Beta read by Opal and FabledLife
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-Midchilda-
With a now, mostly, calmed and steady mind, no longer dulled by the grogginess of waking up too early or the jittery rush of cheap coffee… and the almost overwhelming amount of stress that threatened to bury him under an avalanche of stress, Shirou finally understood how completely ridiculous his entire plan had been.
All of it was just doomed to fail. Destined for a disastrous failure that would have hurt more people than protect them from just a small moment of disappointment.
Even arranging a proper outing with a single person was already demanding enough on its own, without any real thought, to handle plans with two at once was something else entirely. With Hayate it was not a date, just an outing with a friend, but the problem remained the same. Managing two commitments on the same day was only possible if he somehow learned a spell that produced a perfect duplicate of himself, or if he possessed absurdly good fortune, or if a genuine miracle decided to drop itself directly onto his head.
Unfortunately, he was not Rin who was studying the Second Magic and thus had to rely on the most basic of methods… planning.
This was not even the first time he had done something this foolish. Old memories drifted back from his days in London, when he found himself caught in nearly the same kind of mess. Rin had asked him to accompany her through half the city to gather supplies for one of her experiments and to inspect items for her apartment renovations. At the exact same time he had obligations with Luvia, since the blonde had won a wager and demanded that he serve as her butler for a full day.
Wanting to honor both promises, he went down a similar path.
Predictably, nothing ended in a peaceful or sensible way. Both girls ended up arguing, shouting, then escalating into a full struggle that involved concrete pillars being swung around like oversized clubs and rocks twice their size being hurled across the sparring room. He remembered keeping as much distance as he could, nursing two sharp slap marks on his face, feeling like he had been dropped into a waking nightmare with no sensible way to intervene. All he could do was watch the disaster unravel while silently questioning every decision that had brought him to that point.
Yet he had somehow managed to repeat the exact same mistake. This time, the situation involved girls fully capable of erasing entire districts from the map if they felt like it. What was he thinking? Shirou genuinely wished he could go back in the past and smack some sense into his slightly younger self, into that naive, idiotic and overly optimistic version of himself who somehow believed in the impossible and that this kind of arrangement could ever end cleanly. He wanted to berate that past version for his foolishness and demand to know why he kept walking into problems that a normal, well-functioning mind would avoid on instinct.
"Hah… hold on… this feels like…"
He stopped for a moment and caught himself.
Was he actually starting to think the same way that man would? The realization annoyed him so much that he shoved the thought to the very back of his mind. There was no chance he would ever acknowledge such a comparison, not even in private. To make matters worse, he could already imagine the man himself offering some smug remark about how it had only been a matter of time.
Still, things could have turned out far worse. They probably should have turned out far worse. Yet somehow they had not, and that alone puzzled him…
"He came in wearing a full set of covered clothing, a hoodie, baggy pants, everything. I was stunned because he never wears anything like that, and the fact that he had to dress up that much just to watch a movie made it even stranger. Anyone else would have thought he was a celebrity trying to hide his identity. I figured he would just be uncomfortable with the cold inside the movie theater."
Well… those clothes were bought hastily, getting Garyu's measurements was a last-minute thing since both he and Lutecia spent several hours coming up with a plausible plan.
One of them actually had either Subaru or Teana help out and dress up as him with a red wig to hide their identity for a bit. But height-wise, it would have been too obvious, and Lutecia even made an off-mark remark that both girls had smaller busts than him — making it even more obvious.
Leaving Garyu as the only thing closest to his size.
He did not know how to even reply to such an observation.
"That was not even the strangest part. Picture my reaction when I later saw him sprinting across the street while wearing a suit. I had to look twice because I thought it might have been someone completely different. I honestly could not believe it and, for a moment, wondered if there was a film shooting nearby. It looked exactly like one of those scenes from a romantic film where the bride realizes she does not love the groom and decides to run off to find the man she actually likes, but with the roles reversed and him being the one doing the running."
Shirou's eyes twitched; these observations and comparisons were getting more and more embarrassing.
"Stop right there, go back a bit, does that make me the groom who was not loved in this scenario?" Nanoha asked with a deliberately exaggerated expression that made her look as if she had taken personal offense to the comparison. Her look was so theatrical that it seemed more like a performance than a genuine complaint. Yet instead of offering sympathy or even denying her accusation, her friends simply burst into laughter. Hayate in particular leaned forward with a mischievous look that showed she had no intention of helping.
"I'm so sorry, and I know it must be difficult to accept that it turned out this way. Clearly, I am the one Shirou would much rather prefer, with him even making all these preparations just so he could spend time with me. Do not blame yourself. This is simply how things were meant to unfold, isn't that right, Shirou?"
"Uh…" something told the man that answering any one of these questions was just asking for trouble. Best to keep his mouth shut and wait.
Thankfully, the silence did not last that long since Nanoha spoke aloud while pointing an accusatory finger at Hayate. "Says you. He put you together with a walking cockroach. Who is the favorite then? I bet you enjoyed it when that creature turned to look at you with those beady black eyes staring straight into your soul, overflowing with love. A great gift he left for you, obviously, since he likes you so much." Her sarcasm was so thick that the air almost felt heavy with it, as if someone could slice the sharp tone with a kitchen knife.
"Urgh." For a moment, a look of genuine disgust appeared on Hayate's face as she remembered the moment being described. It was the sort of expression that showed she wished she could scrub the memory from her mind entirely.
Smiling at both of their reactions, Fate interjected with a soft voice. "By the way, how did you not notice it was not him? I have seen Lutecia summon that particular creature before, and that one is definitely bigger and taller than Shirou."
Hayate had an expression of embarrassment fill her face, looking away with both eyes now staring at the ceiling until a soft sigh escaped her lips. "I was too drawn in by the whole atmosphere to even notice. How do you expect me to catch something like that in the first place? And Luticia kept handing me drinks every time I tried to turn around. Instead of suspecting that Shirou was not there, I was more afraid of vomiting after drinking seven cups in a row."
"It is kind of your fault for accepting one drink after the other. You could have just said no."
"I did not want to make her sad," Hayate replied quietly to Fate's question. It was a meek answer, almost swallowed by her own embarrassment.
Yes, this had been the result of the entire situation. Not an all-out fight between three S Class mages who could wipe a city from the map if they wanted to, not even a direct confrontation where they blasted him into dust. Instead, it became a relaxed conversation between all three of them where they calmly discussed embarrassing details about the date in front of him, which only made him feel worse with every passing second.
"That is a lie." A voice whispered near him.
He was not the only one in the room, though, because his accomplice was still seated beside him, along with her summon who had aided them, quiet the entire time and frowning slightly. "Garyu is not ugly. He is cute." The purple-haired girl said it with a tone that made it clear she believed every word, and the creature beside her reacted to the reassurance.
It was present for reasons he could not understand, and it genuinely looked a little depressed after Hayate's reaction. Its body seemed to shrink down as it lowered its head until Lutecia gently patted its shell several times.
"There, there. You are cute. They have no idea what they are talking about." Her calm voice seemed to lift the creature's mood a little as it blinked its dark eyes and moved closer to her hand.
Even after all this, he did not feel safe at all — in truth, he felt even worse.
The atmosphere around him seemed… to put it in words; suffocating, tightening around his chest with every laugh coming from the other side of the table. He thought to himself that he would much prefer being punched repeatedly over listening to them discuss things so casually. He simply could not understand what was happening or what would come after. There was no world where all three of them would accept what he had done with a simple smile and an easy pardon.
He kept wondering where the anger was hiding between these three women. Where was the frustration that he had prepared himself to face? He could have handled shouting or spells being thrown at him or anything direct. But watching all three women chat cheerfully like nothing was wrong made his mind race with worst-case outcomes until he felt close to shutting down from the pressure.
"Hey, Lutecia." With no other option, he turned to the only person next to him who might have more experience dealing with women. Since she was one herself, her opinion was the only one he could trust at this point. "Am I in trouble?"
"I cannot tell," she said while staring at the three women talking and laughing ahead of them. A confused look settled on her face as she tried to make sense of the scene.
"Can you at least see if they are angry or not?"
"If their anger is shown by them cheerfully talking to one another and making jokes around the table for the past hour, then they are the best actors in the world."
Shirou couldn't help but agree; perhaps that was indeed the case. "Let's try another way then, how mad would you have been in their position?" He asked, trying to get a better understanding and a frame of reference to come to a conclusion. But all he got in return was a dry sideways glance from the girl.
"If someone were to do that to me in the future, then I would have to punch them repeatedly to the ground until the hole is big enough to fill it back for a grave."
"Urgh!" Okay, that was terrifying to imagine and fitted his expectation more than what was going on in reality. Were they actually speaking in codes? That was the only explanation that made sense to the redhead.
"All right, girls, I think we can just move on from this. Shirou looks like he will be having an aneurysm if you continue."
Perhaps finally taking notice of his distraught state, all three finally stopped talking and looked at him with various expressions on each of their faces.
"Before you say anything, I want you to know again that I am very sorry for what I did." He added once more, only getting Nanoha to shake her head.
"Shirou, I think you're really misreading the room here. None of us are angry at you. In fact, like I said before, had you just said so, then I would have let Hayate join in as well and Fate too."
"Really?"
"Really?"
Both he and Lutecia answered simultaneously, disbelief clearly visible on both of them. Seeing that, all three giggled with Fate getting up from her seat and heading over to them and patting both of their heads. "There there, it's just a funny situation more than anything else. Your reaction makes it seem like we were planning your execution, Shirou."
An uneasy chuckle escaped his throat, "It wouldn't be far off from what I was fearing, to be honest."
"Nanoha and Hayate, all three of us have been through plenty of challenges in the past to trust both our lives and livelihoods in each other's hands. We know full well that neither of us will do anything to one another that will cause any form of harm." The blonde explained calmly, which made him nod with understanding, but that did not really explain why they were not angry at him.
Most likely guessing what was going on in his mind, Nanoha cleared her throat to get his attention. "Even though we've known you for a much shorter time, you have on more than one occasion already showcased that you wouldn't harm others too."
"Also we know you're not a play boy," Hayate added with a small smile. "You suck at lying for that."
"Exactly," Fate nodded. "As long as everyone is happy, where's the harm in hanging around with each other? Don't feel shy, you can be bolder. If Nanoha does not mind then it's really up to you; it could be like a group thing where we can just have fun."
"..."
Strange, Shirou did not know why but the man felt like something really off was going on here. With narrowed eyes, he observed the blonde before him, smiling just like her friends behind, without any hint of deception. Still, the sensation lingered, like he was missing something and these girls were just not telling him. 'Am I being far too paranoid? Why am I even getting suspicious of them when they are actually forgiving me? Damn it, all of this overthinking will just pull me back into trouble as it has done earlier! Let's just go along with it.'
"I guess I'm not surprised to deal with such a… calm reaction compared to what I experienced before."
The hand that had been gently ruffling his hair momentarily froze, and at that point did he felt the air turn slightly cold. A hard-to-explain chill crawled up his spine the very next moment for some odd, inexplicable reason.
"Before?" Fate repeated with her smile stretching even further, but the same emotion did not reach her eyes. "Mind explaining what you meant by that? I thought that other than Nanoha, you did not have any prior relationships."
"Yes, I would like to hear more of it too."
"Ah!"
He almost leaped out of the seat upon finding Nanoha now right next to him.
For some reason, their situation felt far more dangerous than their finding that he was meeting people at the same time.
{Break}
(A few hours later)
Shirou finally exhaled the tension that had knotted itself through his shoulders as he climbed the stairs leading to the rooftop of their apartment building. He wanted to stretch his limbs a bit and to take in some of the fresh air after the encounter with the three other girls earlier.
Having to explain that he was just helping both Rin and Luvia in the past, and in fact was not in a relationship with either of them.
'I can understand Nanoha being curious or worried, but was it necessary for both Fate and Hayate to also be present?'
A strange day indeed.
Now that he thought about it, this was actually the first time he had bothered heading up here. The apartment complex was large enough that even after living in it for a good while, he still had not explored half of it, let alone the whole thing. There were plenty of reasons for that lack of exploration, ranging from his limited free time to the pile of responsibilities that made wandering around feel like a luxury he could never fit into his regular schedule.
Another big reason is just the lack of need to explore everything; the city itself could feel overwhelming at times, so that just relaxing in places he was familiar with felt great. Right now, though, quiet felt necessary if he wanted to sort out his thoughts.
"Hm?"
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Instead of getting the quiet atmosphere he expected, the sound of metal cans getting struck and scattered greeted him as he stepped out onto the rooftop. Shirou leaned forward slightly, arriving just in time to see an orange-haired woman standing with her feet planted firmly, her gun raised as she fired low-powered shots at a row of empty drink cans lined along the far edge. Each shot landed with a remarkable show of precision, as one would see from someone of her level.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Judging from the rhythm, she was firing in quick bursts from her hip without pausing to focus on pinpoint accuracy. Six shots left her barrel, and four struck the cans, sending them spinning across the concrete. It was an impressive display for casual practice, but her expression made it clear this was still far from the result she wanted.
"Hah, damn it." She said, tapping her head with the weapon. Turning her head around just enough to throw a side glance at him. "There is no need for you to hide over there. You can come over. Oh and before you ask, no, you are not bothering me if that is what you are worried about."
She noticed him immediately and spoke after releasing a tired sigh, stretching her arms behind her head, grabbed a fresh carton of cans, and walked to the far side to place a new line on the edge. "I think this is the first time I've seen you up here."
"Just decided to explore the place further. Not in the mood to practise at the actual training field?" Shirou asked, knowing the official practice shooting range was less than a few minutes away and had everything a mage or anyone could possibly need — even a massage parlour. Whether someone preferred a sword, a magical staff, or a gun, the place was equipped for it.
"I guess I was feeling lazy," Teana replied after a brief pause. "Practising here with some fresh air makes me feel better, honestly. The other place can just feel a bit suffocating at times too, so I preferred a more personal setting, if that makes sense." She glanced his way with a slow smile forming. "How did the double date go?"
Shirou immediately cringed on the inside, "Y-You… you knew about it? How?"
"Earlier, Subaru and I were coming over to check on you and ended up hearing the conversation inside. Unintentionally, of course. Oh my, Shirou, I definitely did not think you had that sort of courage."
"This is going to keep being brought up for the rest of my life, isn't it?"
"Yep," she said without hesitation, grinning widely. "It is not every day someone decides to go after some of the most popular girls in the TSAB at the same time and somehow avoids getting completely destroyed by them. You're either super lucky or… never mind, you're just super lucky."
"First time anyone said that I was lucky given my track record. Trust me, I am grateful it worked out the way it did." He accepted that the story would linger for a long time and probably spread far beyond this building. He could almost imagine the rest of the bureau catching wind of it. "Aside from that, is something bothering you?"
Teana hummed, getting in position once more and focused on the targets ahead. "What makes you say that?"
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Another burst of shots rang across the rooftop. This time, only three of the six bullets managed to hit their targets, leaving the remaining cans standing untouched. Teana clicked her tongue loudly and looked ready to slam her device into the ground, only stopping herself after forcing her breathing to slow.
"That makes me say it," Shirou commented, pointing lightly at her reaction. "I am getting a sense of déjà vu."
"Humph, get used to seeing it tomorrow, too. It is just your regular Teana trying and failing to push past her limits on something basic because she cannot control her emotions properly. Nothing new." She puffed her cheeks in irritation for a moment. "Sorry. I did not mean to take it out on you."
Shirou waved his hand dismissively, having not taken any offence whatsoever. "Do not worry about it. If I had to guess, I would say it has something to do with our mission, right?"
"Kind of? It went well enough, all things considered. Both Subaru and I took out several of those creatures without much effort, enough to dwarf any of our previous missions where we had to kill other kinds of monsters."
"Sounds like you should be celebrating rather than pushing yourself like this." He added, taking a seat by the chair behind the woman and grabbing one of the drinks nearby. "It went well because most of them were completely focused on the target instead of us. Had things been different like them actually focusing on the two of us, then I doubt things would have gone so smoothly. I was hoping to use that opportunity to push myself a bit, to see how far I had actually come, but you know exactly how it ended. Just like always, you solved everything before we even got the chance to really matter."
"Hold on. That is not the case at all. If it were not for all of you, I would have been overwhelmed by the first ghoul wave back when we landed." Shirou spoke with a straightforward and honest tone, only to get a dismissive scoff from the girl who had returned from the opposite side with another storage box. She placed a new set of targets with quick, practiced motions. "There is no need to sell yourself short like that. I saw what you were doing with those sword spells of yours and that bow. Facing an entire swarm suits you and Lutecia better than dealing with a single specialised threat. Your spells are practically perfect for large-scale suppression and crowd control."
"Are you talking about an… aoe?"
Teana gave him a surprised look, "I didn't know you were familiar with that term."
The redhead shrugged, "I barely remember what it meant. I had a… former friend who used to play games at the arcade constantly and dragged me there from time to time. He would scream that word along with a few others several times when he got angry."
A bittersweet memory by now of a time long past. He had not talked, seen, or even heard about that boy since leaving Fuyuki. Perhaps that was for the better; he would not have been able to hold himself back from hurting him for what he had done. So, pushing those disturbing thoughts from the past to the side, he just continued the current conversation with a smile on his face. "I should be the one surprised that you know it and much less used it."
"Just something I picked up after spending too much time around Subaru. But the point stands. You are in your element when you deal with multiple targets. The result would have been the same even without our help."
He scratched the back of his head at that. While it was true that his tracing worked best against a larger number than a singular target, it was by no means a perfect ability. He had a few ideas prepared in case anyone failed to keep up; none of them were reliable enough to be called a real plan. They were desperate measures that he only kept around for the moments when he had no other choice. "My magic has limits. Just like yours. I cannot endlessly fire off projections without my circuits feeling like they are being cooked."
"Yet that is exactly what you did against that monster at the end." She shot back immediately. He looked off to the side, guilt creeping over his expression.
"I was doing it to make a point to Lutecia. I wanted her to stop fearing for my life every time I took the lead. I wanted her to know that I could handle myself and that I was capable of more than she assumed. That she could lean against me and let me keep her safe against whatever danger we might end up facing in the future."
"I'm glad that you did so, I really am. The girl deserves to have someone by her side whom she knows she can rely on in every way. But as for your goal, that makes two of us then. Except I did not get a chance to prove anything. And this display also does not help in the least, I'm just making it worse." The girl resumed firing, unleashing another burst of shots. This time, six rounds left her device in quick succession. Only one was missed, yet she still frowned at the result.
Shirou considered responding but shifted his approach to something that might actually encourage her. "You have improved."
"Better?" She looked back at him with disbelief before shaking her head again. "Do you not see how many I missed?"
"You are firing a burst shot without using the spells that have them track the target. Five out of six is already impressive."
"Thanks, Shirou. But it is hard to accept that after watching what you did."
Her tone carried frustration that she tried but failed to hide. It made him pause, and after thinking it over for a moment, he decided to ask the question that had been resting in the back of his mind. "Why are you pushing yourself this harshly?"
Her next shot faltered. She looked back at him with a startled expression, her composure slipping. "To become better?"
"That's obvious, I mean, why are you trying to improve yourself? You are not the only one pursuing such a goal; practically everyone in the Riot Force is doing the same. Yours feels different."
"..."
"Ever since I met you, you have worked yourself harder than almost anyone I have seen here. Is there a reason behind that kind of drive? If you do not mind me asking." It was something he had noticed early on, but after today, the thought refused to leave him alone.
She lowered her device slightly, hesitation flickering across her eyes. "I am not sure if I should say it. It will sound silly."
He rolled his eyes and let out a small breath, "My dream, ever since I was a kid, was to become a hero. Someone who could save everyone and build a future where no one would cry or suffer."
She gave him a sideways look, waiting to see if he would laugh or dismiss it. Instead, he continued without missing a beat. "To reach that kind of goal, I did plenty of reckless things. Things that no one in their right mind would call training, and rather more akin to suicide. I nearly destroyed myself more times than I care to count just for the sake of squeezing out a little more reinforcement or getting one more projection to work. I trained in ways that felt like someone pressed a burning iron rod into my spine day after day. All of that effort only let me reinforce and project a handful of objects I kept hidden in my shed. Most of which would break upon contact against even one of your weakest spell bullets."
"Seriously?" She exclaimed with disbelief. "Hard to imagine you only being capable of using spells to such an extent."
"It wasn't even that long ago. I was 17 the last time I used that method." He scratched lightly at his cheek as another memory surfaced. "And once, I even charged at someone who… um, how can I describe her? Well, one could say she was equal to an S-class mage in terms of danger. I had a reinforced metal pipe and thought it was enough. She could have snapped me in half with a single kick if she felt like it."
"..."
Even though she did not say it aloud, the expression on her face told him everything he needed to understand about what she thought of his past deeds. He lifted his hands in a half-hearted gesture of surrender and said, "If you think those stories were not silly enough then I still have plenty of others I can tell you, and some of those might actually make you believe there is something wrong with me and my brain to the point where you would want to put me in a mental hospital."
"I already kind of had that thought today after you went on a date with two girls," she replied, her tone dry yet not entirely without amusement.
"Then can we move past that please!" Shirou said, rolling his eyes as he picked up a small empty can lying next to him and flicked it toward Teana's head. She dodged it with an easy twist of her shoulders and let out a brief giggle before grabbing the object and placing it back into its carton. She reached for the box of cans and walked to the other side of the rooftop, sorting each item.
While arranging the next round of targets, she opened her mouth and said, "I had a brother named Tiida. He's the one who taught me practically everything I know about gun shooting. Because of him I decided to become a gunslinger instead of using any other kind of weapon."
"A brother?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, taking note of the way she used the past tense. He understood the implications behind it and chose not to interrupt her with needless questions, letting her continue at her own pace.
"He was someone with a lot of promise in both my parents' eyes and the administration, I believe. From a young age, he performed so well among his peers that he would regularly rank near the top in different categories. My family was proud of him, and I was proud to have a brother like him. In my eyes, I saw him as no different from a hero who could do anything and everything."
"I see," he said quietly, letting the simple words show that he was listening.
"He became a member of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau not long after that, with recruits holding such potential being scouted. He still started from the bottom and worked his way up through a long list of missions, capturing criminals, solving problems, and dealing with everything that comes with serving here. Eventually, he reached the position of first-class Air Force officer." She paused long enough for him to recall what little he knew about the ranking system. Although Shirou had never been particularly interested in titles, prestige, or fame, he had learned the basics. Rising to that rank was not a small accomplishment. It demanded skill, discipline, and a level of dedication many never reached.
"He sounds like a formidable person," he said. "I can see why you looked up to him."
"Yeah… like I said, I was proud of him from the very beginning," she answered. "A hero who could accomplish everything and anything. So when he kept rising through the ranks, it felt like something that was bound to happen sooner or later. His next goal would have been executive officer and then beyond that. Everyone was certain he would achieve those milestones. But then…" Her voice trailed off.
From his angle, he noticed how her fingers tightened around an empty can until the thin metal began to crumple and fold under the pressure of her grip.
"He ended up dying in the line of duty," she said. The words came out slowly, a slight tremor being audible from those words alone.
"I-It happened so abruptly. I couldn't believe it when I first heard it back then. I refused to test it as anything but a sick joke. And even now I still struggle to understand how something like that could have happened to someone like him," she said, her voice steady but definitely strained, the crushed can still trapped between her fingers as her thoughts drifted back to a moment she clearly wished she could change.
"You joined TSAB to inherit and take over legacy." He spoke calmly, stating it rather than asking, because the conclusion felt almost inevitable. She gave a small nod that confirmed it, her shoulders tightening with the admission.
"The last mission my brother took part in did not go well. Word spread faster than any official report could correct it and people began talking in all the usual ways. False rumours, twisted facts, careless speculation and outright lies. Our family ended up in the middle of it all too, which added even more scrutiny, and with such a tragedy hanging over all of us, we had to face the aftermath of those ridiculous stories. I could not sit still and watch them continue without doing something. So I came here to reach the point where my brother stopped and continued forward from there. I wanted to prove to the others that our family should not be underestimated."
She managed to regain some of her composure and said those last few words more calmly than before.
"It is a noble cause. If your brother were still here he would be proud to see how far you have come."
Her expression did not shift. No smile and no sign of acceptance followed his words. Silence stretched between them for a few slow seconds before she finally answered.
"I would not know about that. He was born with every talent that mattered and carried the makings of a genius without needing to try. I did not inherit those traits from him."
A prodigious older brother whom she admired, a brother who died in the line of duty, a death that had sparked more gossip and suspicion than any grieving sibling deserved, and the countless times he had seen Teana push herself far beyond reason in training. It did not take a mind reader to recognise the kind burden she carried, and he found himself both sympathising with her and pitying her in equal measure. Yet one part of her belief was something he could not accept.
"I do not agree with you about the talent part. That should not be the reason pushing you to believe you cannot reach the same level he did later on." He said firmly, not wanting to back out of this particular subject.
"But it is a cruel reality." She replied immediately, sounding more composed and accepting. "Talent is still something that exists and no one can simply ignore it. Just like you are skilled with long-range shooting and did not need anything more than a brief moment of handling a firearm before reaching such accuracy."
"But that was not purely talent." He answered back immediately. "I already had the basic knowledge from shooting a bow and arrow for years. Using that experience to handle a gun made it easier to adapt. If I had never learned how to shoot a bow and arrow, the results would have been very different."
Getting up from his seat and walking right next to Teana, the girl looked at him with confusion only for him to trace a bow and present it to her. "Am I supposed to do something with it?" She asked, gingerly grabbing the weapon. This one was not the black bow he used regularly, just a normal one that did not require reinforcement just to draw the string.
"I figured rather than butting your head against a wall and shooting all night trying to improve your aim without much result because you're not in the right headspace would not help. So why not just change things a bit and take on a different approach?"
The girl looked back and forth between him and the ranged weapon, occasionally sneaking glances at her own gun. "I'm not sure it works that way…"
"Pretty sure it does. I am living proof, aren't I?"
"Can't argue against that." She said dryly, though a moment of expectation could be seen on her expression and movement as she played around with the weapon for a bit. "This is the first time I'm using a bow. How do I…"
"Like this."
Not leaving her completely clueless, he guided her step by step on how to use the bow. From adjusting her grasp on the weapon with her left hand and different ways to pull an arrow. "There are different ways for you to hold an arrow and different finger releases you can use. I'll just have you use what I was taught instead, here." He passed her a leather glove, a standard equipment he used to have in the archery club back in school. The boy in the past had rarely ever used it after trying them out.
After that, several simple blunt arrows appeared in his hand, and he passed one of them to the girl. "Grab the end like this, we don't need to use too much force, just enough to pull it back." Guiding her along, he made sure to showcase everything by adjusting her form at every given opportunity. Moving her fingers, her arms and her overall posture.
To Teana who had been unfamiliar with all of it, she could not help but notice each touch and their close proximity. The closeness made her thoughts momentarily go in a completely different direction and a blush slowly started forming on her face. But just looking at how seriously the man in front of her was trying to explain and help, she said nothing and tried to focus.
"There we go, that should do it." After a few more minutes of working around with her, Shirou backed off with a smile on his face. "That's perfect. Now all you have to do is focus on your target, and release the arrow. Just do it the same way you would do if you were holding a gun and we're about to shoot."
"U-Um… okay, phew… alright then. This feels a bit nerve-wracking, I admit." Teana said, feeling the palms of her hands start sweating. But she followed his instructions and loosened her hold on the arrow, with the sharp snap, the projectile went flying. "Ah!"
The sensation itself was different from pulling the trigger of a gun; both watched as the arrow flew in a rather straight arc and passed right next to the only can left at the edge, making it wobble a bit but ultimately missing it. The arrow itself, breaking down into motes of light soon after.
"That was close, next one!" Shirou enthusiastically handed another one to the girl who accepted it with some hesitation. Pulling the string and releasing the projector. Yet the same result repeated.
"Again."
Somehow, she did not feel frustrated like earlier; rather each time the arrow missed its mark, doing so by such a short margin that it irked her. Rather than sadness or frustration, anger rose and a fire within swearing to shoot that damn item down.
Each time he guided her, a voice by her side would point out the slightest mistake in her posture and have her correct it. Doing so again and again until the point she had practically lost count of how many hours she had spent.
Not even turning her head around, she extended her hand with the redhead already placing another projectile within her hold.
"Start from the beginning. Separate the whole action of shooting the arrow into eight different stages." She nodded, letting her body follow his advice. "First footing, your feet need to be planted on the ground like the root of a tree planting you in place."
"..."
"Second, take notice of your posture and correct all the imperfections. Align your legs, straighten your back, don't bring your hands too close to your chest."
For such a simple weapon, it was hard to believe just how meticulous one needed to be.
"Third step: ready your bow. Understand its length, its weight, the firmness of the material, its flexibility and its limits. Examine if it can be fired, if it will be enough to make the shot you want."
She did, granted, the weapon was not the same as the one she had seen him use. But the quality certainly felt exceptional, light and flexible while still being firm enough to provide some resistance when drawing. Not making a single noise when bending and she did not even fear that it would snap on her.
Her grip tightened.
"Fourth step and Fifth step: raise the bow and draw the string slowly."
The strength for that action still required some muscles, not anything beyond her capabilities but something she could not ignore regardless.
"The sixth and seventh steps are pretty simple. But they take the most amount of effort and will be what decides whether you hit your target or not. Focus, after completing your drawing, erase your surroundings until nothing is left in this world except for yourself, the arrow, and the can in the distance. And when you are confident, when you have reached that stage of certainty, hold your breath and release the arrow."
It truly felt like the world had come to a complete crawl. The moment her fingers loosened on the projector, the arrow flew, carrying with it a small gust of wind that pulled strands of her hair ahead.
There was no sound at first, her eyes fully focused on the arrow that wobbled in the air ever so slightly as it flew closer and closer until…
Pa!
"It hit!" excitement searched within Teana like never before, having barely even completed the eighth stage which was to lower her weapon. If you jumped in place with joy, with Shirou joining along and celebrating with her. "Did you see that? It hit straight in the middle! Did you see!?"
It was hard to explain this sensation of joy, for someone who had fired tens of thousands of shots in the past at targets quite far away and hitting them accurately thanks to her spells guiding the bullet — this felt completely different.
Having completely forgotten about her previous mood, she soon sensed a hand making its way to her head. Ruffling her head with the person on the other end looking down at her with a proud smile on his face.
"You're amazing, Teana."
It had been years since she stood in a similar position. For a brief moment where everything changed, Teana saw herself once more standing in the courtyard of her family's home. A young child barely tall enough to get up on a chair on her own, holding onto a gun a bit too big for her size, but still wieldable. A clean mark in the distance with a bullet hole in the center and a similar figure crouching down next to her.
The sun in the background lighting both his dark orange hair and smile, his fingers going through her hair too while he said those exact same words.
'You're amazing, Tea.'
And just for that instant alone, she saw Tiida in his place and a sense of longing to feel a sensation she had not felt for more than a decade.
She missed him.
"Teana?" Shirou called out her name after she went quiet for several seconds, "Ah!"
Only for her to move forward and gently wrap her arms around him, giving the redhead a short embrace that lasted several seconds. A gesture he returned as well, patting her back a couple of times which made her chuckle and whisper, "Thanks, Shirou… for everything."
"No problem. It's my duty to look after other members of my team as well. Feel better?" He asked, and rather than giving him a straight answer, the girl instead placed the bow on the table and retrieved her gun. Looking at the box which only had a handful of empty cans left, she handed them to Shirou.
"Throw them. All at once and as high as you can." A simple request that he went along with, with a swift movement, several cans found their way flying upwards in the sky and within her field of vision.
"Hah…" Teana took a deep breath, Shirou's prior words replaying in her head crystal clear.
Adjusting one's footing.
Correcting all errors in her posture.
Readying her weapon.
Aligning all targets.
Raising her weapon.
Erasing her surroundings till time came to a crawl.
Then finally, pulling the trigger.
Several consecutive bangs sounded, and an equal number of distinct sounds of impact reached both of their ears. A clean hole in the middle of each can now be seen before they even fell back to the ground. All seven targets were struck cleanly.
As they fell to the ground one by one, the girl put the weapon back in its holster with a giant smile beaming on her face. "Yup, I do feel much better." She said while walking past him, "I'll be going to sleep now. It's already late."
There was more she wanted to say and convey, but figured it would be best to save it for later.
.
.
.
Shirou, on the other hand, continued to stare at the nine different cans that landed back on the ground, each with a hole in it.
"Lacking any talent, my ass… did she genuinely make so much progress by just firing a single arrow?"
He was just trying to improve her mood and hopefully distract her a bit with archery. It helped him relax in the past, so why not her? Maybe it worked a bit too well… which was good, he supposed. Even Ayako never made such a big leap in progress. Then again, he never saw her fire a gun, which in itself was a horrifying image.
Teana was by no means talentless, that was for certain.
"Ah," it did not take him long to realize that from her last display, there were several empty cans now littering the rooftop that Teana forgot to pick up. Rolling up his sleeves, Shirou figured this was the ideal moment for him to finally relax a bit. "Time to clean this place up."
{Break}
Deep underground, inside a reinforced cell hidden beneath the city, a woman sat in absolute stillness. Her posture remained unchanged, her face holding the same faintly bored expression as she lazily turned the page of a book. The silence was constant until the metallic groan of the door opening broke through the air. Her eyes flickered with interest for a moment before the expression faded back into its previous boredom.
A short brown-haired woman stepped through the doorway and approached the cell, stopping directly in front of her. She stared at the prisoner with a steady, cold look that did not waver.
"Finally decided to pay your dear little sister a visit, I see," Quattro remarked in a smooth, sarcastic tone, already certain she knew who stood before her even though the appearance did not match the one she remembered. Regardless of the outward form, those eyes were impossible to mistake. "Should I call you Auris or by your original name?"
"Auris. You failed your mission to protect the doctor."
"Failed? That feels like a stretch, does it not?" Quattro replied with narrowed eyes.
"He was injured and bedridden. We lost the Cradle along with the reserve of drones we prepared. What else is this other than a failure?"
Quattro snapped the book shut with a sharp clap of sound. Irritation flashed briefly across her eyes before she forced it down. "Sette lost her life."
"And it is unfortunate."
"Deed and Otto received wounds that threatened their lives."
The woman nodded and said, "If the doctor wants them to recuperate then he will."
This conversation was not going anywhere, so Quattro adjusted her posture with a quiet sigh and added, "You have quite a lot of audacity saying that we failed while you stay here doing your little spy work, while most of us are the ones doing the heavy lifting."
The one with Auris' face gave her a dry look. "Are you trying to elicit a reaction from me, Quattro? You know that will not work on me, unlike the others."
The orange-haired girl rubbed her cheek with a small shrug. "It was worth a try." Their exchange went smoother than she had expected, even if it was going nowhere, which encouraged her to finally ask the question that had been weighing on her thoughts from the moment she entered. "So, how is our little friend doing?"
"He was sent on a mission to a different planet to suppress the spread of a particular pathogen. It had contaminated the local population and turned them into ghouls," the woman explained. "The mission was a complete success and we believe he even discovered the source of the outbreak, a core of energy similar to a relic. It enhanced the effects of the pathogen, which was originally created by the doctor's former associate."
Quattro leaned back and replied with confidence, "Let me guess. Regius and the other commanders tried to get their hands on it, but he destroyed it before they could."
Instead of agreement, she was met with Auris rubbing her forehead. "No. He kept it and refused to give it to anyone except Commander Hayate."
"What?" Quattro blinked at the unexpected answer. Keeping such a dangerous object for himself meant there was either a connection between him and the relic or there was information they had yet to uncover. "Well, that is your matter to deal with, not mine. As you can see, I have my hands and legs tied in a pickle." She gestured to her immobilizing restraints and then toward the side of her bed. "Could you be a dear and have them give me at least a TV? I like reading books, but it gets boring after a while. I already finished everything they gave me in a single day."
Next to her sat a neatly organized shelf stacked with nearly fifty books, each arranged with the exact precision she favored. The woman looked at them before responding, "The doctor still wants to understand the power used by Emiya Shirou. It is not from this world and it does not rely on the devices we are familiar with."
Quattro already expected as much. Even during his initial capture, the doctor had shown interest in replicating that power, possibly to integrate it into another Number. But things had not unfolded the way he planned. The boy escaped, and the spectacle of abilities he displayed only strengthened the doctor's determination. Emiya's techniques were not the most destructive compared to mages like Nanoha, but the assortment of weapons he summoned and the way he used them captured everyone's attention.
For her, the value of his abilities was not in the blades that pierced the hull of the Cradle or in the ones he used when fighting the Numbers. Her mind drifted further in the past, replaying the memory of the moment she had been ordered to eliminate him. The sound of the Lazer blaster echoed faintly in her thoughts, followed by the formation of a crystalline shield shaped from layered blue petals. Seven overlapping rings of shimmering petals rose and protected him, each layer delicate yet firm, like a crafted sculpture brought to life. It had been beautiful, almost artistic, and the memory lingered. A small part of her wanted to see that shield again, if only to admire it.
She exhaled slowly and shifted her gaze back to the woman in front of her. "Well, what is the plan then? If you want my opinion, let me tell you that trying to kidnap him again will not end well this time. We are already down several Numbers, and he is far more familiar with our tactics. He would counter them even if we managed a full surprise attack."
Quattro let her tone settle before continuing, "Not to mention the other mages are keeping a close watch on him. They are probably observing him like hawks by now. The chances of success are not even in the double digits."
She settled back against the pillows with a faint smirk, her irritation fading into a more subdued expression. "So unless you want to lose even more people, it would be wise to rethink whatever plan you are forming. I may be stuck here, but I still know a bad idea when I see one."
"We know." Auris on the other side spoke with a visible frown tightening her features, the kind that suggested a long stretch of irritation she had not bothered to hide.
"Do not even try to use someone else to lure him in. I would rather avoid dealing with one of those spiralling swords made out of rainbows being fired toward my face again."
"I do not think he can shoot that."
"I am fairly sure he can fire whatever version of that sword he has available. The footage of his first contact with the TSAB showed a smaller blade with a similar appearance, a swirl pattern that twisted the space around it. Even though there was no rainbow coloured light that time, I assumed he had several abilities he had not shown yet."
Underestimating the boy had been a mistake she had committed twice already, and she had always taken pride in her intelligence. Being fooled on two separate occasions had bruised her pride more than she wanted to admit. She had no intention of repeating the same error.
"But even with all of that said, the doctor has likely taken those possibilities into account too, has he not?" She received a firm nod from the woman, which made the twin-tailed Number's restrained smile shift into a smirk. "All right then, I am curious to see what he intends. You want me to acquire a sample of his DNA? How do you expect me to do that? I do not have much experience with seduction, but cutting through a few layers of his skin to take a drop of blood would be far easier for both of us. Or maybe you disguise yourself as his girlfriend and sneak into his bed to get all the materials for a clone? That is a foolproof plan!"
Auris, across from her, sighed. "You have been reading far too many books lately."
"Blame them for giving me nothing but romance novels and spy stories with ridiculous scenarios." Quattro retorted angrily.
"Enough. We have already made all the required preparations, and none of them were easy to secure. Do not squander this opportunity."
Her eyes twitched. This person truly had quite the mouth for someone who always remained on the safe side while she and the others had nearly died several times because of that boy, that man, whatever he truly was. A part of her genuinely wanted to see the other woman's reaction if she ever faced the same level of danger.
"The plan is simple. You no longer work for the doctor."
"Eh?" For a brief moment, confusion overtook her expression completely. "Repeat that. I am sure I must have misheard whatever absurd thing you just said."
"You heard correctly. The doctor has abandoned you, and you have no place beside him anymore. Any secrets you carry, whether the information regarding the other Numbers, the locations of the operations, or the doctor's goals, no longer hold any weight. They pose no threat even if revealed — so feel free to share. Regius and other higher-ups will come back soon with another evaluation; make sure to impress them."
That was all she said before turning away, her high heels echoing along the hallway in a slow, steady rhythm that reached Quattro's ears as she remained frozen in place. She stared ahead at nothing in particular, her mind struggling to process the sudden shift while her irritation tried to resurface with double its strength. A book was snatched from the table and hurled forward with enough force to break bones, but it only collided with the invisible barrier surrounding her instead of the woman who had already left.
"Tch, damn it. I hate when Due does that."
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