Chapter 5: New Friendships

Special thanks to Jose19 for helping me out.

Beta read by Opal.

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-Apartment complex-

"It smells so good!!!"

A few days passed since the initiation battle, more specifically two days. Since then, not much happened with Shirou aside from laying on his bed inside the hospital and recovering. 

The same applied to both Subaru and Teana. They were in a worse shape than him in his opinion, given he only suffered from a fractured rib and his bruises weren't that bad. But they kept denying his words and instead worried about him the entire time, Subaru going so far as to even apologize extensively for having kicked him in the stomach and not having noticed the destroyed Barrier Jacket. 

Teana, sharing Subaru's guilt, also asked for forgiveness; she felt that it was her duty to take into account any changes and react accordingly. Had she not been so distracted and swallowed by the moment then the orangette could have avoided such an outcome. 

Safe to say, the atmosphere afterward was awkward. Having to placate both of them and keep reassuring Subaru that all of this was no one's fault but his own. It took a full hour for both to begrudgingly accept his words and he even had to throw in the promise of a small dinner invitation to show them that he wasn't mad about anything. 

This promise led to his current position where he witnessed Subaru inhaling the food on her plate like a vacuum cleaner. Teana by the blue-haired girl's side hiding her face away to not show her embarrassment, a sight that amused Shirou quite a bit. 

'Their personalities are the opposite of each other, yet they are best friends.' 

"Woah, I didn't know you were such a great cook, Shirou!" Subaru said, her cheeks bulging and filled with pieces of steak and potatoes. "I don't mind getting sent to the hospital if it means you'll invite me for dinner again, hehehe—!" Pa! 

Her friend's fist came crashing down like a sledgehammer and hit the poor girl's head. Teana now had a veins throb on her forehead as she was getting increasingly annoyed and embarrassed by Subaru's shameless behavior. 

"Oi, we are invited guests, behave like one! And don't start planning to get more food, you make it sound like we eat garbage." Despite saying that, Teana had to agree that none of the dishes they ate so far came close to what Shirou prepared for them. It wasn't like Midchilda didn't have restaurants with galaxy-renowned chefs — their dishes just cost a lot of money neither she nor Subaru found it logical to spend. "I won't be against paying another visit to you again." She whispered, taking a bite of her dish, her eyes widening as she wasn't expecting for the food to be this good. 

"Glad you liked it, I was afraid my skills wouldn't be up to par with this world's cuisine." 

"Were you a chef before becoming a mage?" Subaru asked, curious about Shirou's past. 

"Ah, not really. I did work at a bar in the past, the owner was a good friend of someone I knew and it made it easy for me to get a part-time job. Aside from that, I mostly just worked around fixing cars and bikes with my neighbors and doing small odd jobs. Though surprisingly I never took a position in a kitchen. After that, I just continued my studies at university and now I'm here." 

"That sounds nice, you've been very productive from the sound of it." 

"Yeah, I just don't find it comfortable staying at home all day and doing nothing." 

"But wait," Subaru entered the conversation. "You've been doing so many activities from what I understand but when did you have time to train your magic? Cause the way your arrows struck my stomach no matter where I ran tells me that there was a lot of training involved. Oh, but don't worry, it's all healed, see?" She lifted her shirt to show off her spotless stomach, he did blush like Teana as the boldness of this girl but given how much she displayed while wearing her Barrier Jacket then this was nothing in comparison. 

"That's… good to know." His eyes drifted away, looking at the ceiling. "And to answer your question, I did have a shed where I practiced my magecraft often, on top of that I was a member of the archery club back in high school. So I had plenty of opportunities to practice my skills."

"Aaah, I see. No wonder you prefer a bow. But still, don't you think it would be better to use a gun? In your case, I think a sniper would suit your style very much and it'll make reloads that much faster. Though this is just a suggestion, I noticed how you were able to fire multiple arrows in quick succession." Teana said, being a fellow long-ranged mage as well wanting to exchange tips. 

"A gun, huh?" Honestly, he never thought about it until recently. After learning a lot about his old man, Shirou grew curious about what kind of weapons Kiritsugu used and did at one point rummage through his belongings. That's where he found a couple of stored away guns collecting dust and sealed away no longer to be used again. It was a shocking discovery, he never realized there were firearms hidden in his house. 

"I think I'm just too used to the bow. I'm not sure how good my aim and skills with a gun would be given I never used one." 

"I can lend you one of my old devices and we can have a test run," she proposed an idea he knew was bound to fail. Already hit with the reality that the magic system in this world differed from his own, the chances of her weapons working for him was minuscule — like what happened with the Barrier jacket. 

"I appreciate the offer, I can even teach you archery in exchange. Are you interested?" Not wanting to disappoint her by turning down the offer, Shirou agreed while showing courtesy and suggesting something in return. 

"Eh, really!?" Teana's reaction was more energetic than he anticipated. "I would like that very much!" 

A part that mesmerized her from the duel was Shirou's accuracy and timing. Teana acknowledged her lack of mastery over her gun despite what others thought. Firing powerful shots at a long distance took time for the spell to be ready and that was on top of using a device that simplified the whole process. While Shirou did also use a device, his firing speed eclipsed anything she could do at a far greater range. If learning archery meant improving her pre-existing skills then she was all for it. 

"Pft!" Subaru chortled, "Tea using a bow, just attack some spiky ears and you'll have the perfect elf cosplay!"

"Hey! At least I'm trying to get better, you on the other hand still need to improve your speed or else you'll become just another mobile target for Shirou here." 

"Hehehe, don't worry, I got plans for that." 

"... If you say so." Knowing Subaru for years, despite her childish and slightly immature behavior, Subaru was still one of the most hardworking people she knew. So when she said to have a plan then Teana believed her. "Ah, speaking of training, I heard you'll be attending the training hall with Fate-san and Hayate-san tomorrow. But why? There shouldn't have been any need for it given you've shown enough during the duel."

Shirou scratched his chin, thinking about how he could bring up the matter of him being from another world thus not having a Linker Core like the others. If the Time-Space Administrative Bureau wanted to equip him with equipment and devices that worked with his Magic Circuits then they needed to perform tests. 

'Well, I can just tell them directly. There is no harm in that, but I'll keep the more important details vague for now.' 

"You see, I come from a faraway world and the magic system isn't like yours," he mentioned.

"That's why your Barrier jacket broke!" Teana's reaction was well expected, the question that plagued her mind. "It all makes sense now…" 

"Wah Shee," Subaru tried to speak with her mouth filled with food. Shirou couldn't help but chuckle at the display, they sure were a fun bunch to hang out with. 

They continued to converse all night, minutes trickling down to hours until it was well over three in the morning. Given they lived in the same building, the girls didn't mind staying late and they had a free day. 

One thing Shirou learned about Subaru first was that she actually learned her martial arts and technique from her older sister who also worked in the Bureau as a criminal investigator. Teana on the other hand was strangely quiet about her side of the family, choosing to stay quiet the entire time and merely throw a few comments at Subaru's story about their past here and there.

"What about you, Shirou, any siblings?" Subaru asked. 

"Yes," Though they weren't related by blood, Shirou considered Fuji-nee as his big sister. Since the beginning she has always been there along with Fujimura-san to help him out and his dad. Though he was fairly certain that woman initially had a crush on the old man at first, not that he ever brought it up to her attention unless he wanted to get smacked with that damnable tiger-stripped shinai. Sure, she lounged around, leeched for food every day, and always acted immature at times — she still represented an important pillar in his life. "A big sister."  

"Really? That's awesome! Is she a mage like you?" 

"No, Fuji-nee was a normal woman… somehow. She's an expert national-level kendo practitioner, I can't tell the number of times I was at the receiving end of her moves whenever she thought I did something bad. I learned how to dodge dangerous attacks from her." 

Subaru shivered, "Let's hope she doesn't aim for my stomach like her little brother." 

"You're not going to let that one go, aren't you." He said, sighing at Subaru's grinning face. "Fine, whenever I'm home you can come over for lunch and dinner." His response was met with a joyful squeal and a hard slap on the back. 

"You won't regret this, I promise to put a ton of extra effort in our training so we'll both benefit from this." He severely doubted that claim, and she started to remind him of a certain gluttonous tiger of Fuyuki. "Though it won't be easy this time, I'll make sure to get to you without those pesky arrows shooting me down." 

"Careful there, you don't want to repeat the same accident by breaking another one of Shirou's ribs don't you, Subaru? You have a bad tendency of getting carried away during battle and going too far. 

"That only happened once—"

"Thrice."

"And she was perfectly fine after that!"

"By that, if you mean suffering from a mild concussion and a fractured bone or two, then yes, perfectly fine indeed," Teana said, amused at Subaru's reaction while trying to not show it on her face. They had their back and forth for another ten minutes before realizing that it was very late already and they needed to go back.

"Thanks again for the meal and snacks, Shirou. I promise to bring you something in return and we'll invite you for lunch or dinner in the future as well. Subaru and I aren't on your level, but we can cook." 

"Goodnight, Shirou!" 

He waved them goodbye as well, sending them off while standing at the front door and seeing the girls off. They were a fun bunch, energetic, and knew how to make every moment entertaining. Shirou yawned, feeling his drowsiness creep up on him and he decided to crash on the bed for today. 

Click

The door closed, with the redhead now lying on his bed and falling asleep soon after. 

{Break}

(Tomorrow morning)

Early the next morning, despite having gotten that many hours of sleep, he woke up full of energy to start his day. The girls were still sleeping as were most of the neighbors, the roads were mostly quiet with some cars starting to appear.

"Mmmm, I'm supposed to meet the others at the Time Space Administrative Bureau in two hours, but where is that place even?" Standing on the balcony, the boy spoke to himself while holding a cup of coffee and a phone-like device made for people like him still new to the technology of Midchilda. 

He had gotten a message from Hayate, the girl stating that he needed to stop by the main headquarters to assist the teams with the creation of devices that would work with his body. She already mentioned that aside from the Barrier jacket, he needed to already start planning for any other device he might use in the future and inform her in advance. 

"She's asking this before they even start to create anything to suit me." Honestly, there was a lot of skepticism roaming around his mind for the creation of a device like that. Given just how vastly different Magic Circuits were from a Linker Core. 

"Isn't this just a mana core?" Given the feat of power Nanoha showcased, he was forced to admit that she was indeed a peerless mage with enough firepower to surpass a large chunk of every Noble Phantasms' blueprint he owned. "I wonder how other mages back in my world would react to the concept of Linker Cores being so common amongst the mages here. It's not like they aren't aware that a parallel world with life existing beyond our own space with the existence of second magic. They'd probably be envious of the abundance of mana of this place, and of the mages of this world not having to worry about magic being a limited resource"

Many would surely be quite jealous of him right now, especially Rin. 

"Some of the more eccentric Magi back there would surely try to implement a Linker Core inside their bodies somehow. Or they'll be more interested in devices like Nanoha's Raising Heart. It's practically a Noble Phantasm-level tool capable of mass destruction." As he put more thought into the matter, Shirou came to understand that he was getting it all wrong. "No, Nanoha herself is someone who possesses immense reserves of Mana to use those devices to that extent. I've lived amongst the Clocktower's mages for long enough to understand they only care about something if it helps them in their research to reach the Root. And so far, I'm pretty certain the devices don't have that capability."

Still, the idea that put him on edge was the fact that most likely every mage on this planet possessed a Linker Core, Nanoha probably just being one of many. Though Hayate mentioned that her friend achieved an S+ rank mage classification from her own effort and talent — it didn't mean everyone would be like her. 

In a sense, this world held the potential to be more dangerous than his own. Here, Mana has shown to be an unlimited resource and coupled with the unknown dangers from outer space made it that much more unsettling. 

Putting these thoughts aside, he wondered how Hayate and the rest would tackle the issue with devices not working properly with his Magic Circuits. Was a single day enough to not only come up with a working model but make it work with his Magical Energy? "Who knows, I'm no expert in this kind of field so better leave it to the professional."  

The image of him wearing a barrier jacket similar to Subaru or Nanoha made him chuckle. 'Hopefully, they won't make it red…' 

From the brief explanation he got from the girls, Linker Cores and Magic Circuits were not completely different for them to not share any similarities. Linker Cores acted more as reservoirs that stored the outside Mana for later uses while Magic Circuits could generate Magical Energy on their own. He didn't know much to call one better than the other, so Shirou decided it would be better to move on, as long as it worked, that was all that mattered 

"Better give her the benefit of the doubt. They might question me about the details at the training facility, and perhaps even test me further, I think." He said to himself, yawning once before going to bed for the day. 

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"Hah, this must be the place." 

He stopped in front of what could only be described as the tallest structure he'd seen in his life. Cranagan, the capital sure turned out to be far more advanced than he imagined. 

His hands shook, not out of fear or joy but rather his nervousness seeping to the surface. Despite having battled countless mages and bested both Subaru and Teana, still Shirou could not shake off this feeling from this foggy future he blindly headed towards. "No, I should trust my guts and keep on walking. I don't think they are nearly as bad as the general Magi population inside the Clocktower, hopefully. If I'm really unlucky and they turn out to be similar, then I'll have to stick close to the girls for a while and not stick out too much." 

Taking a deep breath, he walked inside holding nothing but a small bag that held a few items like spare clothes and a water bottle. 

He didn't have much on him so this was all he could bring for this event or any other activities Hayate had planned for him. Given both swords and bow were easily Traceable by him. 

Walking through the glass doors, Shirou found himself entering a large reception hall filled with hundreds if not thousands of people, all of them vested with military uniforms. 

"This is kind of intimidating." 

He approached the front desk where a young lady greeted him. "Welcome to the Time-Space Administrative Bureau Headquarters — how may I assist you?" 

"Hello, my name is Shirou Emiya. I'm here to meet Hayate Yagami and Nanoha Takamachi-san. They asked me to come here in the morning and give my name to the receptionist." The woman hummed, continuing to smile, and typed his name on the holographic keyboard. 

'Woah… this place just won't stop surprising me.' First, it was the card he got from Nanoha and Hayate's hovering car.

This world was truly advanced, as someone who had a great interest in technology and dabbled in circuitry from time to time, Shirou was honestly amazed by these light construct computers. "Maybe I can try getting one for myself. I already miss my old laptop, not that I could buy one with everything I had to deal with initially and the lack of funds" 

That reminded him about the different models he used during his time at the Clocktower. The ones he had were both destroyed by Luvia and his twin-tailed roommate. The former was an honest accident while the former hit it with a Gandr after failing to use it after a full day of attempts. "Perhaps I'll get those watch computers that can create holographic images. I think I saw a few people using it."

When he first arrived in London in the new world, Shirou had nothing on him or even any cash for that matter. Trying to use projection to create counterfeits did not sit right with him and even then those notes would have been the same copies of each other which would have gotten him caught by the authorities. 

This was why he started working odd jobs whilst being grateful for Miss Brown having given him a place to stay. Shirou still felt hesitant splurging what little he had on a laptop when more pressing matters occupied his thoughts back then. The majority consisted of him coming to terms with this new reality and trying to find any lead on what to do next 

"Yes, I see your name here. Ah, you are a new trainee from what I'm seeing under the division of the 2nd Ground Commander. Please head to the elevator down the hall and choose the button leading to the training facility. There you'll find a large open field where the commander is waiting for you." 

Thanking the lady, Shirou followed her direction and finally reached his destination in a matter of minutes. 

"Wow! This place is beautiful."

The elevator didn't move underground or to any of the upper floors; rather it brought him to another area completely going south to a large open area where he spotted three people talking to each other. 

"You're finally here Shirou! Hope you didn't experience any trouble finding this place?''

"Ah, don't worry about it, the place is kinda hard to miss." Seriously, he suspected the headquarters could even be spotted from space! 

"It sure is, I hope you had a wonderful time and a good night's rest to heal from any remaining injuries." 

"Oh, don't worry about me, I wasn't that bad, to begin with, and I even got to spend more time with Subaru-san and Teana-san, and we got to exchange plenty of stories with each other." 

"Heh, I'm glad to hear that!" Hayate said, clapping her hand with joy visible on her face. "Those two are great mages and have the potential to one day replace both Nanoha and myself. I know they were feeling quite a bit guilty these last few days for having hurt you with the barrier jacket incident. Fortunately, I already told them that this was no one's fault rather than my own for having neglected to perform proper checks."

"No, it's my fault, I should have given a heads up about my condition beforehand. Anyways, it's a matter of the past, so let's not worry about it anymore." He hastily said, not wanting her to blame herself in the first place. 

"If you say so, but I'll still take this incident as a lesson to pay more attention next time." 

Before he could say anything else, Shirou noticed a woman standing behind her, someone he only met once right after the duel — if he recalled, her name was Signum. 

She noticed his gaze and slightly nodded at him, "We meet again, how are you doing, Emiya-san?" She spoke, her tone both stern and strict. 

Aside from knowing her name, Shirou had no other idea of what kind of person Signum was. Given neither Nanoha nor Hayate ever brought her up in a conversation so far. But if he had to take a guess factoring her looks, mannerisms, aura, and throwing in some random guess — he assumed her to be a very serious kind of person. 

"I see you also brought some extra clothes, that's good, we might spend a few hours here today just with the physical testing." Finally, the third person came forward, the only blonde in the group and someone he already heard about from both Nanoha and Hayate

"How are you doing Fate-san?" 

"Fate is alright, there is no need to be so formal with me. You sure are full of energy today, well you're going to need it. We'll be conducting a few tests on your magic and how it works to get a better picture of everything. Followed by checking the difference in your body compared to us and your general skills outside the use of magic. You might get tired, so I've brought some snacks you can enjoy and we even have a facility here that will help you recover faster." 

He was still unsure how they were going to analyze him, hopefully, their methods would differ from the Clocktower and its Sealing Designations. Where mages with magecrafts impossible to replicate would be studied and even have their bodies dissected — just a handful of accounts he heard from Luvia made him sick. Not to mention stories he heard about Mages buying humans from the black market as guinea pigs or lab rats for their research.  

Another reason why this whole situation made him very wary in general. 

Thankfully the people around him back then were nothing of that sort, though Rin did entertain that idea from time to time. The girl, thankfully, explained that she was just joking with him…Right?

Signum spoke again "While they will be studying your magic, I will focus more on the physical side by gauging your skill level with archery and any other martial arts you may be familiar with." 

He was about to ask if she wanted him to have another spar, but Signum already predicted his question. "This is not a spar if that's what you are wondering. And neither will I be testing your magic or even you, I'm too old-fashioned so my specialty lies with getting close and personal against an opponent. As a knight, I do master archery, and it's due to that I can't teach you much given there is nothing more to add. Which is why I'll be focusing on swordsmanship for the most part.

Shirou scratched his head, wondering if he should mention the fact that he wasn't solely an archer. Though he never showcased his swordsmanship against Teana or Subaru, so he could understand where they got that impression. 

"I understand," Shirou nodded. "Then I will be under your care."

"Great!" Hayate exclaimed, leading the group further inside the facility until they were standing next to what looked like a target practice range. Hayate took out a clipboard and Fate prepared one of those robots which recorded everything — all of them waiting eagerly for him to start. Signum on the other hand just crossed her arms. 

"So we know how good you are with a bow and arrow, but I want to see how consistent your accuracy actually is. You see that target over there, the blue floating target? That will be your main target. It will not move around in the beginning so this test will only focus on accuracy on an immobile object. Oh, and please don't use your magic for this one." Signum retrieved a large steel case and dropped it between them. Opening it, his eyes came to rest on to recurve bow and hundreds of blunt arrows. She grabbed the weapon along with the bolts and handed them over to him.

"Given devices won't work with your case, I prepared these for you. The bow is made from a simple alloy that is both light and durable, not many mages in Midchilda use bows which are not devices outside of training — so I didn't have much of a choice but to get you the standard equipment. Take it, now shoot." 

"Eh, but—" Ring! The buzzer rang, the target glowing a bright blue color with the number 0 appearing above it. 

'Shirou Emiya may proceed shooting whenever he is ready.' A synthesized voice spoke from the machine. 

Well, Signum did mention to not use his magecraft — not that he needed to just for simple shooting — and just to test his standard skills.

Tightening his hold on the weapon, the material felt very light, almost too light as if it was plastic. Thankfully, just a single squeeze and pull of the string showed him the sturdiness of the object. It almost made Shirou think about Archer's bow but both were not made from the same material. 

"Surprised?" Fate mentioned as she noticed his reaction. "Even if this is a standard practice bow, not many people use it here. So it's mostly brand new, still, we make sure that everything we have it's made with good quality material for the trainees. Unfortunately, given how sudden this was, we didn't have time to prepare something better for you."

"It's okay, no, it's perfect." Being a simple demonstration, Shirou didn't require much as even a wooden bow would have sufficed. "Here I go then." 

Without wasting any time, his eyes focused on the shining target in the distance. 'Around sixty meters away, this will be easy.' He notched the arrow, taking a deep breath. It barely required much strength to pull the bow and given Shirou grew used to pulling Archer's bow which required an exceeding amount of force — this in comparison felt weird. 

Fwish!

Releasing the string, the arrow disappeared, sailing at great speed and hitting the target perfectly in the middle with a loud clang. The buzzer rang loudly with the number of hundred showing up right before the word 'bullseye!' got displayed proudly to everyone. 

All three girls behind him hummed in agreement, taking notes as they expected such a result. After all, even if he used magic back then against Subaru and Teana, Shirou was able to put the former in the same spot again and again. He rarely — if ever — missed his shots, so it was common sense to assume that even without magic he would have a great amount of skills in his archery. 

"Nice shot! Now, try as many times as you want so we can get an average percentage of your accuracy. You can shoot at least 10 to 20 times if you want to." With that, he shot the second arrow far quicker, using less time than before, and just like that it hit the middle once again. The same scenario occurred with the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh all the way up to his tenth arrow.

None of them missed and hit the target at a hundred percent accuracy!

"Hold!" Signum shouted, making the focused Shirou flinch with shock. She tapped a few commands on a tablet which made the target fly further behind. Increasing the distance to now one hundred meters. "It's obvious that anything under a hundred meters will be a walk in the park for you. Not a viable test to test your range and accuracy. So now, if you hit a bullseye five times, I'll add another fifty meters until you can't hit it another, understood?" 

"Yes ma'am." Those words came out of his mouth so naturally that he didn't even notice it at first. A few seconds later his face reddened with embarrassment while both Hayate and Fate giggled in the background. Signum did not react to his way of calling her and waiting for the boy to continue. 

Shirou continued to shoot as many arrows as possible in a short amount of time. His aim did not deteriorate or miss once, even after another few dozen of projectiles, not a single arrow hit any other places other than the bullseye. It continued on for minutes all the way to an hour where the machine had already created a distance of half a kilometer away yet even now he kept hitting the mark every time. He showed no sign of straining or even fatigue in the first place, in Signum's critical eyes, the redhead was as relaxed as he was in the beginning. 

She checked carefully again making sure that he wasn't using magic in secret or unconsciously. None of the sensors around him notified her about any detection of magic usage whatsoever, meaning he was indeed using only his skills and strength. 

The other two women who had been monitoring his archery at first were very impressed, the ability to only rely on the skills alone without the aid of magic and still hit the target so accurately was amazing. But soon their surprise turned into shock then disbelief. 

"I…I can't imagine how many hours, days, and years of training he would have needed to achieve such a level." Commented Fate. "No wonder Subaru-chan faced so much trouble during the battle, even without the aid of his spells he would have been able to keep her at bay if she was alone." 

Hayate had to agree, "Though it does make you wonder if he used any other spells other than summoning more arrows along with the bow and arrow. Shooting from more than a kilometer away requires superhuman amounts of strength just to pull back a string with enough tension to fire the projectile. Or, he imbued his arrows with a honing spell that always struck Subaru, though I doubt the latter." 

"It does make sense, the bow he used was quite big, too much even. But we won't know the answer unless he tells us." 

"Or we just wait and see how far he can go in his current state." Hayate patted herself on the back for having cleared up her schedule for the day. They hadn't even gone through his other fighting styles, if he knew any other than archery, they still had to analyze his body and find a solution for a device to work with his system. Such a thing wouldn't happen in a single day, perhaps three more days would suffice if she got all the available hands to help her out. There wasn't much time for wasting in the future, given she had her project to work on as well.

"Ah, he stopped?" Mentioned Fate as both women turned to look at the field where Shirou lowered his bow no longer trying to shoot the target before him. 

"Have you perhaps reached your limit?" Asked Signum, showing no changes in emotion on her face whatsoever. 

"I can shoot further, but that will require the use of my magecraft. You said that I was prohibited from using it so this is what I can achieve without any spells" Then he pointed at the bow, "This bow as well can't shoot any further or it'll break." Since he wasn't allowed to use Projection and Reinforcement there was nothing else Shirou could do to improve his current range.  

The pink-haired woman understood his reasoning, "If I were to allow you to use your spells, how far could you shoot up to?"

"Hmm, with the right bow, use of my magecraft, and vantage point— I'd average around three kilometers." 

"That's… impressive." She noted, her tone showing a hint of surprise. "For you to get such a result without the use of a device is beyond my expectations. Makes me wonder what else your world's spells can accomplish compared to ours. Also, about your results, overall I can't say much. Rather I don't have complaints or anything to correct you on. Your archery is already at a high level, so that isn't surprising. Aside from archery, what other skills do you possess?" 

When she said that, Shirou believed that this would be the perfect moment to bring up his swordsmanship. 

"I do know a bit of swordplay."

"Oh, you do? Ah yes, from the videos I have seen and rewatched, you could summon blades." She pondered, going silent for a few seconds before sighing. "I'll do the inspections on that myself tomorrow, today it's not ideal as we still have many other issues to work on first." 

"I'll be sparing with you?" 

"Or me," Fate interjected. "While Signum is a master in close combat, I'm no slouch myself. Whether it be scythe, longsword, double-ended blades, and greatswords — I can use them all." She said proudly, making Shirou wonder if this girl possessed the same abilities and power as Nanoha back on the infected planet. If so, then he dreaded the upcoming day.

"All right, it's time to check and study your body carefully so that we can create a device suitable for you." Hayate came over, making the two girls agree to her suggestion and lead Shirou into another building. Signum had other duties to attend to, so she had to leave earlier than expected. 

"Alright, stay safe, Shirou, Hayate, and you as well, Ma'am."

"..."

"..."

Both the redhead and brunette looked at Fate with a weird expressions while the latter just sighed helplessly. "It's been half a year since we've seen each other, but she could just call me Fate or Testarossa." 

"Well, it is better than 'you'." Commented Hayate.

They didn't comment much on this matter and proceeded forward. Compared to the open field he was in a few minutes ago, this place looked more like a hospital than anything else. Surrounded by dozens of machinery that reminded the boy of CT scans accompanied by the heavy stench of disinfectant. "Welcome to the Research Bay, it won't take long as we will just analyze your body, track the movement of Mana and see the difference." 

Following her instructions, Shirou changed into a loose hospital gown before lying down on a metal surface. The cold sensation sent a chill up his spine, though he stayed calm as the mechanical ring around him started to rotate with lights flashing across his eyes. Having a red laser beam scanning every inch of his body from his head to his feet. 

Hayate who was sitting on the other side with Fate and one of the research personnel surveyed the data showing on the screen. "All right Shirou. If possible, can you do something that will activate your magic?"

Something simple? Given he had many options, he preferred to start with a basic use of reinforcement to his arm. The people on the other side of the room instantly saw the changes appear on the screen.

"The machine detected a spike in body temperature. Wow! It's a lot more different than I imagined." The young researcher exclaimed. "It bears heavy resemblance to several different branches covering every part of his body — basically like a secondary set of pseudo nervous systems in appearance. While I do see a concentration of energy gathering around his arms, it's not exactly Mana…"

Hearing their description, it was clear to Shirou about what they were talking about. "These are Magic Circuits." 

"Can you elaborate, Mr. Emiya?" Asked the researcher, showing a great amount of interest towards this unknown being before her. 

The redhead on the other hand just gave her a basic explanation, "Well Magic Circuits have two functions overall, first they gather Life Force Energy and then they convert it into Magical Energy. I heard you mention the unknown energy inside my arm, that is Magical Energy. Though these lines don't show up visibly on my body unless I really push myself." He said to the girls as they peered at his Magic Circuits on the screen of the scanner."

"Oh, a converter! How peculiar, are you perhaps knowledgeable as to why it needs to do that? The mages here are capable of using Mana directly for spells and different device applications. Though I should take into account that the Mana in this world might differ from the 'Mana' in yours, perhaps the natural life energy in your world poses harmful effects upon oneself which forced the human body to create these Magic Circuits. Oh, it could even be due…" the researcher started to ramble without end, getting lost in her many theories about the origin of Magic Circuits and the reason behind their existence. "Tell me more!" 

She nearly grabbed him by the collar if Fate hadn't come to his rescue and calmed down the excited woman. 

"Now now, our friend over here still hasn't finished his explanation. Don't make him uncomfortable or we'll have to search for someone else's expertise." 

"No!" She shouted, "I-I'm calm! I'm calm… just got a bit curious, that's all." Both Hayate and Fate rolled their eyes. 

Shirou didn't know how to say it, but he actually found her enthusiasm quite similar to a few Magus he met in the past. So to a certain extent, her excitement felt very familiar to someone who studied in a Clocktower for a while. Not keeping them waiting, he continued with what little he could provide. "I should add that even if it uses Mana from the greater source to create Magical Energy, Magic Circuits by themselves can also generate the same thing but at a smaller scale. The second function of Magic Circuits after a certain amount of Mana has been converted into Magical Energy is for the user to access the Greater Magic Formulae otherwise known as magecraft in my world — basically spells. In this case, I've used this Magical Energy and poured it in a specific way inside my arms to make them sturdier and be able to generate more strength. This is called Reinforcement and it can be applied to objects as well. Improving a knife's ability to cut, increasing the defensive capabilities of a shield, and strengthening a bow to shoot father without breaking."

"Wait, really!?" The researcher exclaimed, having this crazed look in her eyes. "C-Can you use this magecraft on devices!? Wait, why stop at devices alone… what about Linker Cores since they are part of the body!?"

He quickly put his hands up to calm down the woman and hastily said, "I-I can't do that! To use reinforcement, I need to have an innate and perfect understanding of the said object, a single error could lead to destruction and this becomes many times harder with body parts less so a Linker Core which I have no understanding of whatsoever. I-It's not that impressive of an ability as you're thinking!" 

Plus the chances of irreversibly harming a person through his use of Reinforcement on them was a guaranteed scenario. He was never going to agree to ever experiment with such a thing or even attempt.

Hayate meanwhile recalled the footage of Shirou shooting down batches of ghouls by shooting them down using arrows traveling at incredulous speed. And then how he did the same thing with Subaru, if it were a normal bow then the girl would have been able to dodge them without any problem. 

'Since he mentioned it can make a knife cut better and turn a shield sturdier… wouldn't the same concept apply to a bow? Have it shoot an arrow farther and faster by making sure the main body would tolerate more stress without breaking and by possibly adding more resistance to the string. But still, Shirou would also need to Reinforce himself.' Taking all these into account, a question popped into her head. 

"Just how big of an improvement are we talking about here? By stronger and sharper, do you mean perhaps twice its original properties or even ten times?" 

"It depends, there are many factors to take into account and each case is different — like how good a person is using this magecraft in the first place. But generally, it's about twice or more. But I can't do too much, or else it will cause a lot of harm. Filling my limbs or any object with too much Magical Energy will cause it to explode… that's not an exaggeration." 

Their faces turned slightly pale at the imagery of such an incident. 

"Hehehe… moving on! What else can you do?" Asked Fate, admittedly growing curious about Shirou's other magical abilities. 

He laughed awkwardly, "Honestly, the list isn't that big in my case. Aside from Reinforcement, I can do Projection and Structural Analysis… that's about it."

"Projection?" The researcher tilted her head, waiting for an explanation. Instead of giving her another explanation where he feared to skip over many important details — Shirou decided to just show it to them by Tracing a weapon they'd seen before. 

"Oh, that's the sword you used against Tea-chan at the end!" It was only for less than a second before he changed it with a longsword, but she remembered that scene perfectly. "Is Projection a hidden space where you can store weapons?" 

Would his soul count as a hidden space? If yes, then she halfway guessed it right. But for the sake of making it simple, he felt that explaining the basics of Projection would suffice. "Not really, I use my Magical Energy and mold it into the form of anything I can imagine. In this case, this sword. It could have been anything from a cup to a fishing rod." 

The boy already guessed what their reaction was gonna be, especially with the researcher so he quickly added. "Projection magecraft is giving any object in my imagination a form and then using Magical Energy as the base material to construct it. It's not 'real', magecraft can't create something from nothing. So with enough damage or when I want to, it'll disappear. Like this."

He dismissed the blade into motes of light before creating a mug that fell to the floor and broke into many pieces. The girls watched in fascination as the broken pieces showed a similar scene to when he dismissed the blade. "Since they are fakes, these items tend to be weaker than the original project. And lastly, Structural Analysis is as the name implies, a magecraft that allows me to map out the inner workings of let's say a machine and a few other details. So if a screw gets loose or a wire short circuits, I'll know where it is instantly."

"Amazing, those are very useful abilities to have," Hayate said, looking at the two other girls. "So what do you think, will it be possible to have a device made that will work with his Magic Circuits."

"It should be possible," she said. "But before that, I noticed how during the scan, your Magic Circuits were in a dormant state before you used Reinforcement. Does it require an activation?" 

"Yes, a mental trigger is required, if a Magus tries to use them for too long then it will overheat and could potentially lead to death if pushed too far." 

"Hmm, this is a tricky part to deal with, I'll admit. Devices tend to draw on Mana inside the user's body passively without them consciously putting any thought into it. Would be quite inconvenient if you have to constantly do that, and that risks your Magic Circuits overheating. I think I have a plan but I'll need to experiment with it for a bit."  She said before going back inside her office, too wrapped up in her thoughts to say anything else and leaving the three behind. 

"You know, I believe we have forgotten to address an important point here." Said Hayate, garnering both their attention. 

"What is it, Hayate-chan?" 

"Well since Shirou will work for the Riot Force 6 and have the details of his magecraft recorded in our database… wouldn't they count as rare skills?" She suggested, finding it very likely that such an outcome will happen and arouse the interest of many higher-ups — a few of which she preferred not to meddle with Shirou 

"Ah, you're right!" Only now did Fate realize this. "His Magic Circuits already disregards our magic system with its foreign nature and as far as I know, Projection alone should be enough to count as a singular rare skill." This was an important piece of information that they needed to discuss further. 

"Rare skills?" Being outside the loop, Shirou had no idea what they were talking about. So seeing his confusion, Hayate quickly gave him a summary. 

"Rare skills are, as the name implies, unique skills that are not part of any known magical system. While most of them originated from Ancient Belkan, some can even emerge in the modern era, even if very rarely." She pointed at herself. "I myself am a user of such an ability unique to me. In your case, no one in this world should be able to use it given the lack of Magic Circuits along with the differing magic system… all three of your magecraft — that makes you a holder of three rare skills. 

"Is that a good thing?" He asked. 

"It is, this makes you a unique individual that will earn a lot of attention from everyone and you will have an easier time climbing up the ranks in the future — though it may still take a few years. The bad news is, it will earn you a lot of attention." She said cryptically. "Though you won't have to worry, under my command nothing should happen to you. No one can force you to follow orders without going through me first." 

"I'm honestly fine working any post, Hayate. I don't want to bring you any trouble." 

"You're overthinking this, it's a small matter." All Three entered an elevator, Going back to the headquarters and leaving the building soon after. "So, if your other test with Signum is tomorrow then you shouldn't have any plans for today, right?" 

"Yes, I don't have much planned today aside from going back home and cleaning up the apartment. I couldn't do much last time as I called over both Subaru-san and Teana-san for dinner." 

"Eh? But that's pointless, there is no need for that, Shirou. We have staff members who will stop by and clean up the place spotlessly so you don't have to worry about such things." She looked at her watch to check the time and spoke again. "Oh, I have an idea, let's go to lunch, it's already noon." 

True, he checked the time and discovered the time had already reached noon. The demonstration and check-up must have taken longer than he anticipated. In his mind, barely an hour passed and everything happened so quickly. 

"That's a great idea!" Commented Fate. "I'm all for it, and I'll even invite Nanoha-chan. She needs to know what happened with Shirou's inspection, that girl has been very distracted recently. You can tell her yourself how everything went." After sending her a quick message, Fate brought her car which both Shirou and Hayate got in before the blonde hit the pedal. 

{Break}

"This…This is quite delicious! " The trip to the restaurant turned out to be more fruitful in his opinion. One aspect to note about the capital was that the many different people who all originated from different worlds all brought in a wave of exotic and dishes and ingredients Shirou had never heard about or tasted in his life. 

"See? I told you it would be amazing." Next to him, Fate and Hayate both were eating the same dish as Shirou and we're enjoying his reaction. "I agree that Earth has vast diversity with food and ingredients, but so do many other planets. This is both my and Fate-chan's favorite spot to dine as it's close to our office and has amazing food. In fact, one of the chefs here will be part of Riot Force 6 support staff." 

"Ah, you guys started without me!" Right next to the table came Nanoha, wearing her usual TSAB uniform. She waved at everyone and took a seat beside Fate. "So, how did it go? Fate-chan refused to tell me anything  so don't keep me waiting." 

Shiro and Hayate both explain to the brunette everything that has happened so far. From his archery skills demonstration put in place by Signum and the explanation of his Magic Circuits and Magecraft. 

"You'll have Signum assess you? That's surprising, she usually likes to stay out of these matters normally. This is good news, as she is one of the few people mostly focused on swordsmanship rather than spellcasting. And as far as I know, she rarely if ever lost in a battle. To be fair, she is an expert when it comes to swords given her centuries' worth of experience."

Eh, centuries? Did he hear that right? He began wondering if he had heard her correctly while Nanoha continued to speak with the others, then got to learn about another matter Hayate brought up previously.

"Rare skills, huh? I should have known when you told me about your origin back then. Guess that thought escaped my mind, but still, it's a good thing as it will help you climb up to a higher position quicker than someone without a conventional style. Hayate got a similar treatment so it's not out of the question for you to become our peer in a few years, Commander Emiya."

She teased him, showing a fair amount of joy at the news overall. Shirou did not comment on the uncertainty of whether he'd even be here that long. Still, the fact that they were happy about such a prospect put a smile on his face. 

"Like I said to Hayate, even if I don't get a high position it's okay. I'm even fine working as a janitor and being part of the support staff. Now that I think about it, I could help you guys out even as part of the support staff, right? So this is probably a good idea without having the higher-ups worry too much about my inv—"

"Denied," Hayate shot down his idea instantly without an ounce of hesitation. "First of all, it's absolutely prohibited for the support staff to be pushed to the front line of combat-related events or in missions. Even if such a rule wasn't in place, using your time and effort for chores around the ship would be a tremendous waste of your potential. So don't even think about it."

"I have to agree with Hayate-chan," said Nanoha. "While I haven't seen you in action much, after hearing the type of magic you wield really makes it apparent what your role should be. In fact, you'll only be achieving the opposite of your goal and attracting even more attention. Just go with the flow and join the others, since Subaru-chan and Teana-chan will also be present, they'll be happy with a familiar face working alongside them." 

Their conversation continued for a while, from noon all the way till the evening. They did nothing but talk and joke around. At first, Shirou felt quite unsure and awkward around the girls. Of course, he trusted them and considered them as even good people, but they still only met a handful of times — making it unreasonable for him to see them as friends or even acquaintances. 

This excluded Nanoha, as they met prior to his arrival in Mid-Childa and she helped him out a lot. The redhead honestly felt a tremendous amount of debt towards her that he wished to repay one day. 

Fate he learned was actually a former Admiral and an S+ rank mage. He found it even more shocking when Hayate revealed that she and Nanoha started out as enemies, having engaged in battle a couple of times before ending up as friends. She even called her a former tsundere. 

"Hey, don't reveal any embarrassing stories of my past, Hayate-chan. I can say embarrassing things about you as well! Neh, Shirou, did you know Hayate over here actually enjoys fondling the breasts of her female friends or subordinates? How shameful." The grin on her face couldn't be any bigger and hiding it behind her hand didn't help. 

"Pft!" It was unfortunate that he was in the middle of drinking his beverage, this news which came completely out of nowhere and made him spit his drink.

Everyone's face turned crimson with Hayate panicking, "I-I only do so with permission!" 

"You're not denying it!?" 

"Ah…" 

Safe to say, they had a lot of fun that day. For a moment, Shirou had completely forgotten about his current predicament that's been on his mind all this time. The fact he was so far away from home with little to no way back to see his friends, this new environment that held unknown dangers and an uncertain future. He smiled and laughed genuinely after a long time, these people were quite funny and he wished to have more moments like these. 

{Break}

(Next morning)

Early morning the next day, Shirou woke up and prepared himself for the welcome ceremony held for the establishment of the new Riot Force 6. According to Hayate, everyone was going to be there including Fate, Nanoha, Subaru, and Teana. And given he already accepted to be part of the team, it came as no surprise that he also needed to be present there. 

Hayate also mentioned that she would hand him over the papers of his official mage rank and position after the ceremony. He was curious to see what rank he got just from having these rare skills she called them. But given they hadn't seen his Tracing in its fullest capacity, he was waiting for probably a B rank or even a C rank mage. 

In the end, the redhead didn't put much thought or importance into this matter. At the end of the day, if he could help people then that was more than enough for him. 

"I wonder if this is okay?" He said while adjusting the collar of his new uniform. It did feel a bit tight around his joints and uncomfortable to move in but he figured with time, he would get used to it and the material would loosen up. "Alright, time to go." 

The route was the same, the event would be held at the headquarters on the upper floors. 

As he reached the main area, Shirou bumped into someone and apologized. "Ah sorry about… That… ?" Words refused to come out of his mouth as the person before him was not an adult, but rather a small child who barely looked like she was about ten years old. With pink hair and a hooded robe, in his eyes, she looked extremely out of place here. 

"What is a child doing here…" He whispered, not wanting to believe that this force was allowed to recruit someone this young! "Are you okay?" He got down and gently picked the girl up to her feet, she seemed shy and meek, reminding him of a certain purple-haired girl. "Did you get lost?" 

"N-No, I was just l-looking for someone. P-please excuse me!" She bowed and quickly rushed through the crowd before disappearing. Shirou tried to catch up to her until he felt someone grab his arm. Looking to his right he found Subaru wearing a similar uniform impatiently pulling him another way. 

"It sure took you a while to get here. Quick! Hayate-san's speech is about to start!" She led him to a place where a few dozen of people were gathered and Teana was amongst the crowd as well. Each group was divided according to their job and roles in the team.

'It seems I got here in time.' 

On cue, Hayate got up and garnered everyone's attention with what looked like a speech.

"I am the sixth mobile division's chief, this unit's commander, Yagami Hayate. As a division of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau, the protectors of peace and stability. I would like to thank in advance to our Mages mechanics and support staff for all their upcoming efforts and appreciate you being here. Our job will not be easy, and I won't try to hide, nevertheless, I believe that everyone here can work together and overcome any and all obstacles. Well, since I don't like long speeches, that is all for now. Chief and commander of the six mobile division, Yagami Hayate." 

She bowed once before leaving the stage, her eyes roaming around the crowd till she spotted him. Shirou gave her a thumbs up which made her giggle. 

"Ha! I can't believe we really are in the same team, Tea! We'll do it just like our time in the academy, beat everyone's butt and climb all the way to the top!" Subaru was visibly excited, eager to finally start her journey to one day stand by Nanoha's side. "And you too, Shirou, we'll get to spar more often and don't forget about the meals you've promised us!" 

"You're still on that?" He said, amused to her reacting like that just for food. 

"Of course I am! My stomach hasn't stopped making weird sounds since this morning and no matter what I eat it doesn't bring me the same sort of satisfaction as that day..." 

Oh, guess she did indeed like his cooking that much. He'll make her extra food for today as a celebration. But after this, he still had the meeting with Signum for testing his swordsmanship. So maybe he could invite her as well for lunch.

"Ouch!" Out of nowhere, the boy felt a sharp pain from his chest, as if something sharp just stabbed his skin. To his shock, his clothes rustled and soon he realized the presence of something moving around on his stomach. With caution, he peeked under his clothes to meet a pair of red eyes peeking at him curiously. 

"Kyu?" 

It spoke cutely, yet as soon as Shirou saw the wings and small yet sharp fangs inside its jaws, he got frightened.

"WAAAAHH!?"

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