around at the electronics store lately. That hardly sounds like a place high school students hang out."

Shirou fought back the urge to grimace. He'd forgotten that Junes still had patrolling police officers that would see them wander around, and most likely hear their conversations if close by. "I… was helping someone with a favor. I still am, actually." It was as close to the truth as possible, as he was helping Teddie save his world, but he couldn't begin to explain the context even if he wanted to.

"You were helping someone again?" Taiga droned. "Were you doing their jobs too while they went on break? Or did this 'Yosuke' string you along like Shinji always does?"

"Yosuke's my friend. He would never do that!"

"Are you sure?"

Shirou opened his mouth ready to snap back at her that he was absolutely positive what happened with Shinji wouldn't happen with Yosuke. But he stopped, recalling the time he met Shadow Yosuke, and the secret the real Yosuke hid inside himself.

"He may be a hotshot city boy, but he's such a chump! An all-around nice guy, doing favors for others with no strings attached because he believes in helping others like a good little boy scout. Who else would take the time to fix someone's bike like that? Seriously! You had him pegged for a sucker the moment he helped you. And if that wasn't good enough, you found out he was a friggin' wizard! Not some poser birthday magician, but the real deal! You latched onto him like a leech after that!"

"She doesn't know what she's talking about. Yosuke apologized for that and is helping you, really!"

Though Pixie was meant to reassure him, commentary from a Persona was the last thing he needed. To him, making Social Links for strength was the same as using others to finish errands. He had welcomed being "strung along" before because he helped others out of mutual benefit, but the same couldn't be said with misusing one's bond for power. It made him feel like a hypocrite.

"Whatever," he weakly mumbled. He didn't want to admit that he had been wrong, that Yosuke already had strung him along, let alone that he had done so as well. "Even if that is the case, as long as Yosuke benefits from it, it all works out, right?"

"Thou must not lie to thy self." It took all of Shirou's self-control not to react to Izanagi's voice. Because of his building rage or being startled by his random insight, he wasn't sure.

Taiga stared at him for a moment longer before sighing in defeat. "I swear you're always like this. I don't know if you're really that charitable or just gullible."

Shirou chose not to comment and continue eating his soba, trying to enjoy the flavors. Both Taiga and Dojima stared at Shirou with a mix of concern and disappointment at his behavior, while Nanako quietly stared at her plate since the start of the arguing.

Deciding to change the topic, Sakura cleared her throat before speaking. "Fujimura-sensei? What do you mean that senpai's 'always like this'?"

"Oh, you know," the brown haired woman huffed. "As a kid, he had this strong hero complex to help out anyone in need. Little girls getting picked on, doing chores around the house, you name it. He even wrote an essay talking all about growing up to being a super hero, or 'Ally of Justice' as he likes to call himself."

Sakura and Nanako both turned to Shirou with admiration in their eyes. "Wow, you must have been quite the child, senpai," Sakura said.

"I wrote that essay a long time ago," he said evenly between bites.

"Too long if you ask me," Taiga sighed. "What ever happened to that cute and innocent boy, I wonder?"

Shirou was about ready to snap. It was one thing to get heckled about the murder case of Inaba, but on top of that was Taiga's own interrogation and passive insulting of his goals was enough to get him riled up. If it was either/or on their own, he might have gotten through the night without incident. But he just felt so mad that he opened his mouth to say-

"Why are you picking on Shirou-nii?"

Nothing. Those weren't exactly the choice words Shirou would think to say, but they helped diffuse whatever rage he had pent up.

Everyone stopped and stared at Nanako, having an unusually stern frown on her cute face. Ryotaro recovered first to try and console with his daughter. "Nanako, we aren't picking-"

"This isn't the police station," she cut him off, making him feel awkward. "He's not in any more trouble, is he?"

"W-well, no-"

Ignoring her fumbling father, she then turned to Taiga with the same disarming frown. "And what's wrong with wanting to be a super hero?"

"W-well, it's certainly cute to dream that at your age, Nanako-chan," Taiga explained. "But Shirou's a high school student, only a few years away from college, and if he keeps going on about this, people are going to end up thinking he's weird!"

"You're the weird one."

Nanako's four words had an immediate effect on Taiga, the young woman turning frigid as solid stone with a frozen dumbfounded expression and gaping jaw. But the six year old wasn't done. "You leave Shirou-nii every night to take care of himself alone, even after his dad's gone. And instead of thanking him or being proud that he's helping people, you're making fun of him. How would you feel if you did something good but were made fun of for it?"

Nanako then turned to Shirou sitting across from her. Her lips curled up to the same infectious smile she had given him all day since accepting him as her brother. "Shirou-nii is cool because he helps out whoever needs it, just like the Phoenix Rangers. If anyone can be a hero, it's my big bro!"

Shirou stared at his cousin/sister with wide, disbelieving eyes. On the one hand, it was just a little girl's scope of understanding from someone she didn't know nearly as long as Taiga Fujimura. Fuji-nee definitely had his best interests at heart, else he'd never knew the Dojimas existed. But she was prone to acting immature to the point that Shirou learned to ignore her rather than argue. Dojima-san as well had good reason to be concerned about his actions, as not only a police detective but as an uncle.

On the other, Nanako had vouched for is case in a one-sided argument. As much as he knew Sakura respected him, she always took Fuji-nee's side, or at the very least stayed neutral. Nanako spoke without hesitation that she felt Shirou was in the right, that it was cool to be a hero.

And she believed he could do it.

The shock was too great for him to even speak, let alone thank her for the rare show of rapport for what he felt was to be his most important duty. So instead, he smiled and nodded at her, for agreement and thanks.

He was glad to have met his cousin-no, his little sister.

Again his senses dimmed, signifying the bond made with Nanako. The tarot card that appeared this time was a downward sword, almost entirely black save for the left white blade edge in contrast to the right black edge. The sword was fashioned like a set of scales, with the chains holding it by the hilt and two weights balanced and hooked by the guard. The sword was right between two different colored backgrounds, red on the left side and white on the right.

Thou art I, and I am thou.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Justice Arcana.

When his senses returned, Shirou quickly resumed eating to hide his growing frown. This just now… this was a mistake. The last person he wanted to start a Social Link with was Nanako. But he also didn't want to upset her just when she was starting to smile more. He would need to tread time spent with her carefully; enough to make sure she knew he cared without exploiting too much for the power of their bond.

Taiga soon broke out of her stupor, almost on the verge of tears. "That's mean, Nanako-chan! I do so care about how Shirou grows, and that's why I'm always so strict with him!"

"It would help if you had the integrity to match," Shirou quipped, catching sight of a rolled up poster on the floor. "You could start by cleaning up the house more when I'm not around. It's a bad habit to liter in a household."

"I do clean up after myself!" Taiga huffed, before mumbling softly, "Sometimes." She shook her head defiantly as she reached over to the posters Shirou had indicated. "As a matter of fact, I've been meaning to give this to you. It might liven up the décor of your room a bit."

Curious, the magus took the poster at hand and unrolled it. He expected it to show an idol like Risette, but instead he saw a military man posing with his thumbs up in front of cheap-blue colored sky as the backdrop. In blood red letters, the message read over the man: "Love's Lovely Ranger Land. Please join the Special Defense Force."

Shirou's eye twitched. An army recruitment poster? Surely his guardian wasn't serious with this piece of junk, was she?

"Such distasteful use of blood red font," The Duke of Hell chastised. "If mortals want to glorify war, they should either use none of the blood or all of it."

The twitching increased. "You can't be serious," he droned, partly at Taiga's choice of décor, and partly at Eligor's mental comment.

"Well, I certainly don't want it," Taiga smiled without shame. "So it's all yours!"

"As if I want something so degrading," he scowled as he rolled the poster back up. As punishment, he stood up from his seat and swung the poster down at his still grinning teacher. Everyone else present gasped at his sudden act of violence.

But Taiga gave a cat-like smile and deftly leaped away before the poster could strike her head. She skidded to a stop, positioned herself directly at Shirou's side, and pulled her own poster: one with a metal sheen to it.

An extraordinary thing happened that night. For all his years sparing with Taiga, an unofficial kendo champion, Shirou had never beaten her once, let alone caught up to her staggering speed and unforgiving strength. But in the span of a few seconds, he caught her ready to strike at his exposed side, and had enough momentum in his last strike to roll forward and avoid her own.

He recovered past Taiga's spot at the table and turned, ready to parry for his life as if fighting Shadows once more-

When he heard the unmistakable sound of metal striking bone.

The room was silent. Everyone's eyes were fixated toward the center of the table. Taiga, her arms outstretched with the poster at hand as it's opposite end rested on Ryotaro's head… after coming down full force. The Dojima patriarch was stunned, confused, and conscious for a few seconds more, his jaw dropped and spilling his chewed contents of noodles, mushrooms and carrots in soup. Then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell down to his side.

Immediately Nanako and Sakura knelt to his side. "Dad!" "Dojima-san!"

"Fuji-nee, what did you do?!"

"I don't know! I mean, my strike was pretty hard, but it shouldn't have hurt so much unless-" Taiga's face paled considerably. "Uh oh."

"What's wrong, Fujimura-sensei?"

"Well, the thing is, this is a special first-edition poster, so it's made from sheet metal; technically from a steel plate."

"You used steel sheet metal?!"

"Dad, are you okay?! Wake up!"

<><><>

-Inaba Shopping District, Evening-

"Sheet metal?" Yosuke asked incredulously, but smiled at the amusement of the story. "Damn, that guardian of yours sounds like a monster."

"There's a reason why Fuji-nee's ranked 5-dan in Kendo," Shirou sighed on his line. "She'd be even higher if she just remembered to take off the strap off her shinai during tournaments. I'm just glad Dojima-san wasn't hurt too badly."

"It's a shame she doesn't know anything about Personas or Magecraft. We could really use someone with her skill fighting Shadows."

"I prefer it this way. The last thing I need is to worry about the people close to me getting in mortal danger." Yosuke almost saw fit to interject when Shirou quickly added, "Without the means to protect themselves, of course."

"Of course."

It was sometime after dinner when Shirou suddenly called Yosuke. Not that the headphone-clad teen minded, as his first day of Golden Week had sucked; he'd had to work at Junes all day. He needed to unwind by taking a night stroll of the town, just outside the town shrine. But talking to Shirou was a much needed stress relief. In truth, he was also pretty excited to hear how his friend was doing back at Fuyuki City; he secretly envied that he got to breathe the city air again.

If Yosuke's shift had ended earlier, he could do the same thing at Okina City a train ride over.

But there was one thing he wanted to especially talk with Shirou about. Ever since the whole castle adventure, he'd noticed that Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi would spend a lot more time together than they did at the start of the year. Or rather, since he had known them when moving in as a first year student. It was quite amazing that after their heart to heart talks and what their own Shadows hid from one another, that they were able to overlook those differences and rekindle that friendship.

Deep down, he was jealous of them. Even from the start, they had each other. But maybe he could try to get some of that closeness as a boyfriend?

Thinking it over, either Amagi or Satonaka would make pretty cool girlfriends. Amagi was obvious as the pretty, Yamato Nadeshiko type. She also had a bit of a secret escapist fantasy from Inaba that he could more than relate to, but she was surrounded by so many admirers that it was no wonder she was especially picky on who she should pay attention to or not. Satonaka was the fun tomboy, who he saw more as a fun friend to tease around and a sort of Plan B girl. Between fighting together in Teddie's world and fighting her Shadow, he had more respect for her for sure, aside from her falling for the oblivious Shirou and being oblivious to Koh.

He was thinking about asking Shirou's opinion on either girl, for a start. Maybe he could tell him something new that he didn't catch before, or admit he liked either one of them or neither of them. It would at least make things less awkward if he tried asking out the same girl Shirou was seeing and getting caught in a love triangle.

"Say, can I ask you some-what?" "Say, can I ask you some-what?"

The moment Yosuke spoke, Shirou asked the same question word for word. "Whoa, that was weird."

"You have something to ask too?"

"Yeah, but you can go first," the teen shrugged. His question wasn't all that serious, and he doubted that Shirou's was either.

"Okay," he said, before exhaling his breath as if to calm his nerves. "Yosuke… we're friends, right?"

Yosuke stopped walking and stared at his phone incredulously. "Dude, after all the shit we went through facing Shadows? Of course we are! What kind of question was that?"

"I know, I know, but-… you know what, it's nothing. Forget it."

Yosuke almost considered dropping the matter, but something in Shirou's tone got him worried. This wasn't like him at all. "Shirou, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just asked a stupid question."

"Obviously," he rolled his eyes. "But maybe you wouldn't have asked it in the first place if you weren't feeling unsure for whatever reason."

Shirou's line was nearly silent save for the tense breathing. Whatever he was thinking, it was really stressing him out for some reason.

Then he sighed. "I'm just not sure if I deserve to be your friend."

"What are you talking about?" Yosuke said. Shirou had done so much since he moved over: fixed his bike, kept calm in their first TV world visit, saved them all more times than he could count, and then there's the fact that he's a flipping wizard! If anything, he wasn't worthy of having such a guy as a friend.

"Remember the day after Amagi-san disappeared? When after we left Daidara's-"

"And that you saw the only 'glowing' door?"

"Yeah. I told you before that the people behind that door were benefactors for the murder case, but I'd never met them prior to Inaba. As for the help they gave me, well… it was telling me more about how to control my Persona powers, mostly through Social Links."

Yosuke stayed quiet on his end as Shirou explained in further detail what it was. How that he was called the Wild Card as the reason why he could also summon Pixie and Eligor and theoretically many others on top of Izanagi. How Personas seemed to be aligned to the Major Arcana of Tarot, and that Pixie as the Magician acted as a sort of mental guide to whenever they had conversations together. He also noted that Shirou seemed to put a negative spin on it, as the Personas grew stronger the more he knew someone.

At the end of it, Yosuke only smiled amusingly to fight back the roar of laughter. Of all the bombshells he'd expected his friend to drop this one was not only rather tame but sort of fit his omniscient magician status. "That's it?"

There was a short pause of silence, possibly in disbelief. "What do you mean 'that's it'?" The magus nearly snapped.

"Personally, I'm a little jealous of your whole package deal," he admitted with a shrug. "I mean, you have a fairy and a duke and a God pretty much telling you what to say or not say, score some easy brownie points with people as long as you're trying to be friendly with them. That kind of thing would make getting a girlfriend as easy as hell. Not to mention you could get stronger by mingling without having to risk fighting Shadows all the time."

"Yosuke, you're missing the point," Shirou stressed. "Say you had this power, and you used it to get closer to Satonaka. Your Chariot Persona would resonate with her, telling you what she feels and be a clue as to what to say to make her happy, and get closer to her. Then when the bond is strong enough, you go to the next person, like Amagi-san, and use a new Persona all over again."

And maybe decide if she's girlfriend material or not, thought Yosuke.

"I did some reading, and if Social Links are really represented by the Major Arcana, then that means you could link with 22 different people representing an Arcana, not counting Thoth or Hermetic equivalents. So, if you want to make Links with all 22 people, what do you do?"

Yosuke smiled. "I get their respective Personas and then tell them exactly what they want to hear." It took him a moment later to realize what he just said, and his eyes widened in realization."Oooooooh."

It suddenly made sense why Shirou was nervous about Social Links. As awesome it was to instantly, fully empathize with anyone you could ever want, that kind of power could go straight to someone's head. As the old English proverb goes, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely", and being given power over making bonds is bound to lead some abusing of them. Shirou being afraid of such a thing was a very likely possibility.

But Shirou's a nice guy. A little dense and hides a bit of a smart mouth, but overall a nice guy.

"Well, all the more reason you have that Wild Card thing then," Yosuke quickly replied. "I mean, the fact you even told me this proves- wait, why did you tell me?"

"Because I'm not sure if our friendship is real or just a result of the Wild Card."

The Junes employee was flabbergasted. On the one hand, he could see that the Wild Card ability was not as cracked up to be as he first thought. On the other, he'd just admitted that he didn't know if their friendship was real. After all the fighting and risks they made, and just hanging out between breaks from the case-

"Well, what about one of your other friends?" Yosuke asked. "Before you came to Inaba. Maybe you can base your experience with them as to how to go about this. Oh, and they have to be guys."

"Well, there's Issei Ryuudou. He's the student council president of our school here, and usually enlists me to help repair appliances to save on the school budget. And Shinji Matou… we used to be close but not so much."

"Because of the move?" Yosuke guessed.

"Because he would hit his sister hard enough to leave bruises."

"What? Why?!"

"Because he 'felt like it'," Shirou explained, as if rolling his eyes with the quotes.

"…please tell me you punched the bastard for that."

"And I haven't regretted it since."

Yosuke smiled in relief. "'atta boy."

Still, he had hoped that if Shirou had a close friend back home, he could try to use that as an example of how being a friend feels like. Considering one used him as a personal janitor and one ended in a fight, that plan was a bust. Perhaps he could use his experience as an example?

He liked the guys he hung out with; they got along well and had fun hanging out, but he couldn't remember what they would do or talk about to this day. The only one who still texted him from time to time was Katsuragi, and the only time they talked one-on-one was the day he was moving to Inaba. It always felt awkward texting him back, and he felt pretty ashamed of his boring first year that he didn't show him any pictures of Inaba, let alone himself or all the "friends and girls" he bragged about.

Were they all friends or just acquaintances? Was Katsuragi really a friend?

In his musing, he barely heard Shirou talk back on the phone. "I-I'm sorry, what was that?"

"You remind me of him. Shinji, I mean."

Ah. That… was both touching and depressing.

"Shinji was always irritable. He's smart, and not above bragging about that, or his archery skills. He always spoke rudely to anyone and everyone; he could give Morooka-sensei a run for his money lambasting someone. And that was when his short temper didn't flare up."

Yosuke's frown grew the more he heard about Shinji. How the hell was he the one that reminded Shirou of a guy who could literally pass of as a Prince Moron?!

"And yet… for all the time I've known him, he was honest. Sarcastic, and a bit stuck up, but honest. He was someone I knew to count on and was glad to be friends with. And when I think about how I met you, fighting Shadows and working together on this case, it feels like Shinji's… that Shinji and I are friends again."

The sound of chirping crickets filled the town in its harmony. His rage at being compared to King Moron evaporated at the height of realization. Shirou had lost a friend before Inaba. He may not regret his actions that led to their fallout, but he did regret not having the chance to keep it. Maybe he was scared of going through that all over again; more so that there was a promise of power involved. Or maybe he felt he was betraying this Shinji guy for making friends with him instead, and didn't like the fact he was being rewarded for it.

Honestly, the talk was confusing enough with the Personas being mixed into it, but he did know that his friend needed some comfort and reassurance. That part was easy to understand.

"…So you thought you were friends, and things didn't work out," he said finally. "Trust me, it sucks. It happens to the best of us. None of the guys I knew from before Inaba really stuck out for me either. But I can assure that this bond thing? On my end, it's real. Pure, raw, really realness. I already explained why the day we decided to work together, and I meant it. I'm not sure if this helps you with your Poker Face whatever, but it's the truth."

For a minute, he heard nothing back, then a heavy sigh. He didn't know how, but he could just tell he'd said the right words and that his friend was very much relieved. "Thanks, Yosuke."

"Anytime," he smiled. "See you when you get back."

He clicked his phone off, and continued down the night-lit sidewalk with a slight lighter step. He had promised his parents he would be back before curfew, which was set an hour earlier to avoid run-ins with the mad serial killer. His thoughts, however, lingered more on how he could be a better friend to his peers. In fact, Katsuragi deserved at least a picture of his newly budding circle to let him know he was doing well; he was the only one of his old friends that cared to know how he was doing. The rest had probably forgotten about him, even his boast to score a harem of girlfriends flocking around-

Stopping dead in his thoughts and tracks, Yosuke blinked. And then he smacked his head in frustration. "Damn it! I forgot to ask what kind of girl he likes!"

<><><>

-Emiya Residence, Evening-

Back home, Shirou set his phone down on the dresser top of his room. It was as bare as he had remembered, barely counting as a sleeping arrangement despite having a bed. The shed at the edge of the yard had always been his room, his sanctuary, his workshop. He had always snuck out late at night to his shed to train in secret, and the worst either Taiga or Sakura would assume was that he would be working on late night projects fixing appliances.

Technically it was true, but it was a white lie to cover his true intent of practicing magecraft.

Now was the perfect time; Taiga and Sakura had left for the night after dinner. Dojima and Nanako were sleeping in their appointed guest rooms; the former still out cold from a steel-plated poster to the skull, the latter was put to bed early to make up for her over-excited train ride. It has been weeks since he had made his last magic circuit, and he also had the chance to test the limits of his Persona powers outside Teddie's world. With only two nights' worth of work, there wasn't any time to lose, and nothing was going to distract him.

Save for a knock at the door.

Shirou flinched; he had just been moments away from opening the door and sneaking out to the shed; he really hoped it was Nanako and not her father or (heaven forbid) Fuji-nee coming for another interrogation.

"Big bro? Are you up?"

It was Nanako. "Thank God for small favors," he muttered to himself.

"Thou art welcome."

…was it just him or was his first Persona more vocal lately?

Shaking his head and opening the bedroom door, he saw Nanako standing before him in lavender pajamas and her hair let down. A large blue blanket was draped and folded over her hands, which were together in front of her chest. From her body posture and worried frown, his sister looked downright terrified.

"What's wrong, Nanako?" he asked, opening the door fully.

"I'm sorry to wake you, but…" she trailed off, looking to the floor nervously. "Can I sleep with Shirou-nii?"
The high schooler's face soon flushed to match his hair. "What?!"

"I'm sorry," she continued, not entirely realizing why he was startled. "But your house is so big and scary. I tried sleeping on my own, really, but I just can't get used to it."

It was natural for her to feel scared and intimidated. Honestly, Shirou had felt the same way growing up in the house. She just wanted to have some company to sleep with. Relieved that it was her true meaning, Shirou offered, "Would you like to sleep with your dad instead? I can lead you to his room if you'd like."

Nanako shook her head. "Dad's still hurt from dinner, so I don't want to bother him." Her eyes widened. "Oh! I'm not bothering you, am I?"

"No!" he said quickly. "No, no, of course not Nanako. I was just…"

He was torn; Nanako came to him with an obvious plea for help and comfort in an unfamiliar sleeping arrangement. But tonight might be the only night he could properly gauge his powers for the murder case mystery. Never had he come across a situation like this before, a choice that actually came in direct conflict with both his moral obligation to help anyone in need and his magecraft training.

…but the dilemma was short-lived. Magecraft could wait; he would always extend help to others first.

"Sure Nanako," he smiled. "You can sleep with me tonight."

Seeing the relief in her face and how excitedly she ran inside to plot a piece of floor for her blanket told him he made the right decision.

Closing the door, he started for his bed until Nanako asked him, "Um, big bro?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's your shirt?"

Shirou looked down. "Oh."

He had meant to go to the shed tonight, and changed appropriately for that. He didn't want to get his clothes dirty, so he wore his old pair of leather overalls. And no shirt, as his sister deducted. He was so focused in trying to make her feel better he didn't notice until now.

"Uh," he smiled awkwardly. "I… tend to sleep shirtless at home."

Nanako's confused head tilt did little to ease his embarrassment.

<><><>
-?-

"It's rare for you to go back on a deal. I thought I was the cheating bad guy."

"Unlike you, I do not directly influence the actions of my guests. It was their decision to return for a holiday."

"Was it also that woman's choice to find the 'right' folder?"

"She was diligent in her search, and made the decisions necessary for this situation to even work. I simply led her to a clue that made it possible."

"Well, whatever. This makes things more interesting anyway, so I'm not complaining."

"What do you plan to do?"

"Relax. I'll hold up on my end of the bargain, but I'm actually rooting for your new disciple. I just want to condition him a bit for the future. Trust me; you'll thank me for this later."

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 24

<><><>

-Emiya Residence, Morning-

"I'm really, really, really sorry about last night, Dojima-san!"

Ryotaro Dojima paid the young adult teacher no mind as he ate the breakfast Nanako made; sunny-side eggs with rice. Though the bandage work Shirou did for his head had been done well and covered the top half of his head, he still suffered from a mental migraine courtesy of the sheet metal poster. And he was in no mood to address the woman that had knocked him out in the first place. He'd had enough trouble with one rookie cop back home, and all he wanted to do for Golden Week, just once, was to relax and not think about any cases.

"I promise," Taiga tried again, bowing and begging next to him. "I promise that it will never happen again!"

The other eaters present just watched awkwardly between the two adults. Taiga had come nearly at the crack of dawn when Nanako started breakfast, and had been courteous and helpful to the detective. It didn't take him long to figure out what her motive was, and subsequently ignore her.

Sakura herself came a little after Taiga, distracting herself by teaching and helping Nanako with breakfast, much to the younger girl's delight.

Shirou was worried because Taiga was on the verge of tears. That was never a good thing; if one didn't feel bad making Taiga Fujimura cry, they would regret it when she inevitably inflicted a nasty, yet harmless, prank in retaliation.

Finally, Dojima gulped down his last bite and, still without looking at her, and said, "Shirou, why don't you and the girls wait outside? We'll catch up."

Shirou was surprised by his uncle's request. He was about to inquire as to his reason but something about his tone and body language made him reconsider. "All right," he nodded, turning to his sister. "Let's go, Nanako, Sakura."

Nanako stared at her father for a moment before nodding sadly. "Okay."

Sakura said nothing, glancing worriedly between her English teacher and her senpai's uncle, but she finally bowed and left as well.

Taiga watched as they got up and left the room, almost tempted to join them. But Dojima only told them to leave, implying that he was going to talk with her without them around. She waited until she heard the front door close before begging and bowing again. "I'm really sorry about last night! Please accept my apology!"

"I will consider overlooking this as an accident," he allowed, and Taiga visibly relaxed in relief. "That being said, I can't overlook your behavior as of late."

"…eh?"

"I've noticed that you apologized for hitting me," he said slowly. "But not once did you apologize to Shirou for intending to hit him."

"Shirou never apologized to me, either!" she pouted. "He started it!"

"That's true, but last I recall, Shirou's rolled up poster wasn't made of sheet metal." Taiga's bravado faltered at being reminded of that, and he pressed on. "What exactly would have happened if you did manage to hit him instead of me?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that. We've been doing kendo for years and that wasn't nearly as hard as my other strikes on him!" Taiga explained with a smile and dismissive wave.

Dojima's frown grew, and he wasn't amused. "Your personality is going to get someone killed one day, even Shirou. Especially Shirou."

Taiga huffed with a smug smile. "Ah, I'm not worried. He's a trooper, and he'd marry me before that would ever happen!"

The detective raised an eyebrow. "So you actually love him that way?"

"Eh?" Taiga blinked, before realizing what she had just said. "OH! Whoa, no! Goodness sakes, no! He's like a little brother to me! I get enough misunderstandings from Homurahara trying to set those gossipers straight!"

"You show a very distinct form of affection then," he said, and turned fully to her with a stern frown and his arms crossed. "You're very laidback and easygoing, but only when it's convenient like Shirou cooking for you. The times you do act on your own you overreact and let your emotions get the better of you. You're especially dangerous to everyone around you that that poor Satonaka girl was scared of calling you Tiger."

"WHAT DID YOU-!?" The teacher started to yell comically, but quickly forced her mouth shut. She knew that if she flew off the handle she might hurt the detective more than just a blow to the head.

"I called you by name," Dojima said evenly.

Taiga lowered her hand and glared. "You know, I'm not really happy of being painted as the villain."

"Can you blame me? You gave me a concussion and are not even remotely sorry for putting Shirou in the same position!"

"I know Shirou! You never lived with him as long as I have!"

"And you don't share the same roof as him. You're the one who warned me about his hero complex, but you don't even monitor him every night, worried that he might get hurt or worse by becoming a vigilante?"

"Oh, so it's a bigger crime not to keep watch than be accused as an adulterer! And I suppose you'd rather him make himself useful like babysit Nanako-chan while you go policing every night?"

"Keep Nanako out of this!"

At the end of their yelling match, both adults were standing and sizing one another through their glares. The following silence allowed both adults to exhale and calm themselves over what was once a civil conversation and apology from last night.

Finally, Taiga huffed and walked out of the dining area. "Where are you going?" the detective asked.

"Outside with Shirou and the girls. At least they don't treat me like a murder suspect."

A moment of shuffling shoes on later, she slid the door shut with a little more force than necessary. Dojima just stared at the hallway she left for, and then sighed and pressed his hand to his face. "Damn it, it's not just with Nanako after all. Why does every conversation I make turn into an interrogation?"

<><><>

-Velvet Room-

As the three of them left the house, Shirou noticed at the corner of his eye a glow of stained glass velvet near his workshop shed. He quickly told them a white lie that he was going to check his shed for something and he'll back soon.

It was good because he really didn't want to worry Nanako or Sakura to see him disappear through an invisible door.

"Welcome back to the Velvet Room."

Again, Shirou found himself within the same limousine from his dreams. And again, he saw the familiar beak-nosed man and stoic woman sitting across from him. Considering that this was a place separate from the real world and one composed of thought, it didn't surprise him.

"What assistance may I offer you today?" asked Igor.

The high school student had only meant to see if this room was really the same, but it would be awkward to leave now that his host was offering. "You said you offer fusion?"

"Quite. And you now currently hold three Personas within the space of your heart. At your current level, I can fuse two of them together with the Normal Spread, or all three with the Triangle Spread. Just a forewarning that any Persona used in fusion will be lost momentarily." As if sensing Shirou's concern and denial, Igor held his hand up. "As such, you can turn to Margaret, who can recall any and all Persona you have since found on your journey. Naturally, her tome can also register Personas created through fusion as well."

"Would they be the same Personas I call on now?"

"But of course," The long-nosed master smiled. "While there are indefinite numbers of Pixies and Eligors based on what humans perceive of them, the ones currently in your own mind are imprinted as you see them. That also means you cannot have multiples of the same named Persona as it would be redundant to summon your exact copy."

Shirou exhaled the breath he didn't know he had been holding. While it was weird to feel… attached, to the Personas in his heart, they've been a great help in his journey and dreams thus far. It wouldn't feel right to toss any of them aside, no matter the justification. "Is there any benefit to this?"

"The most apparent is that the fused Personas create a stronger one… bar some exceptions. Secondly, Personas created through fusion will inherit some skills of those used to create it. If you manage this properly, it is possible to give your new Personas skills that they could not learn on their own. That being said, there are some Personas that cannot inherit skills no matter how hard you try, like a magic-inclined Pixie unable to use fire or physical skills. It is part of a characteristic, if you will.

"But the most important thing you should know, nay, accept, is that one's Persona is fueled through the power of one's soul, and in turn, one's connections with others. In other words-"

"Social Links," the magus bitterly finished.

Igor nodded. "As you have probably noticed, Personas grow stronger through battle experience. But if your fused Persona is resonant to the same Arcana as a Social Link you have made, it will receive a considerable burst of power instantly." He then chuckled. "Why, depending on the situation, your Persona's level may grow further than your own."

Shirou said nothing, but wasn't insulted by the fact that his Personas might be stronger than him. He had already accepted it since he first summoned Izanagi. "What do I have to do?"

"Simply will out the cards you wish to use and hand them to me. I will handle the rest."

With his magecraft steps, it was simple to do so as two cards manifested to Igor's beckoning hand. Though he felt hesitant, almost expecting an argument from his Personas for being used this way. Both Izanagi and Eligor stayed quiet, almost humble and willing to follow his decision as they left his subconscious.

For some reason they had reminded Shirou of himself, and he didn't like it one bit.

Igor stared at the cards once before closing his eyes. He flashed his hand over them once, arranging them side by side on the face side. He waved the same hand over them again, flipping them to their Persona images, and binding them in a single blue prana line. The table they were set on also started to glow with intricate lines of a summoning circle, and an aurora of red lights flashed along the rim even as the cards started to hover.

Shirou didn't know how or why, but as he followed the cards flying higher, it seemed like the ceiling of the Velvet Room didn't exist anymore. At the height of the now starry-like night sky above them, the Izanagi and Eligor cards merged together, leaving a flash of light in their wake.

In their place was a green horse-sized quadruped, resembling a dog with wing-like ears. Its tongue, dangling from the side of its panting mouth, was only a fraction to the length and limpness of its tail. The dog-like Persona, upon seeing Shirou, gave a sharp bark before introducing itself. "I am the great Cu Sith. In my greatness, I have come to serve."

…redundancy aside, the fusion went better than expected. A flash later, the Persona resumed card form before spinning sideways slowly and sinking into his body. Shirou was about ready to scan his Persona when Margaret spoke, "Would you like to see what the Compendium has to say about Cu Sith?"

He almost rejected the offer, but thought better of it since the book was a means to bring back his other Personas… or so they claimed. He might learn more about his Personas outside of magecraft and regular research material as well, so he nodded.

Margaret rose from her seat with book still at hand, marched over, and promptly sat next to the now flustered teen and opened it on both their laps. For her part, the assistant didn't look the least bit embarrassed or angry, but rather confused at his reaction. "What?"

"W-well, isn't this rather close?" he reasoned weakly.

"How else would you plan to read the Compendium?" she asked back.

Shirou could think of many answers about how this was wrong, but after what he had said to Satonaka the other day, he reconsidered. Concerning the entity that was Margaret, she might either not care… or make him regret it with something far worse than a slap to the head.

The first thing he noticed was that the book was large and mostly empty. He wasn't sure if it even had an end if it consisted of so many different kinds of Personas. She didn't have to look far though as the first few pages consisted of the ones he already knew and had. Each Persona had two pages dedicated to it; the rightmost page was similar to how he read them with Structural Analysis the other day, complete with theoretical charts of new skills at higher levels. The leftmost page included a short blurb of their history, origins, and noteworthy feats or traits. Izanagi, Pixie, and Eligor he all knew based on the folklore he'd taken up studying, but Cu Sith he only recalled as the name of another fairy.

As it turns out, Cu Sith of the Sun Arcana was a dog fairy from Scotland who doubled as a transporter and watchdog. He was also one of the fey that villagers feared as they locked their doors and homes to make sure it didn't steal their women. Statistic-wise, it was geared towards strength and speed even though it knew magic spells. Garu and Rakukaja he was familiar with, but not Pulinpa, supposedly able to confuse the target. It also knew Cleave and Agi, which he assumed came from the root Personas.

He was starting to see the benefits of having Igor and Margaret help him on this murder case.

"Anything else?" Margaret asked, after several minutes of reading Cu Sith's pages.

"I would like to call back Izanagi and Eligor, if that's all right."

"Certainly. That will be 6,347 yen total."

Well, that sounded reasona- wait. "What."

"I will need 6,347 yen if you wish to reclaim Izanagi and Eligor. We only take exact change."

Shirou turned to the assistant in wide-eyed horror. He then looked back to her and Igor, both of which had no change in expression since this statement was made. It wasn't the fact that the money was unreasonable to pay, but the fact that he had to pay at all. The contract he had agreed to only specified that he would take responsibility for his actions; not this. "You're joking," he said in denial.

Margaret gave a playful smile. "You are correct. You do not need to pay me."

Again, the magus was floored. One minute he was being told he had to pay, and the next he wasn't? Igor and Margaret both found his reaction amusing and their soft chuckles filled the space of the limousine.

All he could do was blush and look indignant until it passed over.

<><><>

-Fuyuki Bridge, Afternoon-

With all his Personas plus Cu Sith in him, Shirou quickly returned to Nanako and Sakura just before the adults came out as well. Taiga had a passive-aggressive attitude towards Dojima that all but implied an argument of some sort but the children didn't bother prying as to what happened between them.

Though it did worry him about how off Taiga was acting today. She usually bounced back to being upbeat and energetic but she kept staring at him with an unreadable expression. The tension was too much for him so as they walked across the bridge, he finally asked her "Is something wrong, Fuji-nee?"

Taiga nodded. No "Don't worry", no laughing or anything else overly animated, just a nod. She didn't even bother looking at him when addressed. Was she really okay, or did he do something to offend her? He knew he didn't call her by her nickname… so maybe she was upset about what happened last night?

"If it's about the poster, I apologize," he amended. "I appreciate the thought, but I shouldn't have acted like that just because I didn't like it."

A typical Taiga Fujimura response would have to smile proudly and boast about being in the right. Instead what came out of her mouth was a weak "It's alright."

Unable to come up with a reply or follow-up, Shirou kept silent as they continued their walk. Instead, he took the time to appreciate the large red bridge connecting Miyami with Shinto. Even though it would have been faster to get across by train or bus, Nanako loved walking across the bridge the first time enough that she wanted to see it again. Dojima and Sakura stayed close to her to make sure that she didn't fall into the Mion River below, but they were amused by her enthusiasm about what is generally a bridge no-one liked to use.

"Shirou," Taiga finally spoke. "Have I been a good guardian to you?"

Shirou blinked, unsure of what she meant. "Fuji-nee?"

"Have I been a good guardian?" she asked again. "All I do is eat and sleep while you do all the cooking and cleaning. Even Sakura does more housework there than me and she has her own family to take care of, too. I'm supposed to be the responsible one, not the other way around."

He knew that much to be true. He had taken up the responsibilities of managing the housework all by himself, mostly because he was the only one who had learned how to cook. Even if Sakura didn't help him, he found it a relaxing, humane break from work and magecraft, so he was thankful for it.

"I know that," he smiled. "But I don't mind. It's never a dull moment at the house whenever you're around, and I'm more than happy to take care of you."

She seemed to cheer up at his encouragement, but it passed and she glared at him. "Shirou…"

"I know, I know," he said reflexively. "I shouldn't always help people, but you're family and I trust you. Besides, you've helped me plenty of times before."

"Like when?"

"Like whenever Dad left on his trips and you would watch over me while he was gone." He directed his gaze to the Dojimas. "And last Christmas, you took the time to find my uncle and sister. Just because I don't always need your help doesn't mean that you're not helpful when I do."

"Do you mean that?"

He turned to her, still smiling to ease her doubt and concerns. "Of course I do. There's a reason I still call you Fuji-nee."

Her face glanced down and flushed unexpectedly. "I-I appreciate that, but do you think-"

He waited for her to finish, but whatever she wanted to say, she decided not to bring it up. It was probably a good thing because they had reached the end of the bridge connecting to Shinto, and Nanako all but demanded they hurry to see the Verde shopping mall.

Everything else that followed that day happened with little fanfare. After searching through the toy section, Nanako picked out a stuffed platypus and an electronic hand-mirror from "Magical Detective Love Line". She mentioned to her brother how it was her other favorite show to watch, and that they could watch it together.

After wandering the mall a while longer, they settled down to eat at the food court, and talked. Shirou kept the topics simple with the hangouts with his new friends while Nanako brought up how she was doing in school. Everyone else politely listened, feeling no need to distract them other than with questions. Dojima was on break, and Fuji-nee was acting more like her childish self, so it wasn't surprising that they wouldn't bring up their own jobs.

But whenever Shirou or Nanako asked Sakura a question about school or archery, she would make a quick comment before nodding it off and asking her own. She had always been quiet, but he never thought much about it since she all but lived at his house for a year cooking and cleaning. It only occurred to him how little he really knew about her outside of the house, and how little she even shared about herself.

The five of them finished with their lunches and visited one last store for the day; the grocery section, much to Taiga's delight, so tonight everyone could have (in his teacher's words) a genuine Shirou Emiya class™ dinner. With the ingredients at hand, on top of Nanako's new toys, they arrived at the bus stop and waited for the next trip to return home.

"Seems silly to buy all this food after we just ate," Dojima said, lifting his bag for emphasis.

"Nonsense!" Taiga scolded. "It'll be our first real meal in weeks, and you two deserved to be spoiled through your stomachs! Especially you, Nanako-chan."

"Okay!"

"I'm just saying I don't think we can eat everything that's planned for right away, if that was the plan."

"There's still plenty of Greenery Day left to enjoy. I was thinking of passing the time doing some Kendo matches with you and Shirou."

"Pass," the detective scoffed. "My head's still splitting here, and I just want to take it easy before going to bed early tonight. We leave tomorrow, after all."

Like lightning, a scowling Taiga swatted his forehead with a slap; a gentle comparison to her kendo strike last night, but it still hurt. It took him a few moments to realize how down both Sakura and Nanako were.

"Uh, sorry," he mustered. "Didn't mean to kill the mood there."

"It's all right," Nanako smiled, suddenly happy again. "We can visit next year and maybe during the other holidays too. Right, Shirou-nii?"

"Of course," he replied. Though he was happy to see Nanako bounce back, he saw that Sakura looked less optimistic. She even avoided eye contact with him. He would have questioned this but what Nanako said next threw him off a loop.

"Wow! Look dad, there's a pretty park over there!"

A park? But the only one in Shinto was- "Wait, Nanako!"

<><><>

-Fuyuki Central Park-

Nanako remembered the fun days when her mother was still alive, and most of them came from the Samegawa River they used to play by. She wanted to make new memories so her mom up in Heaven would be happy, and to make her dad, brother and sisters happy too.

From a distance, there was a huge open field of grass and trees within walking distance from the metal buildings. At first she wondered where the other kids were, or why everyone else didn't notice it. Surely a park would have been popular for kids her age during Golden Week.

But just as she passed the bench looking out upon it, she stopped and stared. The park looked pretty from a distance, but it was hollow and empty up close. The trees and grass looked dead. The wind was scarce yet cold. It was desolate and unwelcoming, and it reminded her of the day she lost her mother.

It reminded her of Death.

Her dad and the others quickly arrived behind her, feeling just as subdued by the atmosphere. Ryotaro, also his first time seeing the park up close, nearly gapped. "What in the world…?"

"Fuyuki Central Park," Taiga explained somberly, with her usual energy absent. "Ten years ago this was the site for the Civic Center during the renovation project. The building burned down before they opened it though, along with everything else in the area."

"It's kind of a shame," Shirou added. "All these years and they don't even add grass or tiles to it. They just put a park here and left it to be forgotten."

Dojima stared at him, in sudden understanding. "Your stepfather, Kiritsugu… he found you here."

"He saved me here," he corrected.

A pregnant pause followed, and each of the five lone people in the park mulled over the aftermath of the Fuyuki Fire. A city rebuilt, but with surprisingly bright buildings. A park made over the center of the fire, left forgotten. The only known survivor, speaking casually over the event but couldn't hide the tension in his clenched fists.

"Dad," said Nanako. "I don't want to be here anymore."

"Yeah, it's getting late anyway," Ryotaro smiled. "Let's see if the bus has come by yet."

The Dojimas turned and hurried out of the park, not even sparing a second glance as the girls followed. Shirou remained rooted on his spot. He had thought he had put the nightmares of the fire behind him, but the fight with Shadow Yukiko all but proved him otherwise. Even now he could see faint images of that hell that once took place in this park that wasn't a park.

In his heart, he knew he would have rushed in to help anyone he could no matter the danger. He would have most likely died in vain if he had tried helping someone in the fire, but things were different now. He was stronger now, and although he knew he still had a long way to go, his goal was closer now to being realized.

He wasn't going to let good people die without cause again. He wanted nothing more than to make sure that everyone was safe and happy, and he now had the means to do it. He had friends at arms with the same power to do so, and their reward was Yukiko Amagi alive and well. And soon, the rest of Inaba will be safe too once they find the man responsible for Yamano and Konishi.

"Shirou! We're going to leave without you if you don't hurry!"

Smiling at his guardian's joke, the magus turned to follow them back to the bus stop. However, he didn't make more than a few steps before feeling something… off.

Cautiously he turned back to the park, but saw nothing. The park had always given everyone an unwelcome sense of foreboding. But this time was different, as if something was waking up. He just couldn't tell what, let alone see through the fog starting to build up.

Wait, fog?

Instinctively Shirou reached for his glasses in his pants' pocket. He had made it a personal habit to always carry them every day in case the team needed to go back into the TV. In hindsight, there shouldn't be any reason for him to bring his glasses to Fuyuki on what was supposed to be a break from fighting, but magi and sorcerers alike were trained to be paranoid and ready.

At first, he thought he didn't see anything different, but the change was subtle. Where he thought he saw fog before was really a swirling of blood-red mist, which was strangely familiar to him. He briefly lifted the glasses from his eyes, making sure what he saw wasn't filtered through Teddie's makeshift lenses.

A sense of dread filled him when he saw a black tendril rise up from the void. Another tendril also sprouted, and they grew in size as they slithered further out from the ground. In the span of half a minute, the swirling black mass molded into something humane but wavy like a ghost.

"Yomotsu-Shikome," the God Persona... gasped?

Though Shirou couldn't blame his alter-ego, for as the ghost-monster turned to him, he also felt frazzled. The body seemed to be consisted entirely of hair, parted slightly around the arms and legs, but bound together to make something clearly feminine. She wore a white triangle-shaped cloth across her forehead with some kind of writing on it, but his attention was drawn somewhere else. The helmet covering her face, showing puckered lips, clenched teeth, and a glowing blue eye as if it had cracked wider.

And if that wasn't enough, a hand suddenly emerged from below, pulling the rest of its body up much like a zombie would. The limb was as pale as bone, humane and itched with tattoos of the same writing on Yomotsu-Shikome's frock. The head came into view (or rather a triangle cone covering the head with markings over the face) as well as metal shoulder guards and what appeared to be red earrings just under the cone. It tucked its other arm until a spade-like spear with red-ringed flags was thrust high in the air. It was then set down flat end first to help pivot the rest of the body up, equally lean and pale with only purple cloth over its chest and groin.

This demon also had a name. "Yomotsu-Ikusa."

A sense of fear overwhelmed him, not unlike the Ghoul, or believing Yosuke had died. Not just for his safety, but for his family, blissfully unaware of the demons of Yomi. A part of him hoped that this was just a bad dream, some sort of trick due to the trauma from facing Shadows several weeks ago, but he knew this was real. He knew the danger was real.

"Run."

"Wh-what?" While thankful that Izanagi was snapping him out of his trance, something about his tone indicated he had every right to be afraid, which was unsettling.

The hairy hag hissed and coiled slightly back, as if emulating a snake. The warrior crouched back on his bare feet, ready to sprint.

"For thine sake, RUN!"

<><><>

Sakura hated magecraft. She hated the "training" she would be put through, and felt nothing short of miserable having to cope with the… side effects. She could understand why her uncle Kariya tried to break away from it, but in the end he disobeyed grandfather and had died for it. For what little peace he had away from the life of the Matou, she envied him.

She had also believed that she could never get that nice, nurturing normal life she knew only fleetingly as… before being a Matou magus. Fujimura-sensei was so much an older sister to her, even though she already had one, and Shirou-senpai's good-intended nature always warmed her heart. It was living with them every day that she could cope and believe there was still hope beyond what she had lived through the last ten years.

But then Sensei went and found Senpai's extended family. At first she was happy for him, as she would give anything to be back with her old family, but when Sensei all but forced him to leave for the school year just to spend time with them, she felt less sure. It has barely been a month since his extended leave and she felt like she was regressing back to the ten years of training before meeting them.

Sakura still managed, if only because she still had meals with Fujimura-sensei whenever possible, and she had taken up Archery to pass the time. True, Shinji was there too, but Mitsuzuri-senpai had been accommodating with her since she joined, and often told her some Shirou-centric stories to cheer her up when she needed it.

And then she met Nanako-chan and her father. She had been more than a tad jealous seeing how easily the young girl latched on to Senpai as an older brother figure, almost convinced she was being denied of her very few joys in the world. But Nanako was impressionable. She made no secret that she wanted to spend time with her as well, if only because she learned from Senpai as a cook. And yet she praised her for learning, and spoke earnestly for his dreams. Sakura was jealous still, but now only because the young girl had the courage she never did when she was her age.

She loved hearing Nanako-chan and Senpai talk about Inaba during lunch. The sights, the stores, even the little adventures they each had there, and felt overjoyed that they both wanted to include her in sharing stories. Overjoyed… and frightened. For as much as she appreciated the gesture, she had nothing interesting to tell, at least that was normal.

If anyone learned of her true side, her dark secret, her magecraft, they would hate her. Senpai wouldn't want to be with her anymore, and neither would Nanako-chan.

She just wanted to end the day and not worry about anything else, and only bask in the rest of the pleasant day being with a normal, loving family, even if she would pretend being a part of it.

But the thing about magecraft is that it tends to come up at the most inappropriate times… and seems to have it out for ruining her sense of peace.

Sakura had only looked back to Senpai out of curiosity, wondering if the park's significance still bothered him. But just as she also questioned why he was pulling out a pair of glasses (perhaps he was near-sighted?) she felt something happen from deeper in the park. While her training in magecraft wasn't complete, to say the least, she knew an anomaly when she felt one. In fact, she felt two, and she knew the feeling of pure aggression radiating from them.

They were radiating towards her Senpai.

Perhaps he could sense it too. Perhaps it was the glasses or… something else entirely. But he suddenly turned and ran, leaving the food he thoughtfully picked out for their dinner, hurrying to save himself. The invisible monsters followed like a wolf hunting its meal.

Senpai didn't stop, and ran past his guardian, uncle and cousin (rather his sister) without even a word edgewise. This wasn't missed by anyone. "Big bro?"

Sensei was insulted, took a few steps forward, facing directly behind him, and yelled. "Oi, Shirou! What's the big idea just bolting-!"

Before she knew it, Sakura and ran behind her teacher and yanked her back as hard and quickly as she could. "Sensei!"

Her timing was close; the unknown forces of aggression had passed over the spot Sensei had just been standing in. She could not see it clearly, but she knew they had every intention of striking Taiga Fujimura for standing in the way. The sound of steel cutting through the air was as unmistakable as the grazing slash marks across her green dress and shirt.

No one knew what to say or how to react. They only stared at Taiga before turning back to the still fleeing Shirou cross the bridge on foot. Sakura herself was not sure what to do, concerning the safety of her senpai. For once she wished she knew real magecraft and had the means to help him.

Dojima finally broke away from staring at his runaway nephew and kneeled towards Taiga. "Can you stand?" he asked her.

With a searching hand she grabbed his and allowed herself to be pulled up. Her eyes were still fixated on the red haired student she loved as a brother. Her expression was surprisingly calm and blank, leaving Sakura wondering what exactly she is thinking right now.

"Big bro…" Nanako squeaked fearfully. "He's not in danger… is he?"

"Either he is in trouble," Taiga said slowly before marching forward. "Or he's going to be."

Sakura blinked. She had never heard her teacher speak so confidently and authoritative before. "Fujimura-sensei?"

"The rest of you go wait at the house," she said. Then she turned and flashed a smirk and wink. "I'll go drag his sorry ass back home after I'm done with him."

And just like that, she ran off for the bridge walkway. Sakura was both enamored of her brave abandon to save senpai, but at the same time was worried for her. They were both in danger of something beyond them, beyond her, and they needed help.

Her first thought was her… to find Tohsaka. But even if she could find her, it still didn't mean that the Second Owner would be willing to help on the whims of the Matou. That only left-

"'Go wait at home'?!" Dojima repeated with a scowl. "The nerve of her! He's our family too, damn it!" With a disgruntled shove in his pocket, he pulled out his cellphone and hastily dialed a number.

"What are you doing dad?" asked his daughter.

"Calling the city's police department," he answered. "I don't know what's going on, but something tells me that this is too serious to let a lone teacher handle."

"Wait!" cried Sakura. "I know it's hard, but can you just trust Fujimura-sensei? She's a five-dan in kendo and expert Archery instructor, and most of all, can do anything when she puts her mind to it! She brought you and Senpai together, and she can find Senpai just as easily!"

Seconds passed in what seems like minutes between the three of them. Finally, with a resigned sigh, Dojima-san tucked his phone away. "Dammit, I hope you're right."

As did Sakura, for as convincing as her argument was, she had a hard time believing herself. If this was the normal sense of danger like a mugging or kidnapping, then of course Taiga Fujimura would come out on top. But running in headfirst against a wraith? She'd be lucky to come back alive, let alone with Senpai. But she didn't let these worries betray her, for the Dojima's sake.

The purple haired girl then noticed Nanako, facing the bridge with her hands cupped and eyes closed. "What's wrong, Nanako-chan?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm praying to God that he can keep Shirou-nii and Taiga-nee safe. I just hope he can hear me."

Sakura smiled at the opportunity. "I think I know just the place to help."

<><><>

-Miyama Town Streets-

The moment Izanagi barked the order to run, Shirou made a break for the bridge. Luckily, no one else was using the bridge so he could focus on reinforcing his legs to run faster. It wasn't enough to deter his pursuers away, but it helped to keep the gap between them.

He wanted to go back and check on Fuji-nee; he had seen Shikome and Ikusa strike her with their hair and spear respectively as if she were an obstacle, but his Personas all countered his sense of heroics for self-preservation. Furthermore, the further he was away from people, the safer they would be from the demons' line of fire.

He wasn't sure why they were after him specifically, but it was a small blessing enough that he could direct their attention away from Fuji-nee and the others.

When Shirou arrived back in Miyama Town, he mentally mapped his way through the least crowded routes while working his way further west. If he could reach the forest at the end of the city, he could fight them off without endangering anyone. It was too far to go directly west, so if he could work his way southwest…

And whenever there were people walking in the streets he took, he made a conscious effort to run around them by the road, or shove them roughly aside. It was rude and uncalled for, and he could hear them yell at him for doing this, but it was a better alternative than letting them die from invisible wraiths.

As he made a sharp turn by a corner, he took a quick look over his shoulder. As expected, Yomotsu-Shikome and Yomotsu-Ikusa were still chasing him with intent to kill. The hag's hair moved wildly as her ghostly form floated towards him, while the warrior's long strides were not unlike a tribesman crossing fields for big game hunts. Neither of them showed signs of slowing down.

At least it was only the two.

He could only move forward, but only had a few seconds to decide when to turn or not, and hope there wasn't anyone there. But the forest at the end of town grew closer, and through the thick of the woods would be a chance to properly fight back. Just a little further-

"SHIROOOOOOOU! Where are you?"

His mind blanked, and his step faltered. The magus almost completely tumbled down to the road, but recovered before Shikome or Ikusa could close in. That voice…

"When I get my hands on you, you're going to wish I had my Tora-shinai you love so much to curse about! And maybe then I'll use it to beat you up too!"

Yep, that was Fuji-nee all right. The relief of knowing she was all right was hindered by the fact that she was looking for him. At least from the sound of things she didn't know where he was, and he hoped to keep it that way.

Just a little further...!

<><><>

"Dammit Shirou this isn't funny! You made Nanako-chan cry, you jerk!"

It was probably a stretch of the truth, but Shirou always had a weakness for sad young girls. It was a hero thing.

Eventually Taiga gave up trying to call for him and kept searching through the streets. She swore she saw the red-haired teen head down towards the south end of Miyama, but it was never a straight line or pattern. It was almost like he was trying to get away from something, or someone.

A part of her considered calling up her dad and the boys to rally up a search party, but she would rather avoid telling the Inaba detective as long as possible and avoid more bad blood between them. Besides, she wanted to prove to him that she was responsible, and that she did care for him.

She'd show how worried he made them all… by beating it into that oblivious head of his!

"Honestly, it's bad enough seeing you and Sakura-chan pretend that there's nothing going on," she ranted to herself, scowling with each deliberate step down the road. "But now you got yourself a big ego because you're someone's new big brother. Well, you were my little brother for years and you don't sound too proud of it now!"

What made that girl so special anyway? She was precariously cute, sure, and so mature, and maybe it had to do with her worshiping his hero dream, but…

…okay, that's actually a lot. But Taiga still rejected the notion of being the weird one. All she wanted to do was make him less lonely. Was that so much to ask?

Taiga's mood soured from her quick introspection, and she had stopped at a crosswalk somewhere south to the immigrant residence complexes. The odds of finding that idiot now were slim at best, and something in her gut told her that she needed to find him before something happened. If only she had a-

Ah…
Aaah…
"AAAAAH-CHOO!"

A loud sneeze erupted from her nose and mouth, stimulated by some tickling in the former. The teacher rubbed her nose, focusing on what was the pesky bug that had fluttered up to her while she wasn't looking.

Taiga blinked. Fluttering stationary in front of her was something like a small moth or butterfly. What was especially odd was the fact that it was colored completely blue and released sparkles with each wing flap. She had seen it before, just before last Christmas when looking for Shirou's family information.

"You? How did-wait, HEY! Come back!"

Almost as expected, the butterfly flew away in a leading but urging manner. Again Taiga had this feeling that following the blue butterfly was important. Like how it landed on the one file she had been looking for.

Of course, if she were to catch the bug, she might be able to force some answers out.

She didn't notice the streets she ran through, the people she had passed, or even how there were suddenly trees in the way. She didn't care, because she was on the hunt for a blue bug that just flittered ahead like a taunting lure.

No one made a fool out of Taiga Fujimura and got away with it. She might have been thankful for the butterfly's help before, but if its only idea of help is to lead people on wild goose chases, then something was about to give.

Taiga steeled herself, pushing herself faster and faster as if participating in a race. A race to beat the bell to school, or rather hurrying to start homeroom after the bell has rung. A surge of dust kicked out from behind her heels, and her dress fanned just as wide with each step.

Right now, she was a human jet coaster, like the students always gossiped; a jet coaster aiming for a blue butterfly.

She could see the butterfly ahead making more frequent turns as if sensing its impending doom. Taiga smirked predatorily, as it was only a matter of time before her natural speed enabled her to catch up. She just had to keep pushing forward. She had to catch it and maybe use it to find Shirou.

For Shirou. The idiot helper who everyone took for granted.

For Shirou. The accepting sibling of anyone into his extended family.

For Shirou. The proud stepson of Kiritsugu Emiya who she promised that she would take care of.

For Shirou. For Shirou. Forshirouforshirouforshirouforshirouforshirouforsh irou

"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA!" Taiga screamed, feeling the tiger within her radiate its awesome power!

Just as her prey was about to turn away, she leaped high in the air with a speed that quickly closed the gap. With the goal within reach, she managed to pivot in the butterfly's direction, lean down and clap both hands over the butterfly in a satisfying clasp-

"Gotcha!"

CRASH!

…right before she blanked out due to momentum carrying her shoulder first into a tree.

<><><>

-Fuyuki Church-

Nanako almost cheered up instantly seeing the church up close. Structural-wise, it was more of a wide building than a large one, with the tallest part focused on the center. It looked exactly like a church would, with an open column entrance and a cross-rod situated on top of the building. It wasn't a big church, but due to being built on top of a hill, it gives an overwhelming feeling to visitors as if God himself constructed it.

Sakura didn't quite like the place anymore. She recalled coming up a few times as a child, but that was when she still had a family. It was… painful, to think back to those days. She thought less of the priest in charge there now. Part of it was because of his relationship with her old family, while another part was simply because he made her uncomfortable. But she didn't know who else to turn to.

Inside was just as impressive, with a large, bright chapel welcoming enough for anyone to come to service. There was already a man inside when they had arrived, standing with his back to them with a small bible at hand. With a flourish, he closed the book, set it aside and turned to greet them. His eyes, parted by his remarkably thin nose, were as dull brown as his wavy hair. His tall figure was complimented by his subtle muscles and strong, confident posture. A dark blue robe draped his shoulders and body, opened enough to show his matching black shirt, pants, and gold rosary over his chest.

"It has been a while Sakura," the man smiled. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Sakura frowned, trying to surpress the uneasy feeling under the man's gaze. "Father Kotomine," she bowed slightly in respect. "What I seek is for… a personal matter."

"All actions committed by man are a form of personal interest, even if done out of altruism," he coldly replied. "Any favor asked here is deemed fair and equal to every other, so please speak of what troubles you."

"It's Shirou-nii," Nanako spoke to the priest, surprising Sakura. "He's run away and I'm worried he might not come back."

Kotomine knelt on one knee so he could properly see the young girl. His expression was neutral, as if holding himself back in what to tell her. "Your brother has run away, you say? A shame, for that means he may have abandoned his duties for more… primal urges."

"It's not like that," Dojima frowned at the implication. "It was more like he was… spooked."

"Spooked? Perhaps I misunderstand the situation. Tell me, child. Why has young Shirou run away?"

"They saw something they shouldn't have," said Sakura, before they said anything else. "Please, they're his family so…"

The Dojima's turned to her with confused, almost worried stares. Kotomine's own face didn't change, as he allowed a small curt nod. "I understand. Rest assured, child. Your brother will be safe after a night's rest."

Nanako gasped lightly as the power of Kotomine's eyes and voice echoed in her head. The poor girl lost consciousness right away and fell into his open arms.

"Nanako?!" Dojima gasped, before confronting the priest. "What did you do to my daughter?!"

"She is merely resting, just as you will soon be," he answered, rising up to make eye contact with him. "There is nothing wrong, so sleep well."

A similar reaction happened to Dojima, failing to reach for his gun in time. This time, Sakura caught him as he slumped to the side and passed out. Together Sakura and Kotomine placed the sleeping Dojima's side by side on one of the empty rows of seats.

Father Kotomine turned to Sakura with a teasing smile. "Using me as a means to hypnotize two bystanders? You're quite similar to Rin when it comes to manipulation." Sakura flinched, though whether he noticed or not, he resumed unperturbed. "But it shouldn't be much of a surprise, because you're-"

"I didn't come here to be compared to Tohsaka-senpai," she snapped quickly, while her bangs covered her lowered face.

"Yes, I suppose not," the priest allowed. "You could have confronted her personally if needed. But since you have come all this way to seek my guidance instead, what troubles you?"

"We were near the park when it happened," she explained, this time making eye contact. "Two anomalies came from the park grounds and chased Senpai. I'm not sure, but I believe he was able to see them while I had only just sensed them."

Kotomine frowned in thought. "I suppose I can't fault a Matou's skill in magecraft compared to a Tohsaka's, but Rin would have given me a concise report on more than just conjecture." Sakura fought back a mixed feeling of anger and sadness before he added, "Of course, she would do so with a condescending remark towards my profession. She has always been troublesome like that."

The purple haired girl felt calmer, but wasn't sure how to feel about Kotomine and Tohsaka-senpai's relationship. Sakura knew that the former was the latter's guardian, but there seems to be a bit of tension between them, even after ten years since… her father died.

"I assure you they were real," she spoke again. "Fujimura-sensei was also there, and the anomalies almost killed her when chasing after Senpai when she stood in their way."

"Fujimura? I believe Rin mentioned her once before. Where is she now?"

"She… chased after Senpai."

"The one who is being chased by wraiths that had also attempted to kill her," he said slowly as if making a lecture. "And yet you did nothing to stop her."

The purpled haired girl flinched and looked down. "I-it just happened so fast, and Fujimura-sensei's not the type of person to be reasoned with once she decides something.."

"Understandable. And I suppose you wish me to save these doomed souls from whatever spirit haunts them."

"Yes, please."

The priest and high school girl exchanged glances. A few moments passed, and then he said "I'm quite surprised that, given the severity of the situation, that you didn't go to Rin first."

Sakura's face twitched into a frown, but she didn't break her gaze this time. "You know why I can't."

Kotomine smiled. "Indeed. Magi often spend more time killing one another for their secrets rather than seeking help or shelter. Very well, I shall endeavor in the rescue of this young Shirou and your teacher."

Sakura bowed her head one more time in gratitude. "Thank you, Father."

<><><>

-?-

"Oooooh, it feels like I got hit by a truck," Taiga groaned as she stirred. The ground felt… flatter, and smoother than she expected of the forest, but she quickly realized she wasn't outside anymore.

The first thing she checked was her hands. No butterfly. Bummer. But at least it wasn't dead… unless it turned into sparkles of light or something. Before she could ponder it more, she stood up and started really noticing her surroundings since the start of her chase.

She found herself standing in a wide-open room, built like a dojo. The wooden floors were polished clean and new, with white marking lines for both the outline perimeter and what appeared to be a fighting ring for Kendo.

It was so surreal, and yet so familiar. It looked almost like the Emiya Dojo to her slight shock, but there were two key differences. First, the lights from the windows kept cycling to bands of orange and black like a revolving picture. Second, there was a sign set up by the shrine, scribbled in kanji. Curious, Taiga stepped out of the dojo ring to see the sign and squinted.

"Taiga… Dojo?" she read, and then blinked. "Wait, this looks like my handwriting!"

Suddenly, a swift blow struck the back of her head. "OW!" She flinched and dropped to one knee to stop from falling down to the floor. She saw behind her a fully dressed kendōka with her tiger-striped shinai extended out. Taiga could tell the kendoka was female because aside from the men over her head, she only wore a white ki top over a pair of blue hakama showing off a bit of her figure. And yet… there was a faint blue aura surrounding her. Was that killing intent?!

"Foul! No stepping outside the ring during a match!"

"Foul?" Taiga blinked. "Match-wait, what are you talking abou-"

Another blow struck her, this time forcibly pushing her down to the ground flat. "Foul! Speaking back against your opponent is prohibited until the match is decided!"

"No… it…" she groaned, but the offending weapon, a bamboo sword, still pressed her down to the point of breaking her ribs.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" The attacker taunted. Her voice sounded familiar, but was probably using some half-assed sound modifier in her helmet to sound more ominous. "To be able to go all out on the fresh meat, and show off just how awesome you are? To strike fear into their hearts before going for the kill? The twerps at the club, the officials at tournaments… they're all afraid of you, and you relish in that."

Despite the pain and the cryptic words, Taiga cracked a smirk. "For someone that was going off about fouls, you sure like to hear yourself talk."

"QUIET YOU! DOUBLE FOUL!"

Just as planned, the kendoku raised her shinai for a powerful overhead strike. Taiga used this opportunity to roll to the side when it fell, the shinai smashed down hard enough to break the wooden floor.

She quickly drew a spare shinai resting in a sword rack, taking position at the opposite end of the ring where the kendoku stood. "All right miss trigger happy. If you want a match so badly, I'll give you one. HIYAAAAA!"

She swung her weapon with ferocious abandon, intending to strike back against her enemy. But the kendoku recovered quickly and started meeting Taiga's lightning-fast strikes with her own quick parries. All five of her strikes were blocked, which stunned Taiga. This had never happened before.

"It must be a thrill," the kendoku said again, her next swing so hard it pushed Taiga back a few feet. "For the first time you might actually have a challenge. Of course, you would never know that if you actually took things seriously."

"I happen to be taking my kidnapping and preemptive murder very seriously," the English teacher snapped and repositioned her guard.

"I can see that. On the surface, you enjoy the simple things of life, but whenever the status quo of your enjoyment is threatened, you attack. You're very much like a sleeping tiger in that regard."

Taiga stiffened. Her hands clenched white around the hilt of her shinai. Hitting her in the back and insulting her kendo bloodlust was one thing, but this?! "Oh, you did not just call me-!"

"Tiger Fujimura," she said deliberately. "The Tiger of Fuyuki, wearing her favorite Tiger-striped shirt, who eats like a Tiger, who sleeps like a Tiger, and who roars like an angry-"

Each uttering of Tiger struck her like a needle injecting her with pure rage. Finally, she reached her boiling point as she roared according to her namesake. "HYOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAA!!!!"

She stomped forward with enough force to crack the wood under her. Then with both hands, she dug her shinai below and swung it up to strike the kendoku's helmet. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY THAT NAME TO MY FAAAAAAAACE!"

CRACK!

In an instant, her rage was gone. In its place, she was rooted in shock as she registered how casually her opponent swung her sword across. Yet it was that action that managed to not only stop her attack, but cut the bamboo in two.

"I have every right to say that name."

The kendoku's spare hand shot for Taiga's torn dress and lifted her off the ground. For the first time, Taiga could see her opponent's face, and what she saw scared her more than how strong she carried herself.

"Because we share the same face."

Behind the bars and breathing gap of the men, she saw her own facial features, only with glowing gold eyes and a calm scowl that held controlled anger.

"And that's my name, too, bitch."

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 25: The Inner Child
<><><>

Fuyuki Forest

As a practitioner of magecraft, Shirou was a paranoid, if slightly suspicious person. Although he tuned out baseless rumors around him, he heard enough to know that the forest near the city was considered haunted. In other words, it was entirely unlikely to risk anyone's safety unless they were actively seeking a thrill.

Fortune seemed to favor him thus far in the run, as he saw no more civilians as he entered the forest. A mile later, he broke into a small clearing of dried grass patches and few trees. It was just large enough to fight openly in the surrounding area.

Perfect.

Shirou finally skidded to a stop midway across the clearing, catching his breath. The demons visible through his glasses also halted, but looked no less for wear after chasing the teen halfway across the city. Taking advantage of this, he held his hand out to summon his Persona…

Only to clench nothing but air.

It was as he feared. Whether or not Persona was the same as Magecraft, it required drawing out the necessary prana to use. The only reason he was able to reinforce himself, let alone summon his Persona, was because Teddie's world was saturated with prana and allowed him to use it as an effective outlet.

But even if he couldn't summon his Persona, he still had them to guide and empower him through his subconscious. If only he had a weapon he could-

"Dodge!"

His thought process was cut short at Eligor's barked order, snapping in time to see Yomotsu-Shikome vault towards him, covering the distance between them in a second. Multiple hair tendrils hardened and shot out even as she charged, aimed to impale where he stood.

Reflexes kicked in as Shirou rolled to the side and away from the tendrils, but Yomotsu-Ikusa appeared before him with his body lowered to make a sliding stop. His spear, held high in one hand, fell down like a hammer with just enough distance that the blade would slash the magus.

Shirou, still caught in the momentum of his dodge roll, stopped himself just as he came to his back and rolled to the side as the spade stuck the ground. He forced himself back up the next moment, only to wince as a black spear grazed his shoulder. His footing buckled just enough for Ikusa to follow-up and swing his spade sideways, tripping him back down.

Tumbling forward to avoid Shikome's advance, Shirou's hand caught hold of a long tree branch. Hardly sturdy enough to be called a shinai, but it was best available on short notice. Swinging blindly back, he smacked the hag across the face, causing her to stumble at an angle past him while averting the spiked hair that would have skewered him.

But he was given no rest or time, forced to parry his reinforced yet makeshift weapon against a warrior's own. The deadlock held between them, Shirou staring at the masked helmet of Yomotsu-Ikusa, grimacing how things were just peaceful a few minutes ago.

As dire as the situation was, he was still thankful no one else close to him was in any danger.

<><><>

The next thing Taiga knew, she was hurled across the dojo and hit the floor like a ragdoll, bouncing once on impact. Groaning in pain, she forced herself back on her feet, glaring at the masked doppelgänger. The kendoka abandoned her stance and strutted over, her shinai lightly grazing the dojo matting by the tip.

"Not so high and mighty now, eh Tiger?"

Her glare intensified and knuckles tensed. As much as she was pissed upon being mocked by that word, the kendoka's power was at a whole other level. She was hurt, confused, annoyed, and especially mad, but she didn't rise at the obvious bait. "Okay, so you have the same name as me. I can buy that. But why the hell do you look just like me?"

"I'm what you call a Shadow of the true self. Not the silhouette that comes up whenever you're near light, oh no. I'm that little subconscious thing in the back of your Tiger-shaped head that represses all the things you hate to admit to yourself, let alone everyone else."

"Stop calling me that," Taiga growled, barely stopping herself from yelling.

"Or what?" Her double cooed. "You'll bite me? You 'hate' being compared to something so unfeminine yet you react just like a provoked Tiger."

"I said stop it!" Taiga cried, charging again as she reached for another shinai resting in the sword rack in one motion. Yet despite the power and swing of her attack in both arms, the Shadow casually blocked with her own shinai single-handed.

"You can't tell me what to do," she taunted. "I'm an adult. I'm free to make up whatever rules I want! I keep my youth. I eat free meals at home. I whine when I don't get my way. It's the high life and I love it! Why the hell should I give any of it up?!"

This time, Taiga said nothing. She just kept swinging with strength and technique fitting of an experienced kendoka. Her opponent parried each blow with casual ease, resting her spare hand on her hip while she swung her wooden sword like a fencing epee. Taiga needed all her focus to find an opening and defeat her stronger double.

"Everything was going great until I graduated from high school. After that was college, yet another mountain climbed. I was so caught up with everyone else about the future and crap, but what did the future have in store for me? Careers? Marriage? Family?"

Taiga didn't know what her double was going on about, but she kept attacking regardless. If she was this preoccupied that she wanted to rave about her life, then maybe she could find an opening…

"The truth is there's nothing after all that. Nothing I want anyway. Too soon did we have to move on and get told to 'grow up'. It's the rules of society, they said. As if they were all damn ashamed of all those stupid mistakes they made as teenagers." It was at this moment that Taiga caught the Shadow's weapon in a deadlock with her own, but failed to get close to overpowering the kendoka. "'We can't all be little kids anymore, Taiga-chan! Why don't you just be like the rest of us and grow up? Grow up?! GROW UP!?!?'"

At her sudden outcry, Shadow Taiga's aura flared and by sheer force blew her off her feet. In fact, Taiga found herself flying across the dojo and crashing through the wall.

<><><>

After dropping off the Dojimas at Shirou's house, and bidding Sakura good night with the promise that the matter was all but taken care of, Kotomine set off to find the wraith's trail. If there was any commandment on the boy's part, he didn't let up in running and kept the interference with said wraiths to a bare minimum. He merely had to heal and hypnotize a few angry pedestrians that got something more than a scrape on the knee to keep the incident quiet.

As the line of injuries thinned, he started pacing further down the path, nearing a familiar forest. His mind wandered back to the people and this Shirou's reasoning. Why all this way? Running and leaving his family made sense, as it drew the wraiths away from them. But why not fight back? Why hadn't he used the civilians as shields, and tried to push them away?

It was kind of a surprise to him. He was first and foremost a priest, and once a highly skilled taskforce agent against the likes of monsters and Dead Apostles. But he also knew the basic principles to magecraft to be considered a mediocre one at best, despite the conflict of interest between the Church and Magi Association.

Part of the reason the two didn't get along was how destructive Magecraft was to the world and word of God. Those gifted with magic circuits continued to test the limits of Thaumaturgy, yet could only go so far before the natural order itself came crashing down on their heads. Some took to drastic measures and joined the ranks of the Dead Apostles in pursuit of knowledge, making the Church's job of destroying them all the more difficult.

And yet here was a supposed magus, hiding under Rin's radar, attracting the attention of wraiths, and going out of his way to take the fight out of the streets like some sort of hero.

"My husband's wish is to end all suffering; to bring world peace."

Kotomine's features and fists tightened slightly at the bitter memory, before he forced his expression to stoicism. That "wish" his rival had died along with him, and it would stay that way, because that thinking broke him down in the end. It offered him false hope like how Kotomine clung to his unknown answer like a lifeline.

As he entered the forest and picked up his pace, the priest decided that he was going to save this Shirou two-fold. From both the wraiths, and whatever naïve notion he had of bringing peace to a world waiting to end.

That decision made, he also chose to forgo mentioning this to Rin right away. She might be the Second Owner, but he was her guardian first and foremost, as well as a seasoned Executor back in his day. And if she were to get mad over this slight, he could find some amusement riling her up later.

It didn't take much longer for Kotomine to find Shirou; the sounds of battle helped guide him. Upon entering the clearing, he quickly spotted a red-haired boy with glasses swinging a stick around blindly. To an average person that would be all they could see, but the priest could also make out faint outlines of black and white wraiths dancing around the boy while attempting to kill him. Every so often, their bodies would flicker like television static, leaving brief blinks of their true colors.

He only saw the flashes once, but he assumed that one was a deadly spirit and the other a vengeful warrior. And he almost expected something of a challenge from how Sakura made her plea. Then again, the boy was now being choked by tendrils and held in place by one of the wraiths while the other prepared to finish him off.

Immediately Kotomine sprinted faster than he had to in recent years, silently drawing out red empty hilts hidden within his robes, until four were pressed between each knuckle of his hand and five feet of enchanted steel instantly appeared from them. As quick as this action was, his throw was just as fast, aimed precisely at the wraiths.

All this had been done in three seconds.

This was an important detail because one of the wraiths, the warrior, caught sight of him from the side, and reacted accordingly. Instead of charging and most likely skewering the boy by the spade's point, it skidded to a stop to turn to him and swung in an arc. Kotomine's thrown weapons, the Black Keys, were all deflected and scattered away from the weapon by the counterattack.

The ghost wraith noticed the warrior before the priest, and dodged as best it could by retreating to the side, dropping the boy from its grip in the process. Only one Black Key had hit, staggering it to a woman's shrill scream as the holy charm sapped its energy.

Kotomine clicked his tongue; he could have easily done it in half the time and hit all the marks had he been in his prime.

In reaching for a new set of Black Keys, he almost missed the warrior glowing red and channeling prana. From the position and intent, this action was meant for him. Its extended hand recoiled like firing a gun, and Kotomine saw a block of ice form on the ground directly in front of his path.

He had no time to stop or slow down, so at the last moment the priest spun on his heels and twirled around the ice while advancing. His timing was near perfect as he avoided collision in time to see it shatter like a bomb.

The ghost wraith also chanted a spell with a blood-red prana release, but with more control and finesse equivalent to a medium. Unlike the ice block obscuring his path, a green sphere surrounded his body before seeping into him, as if forcing an unknown weight onto his body. Kotomine suddenly felt sluggish and for a moment almost tripped, but he immediately righted himself and lost no momentum at all. By now he was within striking distance of the wraiths.

As if realizing what control of magic they had was useless against him, the warrior swung its blade for Kotomine's neck, only to meet a fan-spread of Black Keys. Both priest and spirit danced with their blades in fast precision, with the sound of metal echoing across the forest's clearing. Kotomine felt his speed become even more sluggish than he remembered, but considered it to be the effects of the green curse on his body rather than just old age.

The warrior felt confident in the difference of speed, and attempted to end the fight by jumping and swinging the spade down overhead. Its weapon, however, was stopped inches away from the priest's hair. Kotomine's knuckle, aligned directly below and parallel to the weapon, held four hilt stumps in zigzag crossing to stop the weapon's advance.

Kotomine had his attention focused on the warrior, waiting for an opportune moment, but was just aware of the hairy(?) ghost about to rush him from behind. It was at that moment that Shirou, forgotten from all parties up until now, screamed and swatted the ghost aside with his stick. Kotomine followed this opening by throwing a handful of Black Keys at it, four in all.

The warrior, meanwhile, failed to pry its spear out of Kotomine's weapons, and decided to kick the arm holding it down. A flicker of annoyance crossed his face, and the grip on his hands loosened enough to allow the Key holsters to sag. This wraith, however, was still leaning onto its spear and now standing on one foot. It tumbled forward in an ungraceful heap as Kotomine made a more graceful backstep to keep distance.

This allowed him to regroup near the red-haired boy, backs leaning against another while keeping an eye on their opposition. "Shirou, I presume?" the priest spoke first.

"Who are you?" he asked back, watching the wraiths warily still. "How do you know my name?"

"We'll have plenty of time to discuss matters once we're done here. Try not to die until then."

<><><>

"Why won't you grow up, Taiga-chan?"

The English teacher stirred back to consciousness as the words were uttered. They weren't the words from her Shadow, but masculine and judging. Taiga almost expected to wake up in her bed while hearing that same voice chide at her for passing out,

But no such luck; this wasn't a dream. The room was of the same shape, size, and overall design of the last room, but with two differences. Firstly, there was a big hole in a wall that she had no doubt knocked through, that led to the first dojo. Second, in contrast to the appearance of the bright, pristine and well-kept first dojo, this new room was dark purple, littered with magazines, dinner plates and pillows surrounding the ring circle. The circle itself had claw marks resembling a certain big cat, clawed and carved to the point she could feel the marks under her feet.

Oh, and if sporting a few bruises and open cuts on her head and back from that last explosion wasn't proof enough about the reality of this situation, she didn't know what was.

"You're just humiliating yourself now," the familiar voice spoke again, echoing all around her. "All these showy antics are making people laugh at you, not with you."

"It's an embarrassment being seen next to you." Another chided, exasperated. "Why can't you use that energy for something productive in your life?"

"Don't you even care about the kendo championship anymore? I thought you said you would take over where none of us would. How do you plan to do that when you keep getting disqualified for something as stupid and insulting as a 'good luck charm'?"

"Stop doing this to yourself, Fujimura-san. You can do anything if you put your mind to it, but not when your mind is acting equivalent to a child."

More voices came and went, but Taiga couldn't keep up with them all. They talked about her behavior, her immaturity, and other personality flaws. Each word was barbed towards her insecurity, and grew to swarm her in her insecurity. They were people she knew and met growing up, used to hang out with, but for their own reasons had all moved on.

They all eventually died down as soon as Shadow Taiga marched inside. Taiga realized too late that her shinai was out of reach, having been dropped after crashing into the room. She could only watch as the Shadow stepped and cracked it in two like it was a flimsy twig.

She was starting to realize that this wasn't any normal kendoka.

"So what exactly does this prove, beating me up?" Taiga said, slowly backing away from the Shadow's gait. It was more distracting than hearing all those voices just now. "All I've seen you do so far is throwing temper tantrums and breaking the rules to your own benefit."

From the cover of her kendoka mask, the Shadow smiled. "You're not any better yourself, Tiger. We're the same, you and I."

Twitching at that word again, Taiga asked aloud curiously, "Then don't you hate hearing everyone else call you by that name?"

"Damn straight," she admitted, much to the teacher's surprise. "But not for the reason you made up. Tiger is a GREAT name; a STRONG name meant to strike fear in the weak. Who cares if it's not feminine enough? I'm only mad at the little bitches who say it with such cheek and mocking. 'Oi, Tiger!' 'Time to wake up, Tiger!' 'Look at that, it's Tiger-sensei!'"

Each uttering of the word made her flinch. Her anger was still there, but in hearing the mocking sounds of what she knew were supposed to be Homurahara High School students that all knew about her, doubt started to grow. And a small bit of fear. "Wh-what's your point?"

"I know this is a little hard for you to process," the kendoka said sarcastically. "But it's all connected. I wanted to be the best in sports, and thought I could make something of my life. Be the best, and all that. I could do anything I want if I just applied myself, from a school teacher to an Olympic athlete! But the same friends I made in school went about their 'real' lives and left me hanging, saying I was the one dragging them down with my immaturity and dreams and shit."

The Shadow drew ever so closer to her, but Taiga suddenly felt her movements to be slower and timid. All those things she said, what she heard before, it was just a coincidence, right? It couldn't be that they were really the same, right?

"So I thought; why not stay where the best years of my life were? So I went and got a job as a high school teacher. After all, high school students know where it's at; no needless bitching and moaning about life that hasn't happened yet. Just live in the moment and enjoy it for what it is."

Although Taiga couldn't see through the mask clearly, she could see from the body language how the Shadow trembled with each step, squeezing the hilt of her shinai hard enough to split it slightly. "But that plan blew up in my face, because even the little shitheads started calling me immature. And they felt superior to ME because I was acting like a child despite being their teacher. It should have been the other way around, god dammit! It hurts! It always hurts! They're always looking at me with contempt because I couldn't be bothered to act my age. SCREW MY AGE! All those killjoys my age and beyond wouldn't know real living even if it bit them in the ass! And Shirou and Nanako-chan are the worst offenders!"

Something in the Shadow's rant gave Taiga pause in her retreat, just at the end of her side of the ring. "What did you say?" she asked.

"You heard me!" snapped Shadow Taiga. "Those two are nothing more than hypocrites! Shirou keeps fantasizing about being a superhero! He lets himself get strung around like a puppet! He even acts like the maid of the house doing chores with a smile, and he still has the gall to bitch at ME for not being mature enough!"

"N-no he doesn't," was the weak reply. She just talked to Shirou about this on the bridge, and he liked doing all the chores. But he also commented on how she "littered" the house, giving her mixed feelings. Had he really wanted her to help all those times?

"Yes he does! He just does whatever the hell he wants without realizing how much he worries everyone! How much he worries ME! I've given him all my heart and soul and THIS is how he repays me?!"

Taiga was torn. One the one hand, she really wasn't comfortable even admitting that she liked Shirou in any way the Shadow was implying. But on the other, she more than felt annoyed that he just seemed oblivious to not only Sakura-chan but to her as well, two lovely females eating at his house every night with the utmost concern in how he took care of himself.

"And let's not forget Nanako-chan!" she continued, hugging her shinai to her cheek like a toy before mimicking/mocking the other girl's voice. "'My mom died in an accident!' 'That sounds lonely!' 'You're the weird one!'"

"She's just a kid!" Taiga cried with dismay. "She misses her mother and, and-!" She wanted to defend her, but couldn't muster the words to argue against herself, with what she knew she really felt.

"And she uses that crutch to show off her forced maturity!" Shadow Taiga spat, swishing her shinai away. "She uses it to make everyone else feel bad for not growing up like she did. She looks at everyone who is happier than her with such contempt, and don't tell me you didn't notice!"

She did notice. From when trying to explain the housing situation to her, Nanako only said three words that made her feel self-conscious about how effective her role as guardian really was. She would later call out her methods at dinner, saying four words that meant so many things. How confusing the logic of her argument was, or how silly she was behaving about morals and good deeds.

Or even the one interpretation that Taiga took the hardest; how immature she was being in comparison to a six year old.

"They never liked me, so I say screw them. That's right; screw them! And while I'm at it, screw that wallflower bitch Sakura too! And that dead-beat cop Dojima! Screw the 'students', screw the 'friends', SCREW EVERY! LAST! ONE OF THEM! FOR BEING SO UPTIGHT AND BORING!"

Again Shadow Taiga crackled with an explosive aura, cracking the floorboards under her feet and forcibly scattering the furniture away. Food littered the floor, plates shattered against the tiles, pillows ripped and the TV was embedded in the wall with the glass cracked in.

Again Taiga was blown away, but made no effort to defend herself. She was too shocked to react. Her body slammed against the opposite wall, arms and legs spread as her skin started to get further scraped from the unnatural ki attack. But her face was silent in shock, staring at the angry kendoka raging at the world that was fed up with her. Torn between getting laughed or scorned at for her choices. But there was one staggering truth she couldn't deny, no matter how much she wanted to.

This is me. All my stress, my anger, even my bitter sadness.

The Shadow marched towards Taiga again after her episode, acting as if it hadn't happened. She then lifted her shinai parallel to the ground, inches away from Taiga's nose. "So when I'm through beating your face in, I'm going to finally earn the respect I deserve from those ungrateful twerps. No more niceties, no more comical outbursts, no more holding back the pain and hurt whenever someone laughs at my face. I'm finally going to live MY WAY!"

Being so close to one another, Taiga could see her face from underneath the mask grin sadistically. "And then everyone would know and fear the real Taiga Fujimura."

<><><>

There was an unspoken agreement between the magus and priest that they would fight Shikome and Ikusa respectively. While Shirou would at least distract the hairy hag, Kotomine would trade blow for blow with the warrior ghost on a physical level beyond his own.

Shirou knew nothing of the priest, but he was glad to have him on his side for the moment. Up until his arrival, it took everything he had just to keep up with the Yomi duo. If he had only had to deal with just one of them, or at the very least the hairy hag, he knew he could win. But the two of them compensated for their weaknesses with the other's strengths.

Yomotsu-Shikome fought with stealth and trickery as opposed to outright blitzing, and was a magus in her own right. Her entire body looked like it was hair, weightless and nearly formless, minus the sword stuck inside her body. It allowed her to move easily in the air to lash or grapple Shirou whenever in range.

Yomotsu-Ikusa was the superior of the duo and for good reason if he was truly meant to be a soldier of the underworld's army. The lean body and the long reaching weapon made him a deadly foe, and he knew how to use it.

It was an effective strategy: Ikusa would force the pressure on him while Shikome would sneak in to weaken or kill him. Now that the odds were even, the Yomi demons couldn't risk doubling up on either of them now.

Shirou took the offensive now, charging and swinging his branch at the hairy hag. Each attack missed her by literally a hair, and it was all she could do to avoid getting beaten by a blunt object. Her movements were somewhat slower than before, due to the sword Kotomine had struck her with.

Meanwhile, Ikusa continued swinging its spear at Kotomine, now starting to glow with an eerie blue-white light. They met resistance with the rapier-like blades, each swing and making a sound equivalent to a thunderclap, and the priest was not even phased by this growing ferocity of the warrior. His face was as passive as when he first ran in blades brandished, despite Sukunda impairing his movements.

"You'll need more than a stick to purge a wraith," Kotomine said casually to Shirou, glancing briefly to his fight while still fighting.

"It was all I could find!" Shirou barked back.

"Surely you have better means to fight back than what's at hand. Unless you're implying you really are weak and have been targeted for lack of self-defense."

The priests' words irked Shirou. It was true that he was a third-rate magus and had just discovered his Persona a few weeks ago, but the way he said that felt like his criticism was more malicious than constructive. "It's not like I have my sword with me."

"Rejoice Shirou, for your wish is now granted."

To the magus' surprise, one of the priest's many rapiers had appeared, thrown with enough force to be embedded in the ground and tilted upright. Grasping the hilt with his free hand, he immediately realized that the weight and balance was completely different from the katana Daidara made, and did not have as much striking power in comparison.

It was still better than the tree branch he had been using.

Shikome also realized the danger of the weapon as well as she stopped retreating and attempted to ensnare him with multiple hair tendrils. Shirou immediately threw his branch at her, landing a lucky hit on her masked face. Her staggered pause allowed him time to pluck the Black Key off the ground.

With the sacrament sword in hand, Shirou tucked his arm back and charged. Yomotsu-Shikome recovered in time to extend her hair tendrils again. He ducked and turned as they came, thrusting the sword forward when he was finally in striking distance.

"Hoooa!"

The Black Key stuck fast into the screaming hairy hag, but she still had enough fight to swipe a tendril in abandon. This was the closest proximity he'd had with Shikome thus far, and the moment she touched the back of his head, he instantly regretted it.

Fear. He had felt it before, not too long ago even. He remembered the overwhelming sense of vertigo from when the Charming Prince screamed, forcing long buried memories of the burning park to the surface. Following that was the near death-experience of his friend Yosuke, and seeing the castle on fire froze him in another trance.

This fear-inducing touch was similar to the scream he'd heard before; his vision blurred in blotches as if made of paper burning over a flame. He was no longer in a forest but now a mirror image of the Fuyuki Fire as he remembered. The sounds of metal blades against one other dulled in favor of screams and embers. They were normally disorienting before, but these screams belonged to people familiar to him. Yosuke, Satonaka, Nanako, Fuji-nee, all of them. But he saw no one but charred black bodies under flames and rubble.

Moments prior to Shirou's vision of the past, Kotomine played it safe to his sudden atrophy with his deadlock. He wasn't as young as he used to be, and he had never quite recovered over the last decade, so his skills were rusty. Even so, on top of all the impairments, he was impressed that Yomotsu-Ikusa could keep up with him whereas most wraiths and Apostles met their ends quickly.

No, it wasn't skill that kept the wraith alive now. If Kotomine truly wished to, he could have killed both of them in one go but chose to pace himself. The fact that he was impaired by a slowing curse was of little consequence as far as he was concerned.

Rather, it had been some time since he had earnestly done Executor work, and he wanted to test something he'd learned since then.

Just then, all eight of Kotomine's Black Keys were scattered when Ikusa, instead of slashing against them when cross guarding his front, kicked the arms underneath. This also left him vulnerable as Ikusa grabbed the front of his cloak and pulled him up to his masked face. Kotomine couldn't so much as gag before the Yomi warrior made an exhaling sound and purple mist flooded out from under the mask and surrounded them like fog.

"Mi…asma?" the priest gagged, unfortunately forced to inhale the gas. Ikusa threw him down in a heap, and the giant man was coughing once more.

Yomotsu-Ikusa stood over his head. He watched the priest succumb to poison, falling flat on the ground. Moments later he raised his spear-like weapon over his head, poised for Kotomine's heart. The blade point came down like an arrow, piercing through his body in one thrust.

To anyone else, this would have been a fatal strike.

"Interesting."

From the ground, Kotomine smiled in spite of the pain his body suffered. He slowly rose up when he finally felt the Sukunda curse leave his body. Whatever he had intended before was dropped in favor for simply flipping his body completely upright, pulling the weapon's tip from the ground in the process. Yomotsu-Ikusa, still holding the spear lodged inside, found himself violently thrown into the air and impacting the ground behind the priest.

The priest pulled the spear out of his back with both hands and snapped it in two before turning to the warrior, still smiling. "You fight to ensure death for certain, yet don't betray any emotions to the act, even in success. But as you just proved, you show fear at being overpowered. That sense of fear is quite… invigorating."

In a flash, his hands were armed to the knuckles in Black Keys. He raked both arms as far as he could down the warrior's body, then twisted, and parted them to either side, leaving a gory gashed mess. In only two seconds the wraith known as Yomotsu-Ikusa faded into a black substance, and then nothing. Even the broken spade faded away. All that remained was the deep paved marks on the ground made by his sacraments.

It was at this point that the priest noticed Shirou had been ensnared by the hairy hag again, but this time he had a glazed look in his eye. Shikome was casting another spell, this one surrounding Shirou with dark purple glyph marks and purple flames. Dark mist surrounded them, originating from the center of the spell and threatening to destroy Shirou's soul.

This wouldn't do. He was going to save that fool from himself, and no wraith or spirit or wish was going to stop that. So Kotomine swung his arm out and let the Black Keys fly; three aimed at the Shikome wraith, and one at Shirou.

As he expected, the sudden pain in his right leg was enough to snap out of whatever trance he was in.

Shirou quickly gathered his bearings to see more Black Keys piercing the hag, now desperately using her tendrils to pull them out for the first time but finding them resilient. Shirou remembered the Black Key still in his hand, also piercing Shikome, as well as the one still in his leg. He immediately plucked the new key out before stabbing it into Shikome's chest, and then made a desperate gambit to activate his magic circuits. His eight step process was memorized so thoroughly he didn't even mentally recite them as just acting on them for his plan to work, and hoping that Shikome didn't notice before it was done.

Work damn it, work! I don't care if you break down right away when this is over, just make this one thing work for once!

"Trace-!"

Prana surged through his hands and into the Black Keys, reinforcing the fine edges beyond their original capabilities. The once seemingly flimsy and weak-edged blades turned into well-tuned enchanted rapiers for fights beyond mere spirits. But it wasn't enough.

More was pushed in, directly into the furthest points of the blades and expanding along the edges. Small cracks opened across the keys in each hand, allowing pressure to seep out. He knew the moment that he let up the prana would leave and the Reinforcement would end, reverting the blades back to normal form. He could never complete a simple spell in his training in Fuyuki, and he had to be careful not to overextend the spell and cause it to explode.

Which was the exact reaction he was pining for in regards to Yomotsu-Shikome.

For the first time, Yomotsu-Shikome realized what was happening, from the glowing aura of blue surrounding Shirou. This wasn't just a normal Shadow fight to him. It was personal. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt his friends or family. This monster had the gall to use his nightmares against him, and draw those he held near and dear to him for a breakdown.

Even as an all-loving Ally of Justice, Shirou found this to be especially inexcusable.

"-Ooooooooon!"

The cracks finally shattered along the Black Keys and with it an explosion of prana that surrounded the forest clearing in a flash of white.

<><><>

"You're wrong."

Shadow Taiga's smile gave way to bewilderment under her mask. Her other self said that she was wrong, and rejected what she heard, but not in desperation at wanting to dissuade or ignore the argument. Despite getting blown away and literally backed into a corner, she wasn't breaking down or ready to fight back again. Rather, she stared back at her despite the shinai hovering in front of her face. In fact, Taiga looked more calm and sure of herself than since the start of the fight, where she lost her momentum and confidence upon seeing her face on the Shadow's head.

But surely it was a façade, right?

"So you reject me?" she asked for clarity. "Deny all the ugly secrets and things you hate about the people around you?"

Taiga shook her head. "No, I believe you. It's hard to wrap my head around, but if you knew Shirou and Nanako-chan's names, then what you're saying isn't entirely bullshit. And now that I think about it, what you said makes a lot of sense."

"But you still reject me."

"I disagree with your reasoning. There's a difference."

As far as the Shadow could tell, there wasn't. "And what makes you say that?"

"You were right about one thing," Taiga explained. "My life after high school sucked for the most part, and I felt like I didn't fit in anywhere. I wanted to stay at the same high school and maybe become a source of inspiration for the students there. A big sister even. But everyone just makes fun of my name so much that I flip out to hide the fact that it hurts. I was too immature for even my old home."

As she spoke more about her life, a frown grew on her face and her eyes drifted down to the floor. It was like the entire world around her was telling her to grow up, for what lack of subtly it had. But she saw a silver lining to all this.

"But not for Shirou," she smiled. "He puts up with me because he trusts me and likes my company. Sure, he's got no self-control helping others and is taken for granted on that part, but I can't fault him for doing the right thing. He just wears his heart on his sleeve too much."

"And Nanako-chan? She called us weird, and rubbed her superior maturity in our faces."

"Even if that was how I felt, Nanako-chan isn't thoughtless. I've always had my flaws realized by my peers, but she's one of the few to openly state them. She cares in her own way, just as I do in mine.

"But I'm sure if she had the chance to, she would want to have fun like any kid her age instead of acting grown-up. Heaven knows I wanted to have more fun if given the choice. So you're wrong. I don't need to show the world who the 'real' Taiga is. They already do."

The once dreaded tension that filled the dojo since the fighting started easing away like a lifted weight the more she spoke. The Shadow no longer held dominance, and was almost dismayed at the sudden reversal. "…where the hell did this come from? I was just bitching about how you were the clown everyone wanted to laugh at, and NOW you decide to act mature and responsible?!"

"I know, right?" Taiga closed her eyes and smiled, with a slight laugh in her tone. "I only thought of Shirou's benefit at the time when I sent him off, but I never realized how stagnant I let the life around me get. How I hid from my problems instead of resolving them. Between him finally growing up a bit and meeting the Dojimas in person, you were just the final kick in the pants I needed to realize that."

"You're going to fall onto old habits again," The Shadow argued, ignoring the slight falter in her grip. "A tiger doesn't just change her stripes overnight."

"I know," she said coolly, with hardly a twitch at the once hated word. "But I'm not going to let this get to me anymore. It's like what Shirou told me; I'm there for him when he needs me most. He's the little brother I never had, and I love him."

"But you really love that way, don't you?"

Taiga's eyes flew open, caught unaware. But it passed too soon for Shadow Taiga to take advantage of that, as she slowly gazed around the dojo/living room. Memories of eating his cooking until her stomach ached and she slept it off with a smile. Of whacking him down in Kendo only to wait for his diligence to kick in and keep going. Of all the teasing and fights they had, filled with a knowing affection that siblings had.

She allowed a soft smile and nodded. "Yeah, I do."

He never complained about putting up with her. He took her pranks in stride because he knew it made her feel better (as he also deserved it for the times he would call her that name). She didn't even know when these feelings started popping up, but they grew to a point that she couldn't imagine a day without knowing the lovable idiot. If she had to admit that to anyone, it might as well be herself.

By now the purple aura surrounding Shadow Taiga had dimmed to a faint blue hue. But Taiga paid this development no mind as she stood up, walked past the still Shadow, and looked around.

"Which reminds me; I still have to go rescue that idiot from whatever mess he's gotten himself into this time. And give him a few whacks for scaring me and the others."

"Are you going to forget me?"

The tone gave Taiga pause; her Shadow or whatever the kendoka was called, she wasn't haughty and confident anymore. She sounded frazzled by her epiphany, and almost scared.

But she didn't turn around, nor did the smile leave her face. "Tell you what; if I ever do, you're free to kick my ass as much as you like and I won't fight back."

"Even if I were to kill you?"

The very thought gave Taiga the confidence to cross her arms over her chest. "Against my sexy endurance?! Ha! My name's Tiger for a reason!"

And there it was; the proud open declaration to the English version of her name. Had it been any other day this would have ended violently. But now there wasn't any doubt, even to her Shadow, that she was going to face her challenges with her head high. Shirou, Sakura-chan, Nananko-chan, even Dojima-san. As long as she had people like them in her life, she would always have respect as herself.

Taiga, of course, was a simple woman who didn't understand the significance of this talk. She was more animatedly focused on finding an exit out of the enclosed dojo, going as far as kicking what should be breakable shoji doors. "Ow! Geez, what does it take to open these things, a cannon?"

Suddenly remembering the hole she made, she finally turned fully to the kendoka with a peculiar request. "Hey, uh, Black Taiga?" she asked, placing her hands together before asking in a pained expression, "Think you can try and kill me again? At least enough to blow me out of this room?"

The blue hue grew around the Shadow, who hid a smile under her face mask. Just before the room flashed to white, she said, "Not really, but I can show you the way out."

<><><>

Emiya Residence – Evening

The first thing Shirou noticed upon awakening was his room's ceiling. Surprised to find himself in his own bed, he began to wonder if everything up until the park was a dream. A more skeptical part of him knew otherwise, especially since he was still wearing Teddie's glasses, but he was willing to just move on and prepare dinner, if only to alleviate his nerves. With the glasses safely tucked back to his pocket, Shirou left his room and head for the kitchen.

He expected to see the others sitting by the kotatsu, either eating Sakura's cooking or waiting for him to arrive. But the first thing he saw was the tall priest standing in the dining room and staring down the picture frame in front of him.

"You're awake," he said, turning to him. "I am the priest in charge of the church across the city, Kirei Kotomine. Forgive me for intruding in your home, but I had to make sure you and your guardian arrived safely."

"Guardian?" he then noticed the slumped up woman sleeping on the couch. He immediately rushed over to her side, dismayed. "Fuji-nee!"

"I found her on the way back. She was slumped up against a thick tree like she was attempting to bash it with her shoulder. I suspect she was unconscious for some time during the fighting."

Shirou gulped. "So… is she okay?"

"A minor injury," Kotomine nodded. "I also placed a minor hypnotism spell on her, convincing her that everything she saw prior was merely a lucid dream. Knowing her… personality, it shouldn't be too surprising that no one would take her account seriously, whether or not it is true."

A resigned chuckle left the magus' lips. "Yeah, you're right about that. But what about-?"

"Your sister and her father are resting in their own rooms, also hypnotized to disregard what happened."

"I see." It was a big relief to Shirou; he wasn't sure how he could explain to his family about two demons chasing him, especially him bolting on them like that. It was enough of a blessing that they would forget instead of the alternative. He felt he owed this man something, and thought of just the thing. "Would you like some tea, Kotomine-san? It's only fair to thank you for saving my life, and you're a guest here."

The priest's eyes widened slightly. "That sounds pleasant. I accept your offer."

The next few minutes ticked away as Shirou prepared two tea packs while Kotomine sat patiently at the kotatsu. Shirou could only imagine what the older man was thinking, let alone why his gaze was fixed on his father's portrait. He was powerful, fast, and dangerous, able to kill a demon similar in nature to a Shadow without a Persona. Was it because of his status within the Church, an enemy of the Magi Association? Or was it something else?

Well, whatever the man's reason, he was alive now, and so was his guardian. With gratitude in mind, he brought over two sets of cups and the kettle full of fresh tea. He didn't even have the chance to warn Kotomine about the temperature before the man drowned it all in one gulp.

"Aaah, that was quite refreshing," the priest smiled. "Thank you for the tea, Shirou."

"Y-You're welcome," he replied awkwardly and poured his own cup. Kotomine didn't ask for a refill, but the kettle and heater was placed next to his cup if he so wanted. Silence stretched between them once more. Shirou thought about what to ask the man, yet his attention was focused on the same portrait.

"How did he die?"

Shirou blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"The man in the portrait. Kiritsugu Emiya," the priest explained, surprising Shirou again. "I meet him once nearly a decade ago. I assumed he had fallen to hell, but I didn't know the specifics of how or when."

Like a switch, the redhead's wary trust switched to anger and scowling. He'd spoken ill of his father figure, the man who had given him a new life, as if he was some horrid criminal. "You have no right to say that," he growled.

"I apologize if I had offended you," Kotomine explained in a tone that betrayed his words. "But I merely speak from what I know of the man since we last met."

"He raised me," he snarled. "He taught me magecraft. He saved my life."

The older man only smiled sardonically. "While I see he has indeed left you well off in this estate, his method of teaching leaves a lot to be desired. As much as I respect his skills, I haven't felt any of your circuits activate during the fact."

"Circuits?" Shirou echoed. "I can only make one at a time before I pass out from burning myself."

"The fact you believe that to be the right way speaks volumes of your ignorance," Kotomine explained. "As does believing that the act of saving your life redeems the Magus Killer."

"Magus Killer?"

The priest's right eyebrow rose up in surprise. "You don't know anything, do you?" It wasn't a hard observation; Shirou's once indignant rage gave way to confusion and hesitation. He could also hear the slight hitch of fear at the mention of his epitaph.

It was sad, pathetic, and completely hilarious. It took all of Kotomine's self-control not to laugh at the cruel irony.

For his part, Shirou recovered and glared at the man again. "I know enough," he argued, staring back at the picture frame. "I know that above all else, he wanted to be an Ally of Justice. He wanted nothing more than to save people, and I want to fulfill that wish for him to the best of my abilities."

He thought highly of Kiritsugu, and always would. He never forgot the sense of relief he saw, how tightly he was held after seeing his face, or how he wanted to share that feeling. Every time he saw or thought of Kiritsugu Emiya, he saw a heroic sorcerer he wanted to emulate. And he knew there was more to a person than their dark secrets, or their repressed Shadows. He never judged his friends for those unsightly moments, and he wouldn't for his late father.

Kotomine's smile fell, now staring at the teen with an unreadable expression. "An Ally of Justice, you say?" he repeated as he reached out to pour himself another cup of tea. "And what exactly does that mean? Did he ever say?"

Shirou frowned in thought, before answering as the priest gulped his drink. "I don't think so. Only that he wanted to be a hero and he was too old to be one then."

"And you would admire such a vague ideal without question?"

"Of course I would admire it," Shirou argued. "He saved my life-"

"At the cost of thousands of people that died that same night, including his late wife," Kotomine cut him off. "His supposed heroism is the equivalent of a destructive vigilante who would gladly shoot a hostage if it meant preserving a larger sum of lives."

Words died in Shirou's mouth. That couldn't be Kiritsugu, not the one who saved him. Just because Kotomine spoke so surely and confidently didn't mean that he was right. He couldn't have caused the same Fire that he was saved from.

"There's a reason he was known infamously as the Magus Killer; he was a contract assassin who hunted rogue magi that have often threatened the secrecy of magecraft and the lives of civilians. His skills were seen as unorthodox and taboo among more esteemed magi, but they got results. The only inconsistency was how many people died as collateral each time.

"All those people. All those innocent lives, caught in the crossfire. Is that the mark of an Ally of Justice? The needs of the many outweighing the few? That he should decide to end their lives because they are the only thing standing between him and his designated target? What one may call an act of heroism, thousands more would call an act of terrorism.

"His wife, Irisviel von Einzbern, was no exception either. She had loved him and devoted herself to him, willing to do anything that meant the realization of his goal; so much that she allowed herself to die just so he could make the rest of the world happy, or at least attempt it. His act of killing her was the catalyst of causing that terrible fire ten years ago.

"Kiritsugu Emiya did not save you that day, Shirou. The real miracle is that he did not succeed in killing you."

It was a pivotal moment. Shirou was unable to get a word in edgewise during the whole speech. Everything he had believed or built up in Kiritsugu was being torn down by this priest who knew his past life and actions before the Fire. He wanted to believe in the Kiritsugu that he loved as a father, and to reject the man's tales as lies.

Kiritsugu was a hero, despite what he did before. And he was going to follow his dream, even if it meant going against the world itself. He wanted nothing more than to punch this guy right now-

-only for someone else entirely to beat him to it.

The table shook and tea spilled. The tall, muscular body of Kirei Kotomine flew and crashed into the far wall, and now nursed a swollen cheek from an unexpected blow. Both his and Shirou's eyes wandered to the person responsible.

Standing over the table with her clenched fist held out was Taiga, heavily panting as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She stared at the priest with tear-filled eyes scowling at him. Her fist dropped as she pointed at him with emphasis and roared, "You! Big! MEANIE!"

Dumbfounded silence came from both men, though it was unclear if it was from her choice of words or how she quickly regained consciousness.

"You keep going on and on about Kiritsugu in the past, but you don't know jack shit about him after that. Maybe he used to be a mass-murdering mercenary, and maybe he did some bad things I wouldn't be happy to know, but the last five years of his life he raised Shirou as his own son! I don't care if it was guilt or grief or something else, but he buckled his shit down and did the right thing, damn it! Just like Shirou has done his entire life trying to help others."

Kotomine rose slowly from the wall. The last thing he needed was a woman aware of magecraft and gabbing about it. Killing her would require more than a small amount of hypnotism and tying up loose ends at her school, so he sought the easiest solution to put her to sleep again. "You will forget everything you have-"

"Shut up."

Once again Kotomine was caught off guard. Only magi could resist the effects of hypnotism, and he was certain that this woman had no understanding of magecraft or magic circuits in her body.

But instead of slumping to sleep or even showing impaired memory, she marched over, grabbed his cloak and pulled his face down to hers. He was so surprised by her act of defiance he didn't even register it in time. "I'm the Guardian of this household. I'm the one who makes the orders here, and I'm telling you to get the hell out. And if I ever see your face near him or his family again, I'll kill you with my shinai, unfeminine roar, and high heels."

A tense minute passed as Kotomine weighed his options. This woman couldn't know anything about the Church or Magi Association. Although Kotomine was old and tired from his wraith encounter, he could kill this woman with a simple punch. But she stared at him without fear, without falter, and believed in the late Kiritsugu as a good man. She was more than willing to fight him if it meant protecting the man's honor.

And for some reason, he believed she could actually achieve victory over him with those implements if serious enough.

He lightly brushed his hand against hers, urging her to let go so he could stand back upright. After righting his cloak, he turned to Shirou to say "Thank you again for the tea," before leaving.

Moments after the door closed, Shirou and Taiga found themselves exchanging glances with one another. The former was shocked and rooted to his seat, still digesting that his guardian had heard everything. The latter had an unreadable stare, which he could only assume was her way of hiding hurt and betrayal.

Shirou gulped, trying to salvage the situation as best as possible. "N-now Fuji-nee, I can explain-"

She didn't let him finish. Instead, the older woman knelt down to him and hugged him tighter than he ever remembered. He felt so confused, and yet his building fear gave way to relief. It was as if a huge weight had lifted off his shoulders, all because someone close to him knew about his secret and didn't care.

Tears fell down from his eyes, and it was only then that he realized he had been fighting back this feeling since Kotomine strted talking about his father.

"It's all right," she cooed and rubbed his back. "It's all right. Let it all out."

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 26: Never the Same

It was close to dark when Ryotaro Dojima came to, that much he knew. He quickly recognized his surroundings as the guest room he was occupying at Shirou's house (honestly, the place was so big it could house all five of them with rooms to spare). He tried thinking back over the day's events: he woke up sore from last night, had breakfast, and got into an argument with Taiga. Then they spent the afternoon shopping, walked to the park… and from there it was a blank.

He quickly left and checked Nanako's room next door. To his relief, she was sleeping soundly, so at least nothing bad happened since passing out. He slid the door closed as quietly as possible before leaving to find Shirou and the girls. Hopefully they might shed some light on what happened earlier.

He didn't get far before hearing a crash, followed by yelling. The cop's hand quickly reached for his revolver tucked into the holster mounted on his waist and pulled it out, allowing the barrel to point loosely at the floor as he continued moving forward. He sneaked through the hallway, treading lightly as to not advertise his presence. If this was some mugging or another crime being involved, then the poor idiot had picked a bad day and place to do it.

I'm on vacation, damn it, he thought bitterly. And the last thing I need tonight is for some dumbass to ruin it!

Dojima came around the corner in time to see Taiga pulling a taller man he had never seen before down to her eye level. After another tense moment the man dusted his robes before commenting on tea and leaving through the front door. Shortly after that, she walked over to Shirou and hugged him and soothed his tears. Now the detective felt like he was eavesdropping on something he shouldn't.

Still, at least his worry about some form of disaster was unfounded. For as sporadic and impulsive as the woman was, she had a firm head on her shoulders whenever family was involved. What he saw just now might have been a rare instance of Taiga stepping up as a legal guardian.

With a smile, Dojima holstered his gun and quietly watched as the two walked off. "I accept your apology, Taiga." He would, of course, say that to her at a later time.

For now, he allowed himself to step out the front door and take a smoke break. As relaxing as the trip had been so far from work, little things kept popping up and stressed him out to exhaustion. He knew there were probably more instances than the whole dinner episode last night but for the life of him he couldn't remember what.

Where did the time go, he wondered? Already it was close to sunset, and he wasn't sure if anyone had dinner yet. Still, the view from atop the hill was quite something, seeing all the streetlights starting to glow with yellow-white. His gaze followed the street down to all the eastern-styled buildings even as he leaned against the Emiya house gate and fetched his lighter.

Fuyuki City was something else, and he noticed more than one car parked along the street. Not that any of them were that car.

Ryotaro's thoughts drifted as he snapped the lighter to his cigarette. Things were simpler when Chisato was still alive. He only had a few things to worry about; work and making coffee, both duties he excelled at. He loved his daughter very much but felt that unless he avenged her mother, he didn't deserve to call himself her father.

At least Nanako was happy now. He didn't want to think about how heartbroken his daughter would have been had he ended up breaking another promise.

Dojima exhaled a puff of smoke building in his mouth, but it could have easily passed as a sigh. "Ally of Justice," he recalled. "If only I had a semblance of your optimism, Shirou."

"Dojima-san?"

The detective turned to see a familiar lavender-haired girl approach him from the street below. Somehow between his wandering thoughts and the dimming sky, he failed to notice her arrival. "Oh, Sakura. You went shopping again at this hour? I thought we had dinner already planned."

Sakura had in each arm several bags of groceries, with tail ends of veggies and fruits most evident. If the weight of them all was any bother, she didn't let it show. Rather, she tilted her head and frowned at him. "You don't remember?"

Ryotaro casually dropped the cigarette to the ground and stomped the embers out. "Honestly my mind's a blank after that trip to the shopping mall. But I do remember buying a whole lot of food for some sort of big dinner. Anything more seems like an excessive waste."

"You're right," Sakura smiled. "But this is actually the food we bought earlier today."

"Come again?"

"You were all tired after the shopping trip, so we rode back here by bus," the Matou girl explained. "But in the haste to get home, Senpai left the groceries at the bus stop so I left to fetch them."

"Ah." It made sense, though Dojima couldn't help but to feel there was something missing from the whole picture. "Are your parents all right with you visiting this late?"

The girl's mouth twitched as if fighting a frown before settling to a sad smile. "Well, it's just my brother and grandfather. As long as I head back after dinner, they won't mind me staying over."

It was obviously a sensitive topic, as Sakura didn't mention her parents at all. In fact, she kept most of her personal life to herself despite Shirou or Nanako sounding so interested. She didn't like talking about school or her home or what she had been doing over the month since Shirou left. Her mannerisms had been so polite that it was easy to overlook her dodging questions or explaining the bare minimum.

As much as he was curious as what Sakura was hiding, this was neither the time nor place for that. She was Shirou's close friend, and for now that was fine for the detective.

"I see," he said. "Well, we really appreciate your company. Thank you, Sakura."

Sakura smiled in a way befitting a kind housewife. "You're welcome, Dojima-san. Now, let's go get dinner ready before Fujimura-sensei throws a fit."

<><><>

"Feeling better?"

"Y-yeah," Shirou sniffed under his guardian's hands. He rubbed his face before she could see his eyes, and she smiled at the child-like action. "I'm sorry, it's just-"

"I know," she said. "That priest guy was an ass and if we see him again it would be too soon."

Taiga hated that man Kirei Kotomine, everything about him screamed "dickhead" from his affable façade to his brutal verbal punches. While she still felt dizzy from that vivid dojo dream, she knew that the priest found her in the forest and said something that made her feel sleepy. Next thing she knew she was in Shirou's house and hearing about Kiritsugu's secret agent lifestyle.

If Kiritsugu were alive, she'd punch his lights out (may he rest in peace), so she settled with the alternative on the mean priest.

"But enough about that," she said as she led him further down the hallway. "You really should get to bed."

"But what about dinner?"

"After the long day we had, I think we can all skip one meal and just settle for a big farewell breakfast tomorrow."

Normally Taiga wasn't one to skip any kind of meal (especially if Shirou or Sakura were cooking it) but she had too much on her mind to just suddenly start stuffing herself. As for Shirou, it wasn't a satisfactory answer to him, but he didn't have time to give a rebuttal. Or rather, he stopped and stared at a familiar spot.

Taiga felt her arm jerk on dead weight, and turned to him with slight annoyance. "The answer is no, Shirou. You need to rest."

"It's not about dinner," he shook his head, still staring ahead. "It's just… this is where Dad-"

His voice fell silent at the memory, but she understood. She urged him forward, to sit along the open space engawa that split the traditional hallway from the inner park of the household. It was similar to the night that Shirou remembered. The beautiful garden, the slight chill of the wind, all that was missing was the light of the moon, having just gone through its new phase.

"So how did Kiritsugu die?"

His reverie gave way to worry and shock, turning to the older woman kneeling similarly next to him. She didn't stare at him accusingly or cross-examine him, but expressed genuine curiosity regarding the late Kiritsugu Emiya. All things considered, she deserved to know.

Silence dragged on between them, before he smiled and recounted the tale. "It was five years ago during the winter. Dad didn't move around much back then, so he would just laze around most days. Maybe he knew he was dying, because that night he just blurted out, 'When I was a child, I wanted to be a superhero.' I asked him what he meant, and if he had given up. It got me angry just thinking about it back then.

"He said that he did give up. 'Being a hero is a time-limited thing, and it becomes hard to call yourself one when you grow up.' I believed that, if only because he said so."

Taiga shook her head, and made a knowing laugh as if to say "Only you, Shirou."

"I decided then and there that I would take his place. I was younger than he was, so it was only right. I wanted nothing more than to make it come true. He laughed. He sounded content and relaxed, with a smile on his face. His last words were, 'Yeah. I'm relieved.'

"It didn't even occur to me that he died right then, smiling. Maybe I just thought he would wake up in the morning, or maybe I was so used to death since the Fire. I wasn't sad or anything but, I still cried without realizing it, like deep down I knew he was gone but just ignored it."

There was nothing else to say after that; Taiga's father arranged the funeral after all, and they were there during the small, private service. Comforting silence passed between them, staring at the sky slowly shedding its autumn glow.

"You really are an idiot," she smiled sadly, still staring ahead. "Couldn't you at least ask for help?"

"Dad was the only one who taught me magecraft," he admitted. "And even then he stressed that I couldn't tell anyone else."

"Mage-what?" Taiga blurted incredulously, before shaking her head. "Nevermind. Not important. What is important is why you couldn't tell anyone, let alone me. Am I really-"

"You're not a liability, Fuji-nee," Shirou cut-in. He knew how depressed his guardian was earlier today and didn't want her to feel even more insecure because of a kept secret. "Only a magus could properly train another magus, and the less… non-magi people know about us, the better."

"Then he too was an idiot," said Taiga. "He just ups and dies the moment you say you'll pick up where he left off, and he doesn't even so much as tell you of someone else to teach you? No notes or pointers or anything?"

"I know a few things, like how to forge a circuit. I'm good enough at it that my life isn't in danger anymore."

Whatever good humor and teasing Taiga had, it died at the end of his sentence. Her head turned to his deliberately slow, and he watched as her facial expression morphed to one of fury. Usually reserved to whoever called her by that nickname. "What."

It felt as if the whole hallway shook from her quiet fury. Shirou fought the urge to gulp before quickly placating her. "Not anymore! I've gotten used to the pain, so the worst I get… off is-" his voice and resolve softened as he saw her face scrunch further. "-a short… concussion?"

The seconds that followed might as well be called "eternity" with how threateningly close the boiling point was. "So what exactly do you do?"

"Fuji-"

"Tell me." The tone was steady and calm, but held dominance like an animal holding down its prey.

"W-well, I focus my magic energy to take the form of a burning rod and direct it into my spine-"

"Your spine," she repeated skeptically, immediately cutting him off. Already uneasy at this angry, serious front of his guardian, Shirou nodded.

"You turn magic into a burning rod and shove it into your spine." A nod.

"Where the base of your central nervous system is." Another nod.

"Which covers your entire body and even connects to your brain." …the fourth nod was hesitant, as if suddenly realizing the suicidal lengths of such training for the first time. He swore he could feel his own spirit dwindle four times over.

"And Emiya-san taught you how to do this?" she asked in a low, predatory voice. It was the first time he heard her refer to Kiritsugu by his family name.

"S-sorta," he admitted. "He taught me how to feel out for a Magic Circuit in my body and I went from there."

It shouldn't be possible, but Taiga's glare managed to narrow even further down, and made Shirou feel that much smaller. "By 'went from there'… you mean on your own?"

"Yes."

"Without him being completely sure that smoldering your nervous system was the right way, let alone watched you as you did it safely?"

"…yes?"

A single twitch of her eyebrow was made in response, and slowly turned her gaze back to the open garden in front of them. He quickly tried to reason with her, making quick excuses. "But it's okay now! I no longer pass out all the time, and if I can't handle the risk of magecraft, I can't properly call myself a hero, right? I know what I'm doing, Fuj-!"

"Hey!" It wasn't so much as Pixie's sudden interruption that interrupted her tenant but how furious she sounded when she did. "My status of existence might be in question, but I'm still part of a race that is commonly linked to magic and fantasy. No Shirou, you don't know what you're doing."

Shirou frowned. After Amagi had been rescued, Shirou took a more curious approach at his connection with his Personas. He had learned from trial and error (as well as getting confirmation from his Personas) that they could hear what he said and heard, and feel emotions towards those of his Social Links. A misconception to this was they couldn't read his mind, which was a good thing as it meant he still had a semblance of privacy, and vice versa.

Usually their input was minimal, mostly towards strengthening bonds with others. But he would still get comments such as these, with no safe way to talk back. So he turned away and whispered under his breath. "Look, I'd be the first to admit that I'm still a third-rate magus, but surely if I keep working hard I can-"

"Shut up and Listen!" Startled by her Taiga-like tenacity, Shirou did as the fey Persona ordered. "Remember that sheath I told you about when you were fighting your girlfriend's Shadow? ("She's not my girlfriend," Shirou quickly chided.) I still don't know why you of all people have it, but in a nutshell it's a super healing artifact that can keep the bearer immortal if needed. Even now it's emitting energy to slowly heal the wounds you got from that fight, but you can't tell that, can't you? That's because instead of turning on your switch, you're pretty much sticking your fingers directly into a power outlet and drawing out prana that way. It goes without saying that you keep getting shocked to death this way too, or at least should have.

"The only reason you're even alive is because Av-er, the sheath, is fixing the nerves you keep burning off. That includes breaking down the circuits you keep stubbornly shoving inside each time. I never said anything before because I didn't know that you kept doing… this to yourself. But now I realize it's not just some one-time mistake but the very definition of insanity. Your entire body is screaming at you, and its saying 'Stop killing yourself you blooming git!'"

Shirou had the decency to look embarrassed. He knew that Pixie, much like Yosuke, meant well behind the teasing and criticism. He couldn't refute that she had a point and he took his magecraft training too much at face value (especially when she was the closest he could get to a well-meaning fey on the issue). But still- "I know my body better than anyone, and I don't think it hates me that much."

"Thou art thy not, for thy art an idiot."

…Et tu, Izanagi?

"I'm gonna kill him."

His mental arguments forgotten, Shirou turned to see his guardian trembling with a calm façade. "Fuji-nee?"

"I'm gonna kill him," she growled again. "I'm gonna kill that bastard, and shove Tora-shinai right up his ass when I do! I don't care if he's already dead!"

She was suddenly standing straight, screaming toward the heavens. "Do you hear me, you absentminded jackass?! I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

<><><>

By the time Dojima and Sakura returned to the house, they heard Taiga's primal yell and mentally prepared for the worst. "Oh no," they chorused.

It wasn't long before they saw an angry yet comical teacher, flailing her arms, eyes glazed over to a pure white, and roaring much like a certain big cat. Surprisingly enough, she was held back by Shirou, arms locked under and over her shoulders, as the red-haired teen did everything in his power to keep her from storming out.

"Let me go damn it! I'm gonna kill that bastard so hard he'll feel it in whatever afterlife he's in!"

"Fuji-nee, please! I can explain-!"

"You've already explained plenty! You were taken advantage by a guy who clearly had a problem with authority enough to just not care how you lived your life after he was gone! Hell, even Dojima here knows how to properly raise a kid, and he doesn't just randomly go on-!"

Taiga had pointed to Dojima midway during her rant, but upon double-taking that he was in the room, her erratic behavior died in place of meek embarrassment. Both she and Shirou righted themselves from their grapple and snapped their arms to their sides as if it didn't happen at all. "A-ah! Dojima-san! And Sakura-chan! W-what a pleasant surprise!"

Seconds passed, but blank stares didn't look fooled or deterred after what just happened. Shirou grimaced in defeat. "You heard all that?"

Lacking tact, Dojima decided to just cut to the heart of the matter on his own hypothesis. "Were you really planning on killing that priest from earlier?"

Shirou and Taiga stiffened, as if surprised he would come to that conclusion. In the detective's peripheral vision, he also saw Sakura shift uncomfortably. "…you saw that too?" Shirou said carefully.

"I didn't hear much; just some yelling and Taiga here making a threat to kill him with high heels." In spite of herself, Taiga laughed nervously. "What was that all about, anyway?"

Taiga turned her gaze to a family portrait to the side. "Let's just say he didn't have any kind words for the late Kiritsugu Emiya."

Dojima could think of nothing to say about that. He would assume that this Kiritsugu guy was all right in his book, saving a young boy and adopting him as his own. The fact that said boy happened to be his nephew Yu Narukami was beside the point. But he couldn't fight this nagging doubt that there was more to Shirou, let alone Fuyuki City, than just a tragedy or two.

"Uhhh."

The soft moan and sudden appearance of Nanako was enough to disarm anyone of the current topic. Indeed, the sight of her rubbing her eye upon the side of her hand both enamored them of cuteness and shamed them of possibly awaking the young girl.

Nanako took one look at everyone in the room, frowning. "Are you fighting again?"

Taiga smiled. "No Nanako-chan. We're not fighting."

"We were just," Shirou added, before exchanging looks with his guardian. "Catching up."

Nanako then smiled in relief, and opened her mouth to say something. Whatever she meant to say was drowned out and forgotten by the low, drumming growl of several stomachs, including hers.

"I guess we could all use that Shirou-class dinner about now," Dojima joked with a smile. "Good thing Sakura brought the groceries." Sakura hefted an arm full of bags for emphasis, also flashing a smile.

"Thanks Sakura," her upperclassmen praised as he took one of the bags off her hands. He didn't notice the bashful red coloring on her face.

"Where did you get these anyway?"

"As I told Dojima-san just before, Senpai forgot them at the bus stop, but everyone was too tired to realize it beforehand. I simply went back to fetch them while you all took a nap."

"Is that what really happened?"

Sakura blinked. Taiga's question was innocent enough, but her gaze was unreadable and daunting. It had to be just one of her moods, as no one in the room remembered what happened earlier today. "Of course, Sensei."

Taiga's expression didn't change right away, still staring at her student for several seconds more. Shirou was worried that she might say something to counter the story Sakura told them (as he was very willing to accept the gift horse for what it was).

Then, the young woman shrugged and dropped the issue. "Just checking." She turned to head out of the dining room/kitchen. "Follow me, Nanako-chan. We have to fetch some new seating pillows."

"Okay, Tiger-nee!"

Taiga froze. And as soon as she did, so did Time itself. There was dead silence. Everyone was afraid to move, but none more so than Nanako. The pressure in the room grew as Shirou, Sakura, and Ryotaro slowly turned towards Taiga, almost worried of what reaction will occur.

Shirou quickly stepped forward, hoping to whisk his sister away from harm. "N-now Nanako, why don't you come help me in the-"

"Nanako-chan. Say my name again. Without the honorific."

Taiga's tone was even and calm, but it was a calm façade before the storm. It was also one that couldn't be ignored for any reason, so Nanako followed through with an innocent, cute whisper.

"T-…tiger?"

The namesake's shoulders hunched. Shirou felt goosebumps and static run through his body, as if the natural order of the world bent to Taiga's whim. But it was clear now that whatever was happening, Nanako was going to face it full force. "That… is…"

Shirou couldn't allow that. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know about the trigger word, and he couldn't let his younger sister take the wrath of his guardian. With all the energy he could muster and forgetting all about dinner, he sprinted in the space between the two, hoping to take whatever punishment in her place. Even as his guardian turned and lunged forward with arms outstretched, he didn't run or guard and took it full force.

So, even as Nanako was lifted up from the ground, held by her under arms, he was ready to intervene. To do so, he grabbed the closest thing he could find (Taiga's sheet metal poster, left on the floor since last night). He could only imagine the sheer rage she was hiding from under her brows, slowly raising up to see her face to face. He jumped with his arms pulled back overhead, but could only watch as she uttered the vengeful words of-

"SO ADORABLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE!"

Time had one question on its mind, and that was a big fat "WHAT".

Still, Time resumed on as the danger was averted, and order was restored. Only a few individuals in the Emiya household failed to catch the memo, and stared at the teacher's smiling face with confusion. Her smiling, sparkling face, radiant with pure joy.

Of course, that's not to say that her two words had a strong effect as well. So caught off guard, Shirou could do nothing but drop down like a rock, sliding on his face across the floor mats, and crash loudly into a wall at the other side of the room. No one else present noticed his flying face-fault.

Nanako broke out of her stupor first, smiling at the unexpected praise. "Really?"

"Of course, my little apple girl! I never thought I'd hear anyone say my name with such affection before, but YOU! Just hearing you say my name is like a little kitten's cry! Oh, this isn't a dream, is it? Prove me wrong, Nanako-chan! Say it again!"

Nanako broke into a big grin, and complied. "Tiger!"

Taiga squeed. Never before had a sentence with those two words existed, but to the shock of everyone else in the room, it actually happened. "Say it again!"

"Tiger!"

Taiga squeed again, and it still didn't convince the others that it wasn't a dream. Maybe it was being completely overwhelmed by this development, or he happened to be largely relieved that the worst case scenario didn't happen, but from his corner of the room, Shirou Emiya eventually fainted.

As both Taiga and Nanako resumed playing and laughing, almost forgetting about dinner entirely, Dojima turned to the purple haired girl and pointed. "Has… that ever happened before?"

Sakura shook her head, still staring.

<><><>

Evening, Emiya Shed

The rest of the night had ended without incident. Shirou prepared a large, traditional Japanese-course meal of assorted rice, seafood, and dishes (all simmered, grilled, and steamed). Everyone had their fill, made light conversation of the day's events but generally ignored what happened after shopping. As far as Shirou was concerned, no one had seen or done anything remotely dangerous, and he trusted his guardian to keep the Kotomine episode to herself.

Now that it was late, Shirou snuck out of the house for the annex to try and gauge his Persona skills and magecraft. He didn't regret the choice of helping Nanako sleep last night, but the timing of demons attacking him couldn't have been worse. He needed to prepare in privacy else another outbreak could happen, and he didn't think there was a priest waiting for him at Inaba.

It had been sometime since he had been inside. Everything was as he left it; the toolkit was on the center mat, the spare materials were in the corner to the right, the Taiga was leaning on the old TV, and the-

Shirou's mental checklist came to a screeching halt and he double-took towards the TV (one of the more recently fixed devices in the shed, actually), realizing that he wasn't alone in his makeshift workshop. "Fuji-nee?!"

"Hiya!" she casually waved with a smile. She didn't look at all out of place, but for the life of him Shirou didn't remember Taiga ever entering the shed.

"Wh-what are you doing here?!"

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Her smile went from friendly to strained, as if expecting an answer she wasn't going to like. "You weren't planning on smoldering yourself again, were you?"

Shirou blanked as he tried to think of a liable excuse. "W-well… I don't need to now. Although now that I think about it, my circuit is kind of…"

Taiga's frown was now evident. "Shirou, I understand that you love and respect everything Kiritsugu stands for. I've only been the unassuming muggle up until recently, so I can't say how much it affects me. But there has to be a better way to this magic stuff than what you're doing now. What are you, a hero or a masochist?!"

"If it's the latter," gabbed Pixie. "It would make sooooo much sense." The magus twitched, but more or less ignored her.

"I don't need another way," Shirou insisted immediately. But between Taiga's scowl and another impending fey argument, he quickly backpedalled. "What I mean is, I don't know any other way, so I learned to make do with what I have. The only magus I know for miles (if he can even be called that), is Kotomine, and, well…"

Taiga had the decency to wince. "Yeah, not happening."

"Besides, dad warned me not to attract attention of other magi. Fuyuki City is actually a very spiritual place, so it's monitored by a 'Second Owner', or elite magus, like a lord to the land." Shirou frowned as he recalled Kotomine's words. "In hindsight, maybe all of dad's past actions were reason enough that he was considered an outlaw, and moved here without the Second Owner's consent, let alone the Magic Association."

"Well that's just great," the teacher groaned. "Not only is he the biggest terrorist the world's never known, but he's also an illegal immigrant. Okay, then what about that Association you mentioned?"

"Just as bad," said Shirou. "They're a bunch of like-minded magi that keep tabs on one another and the status of magecraft. But all they care about is keeping the existence of magic secret. Even if one of their own was misusing their research on human lives, they'll turn a blind eye if it's discreet enough."

"Oh my god," she paled in horror.

"I know, which is why I'm worried about what's happening in Inaba," he said without thinking. "If there's really a magus behind the murders, then the Association may not interfere at all."

Taiga shot a glance at him, a mix between shock, anger, and realization. "Inaba?"

Shirou realized that he once again put his foot in his mouth, and the God Persona had two words to perfectly convey the feeling.

"Thou damneth."

"SHIROOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

The next twenty minutes would be a one-sided argument trying to reason with a tiger-roaring storm. Thankfully most of it was muted in the confinements of the shed.

<><><>

"-AND OF ALL THE STUPID, BULLHEADED STUNTS YOU COULD THINK OF, YOU'RE TRYING TO CATCH A SERIAL MURDERER WITH MINIMAL WAGE BUDGET WEAPONS, TWO HIGHSCHOOL GIRLS, A KID IN A BEAR SUIT, THE NEWS MEDIA, AND A MAGIC TRICK THAT YOU COULDN'T GET RIGHT FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS?!"

Wounded, dizzy, and now prone on the floor, Shirou struggled to stand back up. "I-it's actually five years-"

"LIKE THAT MAKES ANY DIFFERENCE!"

"-And Yosuke's helping too."

A bamboo sword struck his head for his trouble, slamming him back down to his stomach. "WHO THE HELL CARES?!"

Meanwhile, Yosuke Hanamura was walking home before he doubled over in pain, but didn't know how or why he did so.

Shirou had tried in vain to drop the topic, but his guardian was persistent and a very good "persuader". She even brought her dreaded Tora-shinai with her; it deceptively looked like a normal shinai, and happened to had a tiger strap tied around the grip just under the guard (and even came with a tiger-striped cover case). The strap was the sole reason why she hadn't advanced further than 5-dan in Kendo; having accessories on your weapon was considered disrespectful, and had disqualified her on the spot more than once. Of course, the Kendo students at Homurahara were more than relieved that she may never become a famous Kendo champ after feeling her skill and power in person.

Shirou could only take so much pain before he started talking. Taiga now knew the general gist of what the Investigation Team knew, but he barely managed to keep the true supernatural topics out from Taiga's beat-down; the Personas/Shadows, Midnight Channel, and Teddie's world. His guardian had enough on her plate to worry about.

"Why?"

Shirou blinked. He was surprised to hear Taiga's voice sound so soft and weak, like a whisper. He had been so used to hearing her loud and energetic, even when upset, that it was almost out-of-character for her to be quiet. As he looked up to the woman towering over his bruised and battered body, he saw that she was not an angry teacher anymore, but a sad, worried sister.

"Why do you keep doing this to yourself, Shirou?" she said. Her voice was steady, but tears were falling free from her face. "You've almost died so many times already, most of them in this very room and I never even knew! Have you ever thought of what might happen if you died? How sad it would make me? Or Sakura-chan? Or Nanako-chan?! For god's sake, she just lost her mother! Do you want her to lose her brother too!?"

"Fuji-nee…"

"And if so, why as a magus, huh?! You just told me they didn't give a rat's ass for anyone but themselves! And Kiritsugu? I can't even imagine what kind of hell he went through just to try and do the right thing, only to get hated for it! I want to hate his guts, but I…"

Her body shook with sobs, and she covered her eyes with her hand in some semblance of control. "This isn't just some strung-along favor habit either, isn't it? You can't… you just can't say no to someone in trouble, can you? Even if you might end up dying too? Damn it, Shirou, why?"

Shirou didn't say anything. Rather, he didn't know what to say, as his mind was still reeling at what he saw. His guardian, Taiga Fujimura, was angry. That much was obvious. But she was also openly crying and upset for his life. She always had a caring heart, and perhaps a touch of innocence like a child, but it never occurred to him as to how much he meant to her.

He felt inclined to let her know just why this was so important to him.

"Fuji-nee," he said, and then waited for her to stop sniffling and look at him. "I never told anyone else, not even dad, but… when he saved me from that fire I could barely recall bits and parts of my old life. The furthest I could remember is trying to survive, to get away from the fire and death around me.

"He found me just as I close to giving up. And the strangest thing was, he was smiling. Smiling and crying, as if so relieved. All I could think of at the time was how jealous I was, and why he was so happy to see me. And when he told me he was a sorcerer, and a hero, it made sense to me. He was happy because he helped me. If nothing else, I want to keep his dream alive and spread that happiness to others too."

He would have said more, but Taiga lunged towards him and vice-gripped him into a hug. Her shinai fell to the floor forgotten. "Stupid!" she cried, running her face over his brick red hair. "Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupid!"

Shirou was torn. Was she calling his dream stupid? Why couldn't she understand? He wanted to push her away, to yell at her, but couldn't. Not because her grip was so tight. In fact it seemed desperate. He wanted to be mad, but he found himself worried for her.

"You don't need to do stuff just to make people happy! I'm happy you're in my life every day! I'm happy you cook for me and Sakura-chan, and are so easy to tease! I'm happy you never intentionally call me by that nickname, and just take your dues to make me feel better! I'm happy to know you're doing so much for others, even when I tell you otherwise! I'm happy you're alive, Shirou. Every day. And I'm sure when he found you in the fire, that that was what Kiritsugu was thinking too."

Happy… for being alive? Was such a feeling even possible?

"So please," Taiga wept on his shoulder, and rubbed his back in circles. "Whatever you do in your life, whether it's fixing junk for a living or going into god-knows-where for rescues… I'll support you all the way. Just promise me that you'll come back alive each time."

Alive… he remembered feeling so relieved that Yosuke had survived the chandelier drop, but it was muted on the adrenaline of still fighting Shadow Yukiko. And Yukiko herself; after seeing two people killed after left inside the TV world, it felt amazing to make a difference and save her life. A feeling he knew the others shared, especially Satonaka.

He never intended to die, at least not without making sure one more life was saved. But would the lives of others move on after his passing? Could he have easily moved on with the case if Yosuke had died that day?

Was the act of saving others the same as knowing someone is still alive? The two ideas could work in tandem, but weren't so tightly closed together either.

When he thought about it… he was glad that Taiga was alive in his life too. He owed her so much, even beyond the Dojimas and his friends on the Investigation Team.

Shirou closed his eyes and returned the hug as tight as he could. "I'll come back alive, Fuji-nee. I promise."

He felt her head nod against his head, relieved.

Another bond, and another arcana, marked with the Roman Numeral "XIX". In his mind's eye, Shirou saw a card depicting a yellow-gold sun in the center of the card with black pointed waves. The Sun's circle had a highly detailed face, stylized in Victorian-like art. Shades of warm colors from red, orange, pink, yellow and purple surrounded the sun and were divided in thin line breaks as if highlighting the illuminating nature of the star's heat waves.

Thou art I, and I am thou.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Sun Arcana.

For the first time, Shirou embraced the forming of the bond just as he embraced his surrogate sister.

<><><>
???

"Conditioning complete. You're welcome."

"I fail to see how any of this benefits me."

"Maybe not you specifically, but this guy? I'll be honest; I didn't have high hopes for him. He was the underdog in all aspects, and was closer to relate with a normal civilian than a hero or mage. It's because of all of his crutches that he actually fooled himself into being something greater than he actually is. All that, as well as his stubborn attitude, would have marked him dead before the real fun started! I just made sure to beat some of the moron out of him so he would survive a bit longer."

"You cannot force change onto others."

"Actually I can; I'm the all-powerful granter of wishes and desires! I'm the Holy Grail, bitch!"

"…and more people remember the Happy Squirrel Arcana than they do you."

"Heh, cute. Anyway, all I did was poke some bitter souls down there to have a crack at him. I didn't personally manifest myself as a moth to involve a third party member. Again."

"I simply guided her to where she wanted to be. Her choices were made by her own accord."

"Like Tatsuya's? Oh wow, nice glare. But seriously, I can't wait to see how this one will react. Maybe instead of a right hook, she'll give you a swift kick to the-"

"Enough. If you are done with your games, do not endanger Shirou Emiya's life any further until the year is over. The Gods of Fog still have their judgment to make, and his presence is critical."

"Gah, these steam-powered deities are ruining all my fun. Fine, I'll keep my hands off for a little while longer… but no promises."

"Normally I would expect that from you, but your tone does little to ease me even then."

"And with good reason. Remember when I said this place was roomy? Well, it turns out there was a tenant here before me, and he's not the forgiving type."

<><><>

May 5th, Morning, Fuyuki Station

Nanako looked around the busy station, asking a question that circled everyone's minds. "Where's Tiger-nee?"

Shirou hadn't gotten much sleep last night; on top of everything that led to a new Social Link at the shed, he had to stress what he knew to his guardian and make sure she would keep her knowledge and awareness of magecraft to herself. The risk of running into the Second Owner was slim since Shirou managed to do it for a decade, but it was still a risk to have her either lose her memories or be killed on sight.

As he, Sakura, and the Dojimas waited in the train station lobby, the red-haired teen couldn't help but feel nervous. It was one thing that Taiga missed breakfast this morning (which on its own was enough cause for worry), but she left no note or message saying if she would see him off or not. He hoped it was just her oversleeping due to what happened last night and wasn't tracked down by the Second Owner.

"Um, I'm sure Fujimura-sensei will be here shortly, Nanako-chan," Sakura assured the young girl.

Dojima turned his gaze to the clock. This station was so much more crowded than the one at his town, with so many people getting ready to return to their homes. He held Nanako's hand to make sure his daughter didn't get lost in the confusion, who in turn was holding a bag of her souvenirs from the Shopping Mall. "Well, we got another ten minutes before the train leaves. If she doesn't show, we'll have to get on board. Unless, of course…"

His gaze turned to his nephew, still staring towards the outside of the station to see his guardian run in animatedly like usual. The detective's facial features softened. He couldn't get Taiga's words out of his head, about using Shirou as a convenient babysitter for Nanako. Such a role may not bother Shirou in the slightest, but it still seemed unfair to the teen. He had half a mind to suggest to Shirou that he should stay here in Fuyuki with Taiga and Sakura, but wasn't sure how to say it.

"Hmm?" Shirou blinked, noticing Dojima's intent stare. "Is there something wrong, Dojima-san?"

Dojima sighed. "There you go again. I was hoping you would drop that habit by now and call me 'uncle' or something. We're not strangers anymore."

"Sorry," Shirou scratched his head sheepishly. "It's just… you don't feel like an uncle to me. You're more like the big brother I never had."

"Brother huh?" Dojima smiled in spite of himself. "Well, I can sort of relate to that feeling. What, do you want to call me 'big bro' too?"

"I was actually wondering when to start calling you 'Doji-nii'."

Dojima stared at the now embarrassed teen, and then threw his head back while roaring in laughter. Convincing his nephew to stay behind was now the furthest thing from his mind. Shirou quickly joined in, and the girls giggled with them.

"Seriously?" he asked after calming down. "That's the best you could come up with?"

"I almost considered 'Ryuu-nii' but I didn't think that would be fair to Fuji-nee."

"Hmmhmm~! No, it wouldn't!"

Shirou, as well as everyone else, nearly jumped when they heard her voice. But turning to the smiling teacher, one wouldn't think she wasn't already there or they were just waiting for her. This was the woman that was known as the human jet-coaster, who would always sprint to her classroom just after the morning bell.

Punctuality was not her forte by any stretch of imagination (except when food was involved).

"Fuji-nee?! When did you get here?" asked Shirou.

"Just now," she said. "I would have been here sooner but I was getting a few things ready. First off, where's that little apple girl?"

Nanako jumped forward, as if springing from a hiding spot. "Here I am, Tiger-nee!" she smiled with arms outstretched.

Taiga immediately swooned and knelt to the girl's height, hugging her. "Oh, you're just so precious! And that smile! I bet I can make it bigger!"

"How?"

"Why, because I got you something of course!" With a flourish, Taiga reached behind her to a pile of suitcases and book bags piled together in a heap. Shirou nearly gaped at the sight as he wondered how his teacher snuck, much less managed to carry, all this stuff to the station with her.

But that was quickly dismissed as she pulled and flourished something from a shopping bag on top of the pile. "Ta da!"

In her hands was a yellow t-shirt in Nanako's size, with a picture of a platypus cartoon in the center. "Oh, wow! A platypus!" she eagerly accepted the gift and held it up closer to her face. "Haha! It looks so funny!"

"I thought you'd like it. Happy Children's Day, Nanako-chan!"

The last day of Golden Week, made in celebration of the happiness of children. The festivities were of a high note for kids Nanako's age, but as it was also the day that they would be returning to Inaba, Shirou could only make some mochi rice cakes as snacks. Nanako loved them, of course, just as she loved the t-shirt.

"Thank you!" the young girl beamed, before hurrying over to her father's side. "Dad! Dad! Look at what Tiger-nee bought for me!"

Shirou smiled at the animated gestures Nanako made, and how flustered but happy Dojima looked as well. He turned to thank Taiga on Nanako's behalf, but was surprised to see her almost glaring at him. "What?"

"Don't get any ideas," she said seriously. "Only Nanako-chan gets to call me that."

Oh, so that's it. Honestly, it wasn't that big of a loss to Shirou. True, it hurt a little to know that his younger sister got so close to Taiga like that, but he was just as close with her and she was just that impressionable. "So you gave Nanako a t-shirt, but only gave me a lecture?" he teased.

"Of course not. Your gifts are right here!" Taiga gestured to the pile of luggage behind her and lifted two of the top most bags before handing them to the magus.

"Now this bag has all sorts of magic booklets, from parlor tricks to occult theories. This bag too, actually, but it's more of the latter than the former." Each bag was forced into Shirou's arms, and he slowly started to feel the weight pile on as she continued. "Oh, and I got you some self-help manuals on social interaction, a few workout guides to help you exercise, a couple of old textbooks from Homurahara to study, and finally a small collection of English classics to pass the time and brush up on your language reading skills. I'm talking The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, a lot of Shakespeare plays-"

"Fuji-nee!" By the time the final bag was handed to him, Shirou could feel his back and legs bend under the pressure. He allowed himself to breath once he gently put his luggage down, before turning to his guardian. "I… I don't need all this."

"Oh yes you do. From what I hear you're falling back into bad habits. It's good that you have some friends to hang out with, but I'd rather you have some books to read and get smart. Your first exams are coming up, you know!"

The magus sighed. Even before she learned about his secret, Taiga was not one to take no for an answer. It was much simpler to accept whatever she had to offer, if only to be considerate of her feelings. "So I just take all of this with me?" he asked, already wondering if there would be enough space in their compartment.

"And one more thing," she said, reaching over her shoulder again. This time she handed him two black cloth-wrapped cylinders that, he realized, had been slung over her shoulder from the start. One was short and thick like a document tube, and the other was long and thin like a fishing pole.

Shirou recognized them almost immediately as a wrapped yumi bow and covered bow case respectively. "This is-"

"Your old archery equipment," smiled Taiga. "Just as Ayako-chan left it."

From near the Dojima's, Sakura gasped. "S-sensei! Is that even legal?!"

"Well, I happen to monitor the Kyudo club as a faculty member on top of Kendo, so I feel that I get a say on who can take what out of the school grounds. And even if I wasn't, I asked Ayako-chan for her permission. She was practically ecstatic since it might convince you to join up next year. She wishes you had a good Golden Week and to have a safe trip back, by the way."

"As much as I appreciate the thought, I can't accept this," Shirou quickly argued. "I still haven't recovered from that injury-"

"You mean from the hazardous shipping accident?" she asked incredulously. "That was almost a year ago, and you dodged my strike just the other night! There was no way that was some fluke!"

Taiga was glaring at him with a knowing look in her eyes. Of course he knew that she knew now that he'd suffered far worse than a broken shoulder bone or burned skin. There was also the fact that he was getting involved in a life-or-death scenario to find a murderer.

"It doesn't hurt to practice what you already know," she added. "Consider it a hobby to keep yourself safe while you're down there."

What Dojima heard was a way to keep Shirou occupied and not act on impulse, to which he approved of. What Shirou heard was a way to stop using magecraft for the duration of the case, which he had mixed feelings about.

From a practical viewpoint, it wasn't a bad idea. It would save money by not having to buy a bow himself, and he still remembered how to use one. It just felt weird holding his club bow again after he quit, and had convinced himself that he needed more time to practice and become a hero.

In hindsight, it was probably one of the dumbest decisions he had ever made.

"All right," he said. "But I don't know where I can use a bow though, since Yasogami doesn't practice archery."

"Actually," Dojima spoke up. "There have been rumors that Shinto priestesses used to practice archery at the Tatsuhime Shrine a long time ago. No one lives there anymore, but it's worth a look if you're interested."

Shirou thought this over… for a few seconds, before shrugging. "That settles it." He then tucked the wrapped bundles under his arm as he lifted his bags with Dojima's help.

"We better hurry," said the detective. "The train looks about ready to leave."

Indeed, more people were filing in the cars and the crowd outside was thinning. If they missed it, they wouldn't make it back until tomorrow night.

Nanako turned to the Fuyuki girls and waved with a big smile, her t-shirt tucked in her other arm. "Bye Sakura-chan! Bye Tiger-nee!"

"Come visit again!" Sakura smiled.

Taiga simply opted to lean down and give a light peck on the girl's cheek. "Don't be a stranger, now!"

Nanako giggled and hurried on.

"It was great seeing you both again," Shirou bowed. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Take care, Senpai." Sakura bowed as well, and fidgeted. Nothing more in her body wanted to go and hug him goodbye, but she couldn't. No matter how much she wanted to, she just couldn't.

Unaware of the other girl's inner turmoil, Taiga had her own dilemma of how to say goodbye. But as deep as it might have been, it was short-lived as she always did what worked for her in Kendo: go with instinct.

So, before Shirou walked away, she lightly grabbed his wrist to hold him in place, leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, much like she did with Nanako. "Good luck," she whispered in his ear, and pulled away smiling.

Shirou only stared at his guardian confused. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had that kind of intimacy with his surrogate sister (or anyone else for that matter). He reasoned that it was just a chaste kiss shared by siblings and that it was her way of showing how much she cared now.

So why did it feel so damn embarrassing?

"Amore, Cu Shirou," the voice of Cu Sith spoke for the first time since his fusion. "Hints of love and affection are evident in the one you call sister. It's all kinds as well. Family Storge is most evident, followed by platonic Agape, affectionate Phileo, and… is that a hint of Eros I smell?"

Shirou's face only grew that much hotter as he ducked away and hurried off. He ignored the seemingly oblivious Taiga, still smiling and content. He also ignored Dojima and Sakura staring slack-jawed, one more shocked than the other. He couldn't ignore Nanako, who somehow managed to cheer him up.

"Getting kisses from your family isn't so bad," she said to him. "I get them from Dad every night when he puts me to bed!"

As both his daughter and nephew left for the train, Ryotaro Dojima stayed behind and stared incredulously at Taiga. For her part, the teacher stared back confused, before slightly glaring. "You're not getting one."

It took a moment for him to realize the implication, and stammered. "Th-that's not-! Gah, never mind. Just… thanks for having us over."

"Anytime," she smiled, although it quickly turned nervous. "So, uh, about that whole head injury?"

He smiled and ruffled his own hair, absent of any wrapping medical tape or swollen bumps. "All water under the bridge."

Taiga shot him two thumbs-up, a wink and an upbeat smile. "Nice~!"

Dojima chuckled; just something about this woman made every day feel like a vacation, which he was thankful for. Tomorrow he would be back to late night shifts and finding criminals, but he was thankful to get a weekend worth of rest.

As he turned to board the train as well, he waved back to Sakura, but she barely noticed him leaving.

The two women stayed behind and watched as the train doors close. Sakura recovered, secretly jealous of how brazen Taiga Fujimura could be with her feelings and not suffer consequences. But she had known her high school teacher for over two years (one of them she wasn't even in high school yet). And she had never seen her act so differently than she did these last three days.

The young girl turned to the teacher on her left, and the wind against her face caused her hair and skirt to sway (the latter she already had her arms down to cover herself). "Sensei?" she asked over the blowing wind. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Never better," she answered, her long dress also swaying but not enough to risk indecency. It didn't feel like a knee-jerk response but one she actually meant. Sakura could see that, as her confidence and energy had never felt so strong before.

But let it never be said that she wasn't perceptive or naïve. Taiga frowned as she exchanged glances with her student. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you just seem so different after this whole weekend," she admitted. "Yesterday especially. Did something happen? Like… a bad dream?"

She certainly hoped her teacher didn't remember anything from the park. She liked Taiga Fujimura. She was the best sister she'd ever had. To have her die because of a breach of secrecy was horrifying, but Father Kotomine erased her memories like everyone else, right?

"A dream?" Taiga echoed, and returned her gaze to the train. It was already starting to roll away down the track. She stared at the car door Shirou had walked through, despite not being able to see him or the Dojimas.

It could be accurate to say that she had a bad dream, where she almost died in a twisted version of a dojo. Where an angry kendoka kept ranting against the world and wanted to kill everything Taiga Fujimura stood for.

It could be equally possible that she had woken up from a bad dream, and that the aforementioned kendoka was her wake-up call to how she had let the best years of her life slip through her.

Needless to say, it felt good to finally move on. She wasn't expecting to learn about Shirou's magecraft and Kiritsugu's past, but she felt proud of herself handling that curveball. She still wanted to wring the necks of them both for being Class A dumbasses though.

She loved them all the same, and had never felt more proud to have known them in her life.

Maybe someday she could help Shirou accomplish his dream through more than just a few books and rampart support. Whatever happened in that "dream" gave her something akin to a super-power. Blue butterflies, talking Shadows, it all felt so surreal. But until she had a better understanding of all this, she'd keep Shirou ignorant; he had enough on his plate as it was.

"Sensei?"

Taiga broke out of her reverie at Sakura's voice, but didn't turn to her or acknowledge her right away. Rather, she just gathered her thoughts to answer the young beauty's question.

"Let's just say," she smiled brighter than Sakura ever remembered. "I made a new friend. And her name is Kaihime."

<><><>

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Fuyuki Gaiden 2: The Tower of Babel

<><><>

"Oi! Tohsaka-san!"

I was heading for the stairs when I heard someone call my name. I politely turn to acknowledge Saegusa-san, the young manager of the track team. Further down the hall, I saw her friends and fellow track hopefuls, Makidera-san and Himuro-san, watching her.

The brown haired girl stopped to catch her breath, and smiled at me as she spoke up again. "W-would you like to do something together for Golden Week?"

"Thanks for the offer, Saegusa-san, but I already made plans." It was a carefully rehearsed line, but it was also the truth. I almost felt bad at having to turn down the offer.

"Oh, I see," she said, downcast. "I didn't mean to bother-"

"Plans?! What do you mean you have plans?!"

Saegusa-san quickly retreated to the side. Makidera-san, the tanned skin track runner, was apparently annoyed by my answer and came up to confront me. Seeing no reason to stand by either, Himuro-san followed to stand by Saegusa-san.

"I mean exactly as I said, Makidera-san," I told her calmly. "I have plans. Why is that such a surprise?"

"Because you always do this!" she complained, pointing to her track team manager. "Normally I could care less if you show your 'highness self' or not, but you keep getting Yukicchi upset with your excuses!"

"I-it's alright Kaede-chan," said Saegusa-san.

But I knew Makidera-san had a point. Saegusa-san was a nice girl, and her warm smile easily won her a small fanbase. I'm a little flattered she would keep taking time to make arrangements with me, but her relaxing nature was the very reason I couldn't relax around her.

And yet I couldn't go around pretending to be distant all year either. Having too little interaction with others was just as dangerous as having too much. I already have Ryuudou-kun making me public enemy number one, and I would rather not have anyone else actually start believing him.

In fact, I would rather that no one was constantly antagonizing me, but I could care less about a certain someone whether he loved or hated me. And no, I'm talking about Ryuudou-kun this time.

"Perhaps I can make room in my schedule for Children's Day," I admitted. Children's Day was fine, as long as I finished my errands in the next two days.

Saegusa-san smiled and bowed. "Children's Day sounds great! Thank you, Tohsaka-san!"

"Geez, that long?" Makidera-san's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You're not just going to weasel your way out of this like you do every time, are you?"

I smiled at her. "Whatever do you mean, Makidera-san?"

She had no answer; she was too busy flinching away from my face. "N-nothing! Just hold up your end of the bargain!"

"If that's all," I bowed to them, and took my leave from school.

<><><>

By day, I was Rin Tohsaka, model and ideal student of Homurahara High School. I was the popular face among female students, both respected and admired from a distance. Although none of the physical exams or school tests had started, last year I all but aced them.

But by night, I was Rin Tohsaka, heir to the lineage of Tohsaka magi, Second Owner to Fuyuki City, and a prodigy with an affinity for all five elements. Every night for the last decade I've worked hard and long in the safety of my estate, my workshop, to live up to my late father's legacy. The only assistance I've had is my guardian arranging my finances and teaching me in my father's stead.

…which, considering who my guardian is, is the same as no help at all.

No matter. A magus has to learn and perfect their art themselves, and share it only with their heir at coming of age. All I can do for now is research until that day.

At the safe haven that was my workshop, I waited until two in the morning, when my magic energy reached its peak. In my hand was a ruby that I have been storing my energy within for some time now. A magus can only hold so much prana in their bodies, and trying to harness it, no matter how well equipped you are, hurts. Magi are still human, after all.

It is for this reason why I have spent the last decade siphoning my magic into these gemstones. Not a very cost-effective plan, sure, but it helps having so much magic in reserves for any use, like a hand grenade. Years of pain and dedication focused on stockpiling as many carry-on reserves as possible was well worth it.

Ah, it appears that this ruby has finally reached its full capacity. That's another for the hoard.

I delicately placed this gemstone in a drawer full of other prana-infused rubies. I kept other elemental gemstones, like topaz and sapphire, separate and organized. I've lost count how many of these stones I used, because I always buy more once I finish. Perhaps this Golden Week I can buy myself a few more gemstones to work on for the next few weeks…

My thoughts trail away from gemstones and the date I have planned when I stared at the Command spells on the back of my right hand. To anyone else, it would look like an intricate blood red tattoo, a single line over two circular crescents. But to a magus, it's proof and status of being one of the next Seven Masters of the Holy Grail War. A battle royale between masters, calling upon seven familiars called Servants, and fighting to the last man for the chance to receive the titular Grail. The prize of an all-powerful wish is a tempting one indeed.

My father and current Guardian were both Masters, once upon a time. Sadly, neither of them won the war. I can understand why the latter would fail, but it seems unfair that he would survive and my father, who took him in as an apprentice, wouldn't. But that's how things were in the world of Magi, especially in the Holy Grail War.

Still, as much as I'm proud to be selected as a Master (even if being a part of the Tohsaka name makes me all but assured as one), the timing doesn't make sense. It has only been a decade since the Fourth Holy Grail War, and each war has had a 60 year reprieve. Command Spells shouldn't be showing up until much later.

I can't be entirely certain what's to happen, as my guardian doesn't know either (damn him). At the very least, I can just keep researching and stockpiling my magic until then. If the war happens on schedule, all is good. I will be an experienced and great magus by then, with my own heir to boot.

If the war comes early, well, I'm sure being the first winner of the Holy Grail War would look great on my resume to the Clocktower.

<><><>

"Aaaah, look at how pretty this one looks!"

I smiled at the animated response. Despite her loud and blunt nature, Makidera-san was very much a girl with more feminine interests. Right now the four of us were walking down a street bazaar and she was staring wide-eyed at a hand-made wind chime from one such stall. Collecting wind chimes was the last thing anyone would expect a track star to do for a hobby.

The design was pretty, I admit. These wind chimes were made of hollowed glass, decorated with painted images and a paper slip tied below. The one that Makidera-san was smiling about had a floral design resembling a sakura tree.

I turned away from the stall and hurried on as soon as that thought crossed my mind.

"H-hey! Tohsaka-san! Wait up!"

Saegusa-san and Himuro-san hurried behind me. Makidera-san stayed behind, as she was still deciding on whether to buy the wind chime first.

"Sorry," I said. "I'm just a little tired from stall hopping."

It has been a few hours since I met up with the track team girls. The greeting was awkward, as I rarely met with classmates outside of school. I almost didn't recognize them in casual clothes. The closest I ever had to a friend was Ayako Mitsuzuri, but I would feel bad distracting her from the archery club just to hang-out.

But the last day of Golden Week was arguably the most crowded. Even with all the tourists leaving home today by train or car, little boys and girls danced excitedly down the streets, eating festive snacks or playing games while deciding which one is Kintarō. We, as four high school girls, should feel out of place as the holiday was meant for young children. But between Saegusa-san and Makidera-san acting so excited, and Himuro-san and I not caring enough to be embarrassed, it was hardly a problem.

So it was technically a lie that I was feeling tired from all this wandering around. Of course, it would feel awkward to admit I didn't like the sakura-themed wind chime and why.

I'm starting to get the feeling that this was a bad idea from the start.

"Is there any stall in particular you want to see next, Tohsaka?" asked Himuro-san. Frankly, I was surprised to hear concern from her at all, as I don't know much about her. She has an impressive high jump, but she doesn't seem like the type of girl to get involved in track.

"Why, whatever do you mean, Himuro-san?" I asked back, if only to sound polite.

"Maki has been window shopping at glass wind chimes, I bought a few art posters for myself, and Saegusa has bought at least half a dozen Kintarō dolls for her brothers. Yet you yourself haven't asked to do anything. You just followed."

…I suppose the glasses should have been the big indicator that Kane Himuro was the smart one of the track team trio. Makidera-san and I have window shopped together before, and I enjoyed theorizing about the use of glass in stuff other than wind chimes. But I neglected to notice the rolled up posters tucked under Himuro-san's arm, or how the suddenly self-conscious Saegusa-san had her arms full of plastic bags, carefully handled as to not drop the cutely stitched dolls.

"It's not that I didn't want to impose," I reasoned. "But I can't remember the last time I celebrated Golden Week. This is all a little new to me."

"It's no trouble, Tohsaka-san," Saegusa-san smiled. "You can pick the next stall if you want!" Before I could form a reply, her face fell as she recalled, "Oh, but you just said you were tired from all this. Do you want to leave then?"

"Leave!?" Again, Makidera-san's voice boomed loud as she marched over. "You just got here and we haven't even done all the fun stuff yet, like food and games! And don't give a stupid excuse like you're off to see Mitsuzuri-san!"

How does Ayako have anything to do with this?

"I'm surprised you bought that," Himuro-san said, noting the small bag in the tan girl's hand. "Didn't you already buy a wind chime yesterday?"

"Yeah, but it broke when that guy pushed me!"

"What guy?" I asked her.

"It's just an excuse Maki made," Himuro-san shrugged. "She tripped crossing the street and the wind chime broke."

"Excuse?! This is no excuse! Somebody pushed me as they passed me and made me drop my wind chime!"

"Did you see this person?"

Makidera-san bristled slightly. "Not… clearly. I barely made out his face as he ran by. I tried to catch up to him but he managed to outrun me and disappear after making a corner turn."

It was clear that even Saegusa-san had trouble believing this story. "Uh, Kaede-chan, you're one of the fastest runners on the track team. It seems unlikely that someone could outrun you at all. And we were right there behind you. We didn't see anything."

"Yes you did! You even held Kane-chan back because you saw the runner come up first!"

I watched the one-sided argument continue to heat up. Saegusa-san and Himuro-san were calm and rational, but Makidera-san grew more aggravated that no one believed her. She did have a habit of changing stories to fit her own convenience.

"Oi, Tohsaka!"

Ah, it seems Makidera-san could save the last bit of her dignity after all.

I turned and greeted the voice with a smile. "Mitsuzuri, what a surprise to see you here."

The track girls only stared in silence. They were probably not used to seeing Ayako act like anything but a tomboy. She was actually quite feminine if you know her well enough, there she was in her casual clothes (pink jacket, white shirt, blue jeans) and also enjoying the weekend.

"That's my line," she smiled back. "You haven't been here all morning, have you?"

"No, just for a few hours. Saegusa-san asked me to accompany them today."

"Did they now?" Ayako turned to the three track girls. For some reason, Makidera-san was glaring daggers at her, which took Ayako and I by surprise.

"And just what are you doing here?" she accused. Saegusa-san quickly scolded her (as politely as she could of course), but Ayako answered anyway.

"Well, there's a fair here of course!" she smiled. "I would have been here sooner, but Fujimura-sensei called me up for some favors."

"Oh? What did she want?" Taiga Fujimura was an English Teacher, adviser of the archery club, and a black belt in kendo, which normally would say she's a responsible woman. Her personality was childish and easygoing, which makes it hard to believe she's a faculty member.

"Just fetching her some archery equipment from the storehouse," she replied, idly fiddling with a set of keys in her hand. "Emiya's to be exact."

I blinked. My attention was now solely on Ayako, as were the girls. "Emiya? As in Shirou Emiya?"

"The Shirou Emiya who's known as the Fake Janitor?"

"The Shirou Emiya who fixed the school generator last year?"

"The Shirou Emiya that quit your club after decking Matou-kun?"

We all turned and stared incredulously at Makidera-san. She returned our confused glances with a slightly annoyed one. "Well it's true, isn't it?"

"Not exactly," Ayako frowned.

My mind was still reeling from this revelation. Emiya's archery equipment. He was forced to retire after a shipping accident broke his shoulder, so he had left his bow and arrow case as a donation to the school. Naturally Ayako was set on getting him back on the team so she kept it under lock and key under his name. Between her hope and Shinji Matou resenting him, no one really bothered with his equipment. Or so Ayako told me.

And then shortly before this school year started, Emiya had moved away. Ayako also told me it was due to seeing some long lost relatives he didn't know he had, and was to spend the year down there to reconnect with them.

Only two things of significant note have happened since. First, the student council nearly imploded within the first two weeks. After taking the fake janitor's work for granted last year, they had to scramble on budget cuts and cancelled events to make ends meet after it became necessary to replace much of school's old and now-irreparable hardware at once.

Second, Sakura Matou joined the archery club, but without Emiya around I suppose she just focused all her attention on other things, such as her studies. The only one who could get her to do anything was her brother Shinji. I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

To hear that brought about an expected feeling of elevation within me. I could only guess that this meant one thing. "So, what happened? Is Emiya-kun here? Will he be joining the archery club after all? Do they already know?"

"Whoa, slow down there," Ayako said with raised hands. She then smiled with a teasing glint. "You seem rather excited to see your boyfriend again."

Well, I wouldn't exactly-
BOYFRIEND?!

Saegusa-san and Makidera-san gasped behind me. "Tohsaka-san…" the manager started.

"And Emiya-kun?" the runner finished.

Their bespectacled friend seemed more amused than surprised, judging by the tone of her next word. "Scandalous."

I fortunately had time to regain composure… though I couldn't hide the shock on my face from Ayako. Sometimes I forgot how vile she could be. Is this what friendship is supposed to be? Hanging out here and there, stuck between competing with each other and then embarrassing ourselves?

It's interesting, I admit.

"My interest in Emiya-kun is purely business," I answered with the cold control that my father would be proud of. "He owes me a favor that I have yet to collect, and I would like to know if and when he's available so that I can plan ahead."

It was, of course, a bold faced lie. It was a natural skill for me to pick up over the years, as it helps keep control of situations without blatant hypnotism. And keeping control of one's emotions, power, position, everything, was an important skill for any magus. The lie worked, as they were convinced I wanted Emiya for a favor, although Ayako looked rather disappointed.

"Well, you'll have to wait a while longer," she said. "He was only visiting for Golden Week, and he just took the train back to Inaba this morning."

"Oh," I said. For some reason I felt disappointed. Hopefully the others didn't notice this change of tone either.

"There's still no say whether he'll take up archery again or not," she added. "But Fujimura-sensei was rather insistent on getting his bow, saying that he needed it. It seemed rather excessive with all the suitcases she was carrying around, too."

I blinked incredulously, but it was Himuro-san that asked the question first. "Suitcases?"

"'Oh, those? They're just a little reading material I picked up for Shirou!'" she explained in a rather convincing interpretation of our teacher; right down to the smile and dismissive hand wave. "That's what she told me anyway. It was anything but 'little', though."

I smiled teasingly. "Oh? Referring to Emiya-kun by first name? That sounds something a girlfriend would say."

It was only natural to give a little revenge to Ayako. Her facial reaction alone was worth it.

The track girls reacted similarly as before; gasping and gossiping amongst each other. "Do you think that's why-"

"She wants him back on the team so badly?"

"Apparently he was that good."

"I was only quoting Fujimura-sensei," Ayako snapped. I could see that her face was still red.

"I hear no denial of enlisting him, Mitsuzuri."

"He's that good. In fact, I think he might be some sort of savant. He could do anything he wants if he puts his mind to it."

"Like sports!" Makidera-san agreed.

"Or engineering," Himuro-san added.

"Or cooking!" …huh?

Saegusa-san blushed and looked away when we turned our attention to her. "Umm… we shared a home economics class last year. He always made the best food."

Huh. I did not know that Emiya-kun was a cook.

"That's a shame," Ayako sighed. "For being so in touch with his feminine side, it sounds like the only type of girl that could hope to date him is a tomboy."

I stared at her incredulously. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

Ayako stared back confused. "Isn't it?"

That's right. I forgot Ayako sees herself as feminine, while everyone else assumes she's very masculine. She doesn't care about the clash of perceived personalities, though. She must not care what other people think of her either.

That train of thought didn't go much further before Makidera-san suddenly yelled, "I REMEMBER NOW!"

Perhaps this is the kind of tomboy Ayako was referring to?

"Emiya-kun was definitely the guy that pushed me!"

Saegusa-san looked away, embarrassed. Himuro-san sighed. Mitsuzuri-san blinked at her.

I stopped and stared at her. "What."

"I saw it for only a second, but the runner definitely had short red hair and gold eyes! I almost dismissed the likeness since he was gone, but if he was here since this morning, then it had to be him!"

"Maki, you tripped," Himuro-san stressed. "Saegusa and I were there and we didn't see anything."

"And I'm telling you he pushed me!" she argued again. "Geez, what kind of joke is this? Are you that mad at me or something?"

"M-mad?" Saegusa-san squeaked. "Why would you think that, Makidera-san?"

"Because I bailed on you guys trying to chase Emiya-kun. I... almost had him in my sights, but I ended up wasting about half an hour running around the city. By the time I came back, you two kept insisting that I tripped!"

Again she changed the story. Earlier she said he disappeared as he ran the corner, and here she insisted he was within her sights. And seeing Shirou Emiya being seen running around the streets when no one else remembered sounded much like a contrived coincidence.

Himuro-san just rolled her eyes and pulled out her buzzing phone, idly texting back. "It's not like you have any proof we were there."

"Y-yeah I do!" she argued. "Check your photos! Yeah, I remember that too! You took a picture of the guy after I told you to! It was to make sure the guy paid back money for a new chime as compensation!"

Himuro-san stared at Makidera-san, weighing her options to humor her friend or not. It's actually kind of amazing how all three of them, Saegusa-san included, are friends when they barely have anything in common. They just butt heads and share a club that only one of them seems passionate about.

"Fine," she said, pressing her phone buttons again. "But I seriously doubt that there's any… huh?"

Himuro-san's cool composure was absent in place of honest confusion. One by one, we looked over her shoulder to the picture in question. It wasn't in great quality, but it clearly showed Makidera-san ready to pounce and sprint off the ground. It also showed a small brown bag next to her side holding her then broken wind chime, slightly deflated from the drop.

And just at the top corner of the phone was a patch of blurry red on a blurry runner. If that wasn't proof enough, the time and date of the picture was listed from yesterday.

"See? See?!" Makidera-san pointed, equal parts mad and excited. "I was right! It WAS Emiya-kun that pushed me!"

Saegusa-san stared between her boasting friend and the phone. "So Kaede-chan was right?" she said to herself, guiltily.

"But I never took this," Himuro-san insisted, but sounded just as subdued.

I admit, this sounds too suspicious to just ignore. Saegusa-san and Himuro-san are bright students, and wouldn't forget things so readily. Something involving Emiya-kun must have been so important that the girls had to get the event hypnotized out of their minds, only to miss Makidera-san somehow.

And that could only mean one thing. The fake priest.

Why the hell wasn't this brought to my attention?!

"Tohsaka?" Ayako must have noticed my façade slip. Damn, can't lose my composure here.

"It's nothing," I assure her. "I'm just… a little surprised to hear you imply Emiya-kun to be a mischievous fellow, Makidera-san."

The self-titled Black Panther scowled, but I was already walking away. "O-oi! Where are you going, Tohsaka?!"

"I'm sorry everyone, but I'm afraid I have something important to take care of right away. It was fun while it lasted, and thank you for inviting me to join you Saegusa-san."

I bowed deeply to show my gratitude. All in all, it was a fun day. I may not get many of these in the future, and will have to break ties with those around me for the sake of my family lineage. The recent conversation was proof of that. But I spoke honestly when I admitted to having fun.

I was already running down the street for the bridge to Shinto when I heard a voice cry out desperately.

"W-wait! At least buy me some takiyaki!"

Simplicity. Thy name is Kaede Makidera.

<><><>

"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there."

Service at the Kotomine Church. I'm not an overly faithful person, but the Kotomine family has been close with mine for as long as I can remember. It's probably due to old tradition why I still go from time to time. If not, the fake priest wouldn't let me hear the end of it.

"They said to each other, 'Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'"

Still, I make an effort to only come during the Christian holidays of Easter Sunday and Christmas. Having to study for my craft, on top of school work, has thus far been a suitable excuse as to why I can't come every week.

"But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.'"

But today was different. This was something that I couldn't overlook or wait, so I suffer through this service until it's over and I can confront him.

"So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth."

This story from the book of Genesis the fake priest just read aloud was the final piece of the service. After some more stock phrases and the closing hymn, the church occupants started to leave. I stayed rooted in my seat near the front row, glaring daggers at the man.

Because he was the one I find hard to like. Because he was a walking contradiction in both church and magi standards. Because he was my Guardian.

I march up to him to the front of the church when we were finally alone. "You have some explaining to do."

"Nice to see you too, Rin," he replied coldly. "But wouldn't it hurt to greet me properly by my title?"

"Your title is non-existent to what you really are; a fake priest."

He smiled, more amused than annoyed. That trait of his always annoyed me. I almost missed him being a stoic doormat when I was a kid. At least then it wasn't hard to tell when he meant something or not. "Do indulge me, Rin. We are still in the sanctum of God, so my title does hold merit. Unless you wish to speak in the confessional?"

No way will I step foot into that wooden trap just so he can play the role of moral conscience. There are many reasons why I spend as little time as possible in this church, and they all relate to this insufferable man. Still, I grit my teeth and call him by his name, if only so he can stop teasing for a moment. "Good evening, Father Kotomine."

"There, now. Was that so hard?"

Yes. Yes it was.

"As I was saying, you have some explaining to do."

"Whatever do you mean, Rin?" Kotomine asked. Although he knew I was here strictly for business, he still had the gall to play innocent and ignorant. Sometimes I can never tell what the man is really thinking.

"Let's make something perfectly clear; I'm the Second Owner. I know everything that goes on in this city, whether it's a magus hiding here or an outbreak of Dead Apostles. But for some reason, something happened that was clearly magecraft-related only to have been swept under the rug without my knowledge. And I know you well enough that you would do everything to undermine my authority, just to take my title as Second Owner, and everything I own with it!"

Kotomine blinked, surprised that I was able to deduce him so easily. But then he threw his head back and laughed that audacious laugh of his. "Ahahahahahahaha! Oh Rin, that couldn't be any further from the truth. I'm quite content in my position as a 'fake priest', as you so affectionately call me."

Affectionate my ass! Everything he does is half-assed and without effort or meaning. He has the means to be a magus, but he never finishes what he starts learning. He even told me so himself, back when I was still looking to him for guidance years ago. I learned early on that I could master whatever Kotomine didn't bother to, and I haven't looked back on that decision since.

Still, as much as I hate to admit it, Kotomine wasn't a liar. He was trustworthy to an extent, so I can take his word that he wasn't interested in undermining me… for now. "Fine, so you didn't orchestrate this event. But you were aware of it happening?"

"It was brought to my attention, yes."

"How?"

"Why, Sakura Matou told me."

…!

"Have you forgotten? The Tohsaka aren't the only magi family that have lived on Fuyuki's soil." His smile widens, almost sadistic. "Oh, pardon me. I should say 'isn't', as you're the last Tohsaka alive."

Of all the answers I expected to hear, this wasn't one of them. In a way, I was a bit foolish not to overlook this possibility. But… I couldn't rationalize the feeling of-

"She's not a magus," I replied. My voice or posture didn't change, as I refuse to let anyone see my weakness. Especially Kotomine. "She couldn't have known what happened."

"But she was raised by a magus family," he reminded. "In fact, she asked me to help save her classmate from Wraiths. But I'm getting ahead of myself; you don't know the full story, do you?"

And so the fake priest told me what he knew. A family gathering during Golden Week, visiting the Central Park after their shopping trip. Two Wraiths coming out and chasing the young boy, while his teacher chased after him. How Sakura asked to hypnotize the uncle and his daughter, as well as to save the boy and teacher. How he fought against a spade warrior while the boy fought a black ghost, and he brought both the boy and teacher back to their homes.

The names were omitted, and while I didn't know or care who this teacher was, I knew the boy's name. He was the one that fit both of Ayako and Makidera-san's accounts. And more importantly, he was the only one that Sakura trusted enough to all but live at his house.

"This boy," I asked slowly for confirmation. "It was Shirou Emiya, was it?"

"It was."

I stared down at the floor, feeling my bangs slip and cover the view of my surroundings. I don't care. "And… he's a magus?"

Kotomine frowned in thought. "Yes…"

I clenched my hands into white knuckles. How could I have missed this? How could I have been so stupid?!

"-and no."

I looked up at him. "What?"

"Shirou Emiya understands what it means to be a magus and knows how to fight back, but he lacks the practical skills and assessment to be called one. I've suspected enough that he doesn't even know how to use his magic circuits. Furthermore," Kotomine added, finding time to knot his eyebrows together into a frown. "He has a very different set of goals in mind for his supposed craft."

Different goals? But what could be more important than the goal of all magi? To be able to reach Akasha, the Root itself, and the knowledge of everything that ever is, was, and will be?! Unless…

"You mean to tell me that he wishes to be a Dead Apostle?" I asked in slight horror. It would make sense, given his supposedly weak magecraft and hiding under my radar. With immense power, durability, and constant bloodlust, having just one of them in Fuyuki City was a disaster waiting to happen. There was a reason why the Church hunted them down as viciously as-

Wait.

"I assure you," Kotomine smiled. "If that were the case, I would have killed the boy myself."

I glowered in anger and embarrassment. For as much as the fake priest annoys me, he used to be an Executor. Fighting ghouls and Dead Apostles is second nature to him, and he always followed through with duty and protocol. I worried over a detail that meant nothing.

"No, his goals are rather selfless than selfish. Whether he becomes a great magus or not, Shirou Emiya plans to use his talents towards…" he sighed, almost disappointed. "-world peace."

…

I'm not going to laugh. I'm not going to laugh in front of the damned fake priest! I'll laugh all I want at this stupid, ridiculous goal later in the comfort of my home, but damn it not now!

I kept my face mostly neutral, with mouth agape. "E-excuse me?" I hoped the hitch in my breath was more of exasperation than escaped laughter.

Kotomine was still frowning, so I was fortunate on that regard. "He earnestly wishes to emulate the man that rescued and adopted him years ago. I tried to dissuade him from this line of thinking but… he was stubborn."

Stubborn? If anything, the supposed "Fake Janitor" was about as passive as a doormat. Why do I get the feeling that this isn't the full story?

No matter. I'll solve this personally when I get the chance. After all, I told Ayako and the others that I have a "favor" I need to collect.

"If what you're saying is true," I asked him. "Emiya has no proper training, no magecraft skills to write about, and has no wish to see the Root at all?"

"I would be surprised if he even knew of Akasha's existence," said Kotomine. "He probably should have been raised an Executor instead of a Magus, honestly."

For once I agree with him. And this helps make what I plan to do with Emiya-kun on his return all the more clear.

"Is that everything, Rin?"

"It is," I said. "But next time an outbreak like this happens, I demand to be notified immediately."

Kotomine smiled. "I wonder… how would that look to the esteemed Magi Association to know that the Second Owner of Fuyuki would only respond to danger when the Church representative tells her?"

"You know what I mean, fake priest," I snarled, and turned for the exit. He always has to be a smartass, and get the final word edgewise.

"And a good night to you too, Rin."

I hate that fake priest.

<><><>

But not as much as I hate mornings.

School started the next day. I heard more than a few students wish that the weekend could have been longer. Not that I would know, because I ended up going to school half an hour early, and only club members are awake at this time.

I use this as an excuse to catch up with Ayako on small talk and our bet (who would get a boyfriend first before the end of our third year), but I found myself staring intently at the purple haired archer.

She's changed. I've heard her classmates talk about how smart she is, and how much time she dedicates to studying after school. Ayako mentioned with slight envy that she's also pretty good at archery, but seems to hold back whenever Shinji was around. Without Emiya-kun to hover over her, she was adopting the cold, distant façade that all magi know how to project.

I feel both proud and jealous at how easily it comes to her. Almost a shame she's not really an heir to the Matou line… and how low they have fallen over the years.

With nothing more to talk about, I left Ayako and the dojo before she noticed me. With nothing else to do, I headed to homeroom to sit and wait until class started. Just as I reached the stairway-

"Good morning, Tohsaka-san!"

I turned and stared at the energetic woman coming up from behind. Given everything that happened today, all I could do was nod and greet her back. "Good morning, Fujimura-sensei."

Her smile grew wider, happy and relieved. "Thanks, Tohsaka-san. I'm glad there's still someone that greets me properly."

I blinked. This didn't sound like the friendly, cheerful woman posing as an English teacher. "Is there an improper way to greet you, sensei?"

Her smile dropped to a frown. It was so sudden and brief I wondered if it even happened. "Ah, well… just don't call me by my first name, all right? None of the older students here do that, and it kind of hurts my feelings."

"…I don't quite understand, but I won't hurt your feelings, sensei."

"Good girl," she nodded. "If only more students were as kind as you are."

She quickly waves goodbye and hurries off. It was one of the few times we shared a conversation, but something didn't sit quite right with me.

Fujimura-sensei acted… vulnerable. She was still happy and chipper, but she didn't seem to hide the fact she was sad. I didn't say something wrong, did I?

Or what if it was because Emiya-kun was gone now?

…

…gah, I'm must be overreacting. This is Fujimura-sensei I'm talking about, and if there's anything to explain about her behavior, it's an off day.

Shaking these thoughts away, I hurry over to class as the esteemed honor student. I have more important things to worry about.

Starting with Homurahara's first exams of the school year.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 27: Fortitude, Reflex, and Will

<><><>

May 5th, Evening, Shopping District

It was the same thing every night. Just as the young and elderly turned themselves in for the night, the roar of over a dozen motorcycle engines would roll in with laughing delinquent riders. All semblance of peace and quiet was destroyed, and it would last for hours as they raced up and down the streets.

One boy watched the scene play out from his window. This has been going on all week, and he'd had about all he could stand of it. Biker gangs. Damned leathered pansies who thought they owned the world because of riding a hog on their crotch. Sure they carried knives, brass knuckles, and maybe even a gun if they felt rebellious, but they were just punks hiding behind their swagger.

With a growl, he threw on a skull-and-crossbones t-shirt over his head and straightened the belt around his jeans. Once dressed, he examined himself in front of a full body mirror: dark, intimidating clothes, bleached white hair swept back in a crewcut, several piercings around his ears, a small scar over his left eye, and a death glare that would send any pansy crying to their mommies.

This was the look of a man. A man that got shit done, and wasn't afraid of anything.

Nodding to his reflection, the young teen marched down to the door of his family house/store, cracking his knuckles as he did so.

He was just in front of the door before a soft voice called out to him from behind. "Don't do this, Kanji-chan. This isn't what your father would want."

Kanji Tatsumi bristled, but didn't turn to address his mother. "Don't bring the old man into this. I'm doing this for you, ma." His mother was one of the many people who couldn't sleep whenever the biker gangs rolled in.

"All you're going to do is make a few riled up kids hurt and get in trouble with the police." Although it went unsaid, her tone heavily implied "Again."

"The same police that can't even catch some electrician murderer?" he asked rhetorically, finally turning to her. "Hell, they needed some chick on a motorcycle to catch that ATM guy! If they have a problem with me, it's because I can do a better job pounding these shitheads!"

It was one of the many reasons why he didn't trust the cops. Every day people of the Shopping District called the cops with complaints about the noise, his mother included. But by the time someone actually showed up, they would ride off like leaves in the wind. It was clear that the police didn't care enough about them and quickly saw their situation as "The Street That Cried Wolf".

The Tatsumi matriarch frowned sadly. She was small and frail looking in comparison to her tall son. To anyone else, it would look like she was his grandmother with her gray hair and soft voice. "This isn't like you, Kanji-chan. You used to be so kind and thoughtful of others. Now you just go around picking fights."

"And you know damn well why!" he snapped. Without waiting for a reply, he stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

Outside of his house and family owned shop of "Tatsumi Textiles", Kanji realized just how abysmally loud the motorcycles were roaring up and down the streets. No wonder no one could get any sleep whenever they showed up.

Just up at the top of the hill, he saw a row of motorcycles lined up with some scantily dressed girl in front of them holding a flag to signal them. It looked like another race was to start, and he didn't have time to run up and beat down everyone.

From the corner of his eye, Kanji spotted a row of traffic cones lined up against the sidewalk, almost like race track spotters. Kanji didn't know where they got all these, but he frankly didn't care. He just saw a perfect weapon to use.

The flag girl gave the signal, and the motorcycles revved up in reckless abandon. Kanji quickly picked up a traffic cone and threw it overhand. "Eat this, assholes!"

His aim was as true as it was insanely lucky: the cone landed almost perfectly over the lead biker's head, blocking his view. Briefly screaming and using his hands to remove the cone, his vehicle lost control and fell sideways. As biker and motorcycle alike skidded down the road, the other cyclists behind him either tried to immediately brake or speed up to avoid the collision. It was in vain as soon every racer crashed or collided with each other in the biggest pile of totaled vehicles in Inaba's history. Bikers either jumped away or found themselves rolling off of the vehicles to avoid any injury worse than a scrape.

"HELL YEAH!" Kanji roared triumphantly, showing off his bicep-polishing gesture. "SUCK IT, DICKHEADS!"

His victory was short-lived as the biker gang, sans their bikes, started to crowd around him like a mob. Most were hurt and scraped, and all were undoubtedly pissed off at him. One biker, with a purple Mohawk and spike-pierced chin, marched over and glared at Kanji face to face.

"You ruined our race, you little shit," he spat. Kanji wondered if the "shit" was emphasized deliberately as he felt spit land on his face.

Just one more reason to kick his ass.

"You're keeping ma up with your racket," Kanji shot back, rubbing the spittle off with the back of his hand. "And everyone else on this street too. It's pissing us off!"

"What about it?" the biker smirked. "You're all just a bunch of old fogies close to death's door, blaming Junes. No one really cares what happens to you and your rural store homes."

Kanji ignored the laughing jeers, and the few others singing the Junes jingle. He could care less about that department store because there were bigger problems he had to take care of first. One of them was standing right in front of him.

"Just take your damn drag race out of here or else!" There, that was the bastard's one and only warning. If they actually back away, then there would no police and his mother would have nothing to worry about. But if they didn't-

The biker leaned forward, scowling. "Or else what, dumbass?"

Then hell would break lose.

Kanji immediately leaned back and threw a head-butt at the Mohawk biker, knocking him out in one strike. The ringing split on his forehead was worth seeing the guy's eyes roll up into the back of his head, as well as the stunned silence of the mob.

Before they could recover and rush him, Kanji lifted the biker's body by the shoulders and threw him overhead with a roar. The crowd quickly dispersed to avoid the throw, but two unlucky teens found themselves under his body.

Three down. A shit ton of assholes to go.

Kanji immediately threw his arms up to guard his face and crouched down. He had been in enough street fights to know how important it is to conserve energy. Right now the bikers were wasting theirs trying to pummel him, from his arms to his legs and sides. The most they got out of him was a pained grunt from a kick too close to his groin, but his guard held.

He endured about a minute of punches and kicks before he shot up and spun his body with fists clenched and extended. Necks, chins, noses, and faces caved from the force of his windmill punches, and the innermost bikers surrounding him were quickly knocked out.

Those still conscious now regarded him with wary distance. Two reached for their flip-knives, holding them improperly and without the right balance. Kanji screamed and tackled the closest biker, who attempted to intercept him with a punch. The bleached haired teen grabbed his arm, slid to a stop, and swung the screaming biker's body at his gang members.

Suddenly realizing the severity of the fight, the remaining bikers warily stepped away while brandishing their hidden knives. Kanji cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders back one at a time, welcoming the challenge.

One knife wielder screamed and charged. Kanji marched in a power gait, casually grabbing the man's hand and bending it so hard it cracked. The biker dropped the knife with an uncharacteristic girly shrill, which allowed the younger teen to deck his face with his other hand. Two more tried to rush him at once, but Kanji simply ducked and punched both their stomachs at once. As they staggered and gasped for breath, they soon found themselves smacked away to the teen's right by a strong backhand. Finally, a screaming, short member held his hand back to throw a straight punch. Kanji simply palmed his face and shoved him down to the ground.

Never once did his gait stop. Not once did he give as much as a passing glance to them.

He had almost forgotten how great it felt beating these bastards up.

Kanji stopped marching as he stared down the last biker member. The road they stood on was littered with unconscious and moaning bodies. Now he just had to take care of one more dumbass biker dick.

…except it was really a dumbass biker chick.

At first Kanji thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, and had assumed everyone was a guy in the cover of the night (except for obviously the flag girl, but she and a few other spectators bailed the moment the fight broke out) But this biker member was now crouching, staring at him with equal parts horror, anger, and amazement, was different. Her body frame was smaller and leaner, which he assumed was just a young kid suckered into some gang group. The orange jacket and sweatpants were baggy enough to hide the features, and he could see a backwards cap on the head, but the face was a dead giveaway. He could clearly see the make-up along the eyes, half-full lips, and long brown hair flowing to the middle of her back.

Unless this was some really ga-…ho-… weird guy, then the person before him was totally a chick.

The two of them stared at one another, still and silent. The biker's fear gave way to impatience and snapped at him. "What's the matter, shit for brains?! Ran out of juice already?"

Kanji realized two things from that dialogue. First, the biker was definitely a girl. The voice was too high to be a guy's and wasn't at all fake or flamboyant. He had never fought girl bikers before, and tended to avoid girls in general.

But the implications soon died away because of the second realization. He knew that voice. "Shana-chan?"

The girl blinked in confusion, and stared at him with dawning realization. It was weird how he could suddenly remember a girl from elementary school, but it was hard to forget that day.

Before the seemingly inevitable breakdown, the street suddenly got brighter from the headlights of a car. Slowing to a stop, the driver stepped out and gazed around. "What in the-?" the driver gawked in dismay. "I've been gone for three days and this happened!?"

The man's figure was hard for Kanji to make out, due to the headlights obscuring him from view. But as the man stepped in front of his car to confront the two of them, he suddenly recognized him as Detective Dojima; a cop who had more often than not arrested him for "disorderly conduct". Like right now.

"Kanji Tatsumi," the cop said in a disappointed tone. "Still up to your old tricks, I see."

For once, Kanji was thankful that a cop showed up. He'd take anything, even jail, to get away from her.

<><><>

Dojima Residence

As far as returns from extended trips went, Shirou wasn't expecting much with Inaba. In fact, his uncle being immediately called up to work and apprehend a local rebel who could singlehandedly beat down a biker gang on the way home was one of the last things he'd expected to happen. Only after active cops arrived on the scene and Dojima was relieved for the night did he tell Shirou and Nanako about Kanji Tatsumi.

"I know him through work, back when he went around crushing local biker gangs since middle school," he said during dinner. "I haven't heard much since you came over Shirou, so I hoped he was attending classes at your high school…"

"But why does he picks fight with them, dad?" Nanako had asked. "Couldn't he have called the police instead?"

"Kanji's always had a problem with authority. If I had to guess, he fought that biker gang because they were keeping his mother up with the noise. A few on duty cops confirmed that they've been getting similar complaints from the residents for all of Golden Week."

"That's a pretty thoughtful gesture," Shirou noted.

"It is," Dojima agreed before frowning. "But also very violent. And the media's going to be eating this up tonight."

True enough, the evening news special showed coverage of the fight's aftermath, with video focus on the downed bikers and Kanji being escorted into a police car. Several neighbors were interviewed and admitted they only saw the fight start after the roaring of motorcycles stopped as if they had all crashed into each other.

And according to the weather report, this coming Saturday was going to be rainy. Two days from now.

All Shirou could think of as he turned in for bed was, "What if Kanji's next?"

<><><>

May 6th, Road to School

Chie groaned, walking the familiar yet dreaded trail back to school. "Why do the holidays have to end so fast?"

Beside her, Yukiko smiled. "Well, at least they were peaceful. The culprit hasn't done anything yet, so we can use all this extra time preparing for mid-terms."

Chie's frown grew. "Ugh, don't remind me."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Chie. We can study at each other's houses like we did last year."

The brown haired teen nodded, only feeling slightly better at her friend's offer. She knew the first tests of the school year were coming up, but she hadn't been studying at all. She wanted to say it was because she was more concerned about rescuing Yukiko from her own castle, but a large part of her procrastinated in favor of exercise.

She was also feeling worried about if Shirou had had a good Golden Week or not, and if his guardian Taiga Fujimura was okay. She really hoped so, because she liked her from the first moment they met. And Chie knew that Yukiko would like her too.

Yukiko looked ahead and noticed two boys standing and talking. "Oh, there's Emiya-kun and Hanamura-kun."

Chie's head snapped up to see that her friend was right. With a smile, she immediately sprinted over, waving and crying "Emiya-kun! You're back!" Yukiko blinked and hurried over to her friends.

Whatever conversation they were having (apparently Hanamura was about to ask him a question), it was casually dropped as they waved in greeting. "Good morning, Satonaka. You too, Amagi."

Chie stopped herself next to the red-haired teen, smiling. It was a surprise for Yukiko to see her friend cheer up so suddenly. "So how was Golden Week? And your guardian? Is she okay?"

"Fuji-nee's doing well," said Emiya. "And Nanako and I had a great time over there. I want to say Doji-nii (that is Dojima-san) did as well, but…"

"His uncle got K.O.-ed," Hanamura grinned in amusement. "By his guardian the first night over, and with a rolled up sheet metal poster no less."

Both girls gasped. "Seriously?!" cried Chie. "I hope he wasn't hurt badly!"

"He was pretty upset at first," Emiya admitted. "But it's hard to stay mad at Fuji-nee. She's, well… she's just Fuji-nee."

It was an explanation that only made sense to Chie. The older woman certainly had a unique flair to her, somewhere between mature and youthful. Taiga Fujimura might as well be in a class of her own. Well, either that or "older Chie", as she sure would be a term Hanamura would use.

"I'm a little confused," Yukiko admitted. "You call this Fuji woman 'sister', but Chie and Hanamura-kun called her your 'guardian'. What happened to your parents?"

An uncomfortable silence passed between them. Chie and Hanamura exchanged uneasy glances, dawning with realization, as they gazed back to a solemn Emiya. Why else would someone have a legal guardian, or spend a year to visit extended family, or even try avoiding mentioning anything about his dad?

"You're kidding," Hanamura murmured. "You mean your step-dad? Kiritsugu Emiya is-?"

Emiya nodded. "Passed away five years ago."

"Oh my gosh," Yukiko paled, and bowed her head deeply. "I-I'm so sorry, Emiya-kun! I didn't mean to intrude or sound so insensitive."

"No, no, it's fine. I didn't mean to put off admitting this for so long either, but the murders kept coming up. And…" he trailed off, but shook his head. "A lot of things happened during Golden Week. Stuff I can't really say here."

"But your guardian's fine, right?" Chie asked again, not liking the implied notion of "a lot of things".

Emiya winced and laughed. "Oh, she's fine all right, after what she did to me."

"Well, I say we meet up at our special secret headquarters after school today," said Hanamura, as the awkward tension was now gone. "We can talk all about it there."

Emiya stared at him incredulously, and Yukiko's eyes widened excitedly. "We have one of those?" they both asked in contrasting tones.

Seeing Hanamura smile and mentally boast, Chie shook her head. She was already walking back to school before quipping, "It's just a food court table at Junes, isn't it?"

"Hey!"

<><><>

After School, Junes

Sure enough, the Investigation Team's "special headquarters" was a food court table in public view of everyone around them. And it wasn't just a corner table hugging the wall either, but a round table sitting in the middle. This revelation did little to ease Shirou's worries as he saw everyone around them eating and talking amongst themselves. "Is this really a good place to hold a meeting?"

In his seat across from the magus, Yosuke waved his hand dismissively. "You worry too much, dude. Tell me, what do you hear right now?"

"Nothing noteworthy," Shirou shrugged. "Just some people hanging out among themselves. There're also two women and a man speaking by phone right now."

Yosuke raised both eyebrows and looked at their surroundings incredulously until he identified the three individuals the red-head described, including a girl around their age standing just outside the food court and behind the magus. "Seriously, man? Is this also a… thing?"

"Not exactly," he explained as he shook his head, breaking off from his light meditative state. "It's more like a side benefit of developing the mindset necessary for… doing things."

"Can all guys like you do that?" Yosuke asked him, sounding a little disappointed.

"I don't know, but even if they can't there are alternatives, like a Fami—," Shirou cut himself off and frowned.

"Well, the point is no one else can hear us," said Yosuke. "It's called 'hiding in plain sight'. As long as we act and talk casually around here, then no one would have any reason to suspect we're hiding a secret. I mean, the police arrested us because we were looking suspicious anyway."

"You were the suspicious one, idiot!" Satonaka glared. Yosuke coolly shrugged back.

Shirou had to admit, it was not something a magus would think to do. Normally they would cast bounded fields and hide in seclusion than openly expose themselves. "Even so, we have policemen looking everywhere. If we have to hold meetings here, I would prefer to play this safe and go by some sort of code word."

Yosuke smiled. "Spoken like a true leader. And it makes me proud as your advisor to say: 'way ahead of you.'"

Yosuke reached into his school bag and pulled out a single sheet of paper that looked like a written resume of sorts.

"What is it?" Shirou asked as he was handed the paper.

"A character sheet for Dungeons and Dragons. I've been working on them since after Amagi-san's, I mean, 'Konohana Sakuya's' rescue." Amagi gave a knowing giggle.

Shirou blinked and read the paper over. He wasn't too familiar with pen and paper games like Dungeons and Dragons, but he knew they were immensely popular for groups of gamers. A few words caught his eye, such as "Sorcerer/Paladin" under Class, and "Izanagi" under Name. "Our characters are based off of our Personas."

"Yep," Yosuke grinned. "I know you're new to this sort of thing, but we can do the actual playing over at Teddie's place. Here is more of a trial run on what we plan to do for our next campaigns, so don't worry if you don't get all the rules down yet."

Shirou looked up from his stat sheet to Yosuke, who winked at him. Exchanging quick glances to the girls showed that they had their own copies and seemed keen on playing along. The masquerade was so perfect in its simplicity, and that even a paranoid magus would overlook them passionately roleplaying a well-known pen and paper game together.

Hiding in plain sight indeed.

"As you wish, Jiraiya," Shirou smiled back, both amazed and proud of his friend's endeavors.

"Perfect," the auburn teen grinned. "Now, let me get you up to speed; you're Izanagi, the wandering Sorcerer from a far off town, and had recently been blessed as a Paladin upon arriving in the Yasoba region. You met and helped the wind Rogue Jiraiya (that's me), who was being chased by Warrior guard Tomoe."

"That was my idea," 'Tomoe' grinned to 'Jiraiya's' chagrin.

"Anyway, the three of us get together through some long-contrived means that we don't need to go over again and help rescue priestess Cleric Konohana Sakuya. We know it was an attempted kidnapping and murder after two civilians suffered the same fate, but are still trying to figure out how and why. Where we last left off, you, Izanagi, left for a pilgrimage back home while the three of us went on an important side quest. So, without further ado; how'd it go?"

Shirou smiled and recounted his Golden Week trip as best he could, taking care to stick to the roleplay of his wandering sorcerer paladin (if such a class is even possible). From his family meeting the flower girl (Sakura) and the kendo woman (Taiga), to finding a cursed meadow where two undead monsters chased him throughout town. Luckily, or unluckily as he later saw it, the Cleric Kotomine assisted him and told him some unkind things about his late father. The kendo woman got mad and threw him out, and later gave him plenty of gifts for his trip back, such as his bow and arrows.

"Sweet," 'Jiraiya' smiled. "With ranged weapons, fighting the Shadows will be even easier."

"By the way, what was this important side quest you three partook in?" asked 'Izanagi'. His friends flinched and looked at one another with pained expressions.

"'Important', he says," the tomboy huffed under her breath.

"W-well, it was a learning experience," the raven haired girl admitted.

Shirou was now curious and a little worried. "Guys? What happened while I was gone?"

The girls looked expectantly at Yosuke/Jiraiya, who groaned. "W-well, a day after you left…"

The recounted story used code-names and referred to Teddie as the "bear", but Shirou got the gist of it. Yosuke and Satonaka thought it would be a good idea to train Yukiko in the use of her Persona. Teddie tried flirting with Amagi, got her mad, and fled back to her castle dungeon (apparently she didn't share her Shadow's sentiment on the word "scoring"). After a few floors of fighting and trekking through Shadows, they found Teddie running back to them, and away from a monstrously powerful Shadow. They initially tried to fight it, but between its resistance to physical attacks and immunity to their strongest elements, they had to change plans and run away as well.

Shirou winced at the description of the Contrarian King, as Teddie dubbed it. "That bad, huh?"

"Teddie wants your help as soon as you can," Yosuke added. "He's been a panicked wreck since."

"I see. We'll head over there later then. Which reminds me; does anyone here know about Kanji Tatsumi?"

"I know him," Amagi immediately nodded. "His mother runs the textile shop that our inn gets shipments from. I actually haven't seen him as much these last few years, though…"

"Oh, he was on that news special last night, wasn't he?" asked Satonaka. "Something about beating that biker gang last night, all by himself."

"The noise from their racing was driving everyone crazy, but they always bailed before the cops showed up," said Yosuke. "I guess if this Kanji's beating up biker gangs, he's not in one, huh?"

"It's going to be raining tomorrow," Shirou reminded them dryly. "Kanji's the most recent face to appear on the news, and if our hypothesis is right so far…"

The others nodded, as the rest didn't need to be said. The Midnight Channel would be on, and another clue to who the culprit may target next.

"Although I'm not sure if we can rule 'that' as the culprit's main calling card," Yosuke insisted. "What appears on the Midnight Channel is a warning, but he still hasn't put the other person in yet."

Shirou blinked. "What other person?"

Chie frowned. She was afraid this might come up sooner or later. Hearing about what had happened on his trip back to Fuyuki made her wonder if things might have gone smoother if she had just told him the truth from the beginning. She had just gone over her issues with her Shadow, and already she was keeping secrets from others.

So, she gulped and decided to come clean before things got more awkward. "Your guardian, Taiga Fujimura."

Shirou's surprised and horrified look didn't make things easier, but she pressed on while staring at the table. "It was raining on the night of the news special she was on, and she appeared on the Midnight Channel right after. We didn't know who the person was and you weren't picking up our calls that night. I went over to ask you before you left for the holiday break, and when I realized it was her..."

She hung her head low in shame. "I just didn't have the heart to tell you. You looked so happy and excited for Golden Week. Holidays are supposed to be fun, and telling you that someone close to you could be next would have ruined it for you. But it got ruined anyway, because now she knows your secret. I'm sorry, Emiya-kun."

A long silence passed as she felt everyone staring her down. Hanamura was startled but seemed to be nodding at her reasoning. Yukiko was shocked as if Chie had lied to them, which was a fair assumption. And Emiya… he stared at her as if trying to read her intentions, and his gaze softened each passing moment. It did little to make her feel better, though.

"I see," he said finally. "Thank you, Satonaka."

Huh?

"While I am upset you kept this from me, I'm more upset at myself that I know you're right. If you had told me, I would have spent more time being paranoid and less time spending it with my family. Maybe I could have been more careful. Maybe those Yomi demons wouldn't have come after me if I avoided the park. And maybe I wouldn't have accidentally told her I was really playing a Sorcerer Paladin character with you guys."

It took the others a moment to realize what he meant, and they stared at him in surprise. "You mean she didn't before?" Chie asked. She would have thought that at least the family from Shirou's hometown was in the know before, given how close he seemed with Taiga.

"My dad was insistent that I didn't tell anyone," he said before looking rather sheepish. "But you know, I think it was one mistake I was glad to make telling you guys because, well… it's nice not having to hide it all the time."

"Yes," Yukiko nodding in understanding, and exchanged smiles with Chie. "It's a very wonderful feeling."

"At least until after we get our asses kicked," Yosuke dryly noted with a frown.

Almost immediately after the mood was ruined, and in a complete reversal to her calm smile, Yukiko burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Ahahahahahahahaha! That's so true, ahahahahahaha!"

Yosuke was honestly surprised that he made her laugh, while Chie was scolding Yosuke and unsuccessfully trying to get her friend to calm down. Shirou just watched them with a small smile. Before Inaba, he doubted he would ever be sitting around others and sharing conversations like this. It didn't matter whether it was preparing to save someone else or just meeting up after a long weekend; there was always something to talk about and he could tell from the Fool Social link that they all wanted to be here.

It felt good to have friends.

"All right guys. Let's go pay Teddie a visit."

<><><>

May 8th, Samegawa Flood Plain

As it turned out, Kanji's silhouette did show up on the Midnight Channel, but all the Investigation Team could do was wait (especially to recover from their fierce fight against Contrarian King). Kanji was apparently still in custody so unless the culprit was posing as a police officer, they would have a hard time putting him in the TV world.

At the very least, this meant that they could focus on mid-terms without any problems.

Most of them, anyway.

"Are you sure you don't need to study?" Shirou asked between arm stretches.

"I AM studying!" Chie insisted as she bounced on her feet from side to side. "I'm getting my body pumped so I can cram all my notes for tomorrow!"

Shirou frowned but decided not to comment on how studying should work. If it actually worked, then he had no reason to comment otherwise. And if he was being honest, he enjoyed having the break from studying almost as much as Satonaka. They were both the most physically active people they knew around Inaba, so it stood to reason that they would continue to meet to help each other.

"Today's the day," Chie said to herself, starting to bend up and down for toe touch stretches. "Today's definitely the day!"

"And what a day it is. Just look at those leg muscles!"

Shirou turned away, ignoring the Duke's words. He came to exercise with Satonaka, not stare at her legs.

His wandering gaze stopped as he saw his little sister walking along the road above them. "Hey Nanako!" he waved and smiled.

Nanako stopped and turned to him. Smiling as well, she hurried down the steps to the riverbed. "Oh, big bro! And Chie, too! What are you guys doing here?"

"Hey Nanako-chan," Chie waved, just finishing her stretches. "Just getting ready for training!"

The smaller girl tilted her head to her side. "Training? Then, who are you fighting with?"

"Why, Emiya-kun of course!" she boasted, but flushed at the implications and backpedaled. "Uh, I mean myself! Maybe?"

Nanako giggled. "That's cool! You're a hero like big bro!"

"Uh, well," Chie stammered, flushing at the praise. Because seriously, a hero like Shirou? She'd never reach that level… "So anyway, what brings you out here Nanako-chan?"

"It's Mother's Day," she answered. Chie winced internally at what should be a sensitive topic, but the younger girl just smiled and walked closer to the riverbed. "She's not here anymore, but we always used to play by this stream before. I don't have anything to give her, but I hope she doesn't mind."

"I'm sure you do," Shirou said. "Maybe there's something you could put at your family altar? So she can see it?"

Nanako's face brightened with realization. "The flowers! My teacher taught me and the class how to make origami flowers! I still have them back home, too! Thanks, big bro!"

"Anytime," he smiled, patting her head and earning a giggle. Chie watched the scene play out with a little envy. If only she had a little sister like Nanako. Well, I should at least get something nice for my mom today. Maybe a good grade for my mid-terms?

As Nanako turned to Chie, her face once again blossomed into awe. "Wow! A ladybug!"

"L-ladybug?!" Chie's voice cracked. Almost immediately she spun around with her legs spread and arms up. "Where is it? Where's the bug?!"

Nanako pointed at the older girl. "There! It's on your shoulder!"

Chie snapped her head to her left shoulder, and true enough there was a small, red and black-spotted round bug positioned on her jacket. It looked so small and innocent, but it was still a beetle hiding so many jointed legs underneath its shell.

Her face started to turn blue. "Uuuuuuuuuuh-!"

"That's amazing!" Nanako gushed. "They say that ladybugs bring good luck to whoever they land on! Isn't that-!"

"AAAAAAAAAH!" The kung-fu girl shrieked as she leaped straight into the air, startling Shirou and Nanako. Being closest to Shirou, she latched onto his body for dear life. For his part, the magus stammered and tried to steady himself as the panicked girl's arms and legs held fast.

"Get it off!" she whimpered with clenched eyes. "Getitgetitgetitgetitgetitgetit!"

"N-Nanako?" Shirou turned to his confused sister. "A little help, please?"

She was confused, but nodded and leaned towards Chie's shoulder. With an extended finger, she reached close to Chie's shoulder and allowed the cooperative little beetle to crawl over.

"It's off now," she said, staring carefully at the ladybug.

Chie, watching Nanako carefully direct the bug off her shoulder, exhaled a sigh of relief. "Thanks Nanako-chan. Thanks Emiya-"

She turned to the magus… who she was still wrapped around. And whose face was in very close proximity with hers. "-kun." She squeaked the last syllable, more out of shock than to finish the sentence.

Gently, Shirou's arms reached for her sides to steady her as she hopped her legs back down, and pulled away. Neither teen said a word and glanced away from each other thanks to the very compromising situation they had been in. It was worse for Shirou, hearing the joyous uproar of Eligor in his subconscious.

At least Nanako didn't notice. She was staring at the ladybug on her finger before looking up to the jittery girl. "You don't like bugs, Chie?"

Chie fought back the urge to jump away from Nanako's finger. "I don't like anything with jointed legs or creepy eyes or squirmy bodies or-" she shuttered to stop her growing list. "Just thinking about b-bugs makes me sick!"

"But ladybugs are cute," Nanako insisted, smiling down at the rather complacent beetle. "Like grasshoppers. They wouldn't hurt anyone either."

Chie groaned and slumped in defeat. "You sound just like Yukiko. She's fine around bugs too…" Of course her best friend was more ideal than her. She literally wouldn't hurt a fly. But her? She would jump in a panic over a tiny spotted beetle.

Shirou might have overlooked this if not for Eligor, who was done jesting and laughing at his expense. "She was struggling enough with her inferiority complex, but now it grows in the face of her fears. The poor dame."

"There's nothing to be ashamed about, Satonaka," he said to her. "Everyone has fears, like your fear of thunder-"

"Don't remind me," she snapped coldly and bitterly. The thunderstorm yesterday was one of the worst, and it didn't help that some idiot classmates kept talking about people getting struck and killed by lightning. The only thing that calmed her down was Shirou, who she also latched onto when the power went out before he left to fix it himself.

Everyone in class remembered him as the Fake Janitor, incidentally a title he already earned from school back in Fuyuki. She just saw it as another day being him: a clueless idiot with a kind heart.

"Sorry," he winced. "If it makes you feel any better, I have pyrophobia."

A fear of fire? Chie wondered. That would explain why he froze up when Shadow Yukiko set the throne room ablaze.

"All I'm saying is that what you fear or dislike is a part of who you are, and there's nothing wrong with that. Some might even think it to be a part of your feminine charm."

Her eyes flew open. "Femi…?" Did he really just say that? Did he think she had feminine charm?

"Besides, a lot of kids in my class don't like bugs either," Nanako assured her, watching as the ladybug flew off her finger. "It's not just you, Chie."

Chie switched gazes between Shirou and Nanako, both of smiling and supporting. "Heheh… and here I was thinking about how silly I looked back there. Thanks guys. Now then!" With a chipper smile and confident pose, she turned to the young girl. "We were in the middle of training, but you're more than welcome to join us, Nanako-chan!"

"Okay!"

"Great, now let's start with a kata. Your just move your arms out like this, keep your knees bent-"

While Shirou focused on his own routine, Chie personally guided Nanako through the motions. Perhaps Nanako was a bright and quick study, or Chie was a good teacher, but something told him that she made good progress for a first lesson.

Half an hour later, the session ended and Nanako hurried home before dusk. Shirou and Chie waved her off, though Chie sighed once the girl was long gone.

"I got to get over my fears," she told herself. "I don't want to look like a sissy next to Nanako-chan."

"You're not a sissy, Satonaka," said Shirou. "You're one of the bravest and strongest people I know."

Chie barely fought back a blush. "R-really?"

"You even fought Shadows that resembled beetles," he added. "And back then your fear didn't act up."

She blinked in equal parts amazement and horror. "You're right," she started to grin. "All I have to do is see them as Shadows when I stomp 'em! Bugs might still get to me, but there's no way I can lose to a bunch of Shadows!"

"A little unorthodox, but at least her passion's back."

The Chariot link grew ever so slightly, but Shirou was now past the point of cross-examining it. It was as Igor and Margaret told him before; the Social Link was a mutual bond of trust, and there had to be a reason why Satonaka would trust him after that ladybug episode.

His musing stopped when her fist instantly smacked his shoulder; not too rough to imply anger, but certainly not gentle either. Her glare directed at him was also a bit of a bluff. "If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll kill you."

"Noted," he replied with a smile. "Should we stop here for today? We have mid-terms tomorrow after all."

"Yeah, you're right," she answered, only slightly deterred at the reminder of testing. "I got all the exercise I need, so I just need to train my brain too!"

<><><>

May 12th, After School, Shopping District

"Are you serious about this?" Yosuke asked her as he tried to keep up with her brisk pace.

"Dead serious," Chie huffed. "It's the only way."

"All I'm saying is that wishes for better grades are common for emas. Heck, I'm pretty sure a lot of failing students specifically wished for that before taking mid-terms. You're just beating a dead horse here."

"Shut up!" and she bolted further ahead.

Shirou and Yukiko, following close behind, exchanged worried glances. The mid-terms had officially ended today, and the results would be posted for everyone to read a week from now. They were both confident in their answers, and Yosuke seemed more relieved to be done than fretting over any notion that he did good or bad.

But Chie was stressed, and immediately compared whatever answers she could recall with Yukiko. To her shock and dismay, every answer she got was wrong, even the tallest mountain in the Solar System. She was certain she got it right with "Mount Everest"! Damn that King Moron for making a trick question!

Needless to say, Yosuke heckled and teased her, one thing led to another, and she decided to go to the Tatsuhime Shrine. Perhaps the gods above would take pity on her and make it so that her grade was within the top 50%? Or better yet, make it so she wouldn't screw up future tests?

As Chie pondered, Yukiko noticed a familiar place from her daily inn errands. "Oh, there's the Textile shop," she pointed ahead.

Just next to a red torii gate and stone stairway climbing up the hillside was a small building with an orange wooden sign erected above reading "Tatsumi Textiles". As with many family owned businesses of the Shopping District, it was a house that doubled as a store, but it was one of the few remaining in business. It was most likely the endorsement of the Amagi Inn buying their clothes and dyes that kept them afloat.

"You think Kanji's back yet?" Shirou wondered. He tried asking his uncle before, but he refused to talk about work to him, especially in front of Nanako.

"Let's swing by after," Yosuke suggested. "We can think of an excuse in the meantime."

For now, the students followed Chie up the stairway to the now abandoned shrine.

<><><>

Tatsuhime Shrine

For a place that was abandoned, the hill shrine was in a worse state than Shirou thought. With the building closed off, an old offertory box was set at the top of the steps for donations. Traditional thick rope and talismans were seen both hanging above the box and tied around a thick tree to the side of the building. A pile of stones formed a makeshift path branching from the left of the tile road, leading to a small yashiro under a small rusty red toriigate. Shisa-like animal statues and stone built lanterns paired up on each side of the tile road, as well as the yashiro. The dirt looked malnourished with stems of weeds growing, but at there were some healthy trees with plenty of leaves to provide shade for the bugs crawling around.

"Whatever happened to the priestess that lived here?" he asked aloud, still drinking in the entirety of the shrine.

"No one knows actually," Yukiko answered. "Some even believe that the shrine had no one to begin with. Still, children love playing up here all the time, so someone must be taking care of it after all this time."

Chie ran ahead and made a beeline for the shrine. After dropping some yen in the offertory box, she stepped down and turned to a small pole-like stand next to it. She delicately picked up a new plaque, oddly with no front image or symbol, and started to write. "'I want to be smarter. – Chie Satonaka".' Perfect!"

"That's it?" Yosuke blinked. "Weren't you going to say something like, 'I wish to pass this exam'?"

Chie rolled her eyes even as she hung the ema in place and walked back to the others. "Like I'm going to waste a wish on that. If I'm smarter, not only will I not have to worry about future exams, but I'll be able to do all sorts of smart things. It's like getting two skillets with one stick!"

Sweat rolled down Yosuke's head, but he chose not to comment on her butchered metaphor. For her sake, I hope that wish does come true.

"That's an excellent idea, Chie," Yukiko smiled. "And I know you can do it if you apply yourself."

"Thanks, but it's not like I have your talent in studying, Yukiko."

"Well, how about when the summer term finals come up," Yosuke suggested with a smile. "We all get together at my place for private lessons?"

The raven haired beauty let out a single, startled gasp. Before Yosuke knew it, his head was snapped to the side and his cheek burned in pain. "Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"I expected better out of you, Hanamura-kun!" she scolded. "I can't believe you, making off-color jokes like that!"

"I was talking about a study group!"

Yukiko blinked owlishly. "Study group?" She then let out a silent "Oh" and looked away, embarrassed. "S-sorry. The inn's been getting some strange visitors lately and my hand moved without thinking."

"You should have just shrugged it off," the headphone-clad teen whined, nursing his cheek.

"To be fair, anyone else would have found what you said creepy and wrong," Chie frowned. "I mean, 'private lessons' at 'your place'? Really?"

"How is this my fault when I'm the victim?! Shirou, back me up here!" He turned to ask for help from their leader, but he wasn't standing with them anymore. "Shirou?"

They quickly saw Shirou in front of the ema stand, intently focused and reading the small collection of wishes. "I never realized."

"Emiya-kun?" Yukiko didn't like the tone of voice right now. Too soft and defeated, just like hers from before.

"I never realized the scope of it," he said vaguely. Curious and concerned, the others gathered around him and read the ema wishes.

"I want things to go well with
the person I like!"

"We want Koro to come back!
Please, god. -Saito"

"God, please give me some friends.
-Yoshitaka"

"I have nothing to live for. I want to
recapture the joy of life."

"I'm worried for Haruka-chan.
I wish she could smile more."

"Huh," said Yosuke. "Quite unusual to see wishes like these around. But what scope are you talking about?"

The red-haired magus clenched his hands hanging from his sides, and his face morphed into one of guilt. "Don't you guys get it? These are wishes asking for help."

A stunned silence filled the shrine, broken only by leaves rustling in the wind. Normally ema wishes were about love, health, and happiness. But Shirou was right; these were each written by someone asking for help.

And Shirou stared at each of them, torn and haunted.

Yosuke patted his shoulder in understanding. "Look, Shirou, sometimes you just have to focus on the big picture. I mean, stuff like a lost dog or no friends? Yeah, it's pretty bad. But we promised Teddie that we'd catch the guy that's been throwing people into his world. What we're doing now is a big responsibility."

"But that doesn't make these problems any less prevalent," he argued back.

"I get that, but we can better help everyone in this town by catching the criminal and giving them some relief. These emas aren't important enough to worry about."

"'Not important enough'?" Shirou echoed, his now scowling face directed at the auburn haired boy. "Is that what you think? That the problems not most obvious to us should be someone else's? That we should look the other way and move on with our lives? That their wishes mean absolutely nothing to us?!"

"Emiya-kun?" Chie had only seen their leader angry a few times before; first when snapping at her from telling the police about the TV world, and second when Shadow Yukiko allegedly killed Hanamura. This time was different, as he seemed personally upset at Hanamura's words. What happened to him to make him feel this way?

Yosuke felt his own anger rise, but he could tell, like Satonaka, that for some reason the ema wishes, or the notion of them, meant something important to Shirou. Exactly what, he didn't know, but the guy needed to listen to reason.

And he did so by smacking the back of Shirou's head like usual.

Yukiko and Chie both gasped at his brazen assault. "Hanamura-kun!" the former cried.

Shirou grunted, angered and betrayed by his friend. "Yosuke, what the-"

"I just said 'focus on the big picture,' you idiot," he cut him off, surprising everyone once again with his cold authority. "We're high school students playing Dungeons and Dragons in our free time while a serial murderer is on the loose. Saki-senpai's dead because of that bastard, and I followed you because you were dead-set on stopping him too."

With building momentum, Yosuke grabbed Shirou by his undershirt and pulled him threateningly close. "I don't get what your problem is, but in case you haven't been out from under your rock? The world sucks. If there's one thing I can agree with my Shadow on, it's that. Third world countries are killing each other, children all over the world are starving, world disasters pop up every other year, and I can only guess that's the tip of the iceberg for those not in the know of you-know-what.

"You may think your Persona or magic tricks can bring world peace, but we're still human here. I'm being a realist in focusing on the problems only I know I can fix. And that's stopping a serial murderer before he gets someone else. Don't you dare ever assume I don't care otherwise, because if you do, I'll kick your ass Jiraiya-style!"

The girls exchanged worried glances with each other and the boys in deadlock. Shirou had long lost his scowl when Yosuke began his tirade, and had listened intently. He had realized that in the heat of the moment he displaced his own feelings from past memories on the ema wishes. And in a startling moment, it almost drove his friends away, as he felt and saw the emotions through their faces.

"I…I'm sorry Yosuke," he admitted. "I don't know what came over me." Admittedly it was acts of distant anger that had managed to drive away others in Fuyuki from being close to him, and for once he regretted showing the others this bad side of his.

But Yosuke sighed and released his shirt, as if his apology was enough. "Probably your bleeding heart getting a little excited," he joked. "But that's one of the things I like about you, I guess. You help keep me honest."

"He means it too." Pixie supplied.

The boys grinned in good nature, and the girls exhaled relieved sighs to themselves. "You are right," the magus frowned. "A lot in this world isn't fair or safe for others, and most people are unaware of how bad things really are. For years I spent training myself, never making any progress but kept assuring myself that I would, and that I could make a difference. But here, standing in front of these ema plaques, it's hitting me that I'm nowhere even close. I haven't made a difference at all."

"That's not true," said Yukiko. "You and the others saved me not too long ago. In fact, we're all here alive because of you, Emiya-kun."

Shirou blushed at her earnest praise. Something about the young heiress' words made his deeds seem all the more special. "Y-yes, well, it was still my fault in the first place that Yosuke and Satonaka got involved. They wouldn't have been in danger of their Shadows if not for me."

"Perhaps, but if you had fought my Shadow without Chie or Hanamura-kun…"

…Shirou honestly hadn't thought of it that way before. "I guess you're right," he allowed, feeling everyone's smiles directed at him.

"But still," he continued. "Saving people is not where I plan to stop. If I want to call myself an Ally of Justice someday, I need to help everyone in need. Starting here."

"A-ally of justice?" Yukiko stared at the redhead with wide, dazed eyes, already mentally building him atop a pedestal.

Pretending to ignore her friend's sudden glow (as she knew it would go away soon), Chie asked, "What do you mean here? You're not thinking-"

"I'm going to make these wishes come true," Shirou announced. "Every last one."

"I hate to be the downer realist here again," Yosuke frowned. "But there're hundreds of plaques hanging there. Even considering the relevant ones that were put here for like, a year tops, there's so many people in town and almost impossible to find the right one. You can't possibly grant them all."

Shirou silently stared at the stand, as if ignoring his friend's warning. Then he reached out and grabbed an ema. "I can start with this one."

Chie's eyes widened. "Wait, that's my-!"

"Satonaka. I hope you don't mind but I'm going to borrow your ema as a reminder and a promise. With Yosuke and Amagi as my witnesses, I'll see to it that you reach the level of intelligence you seek and pass a school exam with high marks."

Chie could only stop and stare at him. He was merely standing in front of her with the plaque at hand held up at eye level, but it looked like one of the most heroic poses she had ever seen. And his earnest speech to personally help her study; had it been anyone else, she'd either laugh it off or kick them, depending on how forward and raunchy they were thinking. But she instinctively knew that Shirou's word was as good as gold itself.

She made the smallest of smiles, the briefest of nods, and the softest of affirmative noises. "Mh."

It was, quite frankly, adorable for her.

Yosuke, noticing the very subdued reaction from the tomboy, glared suspicious daggers at the culprit. "All right, what's your secret? Some sort of innate magecraft sorcery?"

Shirou blinked. "Excuse me?"

"When I offered to study with the girls, I got a stinging cheek that I'm pretty sure has faded into a red handprint by now. (Shirou tilted his head for a better look. "Wow, you know you're ri-") But when you said you'd help Satonaka study, she gives probably the most over the top moe reactions possible."

As if snapping out of a trance, Chie blinked and fumed at them. "N-no I wasn't! And even if I was, it's because he didn't make it sound like a creepy pick-up line!"

"I did not make a creepy pick-up line!"

"Studying together certainly sounds fun," Yukiko nodded. "Is it all right if we study together as well, Emiya-kun?"

Yosuke turned to Yukiko in dismay. "Are you kidding me?!"

"I don't mind," the magus shrugged. "But I was offering to help Satonaka, and you seem to be well off academically so far."

"Well, we can all study together then. Between the two of us, I'm sure Chie will be a super genius!"

"Hey! Don't forget me! I can offer lessons too!"

*SMACK!*

"Oww! God dammit, the other cheek?"

"Oh, were you talking about studying again? Sorry."

"Then how come you don't sound like it this time?!"

Chie broke into laughs, and Yukiko followed shortly after. Shirou smiled and patted Yosuke's shoulder for comfort, who was downcast and rubbing his new sore cheek. As the four students started to leave the shrine, it seemed like the perfect end of an otherwise normal day for them.

But it wasn't over yet.

Shirou stopped walking. It was like before from the Fuyuki Central Park, when he felt the presence of someone, or something, watching him. It didn't have the same killing intent as the Yomi demons, but it still unnerved him greatly.

"Guys," he asked slowly. "Anyone else getting the feeling that we're being watched?"

The others turned to him in confusion, before looking uncomfortable themselves. "Now that you mention it..." said Yosuke.

Chie quickly noticed the source, and pointed to above the shrine. "Look! Up there!"

Everyone followed her gaze, and saw the shape of an animal just before it jumped. With surprising agility and acrobatics, the four-legged animal landed perfectly before them, its back facing the entrance they came from.

It was a fox with an orange coat and wearing a red and pink heart-patterned apron. The tail length and weight of its body from the landing implied it to be of adult maturity. Its ears were partially cut along the edges, and scars were seen all over its face, back, and left leg.

Perhaps more startling was the ema plaque hanging from its mouth.

"It's just staring at us," Yosuke whispered, trying his hardest not to flip out from being jumped by an animal.

"What do you think it's waiting for?" Chie asked.

"Maybe it wants to give us the ema?" Yukiko suggested.

The fox moved its head back. It was almost like it gestured for them to come closer.

Exchanging quick glances, it became unanimous to them that the leader should do it. Shirou walked slowly to the fox, careful not to startle it, and was both relieved and perplexed by how calm and still it was. The fox's eyes stared at him with serious focus, its behavior showcasing its intelligence and awareness of his presence.

Shirou's hand edged just under the fox's mouth, and accepted the ema as it was let go. The first thing he noticed was the odd, brittle texture of a leaf stuck on the back of the plaque; it was unlike any shape of plant-life he had ever seen. Then he read the wish written on it:

"Please help Grandpa's legs get better. –Keita"

The fox's ears twitched once, and then it sprinted away behind the shrine.

"Hey, wait!" Shirou called, but the fox was already gone.

"Oh, not every day you see young'uns like you around here."

Forgetting the fox at the moment, the four teens noticed an old man limping his way toward them. "Not much to see here though, especially now that the priestess here has passed away. I come by to tidy things up once in a while to pay her back, but-"

At this, the man cringed and slumped down. His hand reached for his side to comfort it. "-but my legs have been actin' up lately."

Yukiko knelt next to the old man's side. "That's awful. Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"Wouldn't be able to afford it," he frowned. "All I can spare goes to the shrine, and it barely has enough to keep goin'. I don't know what's worse; not being able to maintain the shrine, or not visiting Keita anymore."

"Keita?"

"My grandson."

Shirou looked between the old man and the ema the fox just handed him. Could the fox have known about the old man and his grandson? Is that why it gave him this ema, to let him know?

If so, then what's with the leaf? It was so unusual that Shirou couldn't even begin to discern the shape of it.

As the magus was fiddling with both the leaf and ema given to him, the old man slowly righted himself to standing with Yukiko's help. He stopped and stared at Shirou's hand after the first step. "Th-that leaf!" he pointed, shaking in both age and awe. "Where did you get it?"

"You've seen this before, sir?" Shirou asked.

"Aye, way back when. My grandmother always used to say a leaf shaped like that was the best cure-all herb around, including ache pain! But I thought it didn't grow in the mountains anymore." The man's legs shook, holding up only because of Yukiko's supporting arm. His gaze turned to Shirou's eyes, pleading. "P-please young man! Can I trouble you to spare that leaf?!"

Shirou paused, almost taken aback by the man's plea. It was a surreal feeling, being asked for help personally when he would just act to the general danger. He had forgotten how long he wanted to feel needed, and he wasn't disappointed to finally embrace it.

"Of course," he said, and handed over the leaf. The old man cradled it gently, careful not to wrinkle or crack it.

"Ooooh, this is it, this is really it," he smiled, and stuck the leaf over his pant leg. "Now if I remember this right… yes, it's working!"

The old man's smile grew, and he was standing upright as if decades younger. He then jumped and clicked the heels of his shoes together. "Amazing! The pain I've been feeling for who knows how long! It just up and vanished! In fact, I feel better like I'm thirty years younger! No, fifty! Why, I feel better now than I ever did before!"

The old man began to run around in circles at a speed no man his age would normally be able to do. The whole time, he was laughing in pure glee, and cared not for the bewildered stares that the high school students were all giving him.

He stopped in front of the red-haired teen and shook his hand vigorously. "Oh, bless you young man! You really helped me out! Our meeting here in this shrine was most fortunate! This deserves a little something extra in respects!"

The old man dashed to the offertory box and blindly threw a handful of bills and coins in. Without missing a beat, he made a sharp u-turn out of the shrine, clicking his heels again mid-skip. "Hahaha! I'm coming home, Keita!"

A stunned silence filled the shrine once more, but out of marvel of the man's healed aches and restored vitality.

"Well," Chie spoke after a pregnant pause. "That was a thing."

Yosuke looked back to the offertory box. "Seems kind of a jip that Shirou's the one who gave him the leaf, but the real reward went to the shrine."

As the shrine fox walked back into view with a content expression, Shirou knew better. It knew who Keita's grandfather was, and it knew how to help him in accordance with the wish. It made sure that, by giving the wish and leaf to Shirou, it would reach the grandfather much easier.

Perhaps he was overthinking the fox's reasons, and maybe even willing to ignore how the fox seemed excited at the offerings for whatever reason. But Shirou felt that the fox heard him express concerns and desire to grant the ema wishes. The old man was a test, and he liked to believe he had passed.

Shirou walked up to the shrine and knelt down to the fox's height. The fox turned and stared back at him.

"Thank you," he said.

The fox nodded, taking a liking to the magus.

An unlikely bond between man and animal formed that day, build on a similar desire to spread goodwill. The means and ends might have been different, but the two understood each other, and would grow to learn more about one another.

The Tarot of this bond read the Roman "IX". In the center of the face was a black lantern holding an orange circle light (symbolizing a candle) in the case and a chained red eye at the bottom. The lantern was emitting a yellow light from the circle, with waves of red, purple, red, and blue spreading away from the light source.

Thou art I, and I am thou.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Hermit Arcana.

"Our leader is making small talk with a fox," Yosuke quipped, amused. "The guys at school are never gonna believe this."

"I'm right here and I don't believe it," Chie added.

"Still, that leaf came from the fox, didn't it?" Yukiko asked. "If it had more, it would make exploring 'Teddie's place' so much easier."

Healing magic and medicine could only go so far in prolonging dungeon crawling, and their magic hadn't reached the point of healing more than cuts or scrapes. But having only a few of those leaves could solve a lot of problems.

With a mirthful expression, the fox jumped away again towards the space between the ema stand and the large tree. The students quickly followed, and saw that there was a hidden path to the backyard of the shrine.

Compared to the open front entrance, the backyard was greener yet vastly unkempt. To Shirou's surprise, he could make out three target boards for archery, and a small building further down looked like a storage area with the door ajar. As fascinating as the backyard was, it was soon clear that the fox meant to show everyone the several bushes growing further back.

"Holy shit that's a lot of magic herbs," Yosuke gawked.

Chie turned awkwardly to the fox. "So uh… is it okay if we can have some of those to use?"

The fox jumped back to the shrine steps, and beckoned to the offertory box. Exasperated sweat rolled down the backs of all their heads.

"It's seriously expecting payment?" Yosuke gawked again.

"I-I'm sure it has its reasons," said Yukiko. "From what the old man said, these leaves are probably rare and hard to find."

"I guess the myths are true," Chie sighed. "Foxes really are tricky little sneaks."

<><><>

Tatsumi Textiles

After… intense negotiations with the fox regarding ema wishes and payment (nobody had any idea how Shirou managed to do it), the Investigation Team left the shrine satisfied and on to new business. Namely, to check up on Kanji since his news special aired a week ago.

If the outside had the homey appearance of old fashioned wood, then the inside was more of a Japanese-styled family room than a storefront. Stands, shelves and racks were filled with rolls of many colored clothes, with a few tables for good measure. What could be called a shopping counter was really more like a knee-high desk for eating. And possibly the most out-of-choice item in the store was a white maneki-neko statue sitting precariously on a shelf.

Shirou was too busy admiring the room's odd choice of décor when, in a strange case of déjà vu, he felt a smaller body collide with and knock him down. "Ack!"

His friends immediately huddled around them in concern, and he thought he heard the store clerk gasp out too. "Whoa!" "Emiya-kun!" "Are you two okay?" "Oh my!"

"Y-yeah, I think so," Shirou grimaced and nursed his ringing head. He was lucky that the fall wasn't serious enough to knock him out.

He was just about to ask if the person he ran into was all right when he heard him respond, "We really should stop meeting like this."

The young man was wearing a different set of clothes from before; a navy blue jacket over a white dress shirt and thin blue slacks, but the blue hat clued him in immediately. "I know you. We met during Golden Week."

"And how odd we find ourselves bumping into each other again," the boy smiled. "Literally."

"You know this weirdo?" Yosuke asked. Chie forcibly elbowed him for his lack of tact, but the boy merely twitched at the slight.

"I wouldn't call him that," Shirou frowned at Yosuke, before turning back to the boy. "But it was more of a passing acquaintance after arriving at Fuyuki City. His train was leaving, so we didn't even have time to even introduce ourselves."

"Let's remedy that," the boy held out his hand in greeting. "My name is Naoto Shirogane."

"I'm Shirou Emiya," he returned the handshake, and turned to gesture the others. "And these are my friends from Yasogami High; Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, and-"

"-Yukiko Amagi," the boy cut in, staring intently at her. "Yes, I read about your disappearance. You're the only survivor from the serial murder case thus far."

Although Naoto was casual in his speech, his blunt lead-in to the murder case set off alarm bells to the Investigation Team. As he pulled back his hand, Shirou felt another sickening case of déjà vu. This time it was like comparing the young Naoto to the priest Kotomine. Dangerous.

Chie recovered first, taking a protective stance in front of her best friend. "What are you implying?" she glared.

"Just making an observation," Naoto replied. "Many details of her survival contrast with what happened to the last two victims, from how long she was gone to where she was found. But I digress. This is hardly the appropriate place to discuss such matters, or a comfortable topic for anyone involved. I apologize."

He turned and bowed to the store owner. "Good day, Tatsumi-san." He bowed silently to the students as well, and quickly stepped out.

"What's that guy's problem?" Yosuke frowned.

"I don't know," said Chie. "But I don't like him."

"I'm terribly sorry about that Yuki-chan," the store owner, Mrs. Tatsumi, said to them. "I'm sure he means well."

Yukiko was still frazzled from the boy's words, but ultimately decided to ignore him for now and approach the counter. "I-it's alright, Tatsumi-san."

"Well I assure you it's a relief to everyone that you turned out alright," she nodded with a smile. "And you're as lovely as always, much like your mother when she was your age. What brings you here today?"

Yukiko smiled shyly from her praise. "Well, if it's not too much trouble, can I ask how your son Kanji-kun is doing?"

"He's upstairs in his room right now. That boy from earlier was just escorting him back for the day."

"Shirogane-san?" Shirou asked aloud, glancing back at the entrance he just left through.

Yosuke mirrored his action before exchanging glances. "An escort? We're talking about a guy that could mow down biker gangs, and he has a damn escort!? If anything it should be the other way around."

"Oh dear," the shop owner frowned suddenly. "I let that slip, didn't I?"

"If it's not too much trouble, Tatsumi-san," Yukiko asked. "But could you explain to us the relationship between Kanji-kun and Shirogane-san? I know Kanji-kun and I were never close, but I'm also concerned for him with all the rumors going around about him."

The Tatsumi matriarch sighed. "Nothing personal, Yuki-chan, but I'm afraid I can't. Kanji-kun's situation is… delicate, and the less people in the know the better. But I can assure you he's safe and sound here."

"For now," they realized. Shirou wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. Kanji was most likely in protective custody, and they couldn't effectively warn him of what may happen to him if the culprit was able to hide in plain sight.

Chie, however, had a different revelation. One that caught her wandering eye since Yukiko approached the counter. "Oh my god. This looks just like-"

"Hmm?" Mrs. Tatsumi turned to the nervous girl. "What was that, dear?"

"Oh, uh," Chie stammered, pointing to the blue clothed table in front of her. "This scarf looks really nice! I just thought I've seen it somewhere before."

"Ah, are you acquaintances with Miss Yamano? She ordered that scarf special you know."

The Investigation Team fell very still, as they all stared at the cloth. It was of red and pink colors synthesized together, and decorated with yellow-white butterfly designs about the size of a fist. Yukiko quickly realized that she did see Miss Yamano wear such a scarf as she was checking in the Amagi Inn. Shirou and Yosuke, along with Chie, were reminded of the noose in the bloody poster room from Teddie's world.

Unaware of the teens' silent horror, she continued to explain. "In actuality, she ordered a pair of matching scarves, but in the end only wanted the women's scarf. It left me no choice but to sell this one separately."

As odd and unlikely as it was, there was a connection between Yamano and Kanji. The scarf his mother made, sitting in open view waiting for a new buyer. It made no sense, and it horrified them.

But Shirou knew what to do. "How much?"

Mrs. Tatsumi blinked, turning to him. "I'm sorry?"

"How much for the men's scarf? I'd like to buy it."

Yosuke pulled him around and away from the store owner, who was now standing up to fetch the scarf. "Shirou, what are you thinking? That scarf is likely the reason Kanji is you-know-what!"

"Exactly," he whispered back. "This could be a clue to figuring out 'his' motive and reasons, or why Miss Yamano only bought half of her ordered set. Would you rather it sit here until someone else bought it?"

"Well, no," Yosuke admitted. "But what do you plan to do?"

"I'll analyze it at home tonight, and then show it to Teddie tomorrow. Maybe between the two of us we can figure something out."

"And if you don't?"

"Sir?" the store owner called over them. "You still wish to purchase the scarf?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Shirou answered, before turning to make his purchase.

He was able to catch Yosuke sighing and muttering under his breath, "I hope you're right."

Honestly, Shirou hoped so too.

 

[Kishou the Badger]

Chapter 28: Investigative Reasoning

<><><>
May 13th, Teddie's hub space

"Sorry Shirou-sensei," Teddie frowned. "All I can smell is an ordinary scarf." As an afterthought, the bear leaned forward and took another quick whiff of the cloth. "…made of linen."

The human members of the Investigation Team slumped in defeat. "Well, we crossed the bridge," said Yosuke. "Now what?"

"Unless we're missing something important, I guess we can cross off this scarf as being connected to the case." Shirou honestly had mixed feelings about this revelation. His magecraft had only picked up the finer details of how the scarf was made, and nothing odd or supernatural about it.

"So there's nothing we can do about it then," Yukiko frowned, fidgeting with her red-rimmed glasses. She was the newest member of the Investigation Team, but she was determined to help in the case and offer her input whenever possible.

"Can we throw it away now?" Chie asked. "Seeing that scarf is giving me bad memories of that room."

Shirou shook his head. "It may not be important now, but I would prefer to keep this close in case it does become important later. Besides, it would be a waste of cloth and money to just discard it."

"If it's all the same, can I have it?"

Everyone turned to the headphone clad teen, expectantly holding out his hand. "I don't mind," Shirou held out the scarf to him. "But why?"

Yosuke accepted the cloth and started tying it around his neck. "If this is really one of Ms. Yamano's scarves, I want to have a constant reminder about the lives at stake."

"I have to say Hanamura-kun," said Yukiko. "It looks great on you."

"Why thank you, Amagi-san," he smiled, arranging the scarf around his neck. "I was looking for a new-"

"Especially the flower-like pattern."

Yosuke blinked and stared at the cloth around his neck. "Ah crud, I forgot about that."

"Well forget about it now!" Teddie huffed and pointed. "You still didn't tell me why you brought a vixen here! You're violating my house rules!"

"You have house rules?" Shirou asked innocently.

"You have a house?" Yosuke raised an eyebrow.

"It's the principle of the matter!"

Teddie's gloved hand was directed to a bored looking fox, sitting and staring at them close to the tower of TVs used as the exit. It was odd enough that the smart animal managed to follow them through Junes security to the food court, but when they jumped into the electronics TV, the fox jumped in after them.

Yukiko shrugged. "Usagi just followed us. We didn't tell her anything."

Everyone, including the fox, stared at her incredulously. "Usagi?"

"That's her name," the raven haired beauty smiled. "She doesn't have any name or identification of her own, so I made one for her. Besides, she's kind of like the Hare of Inaba right? A fox, yet named rabbit! Hehehe!"

Yukiko was close to breaking into hysterics but the deadpanning fox didn't share her amusement. With a defiant huff-like "Yip!", the still unnamed mammal trotted away from the students by several steps. Then it curled into a ball, tail tucked and ears folded down as if resting.

"I don't think she likes it," said Teddie.

"Obviously," Yosuke rolled his eyes. "Who would want to be named after a rabbit, anyway?"

Yukiko stared to the ground, downcast. "But it's a cute name."

Chie quickly patted her friend's shoulder reassuringly. "I'm sure you had the right idea, Yukiko," she said. "But maybe we should use a name that the fox would like."

"We could always ask."

"You do it then, leader," Yosuke suggested. "You're the only one who can understand that animal anyway."

Shirou shrugged, but walked over to the fox anyway. It really wasn't that difficult to talk and listen. "Let's just get this out of the way. Are you a boy?"

The fox's head was lying on its crossed paws, eyes closed. It shook its head left to right, but remained "napping".

"Are you a girl, then?"

A nod motion. Girl it is, then.

"Do you have a name of your own?"

The fox didn't move right away, but eventually nodded.

"Can you tell me?"

Another pause. The fox opened her eyes and started flexing her paws to scratch the floor she was resting on.

"You can't," Shirou realized. "Have you forgotten?"

The fox slowly nodded. This complicated matters, then.

"Would you like for us to come up with a new one in the meantime?" He asked. At her nod, he started to think of what would suit a female fox. It would probably help if he had a Hermit-aligned Persona to help.

"How about Kitsune?"

The fox made a disappointed growl.

"Yeah you're right, too cliché. Inari?" Her eyes opened and glanced up in thought. Then she closed and shook her head. "Too obvious I guess. …Usagi?"

The fox fully turned her head and stared at him with the same deadpan look she gave Yukiko. "I was just teasing!" Shirou insisted.

"How about Tama-chan?"

The fox's ears and eyelids shot up. She and Shirou turned to the bear that suggested the name, and was beaming at his own suggestion.

"Tama means ball or jewel. Seeing her all curled up reminded me of a ball, and Tama-chan just has a cute ring to it!"

Yosuke frowned. "That's a little bland, don't you-? Whoa!"

The fox suddenly bolted and jumped the mascot bear, startling Yosuke and the girls. As Teddie initially flailed from falling down, the fox held her place and licked his face much like a dog excited to see her owner.

"Ah! Ah! Aa-huh? Oh, uh, good Tama-chan! Good, good girl!"

"I guess she likes the name after all," Chie smiled. At least it wouldn't be as weird as calling the fox by its species or referring her as an "it".

"It does have a nice ring to it," Shirou agreed. Tama the fox. It actually sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember why.

"Awww," Yukiko sighed in disappointment. "I wish she was that excited with me when I called her Usagi. Do you prefer Usagi-chan, then?" The only reaction this got Yukiko was Tama to stop licking Teddie, stare at her even more incredulously, and jump away, annoyed.

"Let it go, Yukiko," the tomboy said to her upset friend. "Let's not turn this into another Chosokabe."

Shirou blinked. "'Chosokabe? The samurai clan?"

"Long story."

Teddie righted himself, and with a big smile, squeak-stepped over to the beauty. "You can get all the kisses you want if you score with me, Yuki-chan!"

With a flourish, Yukiko whipped her hand down and fully opened her steel-bladed hand fan in front of her face with a loud "sheen!" Another unique product from Daidara's Metalworks, and one that the young heiress wielded as much as a dancer would. "What was that, Teddie?" she asked sweetly, hiding her predatory smile behind her fan.

The bear suddenly thought better of his choice of words and gulped. "Uh, nothing!"

"Now that the name issue of the fox's name is resolved," Yosuke said, turning away from the scary heiress. "There's still the question of how and why Tama-chan followed us here?"

Tama glanced to Shirou expectantly, drawing memory to the "negotiations". "Well," he said. "She expressed concern that the leaves are only for emergencies and for those that needed them most. I guess she followed us here to see if my story held merit."

"Yip!" nodded Tama.

"Awesome!" Yosuke smiled, kneeling down and holding out his hands. "Can we please have some, Tama-chan? I think a dozen or so would be a good start! The Shadows here hurt like nobody's business!"

Tama craned her head down to the apron tied around her neck. In her mouth she pulled out a long rectangular frame with beads on sliding rings. A soroban, or abacus as they're commonly called outside Japan.

As the others watched in confusion, Tama swiftly moved her paws on the upright frame, moving beds up and down in a seemingly playful manner. But they soon realized she was making calculations of some sort.

The fox eventually finished, and stared at them waiting. "Uh," Chie started. "Did it just do what I think it did?"

"You mean make a calculation?" Yosuke asked rhetorically. "Let's see, I think that those two are 6's, followed by-"

"294,766."

Everyone turned to Yukiko, seeing her staring intently at the device. "Come again?"

"That's the total that reads on the soroban," she explained. "294,766."

Tama nodded and confirmed her answer. It took another moment for Yukiko's classmates to recover, and realize just how bright a student she really was.

"Okay," said Yosuke. "But what does that number mean?"

"Well, it's certainly not something as outrageous as the price of the leaves!" Chie waved dismissively. A pause later, she turned to the fox to be sure. "Is it?"

Tama nodded.

"Huh. It is."

"Yeah," Yosuke agreed. "That makes sense."

Eventually the thought caught up to everyone. They immediately glanced back to the soroban (mentally double checking that the number was indeed 294,766) and then back to the happy fox, exclaiming, "What?!"

"That's more than the cost of our armor and weapons!" Chie cried.

"Hell, that's more than I made all year at Junes!" Yosuke added. "Are you saying that some stinking leaves are worth more than I'll ever amount to?!"

"Yip!" was Tama's immediate answer, spoken so fast clearly it could be heard as "Yep!"

The Junes employee had never felt so insulted and so depressed in his life. A damn fox thought he was worthless! He pinched the hem of his new scarf and pulled it up to hide his solemn face while Teddie patted his back in comfort.

Shirou coughed awkwardly. "W-well, we agreed on a discount earlier, correct? We're high school students and can only make so much money on our own."

Tama raised an expecting eyebrow. Shirou fought the urge to sigh.

"Such as help granting the ema wishes and cleaning up the shrine."

"Yip!"

<><><>
May 15th, Central Shopping District

Whenever Naoto Shirogane was around, he was seen following Kanji like a chaperone. The Investigation Team first noticed this when Kanji walked to school on the 13th with the blue hat boy following him as far as the gate. And without fail, he would return to the gate just as school ended before leaving with Kanji. No one questioned or confronted the bleached teen about this, as they were scared to confront the scowling biker crusher.

Instead, several girls tried to make small talk with Shirogane, whether it was for getting information or making a pass on him. He was polite enough to respond back, but remained curt and distant as to discourage them until Kanji arrived.

Today was Sunday, and the Investigation Team (plus the curious and stealthy Tama) hid themselves behind both ends of the torii gate, listening and watching for any activity at the textile shop. As of a quarter after one, the whole street was silent, which was both a good and bad thing.

"I wish we could just go in there and talk to Kanji-kun," Yukiko lamented. Her arms hugged the sleeves of her long red dress, and tucked her head down around her flame-patterned scarf (Yosuke had tried to trade scarves with her once he saw it, but she refused). "We can't help him waiting out here."

"You want to talk to that guy?" Yosuke asked from the torri post he was hiding behind. "That's practically suicide!"

"Exaggerations aside, I have to agree with Hanamura on this one. He doesn't look like the kind of guy you want to get lost in an alley with."

"Kanji-kun must have his reasons," Yukiko assured her best friend crouching next to her. "For all I've known him, he was actually rather shy and considerate, and he always helped his mother around in the store."

Yosuke stared at her in growing disbelief. "Are you sure we're talking about the same Kanji Tatsumi?"

As curious as Shirou was about Kanji's past self, it would have to wait for another time. He and Yosuke sat at the end of the gate closest to the shop, and his reinforced hearing was able to pick up sounds from the door. "Someone's coming," he quickly warned them, and they fell into silence.

The store door opened, and Naoto stepped out first. He took two steps toward the sidewalk before turning and watching Kanji put on his shoes on and calling back inside, "We'll be back soon, Ma!" As the taller teen closed the door behind him and buttoned his leather jacket, he grumbled bitterly, "Let's get this over with."

"You don't have to do this, you know," the shorter boy offered. "Your mother was more than willing to run the errand herself."

"And stay cooped up in the house with you? Knowing my Ma, it'll take her hours to get to Okina and back, and I need the fresh air."

"You also realize I have to come along as well, correct?"

Kanji shrugged as the two of them walked up the street hill. "Yeah, well, I figured you'd be bored too so this gives us both something to do."

Shirou frowned as their voices drifted away into whispers. He could only use his reinforcement for so long before wearing out his nerve circuit (and Pixie was adamant to tell him that this would be the last one). As long as he could get close enough without raising their suspicion, he could easily eavesdrop on whatever they had to say.

"What did they say?" the auburn haired teen asked, as he and girls listened in.

"I think they're heading for someplace called 'Okina'," he told the team. "Where's Okina?"

"Okina City's about thirty minutes away by train," Yukiko answered. "I think Mrs. Tatsumi buys materials from the clothing store there, as does our inn sometimes."

"Let's hurry up and follow them," Chie said.

"Whoa, wait a minute," Yosuke said quickly, and held his arm out to stop the tomboy from running. "If we all follow them, we'd get spotted right away. I say we split into two groups. One team will follow them, and the other will stay here and stake out the shop. Tama-chan's good at hiding, sure, but she's still a fox that can't speak so she doesn't count for this." He turned to the shrine fox, and awkwardly added, "No offense."

The vixen closed her eyes and waved her black paw dismissively, as if saying, "None taken."

"I'll follow Kanji and Shirogane-san. I can… eavesdrop, on their conversations without being noticed," the magus explained. He hesitated to realize that he was about to use less than honest methods of his magecraft, but reasoned with himself that it's for Kanji's own safety.

Chie grinned with excitement; she couldn't ask a better partner on this sting. She didn't want Yukiko anywhere near either of those guys, and if she had to have a boy back her up in case a fight broke out, she would vastly prefer Emiya-kun as her back-up. "Awesome! Then let's-!"

But Emiya didn't seem to share her plan or hear her as he had another partner in mind. "Would you like to accompany me, Amagi?"

Yukiko eyes widened, taken aback by Emiya's proposal. "Me?"

"Her?" Yosuke echoed, turning and staring at him, baffled.

"Yrr?" Tama whined with a tilted head.

"It would be easier to blend in if you're there running errands for your inn. And you're probably the only one of us that can help convince Kanji to be more careful. Not only because of your history, but due to, uh," he paused in his explanation, as he recalled their DnD code. "'The Fire Castle Campaign'."

Chie was torn. As much as it made sense, she wanted to be the one to tag along. She wasn't sure what frustrated her more; the worry of her friend Yukiko being put in potential harm's way, or the growing envy in her heart that she wasn't picked.

"I," Yukiko rasped, slowly fighting her shyness. Her eyes glanced over to Chie's for a moment, and she quickly added, "I appreciate the offer, Emiya-kun, but I'm not sure if I can go with you. Not if someone else wants to go more."

Oh Yukiko, always so patient and thoughtful. No doubt; best friend ever. Chie couldn't help but to let a metaphorical cheer, and was ready to voice her opinion-

"No thanks," the headphone-clad student droned. "My legs are still sore from the training session the other day. If a fight breaks out with Kanji Tatsumi, he's gonna kick my ass one way or another. I'll stake out here."

And just like that, any negative feelings about Yukiko going vanished. After all, whoever doesn't go with Emiya-kun has to stay here with… Hanamura.

"I'll stake out too," she relented. "I suck at diplomacy stuff anyway."

"Are you sure?" Yukiko asked, frowning.

"Sure I'm sure!" Chie insisted with a smile and a wave. "Now go on! If you hurry, you can catch the same train they'll take to Okina!"

"She's right. Let's go, Amagi."

Yukiko hesitated for a moment before nodding off with Shirou. The two of them left their hiding spots and ran up the street. Kanji and Naoto were now long gone, so it was only a matter of heading to the train station before it leaves.

Chie watched them leave, fighting a frown and nagging doubt of her decision. She had no regret as it was better than having her poor Yukiko sit and listen to whatever came out of Hanamura's mouth.

Incidentally enough, he was now waving and calling out to them loudly with some "sage advice". "And don't forget to make it look like you're dating! It'll look more natural that way!"

Yep. No regret whatsoever.

<><><>
Yaso-Okina Train Terminal

Shirou and Yukiko had just made the station as it was preparing to leave. Students and tourists alike were boarding the train to the city, but it was still small enough to make out the distinctive duo they were following. They sat a seat section away, within reinforced hearing range, and enjoyed the ride.

Yukiko passed the time watching the rural scenery pass out the window, feeling a sense of yearning for this trip to be real. That she was really leaving behind the town and inn that felt like a prison to her. That she could go beyond Okina City and see the rest of the world, prince or no prince. But she knew that now wasn't the time for romanticism. They had a case to solve.

"What's wrong?" Shirou asked her. He was looking at her with concern, noticing how she had been staring out the window since the train started moving.

"Oh, nothing," she said quickly. She didn't feel comfortable with herself admitting her runaway fantasies yet, but she didn't want to seem like a rude conversationalist either. "I was just wondering if Chie and Hanamura-kun would be all right by themselves."

The magus smiled assuredly. "They fought off and accepted the worse parts of themselves. They'll be fine, and besides, Tama's with them too."

Yes, she should have more confidence in them. Just as she should have more confidence in herself. Nothing will probably happen at the Textile Shop, anyway. Well, nothing bad, anyway. She earnestly hoped for that.

"But still, what if the culprit shows up? He might show up at the store, or he might come after me again along with Kanji-kun."

"Even if that does happen, I'll protect you Amagi."

The way he said it made it sound so simple and easy. She knew firsthand how strong he was fighting the monster that was now her Persona, but it did little to ease her heated emotions. She couldn't remember the last time a boy her age made her heart flutter like this before.

"Um," she blushed and smiled shyly. "O-okay. I'll be counting on you."

Shirou simply nodded, and the moment quickly passed. Whether or not they would actually pose as a couple, it shouldn't be too hard with how natural a charmer he was. Yukiko calmed herself enough to follow up, "As scary as it might be for the culprit to show up, I want to do my part as well and help you stop them."

The magus blinked, briefly glancing to the side. "Amagi."

"You saved my life after all, and I would hate to stand by and do nothing."

"Amagi-!"

"I mean, I'm sure there's something I can-"

When calling her name didn't work, Shirou lightly but forcefully nudged her shoulder. His face was facing straight ahead, and he merely glanced to her while briefly holding a finger up and close to his lips. Blushing at her blunder, Yukiko quickly realized that he was trying to listen in on them again and kept quiet.

<><><>

Kanji slouched in his seat, trying to ignore the pint-sized teen standing next to him and holding the rail. This Naoto guy has been tailing his ass for days, running like clockwork, and he still couldn't get a feel out of him. Most of the time he didn't say anything, do anything. He just stood around and watched him like a hawk.

Or rather, like a cop.

That was the condition of his bail this time. Because the cops were too pussyfoot to admit they didn't have enough of their own guys to monitor his actions, they stuck some private eye shrimp on him and called it a day. Kanji wasn't happy to have any officer following him around, but it was clear that the feeling was mutual. He hadn't forgotten how crestfallen the poor guy looked when told he had to get stuck with him (more so than any other cop he ever met, actually).

Besides, he wasn't a total pain in the ass. He was quiet most of the time, never blew his hat off, and even his Ma liked him. In fact, he looked kind of cute with his large blue hat, dull blue eyes, and thin li-

Kanji turned away scowling and fuming. So what if he was just a little androgini- anderge… whatever. There were plenty of guys who could pull that off, especially in Japan.

Naoto seemed to notice his discomfort, as he turned to ask, "Are you all right?"

At least the kid only talked when it was necessary. "Just peachy," he grumbled. "The sooner I pick up Ma's ordered fabrics the better."

Naoto nodded as if satisfied and resumed watching the scenery in silence. It got on Kanji's nerves so he decided to ask a few questions he had on his mind. "How long do you have to keep following me again?"

"…Indefinitely."

Kanji noticed he had a stern frown on his face when he said that. He didn't like the word much either. "And that means forever right?"

"Or for an unspecified time until further notice," Naoto clarified. "But in a way, yes."

"Great," Kanji spat. "Can't you just let me go early on good behavior?"

"It's not that simple," he now whispered, wary of whoever might eavesdrop. "You're likely to be the serial murderer's next target, and you need to be monitored at all times."

"Do the cops honestly believe that?"

No, they didn't. The Inaba Police Department didn't see the severity of the situation despite two people already dying. They assumed Amagi's survival and a month of inactivity was enough for the culprit to cut his losses. Not many policemen liked hearing the possibility of another dead body hanging from a telephone pole, either.

Naoto went on a hunch that the culprit was going after people that had been on the Inaba news one way or another. The Yamano Scandal, Konishi and Amagi's interviews and most recently, Kanji's act of vigilantism. But instead of acting on this lead, they assigned the blue haired teen to Kanji as a means to kill two birds with one stone.

Naoto was no stranger to higher-ups being annoyed by the age and skill difference of fellow police enforcement, but this was the first time the detective was kicked upstairs, so to speak.

"What they believe or not doesn't matter," Naoto said, avoiding the question. "As long as I'm here, there won't be any more victims."

"I can take care of myself," Kanji scoffed.

"Maybe in a fight of attrition," Naoto allowed. "But the culprit won't necessarily try to overpower you as much as catch you off guard."

Kanji grumbled in his seat along the words of "-cking bastard." With nothing else left to say or ask, the two sat in comfortable silence until the train came to a stop at their destination. Almost immediately, Naoto grabbed Kanji by the arm and dragged him out of the train at a sprint.

"Dude's got a hell of an arm!" The delinquent praised. He didn't expect that much from the detective. Though he was just as confused as to why the sudden rush. And why, after running down the station stairway, they had sprinted hard left instead of right.

"H-hey, Croco Fur's that way!" Kanji exclaimed and pointed to the store behind them. That was the whole reason they came on this trip in the first place.

But Naoto didn't let up, and for the first time he saw the kid look fierce and worried. "We're being followed."

<><><>
Okina Station

The first thing Shirou noticed about Okina was the people.

In Inaba, the rural country town was barely big enough to have its own school district. Between bad weather and only minimal tourist attractions (such as the Amagi Inn), not many people come and stay for long.

The crowd of people walking in front of the station, between stores, and the streets beyond was staggeringly bigger than any crowd gathering he had seen in Inaba. It wasn't as big as Fuyuki City of course, but from the station stop alone Okina appeared to have a lot more convenient stores for tourists.

From the left side of the station, there was a "30 frame" brand movie theater (currently show-casing an old samurai movie he was sure Fuji-nee would have loved), a humble bookstore, and a Police station with a cop standing on patrol. A line was forming outside the gaudy theater for tickets, and a few kids were seen arguing with a business about the unveiling of a "crane game".

On the right was the clothing store with clothes racks and post cards sitting just by the doors. The stylized sign stationed above the glass sliding doors and oddly pinkish décor inside read "Croco Fur"; the place Kanji and Naoto were heading for. Next to that on the station strip was a small establishment called "Café Chagall", with a sign out front promoting its "Owner's Original Blend".

If nothing else, Okina Station was the perfect tourist trap.

"I don't see them anywhere," he said as he searched each end of the street. How could a tall student and short boy disappear so quickly in a crowd?

"I'm sorry," Yukiko frowned from beside him. "I think Naoto-kun saw me while you were listening in, as he took off with Kanji-kun right after. This is my fault." She knew she should have pushed Chie more into coming instead of her.

"Accidents happen," the magus shrugged. "Now that I think about it, what were you trying to say before?"

"Oh, just me rambling on without realizing," she said. "I don't spend a lot of time talking to boys my age, as they usually just want to ask me vague questions like what I'm doing after school."

"The Princess Amagi Challenge."

"Excuse me?"

Shirou was surprised by her reaction. He would have thought a girl as popular as Yukiko Amagi would be aware of the rumors surrounding her. Perhaps the student body didn't feel a need to tell her in hopes of bettering their chances to ask her out?

But Yukiko wasn't the model student everyone thought her to be. She was rather naïve, nervous, and shy around others. She was also self-conscious about her being weak and afraid, but wanted to change that by joining the Investigation Team. Yukiko deserved to know what others really thought of her. They would search for the truth, after all.

"Remember how we saved your character Konohana Sakuya from the Fire Harpy? And how she wanted to serenade and 'score' a bunch of male suitors?"

Mentally processing the code, Yukiko scowled and flushed in embarrassment. Her Shadow was still herself, and she indirectly did say scoring. "What about it?"

"What your classmates do in talking with you," Shirou explained. "It's sort of like what Teddie does, but less obvious and honest."

Yukiko's scowl grew. "That explains a lot," she muttered rather darkly. She always knew she didn't like it when her male classmates talked to her for some reason. Chie must have realized that a long time ago, and always drove them away when she was feeling uncomfortable. Another thing to be grateful of from their friendship, really.

"I'm sorry you have to go through that," Shirou added. "I'm sure if someone took the time to get to know you, you'd be more comfortable around other guys. I can understand how difficult it is interacting with the opposite sex."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Because I'm not very good at talking with girls."

Yukiko blinked.

Shirou blinked twice back.

For a moment, neither student said anything and stared. Yukiko's calm façade broke when her cheeks puffed out and she tried in vain to stop herself. What followed was a spit-like sound before barreling into laughter.

"Pffffffffffffffffahahahahahaha! Ahahahahaha!"

Shirou found himself smiling at her reaction, chuckling. And before long, he was laughing too. They both doubled over and used each other's bodies for support else they'd be literally rolling on the floor. By now anyone within earshot could hear and see them, but they didn't care about that.

"You-ohohohoh…" Yukiko wheezed and pointed, shaking her head with a giddy smile. "You are such a liar! Hahaha!" She slapped his arm for added emphasis, but he either didn't notice or care.

"Ahahaha…" Shirou calmed himself down first and waited for Yukiko to finish before seriously answering, "It's true. Before Inaba, before all this, I was just some handyman that only had a few friends and didn't go around asking girls for dates."

"You don't give yourself enough credit. You and Chie get along great."

"It's just her personality. She reminds me a lot of Fuji-nee, really."

"I see. Still, I feel she has more fun being around you and Hanamura-kun lately." Yukiko smiled bashfully, feeling grateful and a little affectionate. "The same is true for me."

He was clearly different from any other boy she had met. The first time they were alone together, they just sat and ate dinner. No flirting, no weird questions, just silence. He was empathetic to a startling degree, and he helped bring out the best in others.

With Yukiko's feelings conveyed, a new bond was made. In the center image was a black priestess with a pointed back collar, and the rest of her lower body in a black hole. Outlines of white and red highlighted the shadowy figure's outline and features, making it easier to see with the narrow background of red sand, purple sky, and orange sun. A golden halo-like crown hovered perpendicular to the woman's head, the letter "J" was marked like face paint surrounding the eye, and the letter "B" was seen just to the upper right of the face outline. The Tarot card read as "II" below the image.

Thou art I, and I am thou.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Priestess Arcana.

"That being said," Yukiko said, glancing around the station area. "We still need to find Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun."

"Let's split up then. I'll take the west side of the station by the theater, and you can check Croco Fur and the café on the east."

"Is that a good idea?" Yukiko could only imagine the number of things that could go wrong. What if they ended up lost? What if the culprit swooped in and kidnapped her again? Or Emiya-kun? What if Kanji-kun got violent again? So many what-ifs, and not enough time to search.

Instead of answering, Shirou reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his cellphone. "What's your cell number?"

Yukiko's eyes widened. "Wha-huh?"

"We're a team now, Amagi, and we'll need to call each other in case something happens. Besides which, this will help us keep in contact while we're looking around."

"O-oh, of course," Yukiko relaxed. She was worried over nothing, as Emiya-kun was more polite and courteous than to ask her out. But there was still a pang of disappointment in her heart…

After exchanging numbers, the two high school students went their separate ways to start the search. Yukiko made a final look back to her new friend and wished him luck. "Be careful, Emiya-kun."

"I'll be fine, Amagi," he smiled, glancing back to her as he kept walking. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Graaaaaaaaah!"

Apparently no one warned Shirou Emiya about "famous last words", or "tempting fate" for that matter. No sooner did he say that, as the magus passed the wall between the station and 30 frame, Kanji Tatsumi let out a battle cry and body-checked him onto the street before he knew what had literally hit him.

<><><>

Kanji timed the move perfectly. He wanted nothing more than to go up and beat the damn ginger within an inch of his life, but Naoto told him to wait and listen. He had to admit, the kid knew what he was talking about, as he couldn't have asked for a better first strike.

The fact that the punk acted smug and confident enough to ask "What's the worst that could happen" was just the icing on the cake.

Wasting no time, Kanji pinned the guy's back with his knees and pulled his arm back with both of his. He also applied pressure in his arms to crack the limb, further debilitating him and earning the bleached haired boy a scream for his troubles.

"Emiya-kun!" he heard a spectator cry. So the asshole's name was "Emiya", huh? Good to know.

"How does the road taste, asshole?" Kanji taunted, further grinding his arms together.

"You… tell…" he wheezed back, slightly moving his free arm back. Before Kanji could retaliate, the ginger's arm shot back and somehow connected a backhand with his chin. "-ME!"

Kanji's arms slipped out of the iron hold they held, allowing the ginger to swat his other hand away. He also managed to somehow roll out and away from his body weight, and the biker crasher soon found himself falling down to the road face first with a crash.

Well, damn. He's got some moves after all.

Kanji pushed himself back, seeing Emiya take a fighting stance and regarding him warily. "Everybody gets one," he said as he slipped into his own stance.

"Gets one what?" Emiya asked.

"One free hit. Now hold still while I-Ow! Oww, what the-OW!"

So focused on whatever Emiya was about to do next, Kanji didn't see or hear anyone march behind him and tug his ear back. It hurt like what his Ma would do whenever she got really pissed. But the one holding his ear wasn't his Ma, but one of her regular customers. She was also his upperclassman from the high school he went to. "Y-Yukiko-senpai?"

"Kanji Tatsumi, you stop this foolishness right now!" She scolded at him with an angry tone he never heard her utter before.

It wasn't the fact that he was afraid of a girl, but he flailed rather quickly to get her to let go. "Quit it! I'm not doing anything wrong!"

"You tackled Emiya-kun onto the ground and tried to crush his arm!" she cried. "What part of that screams right to you?"

"The right kind," he said (ignoring how wrong his own statement sounded), before pointing to the red-haired Emiya. He was now staring at him like a deer caught in headlights, about to be exposed for what he is. Why else would Naoto be spooked about being followed? He'd certainly never seen Emiya around before, and these freaky murders probably happened soon after he showed up. If the guy really wanted to kidnap him for murder or something, if he was the murderer the cops were having so much trouble finding, he wasn't going to take that lying down.

"Because that guy is the-!"

"That's enough, Kanji."

He blinked, turning to the detective. He too looked mad, but was doing a better job hiding it through words as opposed to body language. "You're already on probation with the Inaba Police, and your relationship with them is on thin ice as is. If you're going to carelessly make such accusations, the consequences will be severe."

That shut him up right away, and only an angered grunt escaped his lips. Cops and their rigid protocols, they always pissed him off.

Relieved to see that the crowd was now ignoring the short-lived fight, Naoto walked over and shook Emiya's hand. "I must apologize for Kanji's actions. I feel there was an error of communication on my part."

"It's all right," he tried brushing it off, probably to make a quick getaway. But Naoto wasn't letting him have any of that. His iron grip was still on the ginger's hand.

"Let's take this elsewhere," he said. "I'm sure we both have a lot of questions about each other."

<><><>
Café Chagall

The places available for a quiet discussion were limited along Okina Station, but the café was the best one. The room was bright with the choice of wallpaper (yellow and light purple), floor (gray with white-lined diamonds) and furniture (small blue arm chairs, green couches and blue and white table clothes). The ambience was also nice with the few potted plants and soft music playing in the background. The only not so soft-looking thing in the building was the gruff-looking bald man who owned and ran the place.

Following the ordering of drinks, the first order of business that Naoto insisted was clearing up any notion that Shirou was the culprit (and calming the raven-haired girl down when she attempted to chide Kanji again). It was a simple matter of questioning his timing and place, with Yukiko's confirmation as proof. Kanji didn't apologize for his actions, but at least he recognized being in the wrong and kept quiet.

"Now that we have that issue resolved," Naoto began slowly. "I understand that you followed us here for something important?"

Shirou nodded. "We hoped to talk to Kanji in private though, as it personally involves him."

"If it's all the same, I would prefer to hear it as well." Sensing uneasiness from them, the androgynous boy reached one hand inside his jacket and brandished a leather fold-up pad. Embedded inside was a badge with an emblem of shield and read "Shirogane Branch" on the ribbon.

Shirou and Yukiko stared between the badge and the boy. "You're a police officer?" she asked. "But you don't look any older than any of us here!"

"And where's your picture?" Shirou asked. All he saw was a badge that his district name, but what about the holographic picture ID?

"The peculiars as to why I'm in this field of work are not important at the moment," he replied, pocketing the badge away. "As for the badge itself, it was custom-made for me as I work on cases all over Japan, and never settle in one place. That's why it's not a police badge. It's a detective's badge.

"In other words, I'm involved in this case, and have been assigned to watch and safeguard Kanji Tatsumi until further notice. If you have anything you need to talk to Kanji about, I have the right to know as well."

Suddenly a lot of his behavior and mannerisms made a lot of sense, as did the conversation on the train. But now this meant they absolutely couldn't tell Kanji or Naoto about the TV world. Hopefully a vague warning was enough.

"Well, I guess I'll just be frank," Shirou said, before turning to the tall teen sitting across from him. "We followed you here to try and see if you were all right. Possibly even warn you if we were lucky."

"I've got cops and stalkers following me all over now," Kanji droned sarcastically. "I must be one popular guy."

"Maybe more than you realize."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Kanji, has anything strange happened around you lately?"

Kanji's eyes widened and he felt his body involuntarily twitch despite not moving at all. "S-strange? Strange how? What are you saying!?"

Shirou wasn't sure how to proceed. He had no Persona to resonate with Kanji, and they've just met under bad circumstances. Kanji's voice was rising, his body was tense, and he looked like he might break out to a fight again on impulse.

"I'm honestly not sure," he reasoned quickly. "I'm just asking if something felt out of the ordinary with you lately since your fight with the biker gang."

That seemed to work, as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes in thought. "N-not really. I just started going to school again because Naoto and Ma forced me to." A moment later, his eyes open wide with a sudden realization. "Oh yeah, there's-"

He stopped himself, suddenly glancing to the detective next to him. "Tch," he grunted, and looked away again.,"Nevermind, it's nothing."

"What is it?"

"I said it's nothing."

"Kanji-kun, please," Yukiko said. "We just want to help. If there's anything wrong with you-"

"I'm telling you it's nothing!" he slammed his fists to the table. "And nothing's wrong with me dammit!"

His anger did startle them, but did little to convince that he was fine or that it wasn't important. Even Naoto found his behavior odd, but knew better than to confront him on that subject right now.

Kanji was too angry to answer the question… and perhaps something else. In any case, it was best to shelve this question for a later time else it would get violent again. "If I may ask on his behalf, why do you believe Kanji is the next target?"

Yukiko stiffened in her seat. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"It's only natural to come to this conclusion, since you're here Amagi-san," Naoto explained. "You want to warn Kanji about what will happen to him, and wouldn't have any reason to talk to him otherwise."

Yukiko frowned and stared at her cup on the table guiltily. Shirou spared Kanji one last look, who glared back as if daring him to speak again. "Don't the police have their own theories?" he asked. "You're watching over him, after all."

"And I need to make sure if our theories match. As much as I would like to give you the benefit of the doubt, you're still suspicious and likely to be the culprit."

He heard of Tohru Adachi joking on his own claim that Shirou Emiya's reappearance caused a stir of confusion with the police force, and possibly tied to the murders. His uncle Dojima was quick to dispel the rumors, but one couldn't be too careful.

Yukiko glared at the young boy. What was with these two accusing her friend of being her kidnapper when he gave his life to save her? "Emiya-kun's not the culprit!"

"Then prove it to me. Why do you believe Kanji is next?"

Naoto wasn't budging on the issue. If there was anything that could help solve the case he would take it. The two second year students clearly knew something he didn't, and he wanted to find out what.

Shirou and Yukiko exchanged uneasy glances, as if mentally deciding what to say. Yukiko cleared her throat and answered for the both of them, "Well, it's not much to go on, but I was on the Inaba News before I was kidnapped."

"And?"

"And it might just be coincidence, but Mrs. Yamano and Konishi-senpai were also talked about on TV. Soon after they were seen on TV, they went missing and were found suspended on telephone poles."

Naoto nodded. He had come to the same conclusion based on the Mrs. Yamano scandal and Saki Konishi's "secret" interview. The rumor mill also implied that Yukiko was on the news, but it wasn't considered a detail important enough by the police department. But hearing it from her now helped confirm his beliefs, and he knew he was in the right warning them about Kanji's safety.

Too bad none of them took that claim seriously. It came with the territory of being a young boy detective along supposed older experts.

"Is there anything else you can tell me, Amagi-san?" Naoto pressed. "Something you can remember about your disappearance?"

"I've answered all the questions the police gave me already," she said. "And even then I couldn't remember much that was very helpful." The stuff she could remember, well… it wouldn't have helped the police on their case anyway.

"But you were gone longer than either Mrs. Yamano or Konishi. Your kidnapping broke from the last two, and by all accounts it shouldn't have. You're the only lead we have to catching this murderer, and for the sake of everyone in Inaba, you have to remember. You have to think harder and remember why you're still here."

Shirou was taken aback by Naoto's sudden tenacity. He understood more than anyone the seriousness of catching the culprit, because of the dream he needed to uphold for Kiritsugu. Neither he nor the others could fault Yukiko for not remembering anything more than a knock at the door, as their intent from the start was to rescue her.

But the detective seemed obsessed with getting more than that. His behavior change was subtle in contrast to Kanji's sudden outburst, yet no less sudden and alarming. Were the police just as desperate for answers, or was it just him going beyond the call of duty?

Yukiko more or less came to the same conclusion as Shirou did, and yet decided to answer as honestly as possible to his surprise. "Well, I remember being rescued."

"Amagi?"

Now we're getting somewhere, Naoto thought with no small amount of satisfaction. "What else?"

"I slept a lot in a big room," Yukiko continued. "I remember a giant monstrous bird, made of fire. She sounded like me, upset and furious about being alone and wanting a hero to save her. She was jealous of me, I guess, and wanted to kill me. Then a giant wave of ice came in and snuffed her out. In the wake of it was my best friend Chie, coming to my rescue. The next thing I knew, I was on the rooftop of Junes."

Sleeping… and a monster. Naoto fought the urge to frown. "That's a pretty vivid dream."

Yukiko shrugged with a sad smile. "It was the only good memory I had of my kidnapping. It gave me comfort and hope."

Shirou was impressed with Yukiko's half-truth. The whole scenario was dream-like and hard to explain in context. She didn't even say it was a dream, but had let Naoto come to that conclusion on his own.

"I see." In a way, it was truth to the young girl, and he could probably discern that the victims had all been drugged into a comatose state. There was an unsung hero that rescued her, but like the culprit they didn't make themselves known.

Seeing that there was nothing else to ask of them, the detective turned to the teen sitting to his right. "Kanji, you were about to say something before?" Surely he was calm enough to be approachable now-

"I ain't gonna say shit to you assholes."

Or not. Naoto tried again. "Kanji-"

He slammed his hands flat on the table and shot up, pushing the seat back. "I didn't come all the way to Okina to listen to some 20 question BS. I came to pick up Ma's order, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

"Kanji, I can't let you leave out of my sight!" he called out to the leaving teen.

"Then I guess you better get your ass in gear, because I'm taking the next train home with or without you!" Without another word, Kanji Tatsumi left the café with a deliberate slam of the door.

Naoto sighed. Kanji's impatience and short temper made compromise difficult. There seemed to be some sort of trigger related to this behavior, but he didn't know him well enough to discern what. "I'm sorry, but it seems Kanji wishes to cut this meeting short."

"I suppose it's for the best," said Shirou. They managed to warn Kanji about the murderer, and in the end it depended on him to follow through or not. "Thank you for hearing us out."

"Please look after Kanji-kun," said Yukiko.

"Of course," Naoto nodded to them both. As an act of generosity, he left enough money to pay the bill for their drinks. Then he too was out the door.

Shirou exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Well, that didn't go quite as planned, but mission accomplished, right?"

"Yes," Yukiko nodded, before shifting her eyes to his body. "Um, you're not too hurt, are you?"

"Nothing a good night's sleep can't fix." He placed his arm on his right shoulder and rolled it in place for good measure. Compared to Shadows and Yomi demons, a brawl with Kanji was only a minor inconvenience.

Yukiko smiled in relief. Something about their team leader inspired confidence. He didn't even seem to hold it against Kanji for the fight, when he had put so many others in the hospital for making noise. "He's not really a bad person," she insisted.

"I can tell. He was dead set on that order, after all." He was brash and violent, but his actions first and foremost were to helping his mother. In a way, Kanji reminded Shirou of himself when he was young and frustrated over his dad's death.

Wait a minute.

"Amagi," he asked slowly. "I know this hasn't been brought up but… whatever happened to his dad?"

Yukiko's face fell. "Mr. Tatsumi, he… passed away years ago. Kanji-kun hasn't been the same since, now that I think about it."

A somber silence passed between the two before they eventually left and headed home. For Shirou, he realized just how much he empathized with Kanji's struggles, especially after losing a father figure in his life. He wanted nothing more than to save Kanji from his own demons.

<><><>
Evening, Dojima Residence

"You know, we haven't had much of a chance to talk like this since Golden Week."

It was a slow enough night that Dojima was able to come home on time. After seeing Nanako to bed, he found Shirou fiddling with what appeared to be an incomplete robot model in his room. The entire worktable was covered with old newspaper, paint, putty, and all sorts of tools. He didn't know why he did it, but he knelt next to Shirou and talked to him about work and school.

"You're busy with work all day," Shirou said, eyes and hands still focused on the complex pieces. "It's nothing to worry about, Doji-nii."

"Says you," Doji-nii teased. "You've got school work, plus your weekly MOEL job, and whatever you and your friends do after school. Aside from reading Taiga's books, this is probably the first thing I've seen you do that isn't a disguised favor for someone."

"Actually, I'm doing this for the old toy store owner at the Shopping District," Shirou admitted. "He seemed down that no one wanted the models since Junes opened, so I offered to build one in his stead." It was one of the many ema wishes he agreed to help Tama grant the other day, and he figured working on it would help get his mind off of Kanji.

Dojima found himself frowning and sweating from the back of his head. "You're… helping someone by building a model?"

"Me and Yosuke." It was hard to forget how boastful he was about his "mad junk kit skills", that only seemed to excite the store owner even more. "We're doing a race to see who can finish theirs first."

The Hanamura's son? Building a Shopping District toy model? Now Ryotaro had heard everything.

"Shirou, you really should consider smelling the flowers once in a while. You know, have fun. Your school days will be over before you know it."

The red-haired teen set the tools back down to the table and turned fully to his uncle. "I am having fun, Doji-nii. I hang out with Yosuke around town. I spar with Satonaka during weekends. I cook and play with Nanako every other night. But I don't live here in Inaba. I feel like I'm intruding in someone else's life that I have no business in."

"That's ridiculous," said Dojima. He wasn't going to let Shirou talk himself down like this as if he didn't belong. "The tests came back positive. You're my nephew Yu Narukami."

"And neither of us even knew that until half a year ago. At least when I'm doing jobs and favors like these, I feel like I'm earning my quota."

It was one of the main reasons why he delved head first into the murder case. Had he been given the option to refuse to help Teddie, he'd have no reason to stay in Inaba. He agreed to stay for the year on Doji-nii's request and Fuji-nee's permission, but anything longer than a month of lodging in their home would be superfluous.

Little did Shirou know that his words struck a chord in Dojima, who barely hid a pained wince under his breath. In their argument, Taiga called him out for chasing Chisato's killer while leaving Shirou in charge of Nanako. It was better than leaving the poor girl alone night after night, but it was still neglectful and an easy way out.

The last thing he wanted was to make his nephew feel like he owed them.

He silently mulled about what to say as Shirou returned to his model. A minute later, he found his words, "Nanako's taking quite a shine to you, you know. And she doesn't think you're an outsider at all."

Shirou's hands stopped.

"Look," he said, standing up and ready to leave. "Your guardian allowed you to come down here so we could start over as a family. We may have had a rocky start because of this murder business, but that's not important. All that matters to me is that you stay safe. I don't want to lose my nephew again."

Ryotaro had never been anywhere near the tragic events that befell his wife Chisato and sister Miya, but he felt the pain of loss all the same. He would make it up to Shirou one day, and Nanako as well. But only after the people responsible for Chisato, Yamano, and Konishi all paid for their crimes.

Shirou sat and stared at his uncle as he left the room, feeling a genuine sense of worry in his tone. He, too, cared about his well-being in pursuing the killer, and probably saw worth in his life just for being here. If he had known about his secret like Fuji-nee, would he have been as cordial to his wishes?

One thing at a time though. For the meantime, he'd see where this new bond would take him.

The "V" card of the Tarot appeared before his mind this time. The main image depicted what looked like an arrow with flowers attached to its sides on a blue background, but was really a close-up on a pope's blue hat. The top corners had two keys flipped and reflecting each other, while the bottom corners displayed two shadow figures sitting in a red and white space respectively, arms outstretched in front as if pleading to a higher being.

Thou art I, and I am thou.
Thou hast established a new bond.
It shall bring thee closer to the truth.
Thou shalt be blessed by Personae of the Hierophant Arcana.

So lost in the usual routine of Social Links, Shirou failed to realize what had happened until he heard the sound of a metal clip. He looked down and saw the pair of closed scissors in one hand… and a now shorted stub of a model piece in another. The snipped half was now resting on the work table under his hands.

The magus cringed. "I really hope that piece was supposed to come off."