22 - New Perspective

Shirou can be seen walking through the market with a grin on his face. He had wanted to go out in public to get a better grasp on these newfound sensations.

People stared at him in confusion. Most people in the Dark City knew of Shirou. He had arrived in the Dark City alongside Changing Star, and had protected the city from Nightmare Creatures ever since. They had even been personally helped by him in their day-to-day lives.

They knew that he was somewhat strange, but they had never seen him act like this before.

Ingvild followed behind in her human form, staring in embarrassment as her master acted like a child. She was quite worried when he started screaming in pain, as she had never seen him react in such a way to even losing his arm.

However, the moment he had exited the bathroom, he had laid on the bed with a stupid grin on his face.

…Maybe he got possessed back then.

She wasn't truly sure, as she had seemed him do things that she would normally expect from him. However, it was still possible that whatever was possessing him had managed to copy his mannerisms.

She decided to keep an eye on him. Just in case.

[Hey, Ingvild! Do you think that I look like a normal person right now?]

[…No. Actually, you're acting stranger than usual. Are you sure you are okay?]

Shirou seemed to have tripped over something.

[Really?!]

[Yes.]

Shirou looked behind him towards Ingvild for a second before slowing down. He walked right next to her and started to observe her intently.

[What are you doing?]

[I'm trying to use you as a reference. But I feel like I shouldn't try to copy you. I don't think that you are normal enough.]

Ingvild scowled before stepping on his foot.

[Oh! That's what you do when you're angry, right? I always thought that you wanted to kill a bug on my shoe or something!]

[How did you even come to that conclusion?!]

As they were walking down the street, Shirou had kept listing things he had noticed about her behavior.

To an outsider however, it seemed quite strange to see a boy and girl staring intensely at each other. Shirou kept smiling joyfully, while Ingvild looked like she was going to pop a vein.

After an hour of Shirou observing people in the market, they decided that they should return home.

They had initially found it after Ingvild stated that she could sense the dark sea in a well. The tunnels led outside of the Dark City, so they ended up being filled with the black water from outside the city.

It was such a good place to stay for Shirou and Ingvild, because it was placed in Ingvild's natural domain. If any powerful Nightmare Creatures entered the tunnels, then they would know beforehand and be able to hide. Fortunately, that hasn't happened yet, so Ingvild only had to deal with the weaker Nightmare Creatures.

Once they had arrived at the prison cell, Shirou took a seat on the floor. He seemed to have one more question for Ingvild.

"…Are you really okay with this?"

[Huh? What do you mean?]

"Right now, you're a slave. If I tell you to do something, you wouldn't have the ability to deny. Even if you're a Blade, you are still a person. Did you forget what I had done to you before you became an echo?"

Ingvild had remembered it quite vividly. The pain of spikes stabbing into her back. The feeling of hopelessness when she realized that she was going to die.

The last memory that she had thought of was of her sickly mother, giving her the [Storm Ruler] that was currently a Noble Phantasm of the Divine rank.

She admits that she had hated Shirou back then. In fact, she still does to some degree. However, she had understood that he was not a bad person.

When she was first summoned as a Blade, she was actually quite thankful. She did not have much to live for before she died, as the temple she was raised in was completely destroyed by the followers of the War Goddess.

She was revived for the sole purpose of serving someone. This would have normally made her quite angry.

However, she had seen all of Shirou's memories. She had seen hell as if she was there herself. She had seen him help people he didn't know with no hesitation. She had seen him sacrifice his humanity just to save a person that he actively disliked. She had seen him help a pitiful blind girl, with a flaw quite similar to her own.

She saw a sword kill hundreds of people just by being in the vicinity. She had felt it's horror as the only survivor was an infant with eyes similar to it's own, who the sword had just killed the family of.

She couldn't bring herself to fully hate him. He might have been oblivious, naive, crazy, delusional, a mass murderer, and says things that make her uncomfortable, but she believed that there was no better master than him.

She hated him quite a bit, but she also liked him as well.

…Maybe a little bit too much.

She walked over to him and ruffled his hair.

"Hm? Actually, that feels pretty nice."

He muttered to himself as if this was an extremely important fact.

[Dont worry about it too much. I'm stuck with you, so I'll just have to deal with it.]

Shirou looked up at her before smirking.

"When you make a face like that, it means that you're embarrassed about something, right?"

Ingvild could not see her face right now, but she thought that it was quite well-composed.

[W-what could you possibly be talking about?!]

"You stutter when you feel as if you had gotten caught in the act. I knew that you liked hanging out with me!"

[You tricked me!]

…He might have been better when he was oblivious.

She didn't mind too much however.

After all, she couldn't be mad at the boy who had restored her only memento of her mother.

————————————————————

The next day, Shirou felt the urge to go see somebody.

"Oh, this is what missing somebody is, right?"

Ingvild stirred in her sleep as Shirou spoke. He walked away from their bed and paced around the room.

Hmm, let's see. When I think of Sunny, I want to go do something crazy with him. When I think of Nephis, I'm jealous? Oh! It's because of her height. Am I becoming like Sunny?

When it comes to Cassie, I kind of just want to mess with her. I didn't really notice it back then, but it seemed that I really enjoyed seeing her face go red!

When I think of that damn bastard Night, I want to wipe him off of the face of the Forgotten Shore. That damn sister seducer…

Speaking of sister's, if I think about Miyu, I feel… regret? That's strange. I can't think of anything I could regret. Maybe it's because I've been in the Dream Realm for so long?

It had been five months since the Winter Solstice after all. Who knew what could have happened to her in that time.

And when it comes to the old man, the only thing I could think of is admiration. It has always been that way though, so nothing new.

Shirou decided that he should go visit Nephis and Cassie. He hadn't seen them since before they went on that journey. He turned towards Ingvild, who was sprawled on the bed in an awkward position.

"…Maybe I should wait for her to wake up on her own."

Shirou sat on the floor and leaned against the wall. She didn't show any sign of waking up.

This is going to take a while.

————————————————————

Shirou did not understand what he was seeing. A crowd of people were being given a large amount of soul shards, and he can see Nephis giving some sort of speech as well.

Next to her, he saw the strangest lineup of Sleepers he had ever seen. He guessed that this was the "Changing Star Cohort", or whatever people had called it when he went into the market.

As expected, Sunny and Cassie were standing somewhat behind them. Sunny looking as treacherous as ever, and Cassie looking as blind as ever.

Although, she seemed to have some better spatial awareness.

He saw Caster standing directly next to Nephis. He had all but confirmed that Nephis was Caster's target. She had told him and Sunny after all.

Effie was standing among them as well. She had taken a liking to calling him "Metal Brain", and said that he was boring for never reacting to it.

…Now that I think of it, not only is it pretty lame, but rather unoriginal.

Shirou glanced at the last member of the group, before almost summoning the [Gandiva].

The last member of the cohort was a person named Kai. Shirou had never personally met the man, but he had used to fantasize about his death. Preferably by his hands.

He was also known as Night, and Shirou decided to use the first opportunity to kill and successfully hide his body.

Shirou laughed darkly. He walked around a couple of buildings so that he was behind the cohort. He knew that he couldn't kill Night right now, so he decided to confront him after greeting his friends. Nobody had noticed him due to the [Hidden Rebel] enchantment on the [Rebellion], so he snuck up behind Cassie.

He covered her eyes with his hand, causing her to gasp. He leaned forward before whispering:

"Guess who."

"Wha- Shirou! There was no point in covering my eyes! I'm already blind!"

"Hm? Your face is looking pretty red over there. You didn't get sick or something, right?"

He placed a hand on her forehead with a mischievous grin on his face. The only other person who had seen this exchange was Sunny, who looked at the two of them before making a disgusted sound. He turned around and walked off. He left behind a final message.

"Don't give her a heart attack!"

Shirou waved in Sunny's direction, before turning back to Cassie.

…I wonder how much blood is going up to her head right now. I wish I had a percentage or something.

She started to stutter and fumble her words.

"Y-you can't just t-touch me whenever you want!"

"You're making it sound like you don't want me to touch you. I understand. I'll never touch you again Lady Casserole."

"D-don't call me that!"

"I apologize. I had the impression that you would prefer me to use your full name due to the distance between us."

"You didn't even say it correctly!"

"Well, it sounded quite right to me."

Shirou laughed at her expression. He had never seen anyone blush as much as Cassie does. Now he understood why he used to act like he did back in the academy.

It was truly an entertaining sight.

Cassie seemed confused as to why Shirou was laughing, before coming to a realization.

Since it was Shirou, she hadn't even thought about it.

"Did… did you just try to mess with me?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. It was pretty funny actually. I still don't get why you act that way around me though. I mean, if Nephis or Sunny touched you, you wouldn't be getting so flustered."

Cassie did not comprehend most of what she said. She had never thought that Shirou would attempt something like this on purpose.

Shirou wrapped an arm around her shoulder before giving her a one-armed hug.

"It's nice to see you again, Cassie."

"…"

Shirou looked down at her after not hearing her reply. She was looking away from him, before slowly saying.

"You should have come with us."

…Did she miss me that much?

"Uh… well, I had to protect the people that were still in the city. You know that Gunlaug isn't that much help to the people outside of the castle. He might keep the city stable, but it definitely isn't safe."

"…ime."

She had mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I said, you better come with me next time."

What does she mean by "next time"?

Shirou couldn't think of a reason for this scenario to occur again, but decided to agree anyways.

"Alright. I will."

"Promise me."

"…I promise?"

She seemed satisfied with that, and tried to escape from his grasp. When she couldn't move, she turned towards Shirou to see him in a state of concentration. His cheeks were somewhat red.

"…Is something wrong?"

"…It turns out that I enjoy the feeling of your soft body pressed up against me."

Cassie took a few seconds to comprehend what he said, before she went limp.

…Maybe I shouldn't have said that.