Chapter 6 Part 1, Back to School

Shirou was together with Kiritsugu in the car, as he caressed PM, who was dozing on his lap. It had been almost a week since the entire operation at Aylesbury, and, thankfully, his father had gotten him out of there before someone could ask questions.

He had stayed in the apartment he shared with Kiritsugu for the entire week along with PM. Kiritsugu didn't want Shirou to come out knowing how agitated the world of magi was after the rumors spread. Also, Shirou was concerned as Avalon had run out of mana in the middle of healing from the last attack he received from Altrouge. She told him that some blades came out of his body and sealed his wounds, however, when he woke up, his wounds had healed, and there was no trace of the blades.

Surely this was Altrouge's doing, and knowing that he had been unconscious along with the Eclipse Princess, he couldn't help but worry, as she may have done whatever she wanted with his body during this time.

Kiritsugu turned on the radio, and the station he placed was reporting various news...

The first news was a statement from the Harwey family, where they explained how dangerous the Moon Cell could be and how they still did not know how to use it properly, but they assured listeners that they already had a specialized team working on it.

The second piece of news was somewhat unsettling, especially since he now knew the inevitable fate of the world. In South America, several decades ago, a terrifying being had been discovered, nobody knew exactly what it was, so they decided to call it Aristotle-ORT. This one, for now, seemed to be hibernating, and it just attacked everything that attacked it. Every attack against it had failed, but humanity was preparing a new series of soldiers who could fight against this being, in case, in the worst case, it woke up.

This concerned him for two reasons:

The first thing that worried him was that to create these soldiers, the scientists were experimenting with a substance called Grain. This was a toxic particle discovered in the year 1970, and that was spreading around the world. To Shirou, this sounded ridiculous. Were they using a substance that was killing humanity, and that no one knew how to stop, to create soldiers? Who was the idiot who came up with the idea that this could also be used as a weapon to kill a totally unknown life form?

Be that as it may, the redhead prayed that ORT would not be awakened from hibernation, as it was well known in the world of magi what his true nature was: An Ultimate One, as well as one of the 27 Ancestors of the Dead Apostles, or, in short, Type Mercury. Fortunately, the Grain particle was still very difficult to contain, so it would take years for researchers to experiment with it. And besides, it would take them much longer to perform experiments on humans, or so they had said.

The last news they heard before reaching the bedroom was more hopeful, but unfortunately, it was nothing more than a false panacea. The presenter spoke about the case in which the degradation of the planet was irreversible and in which it was not discovered in time how to use the Moon Cell, for this case the colonization of the Moon had been planned. However, many knew that this countermeasure was nothing more than a patch previously placed before humanity suffered the wound, not a true solution.

"Are you sure you can go alone?" asked the freelancer while, at the same time, he stopped the car in front of the bedroom.

The redhead smiled, "Of course, it's not my first day, do you remember?"

Kiritsugu frowned, "Yes, it is. They will no longer see you as Muramasa Shirou, from now on, they will see you as Emiya Shirou. To them, you are the heir to the Emiya Family, theson of the magus killer, and the grandson of Emiya Norikata, a magus who received a Sealing Designation."

"I know, calm down, I'm ready."

"Are you sure?"

Shirou nodded.

"In that case, have a good year," said the freelancer smiling slightly.

Shirou also smiled, "Equally, old man. Make sure you don't get into anything too dangerous, or, if you do, make sure you take me."

Kiritsugu smiled wryly and waved goodbye before getting into the car and driving away.

Shirou turned around, and there was his new bedroom, the main bedroom of the Faculty of Creation, Valuay's bedroom, and inside this, Shirou also had a private room, which was much larger and more prepared than the previous. This was a gift from Lady Valualeta, thanks to his actions at Aylesbury.

The redhead entered the elegant building and spoke to the receptionist to inform her of his arrival. She nodded and handed him a key so that he could enter his room, but not before warning him that the Queen of the Tower was expecting him in her office in two hours. The apprentice mage nodded and thanked her, then went up to his room and was impressed with the new comforts it offered, including his own bathroom.

Without waiting, he prepared the ritual, which took several minutes...

"Creation of Territory: the Muramasa workshop."

When it was ready, Shirou settled down to rest. He observed his schedule, starting in his sophomore year, he would not only have the required classes by his curriculum, but he would also have electives. In his case, he had chosen to study runes, this was one of the few magecraft that he could use without much difficulty, apart from Reinforcement and Air Gradation. He had also planned to enter curses classes, not because he could use them, but because Muramasa could create cursed swords, so he wanted to know as muchabout them as possible.

There was still an hour and a half left before he met with the Queen, and he planned to wait until the time came, but...

Top! Top!

"Hmn?" Shirou went to the door and opened it, "Rin?"

The Tohsaka heiress stood at the entrance, "I see you really changed rooms, Shirou-kun. So, you will invite me in?"

"Oh, sure," opening the door, Shirou allowed his partner in, "How has everything been around here in the last two months?"

"Relatively 'quiet' as always…" she said, sitting down on one of the pieces of furniture in the room.

"Alliances, conspiracies, and betrayals, then..."

"The normal inside the Tower. Although, thanks to a certain boy who pretended to be a nobody, and it turned out that he was not, and who also ended up going to a big companythat the Association and the Church had organized together, killing a son of a candidate for member of the 27 and, managing to survive a fight against the Mongrel Princess of theApostles... Well, you can imagine how the situation is..."

"Many eyes on me?" the boy asked, concerned.

Very seriously, Rin said, "You are in a very delicate position, Shirou-kun."

"I see…"

"So, what are you waiting for? You should start to explain yourself."

"Okay, make herself comfortable because this can be a bit long."

She nodded.

Shirou told her how he was orphaned, how he was found by Kiritsugu in the middle of the fire, and finally, how he was reunited with Muramasa and with his past, in this way,becoming his apprentice. He avoided the more private parts, such as his and his father's joint plan to rescue his sister. He also talked to her about Caliburn and what happened inAylesbury, of course, hiding everything Altrouge spoke about the fate of the world and, also, as she had promised to help create the ultimate sword.

"That is a long story, but at least I understand many more things thanks to this one," the magus said after pondering for a bit.

"What do you mean?" the redhead asked, confused.

"Don't get me wrong, Shirou-kun, I was angry that you had lied to me, but if I had been in your case, I would have done the same."

"Seriously?"

She nodded, "Of course. Coming here as Emiya Shirou is the same as asking someone to kill you. Literally, you were unlikely to finish the first year. Your father's decision was thecorrect one."

"I guess so…"

"However, one thing doesn't change the other, you know that, right?"

He nodded, "Do you want compensation, right?"

She nodded with a smile.

"I'm very sorry, but there's not much I can give you," at that moment, Shirou opened his eyes, "wait, Rin! You won't me ask Neocaliburn, will you?"

"Well, for a moment, I thought about it…" she whispered.

"Rin!"

"Relax, as I told you long ago, my magecraft does not require weapons, and although I can defend myself in close combats, I have never used a sword."

"However?" said the redhead, knowing there would be a but.

Rin smiled, "Remember when you offered to forge something for me?"

Shirou nodded.

"Well, I want you to forge something for me..."

This piqued the young blacksmith's curiosity, "What?"

Rin took something out of her bag, "This…"

Shirou analyzed it and saw that they were blueprints, "This is... A sword?"

She nodded, "It is known as the Jeweled Sword Zelretch."

"W-Wait Rin, this... this is far from my current level!"

She looked at him confused, "What are you talking about? You reforged Caliburn, right? You are a prodigy, without a doubt, this should not be a problem."

Shirou fervently shook his head, "I think you are misunderstanding some things: Reforging and forging from scratch is not the same; forging from scratch requires a lot morework. Second, when I reforged Caliburn, I had the advantage of I could use the Structural Grasp. In other words, I know how it was created, and what I did was copy the methodand add some modifications to it."

"And you can't use the Structural Grasp on the plans?"

The redhead denied, "No, at least, I can't do it. For me, it only works on already created structures. I need to see what I am analyzing if I want it to work, these planes are notenough," Shirou continued trying to dissuade the magus, "third, since I got the fragments, I have spent almost two weeks trying to reforge them, and I failed miserably almostevery day. I only did it at the last moment of the last day, only before I had to go to the ritual. And…"

"And…?"

The redhead sighed, defeated, "And fourth, my hands and arms were badly injured after reforging it. I probably tore some ligament while doing it, although I never checked it,and I had to use phoenix tears to heal myself. And despite everything, I still think that something superior to me was helping me to reforge it because it really was far from mylevel. The only reason I tried was because of the ritual."

She sighed, somewhat defeated, "I guess it was too greedy of me, right?"

Shirou nodded, "I am not a prodigy, as you say. Unlike you, I am not an Average One like you are who can use all five elements. I can't even use elemental magecraft, and I can'tcast curses either. My magic circuits are normal at best, and, to be honest, I couldn't even use the Emiya family magecraft if I didn't have the crest. The best thing you can sayabout me is that I am talented in one area only. I can't go any further."

"I get it. I was only excited because if we could create it, maybe the Old Marshal would accept me as his apprentice," she said understanding the situation and feeling somewhatflattered by the boy's words.

"I didn't say we couldn't..."

"Huh?" she asked, confused.

"I said it was out of my level, but," Shirou smiled, "like a blacksmith, my only pride is my swords. Hence, if we work together, hmm... Maybe in a few years, we could create aprototype that is capable of working, although I do not promise anything."

"You can call me Shirou without using the honorifics, after all, we're going to be working on a project that will probably take us years to complete. And, anyway, I've been callingyou Rin for a year now," stretching out his hand, Shirou took hers, "so, it will be my pleasure, Rin."

She nodded, "By the way, Shirou, I need to talk to you about something..."

This caught the boy's attention, but sadly he had to ask, "Does it have to be now? It's that I'm late," he said upon seeing the time.

"Late? Where are you going?"

"The Queen requested that I come to her office and meet with her."

This confused and surprised the girl, "Why? Did you get in trouble!?"

"No, it is probably due to the return of the Emiya crest. It was supposed to be being discussed this week." Shirou took his swords, along with the Black Barrel, and started to leavethe room, leaving Fou inside.

She nodded, "Then you better hurry, the Queen is not known for being tolerant. We'll talk later."

The boy nodded, "Thank you."

"See you tomorrow then," she said, leaving the room with him.

"Tomorrow…" he said, looking down.

"Worried?"

Shirou nodded, "I don't know how others will treat me, and… I don't know how to talk to Luvia either."

The mention of the heiress Edelfelt soured Rin's gaze, but, seeing the boy's worried look, she decided to give him some advice, "She will probably try to push you away, and shewill try to see you as a member of a rival family. Do you want some advice?"

"It would help me a lot."

"You have to accept it."

"Huh?" he said, not understanding.

"Accept that you are the son of the magus killer and that she can't just forget everything your families have been through."

"And so?"

She frowned, "I can't give you all the answers."

Sighing, he thanked her, "I understand. Thanks, Rin."

"You're welcome," Rin pointed in the direction of the main Tower building, "now go quickly. I don't want to think what will happen to you if you make the Queen angry."