Chapter 2 Part 3: Power Struggle

He closed his eyes and...

There he was, again looking at the memories. This was part of the katana's curse, one of the ways the sword was used to ensure that he could inherit his family's techniques and knowledge.

In the memory, he watched his ancestor and another young man. The latter was a young man with long indigo hair tied in a ponytail and eyes of the same color. He wore a traditional umanori hakama and a light purple kimono. Also, wore a tabi of the same color, and a black geta with a purple haori.

It seems that his grandfather was teaching him what the refined behavior of a samurai should be like. In summary, a communion with nature. In his grandfather's hands was the same sword that he had forged with his own hands, the Mohoshi Zao.

The Monohoshi Zao was one of his grandfather's last creations, or at least that's what he told him. And the blacksmith's apprentice had seen the sword several times in his memories, also had forged it again with his own hands, and even had used it in combat...

He also knew the young man, who was none other than the famous swordsman: Sasaki Kojirou. He was a mythical swordsman who, it is said, faced the great Miyamoto Musashi in combat. And, if his knowledge was correct, his grandfather would die in a few months, and Sasaki would begin his journey to become a great swordsman.

"Wait, what am I saying? If my memories are correct, who taught Sasaki Kojirou, was Sengo Muramasa, not Senji. Then, why does my grandfather have these memories? If he was Sengo, why did he introduce himself as Senji?" there was no data about the names of the second and third Muramasa, so he and Kiritsugu had inferred that the grandfather was the third Muramasa on record. But what if he was not? The grandfather had admitted to having forgotten even the face of his own grandchildren. The only thing he remembered accurately was each of the swords he and his descendants had forged. "Could it be that he forgot even his own name? No, perhaps his memories are so distorted by the passage of time that he simply became confused."

Shirou tried to clear his thoughts, but something else didn't add up. "When did I use the Monohoshi Zao in combat? I don't remember..."

Shirou opened his eyes, he was in a nursing room that was small and only had one window. He was lying in bed, and the only person next to him was... Gray? She was holding his hand tightly without any intention of letting go. And the girl seemed to be asleep.

He tried to remember the events that had happened in his months in the Clock Tower. His first year was about to end, and he had somehow managed to end up in this hospital room.

The first memory that came to his mind, was the dream he had the night he met Rin. After she left, he finished his training and went to bed.

The first part of his dream was what he expected, the curse of the katana showing him the memories of his ancestor. Thanks to these, he had managed to re-forge Sasaki'skatana. But the second part was the dream he never wanted to have again.

"Sh-Shi... rou... Help me..."

Again, he was in that hell, and, again, he heard the pleas and prayers of those who had not come out alive, and one more time, he saw the black mud. And just like the last time, the mud took on organic properties and began to take on a humanoid form, but this time it was a little different.

This time her form was much more defined, the mud had taken the form of a woman. She wore a black mantle created by the same mud, and her skin was still blackish and reddish, but still, she had distinguishable details beyond her gender: she had light blond hair and a short hairstyle up to her shoulders, also, she had blue eyes clear as the sky.

She smiled at him and seemed happy about their reunion. "Welcome back, Shirou."

"Do I know you?" he asked, confused.

"Of course you do, silly. Don't you remember?" stretching out her hands side by side, she continued. "We met in this beautiful burning field..."

This surprised the boy. "In the Fuyuki fire?! In the middle of this disaster?"

She nodded. "That's right. You're a little cruel to forget me, you know. We've been together for the last seven years."

He could feel the sorrow in her voice, and unconsciously, he felt bad for the girl. "Sorry, I really didn't want to forget anything."

Seeing his sincere apology, she reacted happily. "Oh, well, I guess there was nothing else you could do. The trauma must have been too great. Since you're sorry, I'll forgive you, but you know what, Shirou? There's something I don't like..."

"What?" Shirou asked without moving from his place, something told him that if he tried to escape, he could die.

She frowned as she placed her hand on the boy's cheek. "I don't like that you and she met."

"Eh?" Shirou didn't know what she was referring to.

"Shirou... you and I saved each other in this same burning field seven years ago, you know what that means, don't you?" she whispered in his ear with a beautiful smile, "it means that you belong to me, you belong to me, and only me. Shirou, do you understand? You're not allowed to join her. I don't mind if you get a little closer to her, but in the end, I'll be the one to fulfill your wish."

The boy swallowed saliva, not knowing what to say.

"I'll sleep for a while until I get back to a decent state. I don't want to reappear like this." Taking a few steps back, she said goodbye, "We will meet again when I recover, until then, wait for me, yes?"

After that, he woke up.

The second event that came to his mind was in his second class of General Fundamentals. To his surprise, Lord Trambellio also conducted his second class.

His ancestor warned him to be careful, for he had noticed Lord Trambellio occasionally keeping an eye on him.

Shirou didn't know why one of the three most influential Lords in the Clock Tower was paying attention to a third-class magus like him. However, he would not neglect his grandfather's warnings since the blacksmith was undoubtedly more experienced than he.

This probably had to do with Lady Valualeta, who, in addition to being his dean, was also another of the three great Lords, as well as a member of the Democratic faction.

The third event that the boy remembered was the accident that occurred in the auditorium of the Mineralogy class, which happened when the teacher gave them a job in pairs.

He had to fulfill the agreement made with Rin and help her as her sla... partner... yes, partner. So he went to the place where the girl was already waiting for him, everything was going well until...

"Oh! Sheroooo!"

Shirou turned to see Luvia coming toward him with a smile. After that, and sensing a terrible foreboding, the redhead turned for a moment to see the face Rin with a black aura covering her. He didn't know if it was a kind of illusion, but the feeling chilled his bones.

"Edelfelt, what the hell do you want?" asked Rin with obvious animosity.

"Oh, Tohsaka, were you here too?" said Luvia, ignoring her animosity and making it seem as if she hadn't even noticed her, and this only made Rin even angrier. "I came to askShero to be my partner in this work. Being with me, he will only get the best of the best."

Rin clenched her fists tightly and tried to hold back her anger, smiling forcibly, she replied, "it's a shame Edelfelt, Shirou-kun has already agreed to be my partner in this work. This one and all the others, to be exact."

This upset the Edelfelts' heiress quite a bit, who also responded with a forced smile. "Oh? Don't you think that forcing a colleague to do all the work with you is unfair and petty, Tohsaka?"

Rin clenched her teeth. "Who says I'm forcing him?"

Luvia smiled superiorly. "And how else would you get Shero to agree to be with you in all the works? Heiress of thieves..."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Rin smiled as Luvia did and said, "Wow, That's very bold of you, scavenger Edelfelt."

From one moment to the next, the words became insults, and then the insults turned into gems charged with magical energy, and the two girls threw them at each other without giving a damn.

Their classmates tried to intervene but were thrown out by the fury and magecraft of the two girls.

Shirou was about to intervene as well, but, wisely, he followed his ancestor's advice, which told him not to even think about getting in the way of those two.

In the end, the professor had to intervene, and yet even he found it difficult to stop the two magi with magical circuits of almost the highest quality, furthermore, both were average One, that is, both could manipulate the five elements.

Since that fateful day, the works in pairs became works in trios, luckily for the teacher and the students, and unfortunately for Rin and Luvia, who had to put up with it. Also, to the misfortune of Shirou, who had to mediate between the two.

Another relatively interesting event occurred in his Modern Magecraft Theory class; for some reason, the teacher's apprentice began to sit next to him. Which didn't seem to please the heiress Edelfelt very much and, above all, brought on the wrath of one of the two blond boys in the class, if he remembered correctly, his name was Svin Glascheit. So much was his disgust that the boy lost his head on several occasions and had to be stopped by his friend, Flat Escardos, or by the teacher himself. Although the blacksmith's apprentice was oblivious to all this mess.

And on his side, he did not care at all for the girl's company. The first time the two spoke, she introduced herself as Gray, and he told her to call him Shirou. The two of them enjoyed each other's company, although neither of them knew exactly why; every time she was around, that strange feeling of warmth and tranquility came over him.

Soon the two of them, along with Flat himself, became the trio of idiots in the class. Idiots not in the sense that they were fools, in fact, Flat was a magus with incredible abilities, but in the sense that the three of them were the most impressionable when it came to the teacher's lessons. In the case of both, he and Gray, because they were not directly linked to the common teachings of magi from their respective births. And in Flat's case, he just was Flat.

He had also gotten along well with another boy, Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia, perhaps because they were both the students with the least potential in the entire class or because they were both the ones struggling the most to overcome their lack of talent. At some point, Lord El-Melloi II had put them together on a job that required both of them to cooperate to create a barrier, and needless to say, no matter how hard they tried, they failed miserably; however, Shirou's stubbornness encouraged Caules not to give up so quickly, and the two ended up helping each other after that.

Another interesting thing that he had discovered was about Gray, in addition to the feeling of comfort that the girl transmitted to him, it was that...

Shirou and Gray were sitting down finishing listening to lord El-Melloi II's class, and, once the class was almost over...

Shirou hurriedly got up from his table, leaving Muramasa very close to Gray's coat, to start arranging his things, which resulted in...

"Hihihihihi! Wow, that sword is no toy, is it buddy?" spoke a noisy voice.

"Huh? Who said that?" asked the blacksmith's apprentice as he watched the rest of the room.

"Here, down here!"

"Don't shout Add, the Sir isn't finished yet," Gray said.

"Huh? Was it you, Gray?" asked the confused redhead.

"No! It was me!"

Gray shook her head and, from her coat, pulled out a small cage. Inside this, she had locked a... Box?

"Add!" Gray shouted as she shook the box inside the cage.

"Wait! Wait, Gray!" said the mystic code trying to stop his partner.

"Shirou, this is Add. He's my partner."

"A mystic code?" said Shirou as he tried to use the Structural Grasp in the box; however, what he saw was too much information at once, and in the end, his mind simply couldn't comprehend anything. But an image was etched in his mind, a kind of pillar that shone in the distance. Shirou absorbed so much information that he ended up falling back in his seat, luckily, he stopped before it was too dangerous to continue.

"Shirou!?" asked Gray worried and surprised.

"Hihihihihi! That's what you get for treating me like a simple mystical code. I deserve more respect."

"Add!" she shouted as she shook the box inside the cage.

"Wait! Wait, Gray!" said the mystic code trying to stop his partner.

"Shirou, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

Shirou nodded with a small apologetic smile. "He's right; it's certainly not just any mystical code."

"It's good that you recognize it," said Add.

"You have to be careful with what you analyze, kiddo. Sometimes certain information can be counterproductive," said his ancestor.

"Huh? Who said that?" asked Gray now.

This time, it was Shirou's turn to show his companion. "Gray, Add, this is my ancestor, Muramasa Senji."

"Oh? Then it is a spirit possessing the sword..." said Add.

Shirou nodded.

"It's a pleasure; I'm Gray."

"Same here, miss." After introducing himself to the girl, the blacksmith addressed his apprentice. "Kiddo, I understand that you want to get to the workshop as soon as possible, but remember that the lessons of Lord El-Melloi II are very important. Even you think his lessons are worth gold."

Shirou nodded in shame. "You are right."

"Do you enjoy the teacher's lessons so much?" Gray asked.

Shirou nodded. "I think his lessons are very good... I have very little talent in various areas as a magus, due to the alignment of my Origin and my Element. Even so, he has given me some advice on how to overcome my limitations. For example, he recommended that I study the runes. So, despite his somewhat bitter attitude, he is a very good teacher, isn't he?

Gray nodded with a smile.

What the apprentice blacksmith didn't know was that there were two reasons why Gray started sitting next to him…