4

 V1C4: Life's Little Quirks

The upper years of Beacon clapped politely as four first-years left the auditorium's stage, having just been made the first new team of the year. After returning to the cliffs with their relic, Ozpin and Glynda had directed the students to the cafeteria to freshen up and have lunch. It was during this time that Shirou had been faced with the unfortunate, if predictable, side effect from losing control that morning: he was forced to eat the school's food since he had all but cleaned out the kitchen he currently had access to. While it wasn't all that bad, he at least had some mild satisfaction from seeing Ren and Nora's disappointed expressions when they took a bite of their food, it still stung a little. After everyone was ready, they were collected and lead to the backroom of the auditorium to await team assignments.

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark," as Ozpin called out their names, pictures of the four boys appeared on the screen behind him and they made their way onto the stage. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal) led by… Cardin Winchester!" The audience cheered politely as the four boys walked off stage. "Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper) led by… Jaune Arc!"

"Huh? L-led by?" Jaune asked, dumbfounded, as Pyrrha gave him a friendly bump to the shoulder and Nora hugged Ren.

"Congratulations, young man," Ozpin said as his hand covered the microphone. Once they were off stage, Ozpin continued. "Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby) led by… Ruby Rose!"

Ruby turned white from shock as Yang hugged her and Weiss looked incredulous. "I'm so proud of you!" Yang said.

The upper years started to rise from their seats, already gossiping about the new teams, when Ozpin spoke up again, making them all freeze in confusion. "And finally, Emiya Shirou. As the only one to retrieve the white bishop piece and possessing no partner, you will be a free agent assigned to the other teams as seen fit."

Despite being on a world where this tradition didn't even seem to exist, Shirou couldn't stop himself from automatically bowing deeply towards Ozpin and the crowd even as the other students muttered among themselves. In the long history of Beacon and even the other major Hunter academies, this was the first known instance of a free agent, a student not assigned to any particular team. This issue was normally avoided by only allowing a number of applicants divisible by four pass so this meant Shirou was allowed in despite the imbalance it caused.

As Shirou made his way off the stage and to the classroom where the new teams were instructed to gather, he couldn't help but feel faintly apprehensive about this whole setup. His existence was already going to be under some scrutiny by certain parties simply for being a student at Beacon and being placed in such a unique situation was only going to increase that scrutiny. While he wasn't truly the first free agent in the history of any of the schools, those cases only came about when two or three members of an existing team died one way or another. The survivors in those cases only remained as Hunters a couple of times so there was a tested process for this but this was truly the first time a student started as a free agent. Still, as much as he didn't like the extra attention, there was simply was no other way he could do everything he needed to. The idea of having him join Ruby's team as a fifth member had been discussed then subsequently dismissed since he was more useful to Ozpin as a free agent who could leave the school at any time. As it was, Shirou could only hope that the records Ozpin falsified for him would hold up under scrutiny and be thankful that his given name, Shirou, which meant something like "samurai son", was almost identical in pronunciation and phonetic spelling to "shiro" which meant "white" and thus would fit perfectly.

As soon as Shirou opened the door to the classroom and stepped inside, he was set upon by a certain Ruby Rose. "Hey, Shirou, what's going to happen to you? There's no one left for you to be on a team with and you don't even have a partner!" she said. Shirou looked past her to Team JNPR and the rest of Team RWBY to see them watching intently, clearly curious as well.

"I'm apparently going to be a free agent. What this means is that I'll be assigned to other teams as necessary but will otherwise be working on my own," Shirou answered as he made his way to the nearest available seat.

"But Professor Ozpin made it sound like we'll be working with our partner a lot. If you don't have a partner, won't that make it harder on you?"

"That's a very good question, Miss Rose," Glynda Goodwitch said as she entered the room. At once, the students who were still standing took their seats and quieted down. "Mister Emiya's case is a special one but not one that hasn't happened before. Any assignment that you're expected to work on with your partner will be adjusted for him to account for his lack of one. As for assignments that absolutely require a partner such as sparring exercises, the exact procedure will be determined by the professor but he will likely take turns with the other students if possible."

Shirou nodded and accepted this explanation even as he privately wondered how much of a pain this whole thing was going to be. He never really had problems with school before but this situation was already starting to give him a headache.

With Shirou's special circumstances explained, Glynda went on to explain what everyone could expect during their tenure at Beacon as well as assign rooms to the new teams (Shirou got a room to himself, much to Weiss' envy) and handing out class schedules. After fielding a few questions, Glynda then gave everyone a quick tour of the grounds, showing the easiest path to remember to the most important landmarks before going over the directions to a few other places of interest.

When all was said and done, it was around six o'clock in the evening and everyone was released to eat dinner and then spend their remaining time however they wished. Shirou officially, if privately, declared this the worst day of his life since he arrived on Remnant as he was forced to eat school food for the second time. There wasn't really anything objectively wrong with it, it was just so painfully bland and uninspired compared to what he could make that he couldn't help but almost hate it.

After dinner, everyone decided to go ahead and turn in for the night. After all of the fighting and running around, only Nora, who had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of energy; Pyrrha, who was used to incredibly intense training regimens and packed schedules; and Shirou, who was in much the same boat as Pyrrha; were varying levels of exhausted and sore. Ren, in particular, almost fell asleep a few times during dinner, his Soul Surge having taken a lot out of him.

Despite this, that didn't stop Ren from talking quietly with Nora as they made their way to their rooms (despite having not even known her for a full day, the sight of Nora whispering was all kinds of wrong to Shirou) before pulling Shirou aside, making sure everyone else was out of earshot.

"Hey, Shirou, random question but what time do you usually get up?" Ren asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Shirou blinked a few times before answering, "I usually get up around 5 AM. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. Just curious. You seem to get up pretty early."

"I like to work on a few things before I fully begin my day. I've been waking up that early since I was little."

"And how long does this usually take?"

"About an hour, give or take a few minutes."

"So you usually eat breakfast at six?" There it was. There was the reason for all this prying.

"If you and Nora want to join me for breakfast, I don't mind. I'm used to cooking for three or four people anyway."

"Oh, no. There's no way we could impose like that." Shirou placed a hand on his hip and gave Ren a very flat look. "Well, I suppose we could, if you don't terribly mind."

"I don't. Like I said, I'm used to it and I like cooking for others anyway. I'll be making breakfast around six so feel free to join me if you want."

"Thanks, Shirou. Nora and I found the school's food to be… disappointing after the breakfast you made."

Shirou smiled, "Yeah, that's the curse of becoming a good cook. It can be hard to eat anything made by others."

"Well, thanks again, Shirou. I should go tell Nora. I'll see you tomorrow," Ren said with a wave as he began to walk towards JNPR's room.

"No problem. Good night, Ren."

OoOoOoO

Shirou sat cross-legged in his new room, his mind turned inwards as he said the words that would convert his body into a conduit for prana.

"Trace, on."

It was now about eleven o'clock and the moonlight streaming in from the window behind him was the sole source of light, bathing the room in an almost ethereal glow. Having left all of his possessions in the other world and having never taken much interest in such things to begin with, his room had nothing that was actually his. There was a bed that was provided by the school pushed to one corner by the window (the other three had been removed before he arrived). There was a bedside table on which sat a digital clock. There was a desk where his book bag with stored in another corner by the door with a single chair and a lamp. There was absolutely nothing in this room that was, strictly speaking, owned by Emiya Shirou and that's the way he liked it.

"Projection, start."

Even when thrown into another world, there were certain habits Shirou couldn't, and wouldn't, break and this was one of them. Training with his magecraft had been one of the foremost habits his father, Emiya Kiritsugu, had drilled into him before he died and Shirou would often have difficulty sleeping if he didn't do it. There wasn't much point in it anymore ever since he discovered the Unlimited Blade Works and learned that he would never be able to do much with his magecraft beyond that but he still kept at it. It simply didn't feel right to just stop.

"Judging the concept of creation."

Shirou's practicing actually had a practical benefit here, though. While the rules of thaumaturgy seemed to be completely the same, as far as Shirou could tell, there were differences here and there due to outside factors. The practice of thaumaturgy certainly existed in Remnant, Ozpin had confirmed as much simply by recognizing Shirou's power, but the practice of it was exceedingly rare, even when compared to his own world. It seemed that Aura and Semblances muddied the water a fair bit and anyone discovering that they could perform magecraft more often than not just thought that they had discovered their Semblance.

"Hypothesizing the basic structure."

The result of this was a fairly odd one. Ozpin didn't know of anything like the Mage's Association existing in this world (and if Ozpin didn't know about it, it almost certainly didn't exist) and he only knew of a handful of families of magi. Shirou didn't know if Ozpin himself could perform magecraft but he knew a fair bit about it. The result of all of this meant that magecraft hadn't really diminished due to being shared like it had in his world. As such, any magecraft performed here was significantly stronger than it would have been in his world.

"Duplicating the composition material."

However, that wasn't to say that magecraft on Remnant was absolutely better than magecraft on Earth. Simply put, due to the extremely few number of people aware of its existence and the even fewer who researched it and passed their knowledge on in the form of a Magic Crest, the magi families of Remnant were far weaker than the ones of Earth. Their spells would be more powerful in sheer output, yes, but the knowledge of the families on Earth far exceeded theirs. This meant that if a successor of a family of magi from Earth with their limitations fought the successor of a family of magi from Remnant with their advantages, the one from Earth would almost always win. They would figure out their opponent's mysteries quickly and just as quickly work around or outright counter them. Meanwhile, the one from Remnant wouldn't even be able to begin to understand the mysteries from Earth.

"Imitating the skill of its making."

This wasn't the only weakness of magecraft from Remnant. The technology level on Remnant was, on the whole, more advanced than on Earth. Shirou couldn't even begin to understand how most things on Remnant worked and barely understood how to operate what he needed. Between that and the miracle of Aura, the ability of magecraft was greatly diminished and True Magic, the Sorceries, were almost nonexistent. Even when just considering the only magic afforded to him, his Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works, a spell that was infinitely close to Sorcery, there was a student in this school whose Semblance could replicate a fair number of its effects but without a limitation on what could be copied. Shirou highly doubted that this student, whoever they were, could match a fully deployed Unlimited Blade Works but it was still a perfect example of his point.

"Sympathizing with the experience of its growth."

To sum everything up, magecraft on Remnant was simultaneously stronger and weaker than it was on Earth and knowledge of its workings was scarce, even among the families of magi. As it was, Shirou wouldn't be surprised to discover that he was now Remnant's foremost expert on magecraft and possibly the Moonlit World in general. This strong possibility was a very sad one since Shirou's knowledge paled in comparison to that of Tohsaka Rin's, his second mentor in thaumaturgy. There was no doubt in Shirou's mind that, if she were here, she would be torn between wanting to fully explore and understand the current state of thaumaturgy here and wanting to find and berate the magi families for doing a poor job.

"Reproducing the accumulated years."

Of course, even this much wasn't everything. Even ignoring what Shirou didn't know, there was Nelka's relationship with Soulkin, the collective term for Humanity and the Faunus, and how that affected everything. It seemed that Nelka still considered Soulkin under her protection, unlike Gaia who had been trying to kill them for a very long time. Not only that but Remnant's version of Alaya, the aggregate subconscious will to survive of Soulkin, either had yet to form or was indistinguishable from Nelka. Either way, it resulted in a lot of very interesting implications but that was getting too far outside of Shirou's comfort zone. He had been reasonably aware of those things back on Earth but not to such a degree that he felt comfortable making theories about how it worked here.

"Excelling every manufacturing process."

What he did know was how all of this affected his brand of magecraft. There were so many pros and cons that it was hard to tell if he was stronger here or weaker. His projections cost more prana and their rate of degradation was a bit faster but there was far more mana in the air to draw from. The quality of his projections seemed to be about the same but his rate of projection had received a not insignificant boost. Blades that normally took a minute or so could now be projected in seconds and swords that could be projected in seconds were now nearly instantaneous. His Alteration was unchanged, as far as he could tell, but his Strengthening was now almost completely useless. He could still reinforce things as normal— in fact, it was arguably easier than ever— but something about Aura made it not play well with that branch of magecraft. There were no negative side effects of trying to use both at once, it was just that Aura already did what Strengthening did and then some. Reinforcement was all about filling in the weak spots of an object in order to make it better and Aura already filled in those weak spots. As such, the two simply couldn't be used at the same time.

"Projection, stop. Trace, off."

In Shirou's hands, laying across his lap, was now a very simple katana. There was absolutely nothing special about it and its quality was extremely low, all things considered. It was a mass produced model made without any reason other than to make money. They were put on the market in Japan where they wouldn't sell to the locals so that they could be exported and sold to Westerners who didn't know better at absurd prices. It was almost completely worthless as a weapon but, as a practicing tool, it was surprisingly useful. It was as cheap and easy to produce with magecraft as it was with machinery so it could be done countless times and at a painfully slow pace without thought while Shirou examined not the sword being produced but the steps taken to produce it. If Shirou could find any flaws in those seven steps and correct them, his projections would become that much better. If he could find ways to streamline the process, then they'd become that much faster.

Still, once the sword was projected, it was worthless and summarily dismissed the instant its existence was noted.

With that stage of his practice finished, Shirou turned his mind's eye towards the field of endless blades that lay in his core. The weapons commonly used in Remnant were almost always far beyond what he could reproduce but he still, surprisingly, gained two new additions today and, while it wasn't strictly necessary, Shirou wanted to give these rare weapons a bit of focus.

The first was a rapier of flawless make and high quality. Its mechanisms were almost too complicated for the Unlimited Blade Works but it was successfully reproduced all the same. While its classification was that of a Multi-Action Dust Rapier, as far as Shirou was concerned, it was just a slightly over-complicated rapier. While it would likely see no use by Shirou outside of extenuating circumstances, its owner put it to very good use and had treated the sword with the care and devotion it deserved as it faithfully served her over the years.

The sword was named Myrtenaster and it was the weapon of Weiss Schnee.

As usual, along with the sword came its complete history and that meant a large portion of Weiss' history. While Shirou didn't like to pry, in this instance, it was beyond his control. The years of Weiss' life where she had Myrtenaster were now fully known to Shirou and he could call up any of the details he wanted no matter how much time passed. The best Shirou could do was not actively think of it. However, the glimpse he saw into Weiss' life before trying to shut the memories out made him grimace. It certainly cast the white-haired girl in a completely different light and Shirou made a note to put a bit more effort into getting along with her in the future.

The other was a longsword that, to most, was dull and ordinary; almost completely worthless as an actual weapon. To Shirou, however, it was the most amazing weapon he had seen ever since arriving on Remnant. It was very old and heavily worn by age and use and its appearance was certainly very plain but there was one simple fact that made it greater than most others: It was a Noble Phantasm. Its history was long and fascinating and its capabilities, if properly utilized, placed it as a high Rank B, low Rank A in terms of power. When Shirou had caught a glimpse of it, it took a considerable amount of willpower to not react in any way, especially considering who its current owner was.

The sword was named Crocea Mors and it was the weapon of Jaune Arc. As a bonus, the shield was able to be reproduced as well.

As far as Jaune's life went, there actually wasn't that much recorded directly by the sword. It had apparently been just a family heirloom hanging on a wall of their house before Jaune had taken it when he needed a weapon. However, what it did reveal was highly worrisome. At first, Shirou couldn't even begin to imagine why Ozpin would let someone who had no combat experience whatsoever into Beacon but then he considered the sword's power and history. Banking on Jaune being able to rise up to his family's legacy and awaken Crocea Mors was not a bet Shirou would have liked to take but the potential payoff was staggering. There wasn't much he felt like he could do at this point so he decided to just play this one by ear and help whenever he could.

With a gentle sigh, Shirou returned his mind to the outer world. It was now nearly one in the morning and he really needed to get some sleep. It had been a long and slightly bothersome day but Shirou found that he was looking forward to the next one. There was no doubt that his peaceful days at this school, however long they lasted, wouldn't be peaceful at all and instead full of chaos and drama but that prospect filled him with a vague excitement. It had been a lifetime since he had been able to live something like a normal life, after all.

This was truly far better than he could ever possibly deserve.

OoOoOoO

Shirou hummed to himself as he worked on breakfast. He was in a fairly good mood since it had been a rare night where he hadn't been awoken by nightmares. He actually had to rely on his alarm and thus had to cut his morning training (he was really grateful that he didn't share his room since that made his morning routine a lot easier) short in order to get breakfast made on time. For that matter, this was also the first time since he came to Remnant where he was intentionally preparing a full meal for others and the familiarity of the act brought back countless bittersweet memories. As if that wasn't enough, the kitchen on this floor of the dorms had been far better stocked than the one near the ballroom had been so he had been free to make a properly decent meal this time. He couldn't wait to see Nora and Ren's reaction when they tasted his food when he wasn't being held back.

Speaking of those two, Shirou caught a faint whiff of ozone in the air that signaled Nora's approach and that meant Ren had to be there as well. Just as he started laying out the plates, he paused and sniffed the air again. There were two other scents with Nora's that he only vaguely recognized. One conveyed a deep warmth with a not unpleasant metallic touch while the other smelled faintly of lemons. If Shirou had to guess, the other two were Jaune and Pyrrha but the question remained of which was which. Regardless, Shirou was glad that he had predicted this possibility and had made enough to feed four people while also leaving everything ready to whip up a fifth serving.

When Team JNPR finally stepped into the room, Shirou was surprised to find all of them, even Pyrrha, half-asleep and still wearing their pajamas. Only Ren had a different expression on his face and it was an embarrassed smile.

"When I tried to get Nora up, she kind of fell out of her bed and knocked over some stuff," Ren explained before Shirou had time to so much as blink.

Shirou chuckled and waved off his concern, "That's fine. I kind of expected it anyway. Feel free to help yourself. There's enough for four people there."

"Oh, no, we couldn't! Jaune and I just happened to wake up so we decided to go ahead and get started on the day! We really couldn't impose on you and your offer to Ren and Nora!" Pyrrha said quickly, waving her hands back and forth in front of her even as her mouth started visibly watering and her stomach audibly growled. She froze at the sound as her face started to match her hair.

Shirou laughed more fully at this, "Please, I insist. Like I told Ren last night, it's no imposition at all. Again, please feel free to help yourselves." As Shirou turned his attention back to his cooking, Team JNPR had a quick, whispered conversation before sitting down at the table. When Shirou returned with his own plate, he found that no one had touched their food yet. He just smiled appreciatively at them before they all began eating.

It took all of one bite before Jaune and Pyrrha fell under the spell of Shirou's food. Pyrrha had to expend great effort to not just wolf it down while Jaune failed utterly and ate with a ferocity that reminded Shirou of a certain tiger. Even Nora and Ren, who had been prepared for this, weren't prepared for this as their tongues were assaulted by a world of flavor the likes of which they could barely comprehend.

Once everyone had finished eating and Team JNPR had finished lavishing Shirou with praise, Shirou collected all of the dishes and deposited them in the sink before turning his attention back to the stove.

"You cooking something else, Shirou?" Jaune asked as he reclined in his chair and patted his stomach. Everyone wore utterly satisfied expressions and no one even seemed to notice when Nora loudly burped.

"Yes, my lunch. I have a lot more options if I prepare it now."

"But wouldn't that limit your options?" Ren asked. "After all, most dishes are best served hot and an insulator can only do so much. Unless you're planning on using a microwave later?"

Shirou chuckled at this ignorant way of thinking. "You'd be surprised what one can do with the right preparation," he said somewhat cryptically. He idly wondered if he had been spending too much time talking to Ozpin.

"Whatever you're making, I'm sure it'll be spectacular," Pyrrha said as she checked her scroll. "It's 7:30 now. We should hurry and finish getting ready before we're late for our class at 9."

"Yeah, alright," Jaune said as he got up and stretched, "but there's something else we've gotta do first." The rest of JNPR looked at their leader curiously as he rolled up his sleeves. "We've gotta do the dishes," he said somewhat incredulously. "Shirou did the cooking so we clean up. That's the way it always worked at my house." The others stared at him for a second longer before quickly getting up and following his lead. Shirou had contemplated turning down their help since that isn't how it worked at his house at all but he found he didn't have it in him.

Half an hour later, Shirou met up with Team JNPR in front of their dorm room and the group began to make their way to their first class. It was still rather early but this gave them plenty of time to get there without worry. Shirou found it slightly curious that he hadn't heard a peep out of Team RWBY's dorm but he put that aside. After all, they surely wouldn't forget to plan appropriately for their first class, right?

A/N: A number of things this time. For starters, a big thanks to everyone who's faved, followed, and especially reviewed. Seeing a new notification of that never fails to make my day.

Second, some reviewers over on pointed out that Shirou could have saved himself last chapter using Rider's chain dagger. The reason why he didn't is because I, the author, forgot about it but, for the sake of avoiding a plothole, I'm going to say that this Shirou never saw it. Since there's no real place to bring this up in the story, not even as an omake, I'm going to go ahead and say that Emiya Shirou has seen Kanshou & Bakuya, Rule Breaker, Caliburn (for some definition of the word "seen") Gae Bulg, Monohoshizao, and Berserker's Axe-Sword along with a number of weapons in Gilgamesh's vault. It's a little contrived, to be sure, but that's basically all I can do.

Third, this was a pretty slow chapter but I had a lot of fun with it since I got to do some worldbuilding and explain how certain things work on Remnant. I know I've had a few questions in regards to these things before so I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as I did. For an added effect, try listening to "The End of Reminiscence" from Fate/stay night during the scene with Shirou in his room.

Forth, those familiar with the visual novel should find Shirou's flat look to be very familiar.

Lastly, have a new omake:

Omake 2

A Dark Shadow

During V1C4

Deep in Vale's warehouse district, in the office of the most out-of-the-way warehouse he could find, sat Roman Torchwick. Being Vale's self-proclaimed greatest crime boss, Roman made sure to always be dressed to the nines and to carrying himself with impeccable style and power. With his red-lined white suit jacket; black pants, shoes, and gloves; small, gray scarf; and red-banded, black bowler hat (his personal favorite), he looked like a man who lived high on the finer things of life. His bright orange hair, the bangs of which were almost always swept over one of his green eyes, used to be a point of contention in his younger days but now his distinctive hair and dress just served to inspire fear and respect.

As Roman kicked his feet up onto his desk and lit a fine cigar with a custom-made lighter, he reflected on just how perfectly everything had been going lately. Sure, that Cinder bitch had been really bossy and working with the White Fang wasn't really a highlight of his career (he honestly didn't give two shits about the Faunus but working with people who looked down on him grinded his gears) but his profit margin was through the roof and he stood to gain even more soon enough. He might even have enough to forego using abandoned warehouses as a base and instead purchase a business to use as a front or even start bribing politicians to make his life a bit easier.

Of course, not all was sunshine and roses. That girl that had thwarted one of his robberies a bit over a week back had been all kinds of annoying and the phone call he just had with his contact in the White Fang could have gone better but it'd all work out. He just had to play his cards right, keep an eye on things, and he'd come out on top no problem.

Right on time, a White Fang courier came into his office with a trolley carrying a large crate. With practiced ease, Roman reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out a stack of Lien before tossing it onto his desk.

"Open it," Roman commanded after the courier took the cash. The courier pulled out a crowbar and popped open the lid of the crate revealing a large cache of Dust crystals of all colors. Roman got up and casually walked around his desk before withdrawing a blue crystal and examining it. As the dim light from the overhead lamp reflected off of the crystal's flawless surface, Roman couldn't help the wicked smile that came to his lips. As he turned to face the map of Vale on the wall and his eyes fell to the large circle marking Beacon Academy, he had but one thing to say:

"We're gonna need more men…"