When he woke up, he found that he was a different person. The familiar scenery of his room had vanished. In its place, there was a shed with various materials strewn about. Circuitry, metal pipes, screw drivers and other industrial tools were lying all around him. But, in spite of the unfamiliar surroundings, he felt a strange familiarity about it.
“This place- kuh.”
As he started to speak, he felt a pain in his chest. Along with it, he felt searing lines spread throughout his body, as if an iron was branding his bones.
“What… the… fuck…?”
He wanted to scream, but the only thing he could do was mutter those three words. As if a baptism of flames, it felt like his very being was being scorched from the inside out.
He didn’t know how long it lasted. The only thing he knew was that when it stopped, he felt a strange sensation pulsing around his body. A new sensation, something that hadn’t been there before. At the same time, he realized his identity.
“Emiya Shirou?” He muttered.
The name was familiar to him. That young man who chose to follow the ideal of saving everyone. The one who decided to pursue the ideal to the end in one time and become a heroic spirit. That was who he was.
A glance at a metal plate revealed an unfamiliar but familiar face staring back at him. Golden eyes and crimson hair. A visage unweathered by time and still youthful, unlike the stress-lined face that he recalled in the past.
The door to the shed creaked open and a melodic voice echoed. “Senpai? Are you awake?”
The man… Shirou turned to look at the person who entered.
A beautiful young woman with violet hair walked into the shed. Her long hair trailed behind her, and the bright smile on her face seemed to carry a hint of spring in its atmosphere. It was… odd, but fitting. Although it should have been out of place having that colored hair, the man who had become Shirou wasn’t unsettled.
“Sakura?” He tried out her name, muttering it. Familiar and unfamiliar. The incongruity brought about by his awakening and foggy memories lent it a hesitant tone.
The young woman frowned. “Did you stay up late again? You know Fuji-nee’s going to scold you about it at breakfast.”
Shirou was quiet.
“Senpai?” Sakura walked closer and leaned down to peer at him. “Is something wrong?”
Shirou stared back at her. His amber eyes peered into her violet eyes, orbs that carried a dark secret concealed behind a bright smile.
Eventually, Shirou sighed. “Sorry, Sakura. I must be out of it.”
Finally satisfied, Sakura leaned back. Still, she frowned and pointed a finger at Shirou. “You should take better care of yourself, Senpai!”
“Right, right. But anyway…”
He stared at Sakura again. More specifically, he stared at her clothes. She was wearing a school uniform, with a beige blazer over a white blouse paired with a black pleated skirt.
“Is it almost time for class?”
The words came out from him like an old habit. Despite how he had become a person different from himself, it seemed like Shirou’s personality was still there in part.
Sakura nodded. “Yes. You slept in a bit late again, so I went ahead and started breakfast preparations.”
Shirou sighed. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine, Senpai! It’s times like these that you should rely on me more!”
Shirou smiled.
Sakura blushed and then said, “W-Well, I’ll be in the kitchen finishing things up. Don’t forget to change before you head over there!”
“I will.”
With a bright smile, Sakura waved at Shirou and then walked away, leaving the shed door slightly ajar.
Shirou watched her go with mixed emotions.
“Matou Sakura,” he muttered. “A girl with a dark past and only this small happiness to comfort her…”
He remembered now. Three routes, three girls. A young man that wanted to save everyone. But that wasn’t him. Even so…
“It’s not wrong to want to save people.”
He wanted to save them. Sakura, Saber, Rin.
But to do that…
“Shirou was weak. I am weak. At least in the beginning. But…”
He could remember it. The process that Shirou went about forging magic circuits from his nerves. The proper method of applying his magecraft. His strengths, his weaknesses. If he played his cards right…
Shirou shook his head. That could come later. For now…
“I should get changed.”
Shirou followed his body’s instincts and picked up the spare clothes he kept for just this occasion in a box at the corner of the shed. After changing out his clothes, he left the shed.
===
The Emiya household was impressive. Although Shirou remembered it being described like that in the visual novel and anime, it was completely different seeing it in person. The shed he left was placed in a corner of the central courtyard. Opposite of it was a dojo, an authentic one with bamboo flooring, a wooden sign, and banners.
As for the courtyard itself, there was cement pavement forming a path around a grass front, along with some flower beds lining it. Not only that, but the courtyard was vast, enough to play soccer in if it was a field instead of a courtyard. And then at the center of the courtyard there was a very Japanese-styled building stretching out.
“No wonder Shirou made that crack about it being an inn…”
The building was big enough to be one. Just from a single glance, he could tell that there were at least a dozen rooms inside, if not more. And from the vague recollections he could remember, that was the truth, with more than a few simply being kept for storage now that Kiritsugu had died.
With mixed emotions, Shirou walked through the front door and headed towards the kitchen.
The sounds of cooking echoed. Pots clattering, steam hissing, water running… Sakura was hard at work preparing breakfast.
Seated at the table in front of cooking area and by the television set was a woman with brown hair and a black and yellow striped shirt matched with jeans. She read a newspaper and sipped a cup of tea, but lowered it when Shirou walked into the room.
Before she could say anything, Shirou waved his hand and said, “Morning, Fuji-nee.”
A preemptive strike. It seemed to lower the woman’s momentum, but she still narrowed her eyes. “Shirou. How many times do I have to tell you to stop staying up so late? This is the second time this week that poor Sakura’s had to get breakfast ready by herself.”
Before Shirou could reply, Sakura called out from the kitchen. “I don’t mind, Fuji-nee.”
Fuji-nee turned towards Sakura and said, “You should! A young girl like you shouldn’t be cooking for anyone other than your boyfriend!”
“F-Fuji-nee!”
“What?” The woman took a sip from her tea. “It’s true. So, Shirou.” She turned her attention back on him. “Are you planning on taking responsibility any time soon?”
“Fuji-nee!” Sakura’s voice called out from the kitchen again. “Stop bothering Senpai!”
“Hmph. Whatever… but Shirou!” Fuji-nee pointed at him and said, “You’d better not make a habit of this! Do you know how hard it’s going to be for a young girl like Sakura to find a boyfriend at this rate? How many guys will date someone who goes out of their way to make and eat breakfast at another guy’s house?”
Shirou sighed. “I know, Fuji-nee. But you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Don’t I?”
Shirou nodded. “I mean, Sakura’s already a part of the Emiya household, isn’t she?”