Scathach stopped abruptly in her tracks, pulling Shirou to a halt with her hand. He turned to her curiously. "What's wrong, Shishou?"
Gracefully squatting down, she gazed into his eyes. "Something on your mind, Shirou?"
"Huh?" Had she seen right through him? He smiled lightly. "It's nothing, really."
"Is that so?" She stretched out her hand and flicked his nose, a smile playing on her lips. "You know you can tell me if something's bothering you. Your shishou is a reliable adult, after all."
"Of course, after all you have liv..." His voice trailed off. Although she was still smiling, Scathach emanated an extremely dense killing intent. Shirou felt that if he finished his words, she'd likely kill him on the spot and scatter his ashes into the sea.
After carefully considering that her fist was indeed bigger than his now, Shirou swallowed his impulse back down and smiled instead. "Shishou is a wise and youthful maiden. You know so many things - if I'm ever troubled, I'll definitely come to you for advice."
"Mm," she nodded gently.
Scathach sent him home and Mrs. Fujimaru opened the door while Sakura was doing homework in the living room.
"Oh, Scathach Sensei! Thank you for escorting Shirou back - and for mentoring him when you can."
"It's my pleasure, he's a good student."
"Still, thank you for going out of your way."
After some small talk, Scathach waved at him and smiled, "See you tomorrow, Shirou."
"See you tomorrow, Sensei," he nodded.
Scathach left, and Mrs. Fujimaru closed the door while praising how great Scathach was.
Shirou looked at Mrs. Fujimaru's familiar face, wanting to say something yet unable to find the words. He could only remind himself that this was just a dream.
Just a...dream.
It was strange though - his time with Mr. and Mrs. Fujimaru hadn't been long, yet he felt an intimate bond, truly seeing them as family. It was hard to describe this mentality. It could only be attributed to muscle memory from the body.
"Big brother," Sakura had come back before Shirou and sat doing homework. She looked up sweetly.
Shirou nodded in response. He saw Sakura was stuck on some math homework questions, so he helped tutor her.
She gave a sweet smile, "Big brother is so amazing. I was stuck on that question forever."
He chuckled.
Just then, Mrs. Fujimaru asked, "Shirou, what would you like for your birthday?"
Birthday... The question startled him. He suddenly remembered - April 15th was this body's birthday. Ever since transmigrating, he hadn't celebrated any birthdays. Of course, he didn't care much himself. But his family did.
"April 15th is big brother's birthday. I even got you a really nice gift!" Sakura said with a sweet smile.
"Oh, I look forward to seeing it then," He reached out and ruffled her hair.
In reality, Sakura had said the same thing before. But before April 15th came, on April 10th, he had been sucked into the "Root" and gone back to past Britain.
Dinner wasn't ready yet, so he returned to his bedroom.
It was a familiar yet strange feeling - like nostalgia.
Sitting at his desk, Shirou saw that little black pocket notebook again. He flipped it open. The first part contained strategies for the 4th Holy Grail War. The latter parts described some recent mundane daily happenings. All of it was written in Kanji.
Reading those trivial daily details made him smile. He really wished he could have personally experienced growing up in such an environment. But that was impossible now.
But--
"This handwriting..." He frowned slightly, picking up a pen and comparing it to the words in the black notebook by writing a few lines.
Identical...
His furrowed brows relaxed as he smiled slightly, "Just as neat as I would write."
Though a bit narcissistic, he did have orderly handwriting fitting his personality.
"That's right, this dream is set on April 5th, 1994, so Crimson Moon should already be in my body. Alright, I need to get rid of him first!"
He clearly remembered that before falling into the "Root", he had already been possessed by fragments of Crimson Moon. That had been the origin of all the tragedy. Therefore, even if this was just an illusion, he still wanted to eradicate Crimson Moon first.
But...
"He's not here?" Shirou was startled.
He searched very carefully several more times, but still discovered nothing. With that, he also realized another key difference between this dream and reality—
He was not possessed by any fragments of Crimson Moon!
...
Wednesday, April 6th, 1994.
The early spring days darkened quickly. Shirou had only practiced pole vaulting for a short while before the sky took on a yellowish tinge.
As he went to roll up his sleeves to wipe sweat from his face, a purple towel suddenly appeared before him.
He turned to see Scathach holding it out to him with a smile.
"Here, wipe yourself off."
He took the towel and wiped his face.
Although there were many differences between this dream and reality, some aspects seemed eerily similar.
In this dream, his six-year-old self didn't carry "All the World's Evil," so he wasn't forced to age into his twelve-year-old looks. However, he was still voted to compete in the pole vaulting event for the school's sports day on April 10th.
Since this dream Miyama wasn't destroyed by some kind of disaster, his school wasn't merged with others, so there was no joint sports festival, only his school's sports day. So Shirou didn't get the chance to experience young Rin's sarcastic side again.
According to the notebook, after the Fourth Holy Grail War, Rin was sent to study under the Luviagelita family by her father. Meanwhile, Tokiomi struggled to explain the Mystery leak during the Holy Grail War to both the Church and the Mages Association. As in reality, dream-Shirou managed to conceal his status as Master by using Lord El-Melloi's help.
I guess great minds think alike?
"Thanks for the towel, Sensei," he put Scathach's purple towel into his backpack. "I'll return it later."
She nodded with a smile.
"Scathach-sensei is always so nice to Fujimaru!" one student said.
Another added, "Well, they're relatives after all. And she even tutors him privately."
"So envious..."
The nearby students training for sports day looked at Shirou jealously. He was speechless, remembering being surrounded by these same students before in reality. But now their attitude was completely different.
Shirou packed up and headed home with Scathach. When they passed a familiar yet unfamiliar street corner, he stopped.
He remembered this was where he first met Illya. Of course, that scene wouldn't replay here in this dream. Based on the setting, he had killed Kiritsugu and Irisviel's body was taken by Angra Mainyu. So that snow fairy-like girl wouldn't show up either.
Now that he thought about it, that memory really was blissful...
"What's wrong, Shirou?" Scathach turned and asked.
"Oh, nothing..." Shirou shook his head.
He didn't have time for reminiscing. His real body was in the same room as Kiara - very dangerous. He had to wake up from this dream fast.
When they passed a convenience store, Scathach bought a box of chocolates and gave him a piece.
According to his notebook, this Scathach had a sweet tooth for chocolate.
Tsk tsk, she should watch out or she'll gain weight...
Scathach dropped him off at his house, her expression grim. "Be careful out there, Shirou. A lot of weird creatures have shown up in Fuyuki lately."
Shirou knew that of course, having seen the same thing happening in reality. If he guessed right, they were probably Dead Apostles.
But in reality, the Night of Wallachia invaded Fuyuki because of the Holy Grail's mass resurrection. With less destruction from "All the World's Evil", would Wallachia still come here?
And if Wallachia didn't come, would the Forest of Einnashe?
He didn't know. But Scathach's serious face made him nod.
...
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