CHAPTER 1.4 - SHIROU, FOX GIRL, AND A STRANGE WORLD

Shirou found himself standing in the middle of a grassy plain. The gently blowing wind rustled the grass, and the blue sky with scattered clouds completed the beautiful scene. Unsure of what to do, Shirou did the first thing that came to his mind—to explore this mysterious place.

The last thing he remembered was falling asleep after a painful ritual with his father. Putting two and two together, he concluded that this might be a dream. However, dreams shouldn't be this vivid, this real. Despite being an amnesiac, he knew at least that much. Maybe he should conduct an experiment.

Shirou stopped his walk and raised both of his arms.

"Fly!"

...

Nothing happened.

Shirou pouted, "This is the lamest dream ever. What's the point of dreaming if I can't fly?" he grumbled.

With nothing better to do, he continued his aimless walk. After a moment of pure boredom, Shirou came across a small hill. He decided to climb it, thinking that maybe he would see something from a higher vantage point. Reaching the top of the hill, Shirou looked around. He saw a grassy plain with scattered hills, some nearby forests, and a distant... city.

Furrowing his brows, Shirou observed that it certainly looked like a city, but it was undeniably strange. For one, he noticed that the buildings were mismatched with each other. One part of the city resembled Miyama Town, with traditional Japanese buildings, only larger. Another part of the city resembled a western area, complete with what Shirou assumed to be a western-styled castle. There were also areas built in a desert, with buildings surrounding giant triangular things. There were many other areas in the city that he couldn't properly describe. It was all just so weird.

"Oh my, who do we have here?"

Shirou jumped a bit, startled by a sudden mysterious voice behind him. He immediately turned around to see the one who had spoken. A young, in Shirou's own opinion, very beautiful woman stood there. Her pinkish hair was tied in two and swayed gently. She adorned a modified ornate blue kimono. What caught most of Shirou's attention, though, were the fox ears on top of her head and the very fluffy-looking fox tail behind her back.

Shirou stared at her for a moment before deciding to do the polite thing and greet her. "...Hello."

The young woman walked closer, then knelt in front of Shirou. She gave him a beautiful smile and patted his head. Shirou couldn't help but feel very flustered when she did that.

"What a cute young master I have here. I'm Tamamo no Mae. You can just call me Tamamo or Tama-chan if you want, young master."

Young master? Why did she call him that?

"Umm, my name is Emiya Shirou... Uh, huh... Tama-nee?"

Calling a woman who was obviously much older than him by just her name bothered him a bit. But based on her bubbly personality, she might not appreciate it if he was too formal either. So Shirou chose the safest option and called her by a nickname, similar to how he referred to his kind-of-adopted-but-not-really sister, Fuji-nee.

Clearly, this was the best option because a moment later, Shirou was pulled into a hug by Tamamo. She was obviously over the moon, obvious by how much she smothered Shirou's face against her chest.

"Uuuuhhh, you're so cute, young master! Yes! You can call me Tama-nee from now on, hehehe."

After a couple more session of Tamamo hugging and cuddling Shirou much to his dismay and embarassement, she finally let Shirou go.

"I never thought I would meet you this soon, young master. But I'm glad nonetheless," said Tamamo with a warm smile.

Shirou, still red-faced and a little flustered, tilted his head. "Why are you calling me 'young master,' Tama-nee?"

"That's because you are my master!" Tamamo simply answered.

Tamamo snickered after seeing Shirou's confused face, clearly did not understand at all.

"Well, you see, young master, you once wished to meet heroes and be like them, remember?"

Shirou pondered a bit. His memory of the fire was a little fuzzy, but yes, he did something like that. Although it was more of him just wondering than actually wishing for it, if he remembered correctly. He then nodded.

"Long story short, your wish was granted, and now I am here!"

"...okay?"

"You still don't get it, right, young master?"

Shirou slowly nodded.

Tamamo put her hand below her chin, thinking of the best way to explain it to Shirou. She then clapped her hands. "Well, let's start from the beginning then. First things first, this is not a dream. Well, it's kinda close, but not really."

Shirou widened his eyes, dumbfounded. "What?"

"Yup, you can call this place your inner world given shape and form.You can think of it as your mind too. I guess the shock after activating your Circuits unintentionally sent you wandering in here."

To be honest, Shirou still didn't fully understand it, but some gut feeling told him that what Tamamo said was true. It was faint, but he could feel the connection.

"And I'm one of many Heroic Spirits that came here after you established a connection to the Throne of Heroes. To put it simply for you, I am a hero residing in here and you're my master!"

Some words' meanings were lost on Shirou, but his focus was on what she said at the end.

"...you're a hero?" Shirou looked Tamamo up and down.

Tamamo huffed and p0ut her hands on her hips. "What? Don't I look like one?"

"A-Ah, no, it's...uh-"

"Nah, don't worry, I'm just kidding. I might not look like a big, buff, muscular hero, but I'm quite capable too, if I must say."

Shirou again nodded weakly. He didn't exactly expect someone who looked delicate and, dare he say, beautiful to be a hero.

"Awww, thank you, young master," Tamamo's cheeks flushed a bit.

"B-Buh wha-wait..." Shirou caught off-guard.

'She can read my mind?' Shirou thought panickly.

"Young master, we're inside your mind. Us Heroic Spirits can more or less understand your thoughts to a certain degree here, well unless you block it anyway." Tamamo then gave Shirou a mischievous smile. "And currently, you still don't know how to block it."

"A-Ah..." Caught red-handed, Shirou could only hide his face with his hands, much to Tamamo's amusement.

After a couple of moments of Shirou apologizing to Tamamo for being rude and Tamamo simply saying she didn't mind it at all, the two of them sat upon the top of the hill, looking at the city quite far away. Tamamo insisted that Shirou sit on her lap, so an embarrassed Shirou was currently sitting on Tamamo's lap with the fox girl patting his head while humming happy tunes.

"So that city is full of heroes?" asked Shirou, staring at the city in the distance.

"Yup, heroes from across the world are there," Tamamo replied.

"Wow, can I meet them?"

Tamamo gave it a thought for a moment. "Maybe later, currently everyone is busy settling in."

Shirou felt a bit sad about this, but he understood. Tamamo noticed his expression and quickly reassured him, "You don't need to worry. After everyone is done, they would love to meet you, young master."

"Really?" Shirou looked up at Tamamo with a bright smile. Tamamo gave him another headpat.

"Yup, and because this is inside your mind, you can visit us anytime you want."

"That's cool, but..." Shirou paused for a moment. "...do I need to fall asleep to enter this place?" For all Shirou knew so far, he could only enter this place after he fell asleep after all.

"Not quite, there's another way for you to enter here, young master. I will teach you how to enter without the need to sleep."

Shirou's expression visibly brightened. "Promise? Pinky promise?" he extended his pinky finger to Tamamo.

Seeing this, Tamamo grabbed Shirou's pinky finger with her own. "Yup, pinky promise."

The two of them then spent their time together, talking, telling stories, and joking around on that hill. Tamamo gave Shirou a sad smile when he wasn't looking. Her young master, still a child yet burdened by something no child should have to bear.

Unknown to Shirou, the Heroic Spirits here already knew how much he had lost in the fire. Home, family, memory, even his own identity. Not to mention his inevitable clash against the corrupted grail in the future. The trauma from the fire alone should haunt him for the rest of his life; that's how nightmarish it was. Tamamo was thankful that the Overseer decided to seal most of Shirou's gruesome and traumatic memories for now, giving him some chance to live a somewhat normal childhood.

Tamamo, like many other decent Heroic Spirits, vowed to give her best support to the young master. Not only because the world was in danger and they were literal heroes, but because they didn't want a child to shoulder the burden alone. Unconsciously, Tamamo pulled Shirou a bit closer and gave him another hug.

"...Tama-nee?" Shirou glanced back at the fox girl.

"I will protect you, young master. I will always be by your side," Tamamo whispered softly, her words laced with sincerity and a touch of melancholy.

He didn't quite understand, but he appreciated it nonetheless. "Thank you, Tama-nee."