Other Dimension's Knight

Next morning was hard for Shirou. Since they technically kidnapped Sakura and detained her in the house, she woke up when Taiga and Shirou were eating. Shirou basically managed to convince that Sakura went to her house and not the hospital thus explaining the fact that Taiga didn't manage to find her yesterday, and now his lie were exposed by the very person he tried to cover. With the help of Saber, they managed to cook up a story for Taiga, who was obviously still suspicious and Sakura didn't believe one bit of it, but she didn't say anything as she thought something else must have happened. Ever since her connection has been cut with Rider, Shirou kept acting weird and she knew that he must have something to do with it. She was scared that Shirou might find the truth about her and her treatment in the Matou residence as she considered it to be her dirty side, something that Shirou must never discover.

Unfortunately for her, Shirou was well aware of it and they planned to attack true assassin tonight in order to save Sakura as they knew that they would be under constant attacks as long as they have Sakura with them. They didn't know the situation about the war in general but thanks to Alexander's vision, they managed to have every information they needed. Apparently, lancer and true assassin fought yesterday night but no one died and it ended in a draw. Alexander still didn't manage to get a glimpse of lancer's master and he didn't want to check every resident of this town to find him.

Shirou was planning on telling Rin about the new information Alexander got but Saber and him managed to convince him to not do so as they both knew that after professor Kuzuki was defeated, their alliance would come to an end and they would have to fight against them. Although, Shirou was obstinate, in the end he conceded to the two servants. This morning he went to school with Sakura and Alexander was obviously following them.

Sakura and Shirou separated on the way as she needed to go to her club and Shirou went to the student council room. But he was stopped on his way by Rin.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him close in order to speak with him, an action that fl.u.s.tered the young man.

" To-Tohsaka ? "

" There is something suspicious about Issei. " said Rin, looking quite serious.

" Ehh ? Suspicious ? How so ? " said Shirou, clearly not believing her.

" Caster is at the Ryuudou Temple, as well as her master I presume. And Issei comes each morning here from the Ryuudou Temple aswell. " said Rin

" So ? It's simply a coincidence, no need to make a big deal out of it. " said Shirou.

" Listen well, this morning, I saw Issei's condition, and he was not looking well. Although I couldn't tell if magic was used, there is a high chance of Issei being under Caster's control aswell as Professor Kuzuki. " said Rin.

Shirou went silent after her explanation, although he first believed that servants and magus wouldn't use outsiders for the Grail War, he was proven wrong by Caster's doings, and he was sure that she would do it again without any problem.

" Then what ? Do we capture them in order to get to Caster ? " asked Shirou.

" Ohhh ? You are able to make proper plans now Emiya ? It seems that you're taking your role seriously now. " said Rin, being genuinly impressed by Shirou's plan.

" More importantly, I'm sorry but we can't do that tonight, me, Alexander and Saber plans on raiding the Matou Residence tonight. Alexander said the faster Sakura is saved from the worms, the safer our position would be. " said Shirou, finally being able to escape Rin's arm-lock.

" Wh-what ? Why didn't you tell me ? " said Rin.

" I just did though ? And it's not like it matters to you anyway, our alliance is for taking down professor Kuzuki only. " said Shirou.

Rin didn't answer to his words and just looked at him with her mouth open.

" Tohsaka ? Toshaka ? Are you okay. " asked Shirou looking worried.

Rin simply ignored his words and walked towards the school, without saying a single word.

Shirou during class didn't pay much attention to what his teacher was saying, and Alexander was currently monitoring the surrounding and noticed that Archer was doing the same. Knowing that another servant was checking the area, he concentrated on looking further down the town with his eyes to check the overall situation.

During lunch, Shirou went to the student council room as usual and met with Issei. He couldn't find anything weird with his behaviour so he doubted Rin's words for a bit. He decided anyway to ask some question.

" Issei. " said Shirou, putting his chopsticks down on the table.

" What is it ? "

" Have you noticed something different in the Ryuudou Temple ? " asked Shirou.

" None. " said Issei, cutting short the discussion.

" Are you really su-" started Shirou.

" Yes I'm sure. " said Issei without even glancing at Shirou and just kept on eating his lunch.

Now Shirou was sure something was weird, he wanted to help Issei, but he knew that his action would be dangerous for him, especially with Caster's eyes being everywhere. His action were greatly different from his usual behaviour where he would just head in without thinking too much when somebody was in danger, Shirou didn't realize that Alexander's presence was making him change his way little by little. Even considering his twisted mentality and stubborness, Shirou was still considerably blank as he was quite young, so he was still influenced by other people, especially if they were some kind of hero, which were most of the servants in this Grail War.

Shirou and Issei simply did small talk during the lunch and went back to their respective classrooms once the bell rang.

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" Ehh ? Toshaka is already gone ? " asked Shirou to three of her classmates.

" Yeah, she left immediatly after the bell rang. " said one of the three classmates.

" I see. Thank you. " said Shirou before leaving the corridors of the third floor.

' What is wrong with her, since this morning she just have been avoiding me ? She's even the one that wanted to check on Issei and now she leaves just like this. ' thought Shirou since Rin's action has been weird since this morning when she completely ignored him.

Shirou simply returned home, slightly anxious since he knew that they would be raiding the Matou residence tonight. So far they were always on the receiving end in this Holy Grail War and that would be the first attack they would perform on somebody else, moreover Rin was not included in it.

When he got home, he was greeted with Saber wanting to spar with Alexander once more. Although he was impressed with Saber's eagerness to win her bet with him, he didn't understand why was it so important to her to know his identity. Anyway this spar resulted in her loss, and by loss Shirou was more inclined to think that it was a one-sided dominance but of course he wouldn't say this in front of Saber. After Alexander treated her, much to her embarassment, Saber sparred with him and it seemed like she was venting on him as he got hurt quite a lot on multiple parts of his body whenever he was hit by Saber. He was also healed by Alexander in the end and then they exited the dojo as it was time to eat. Both Taiga and Sakura were waiting for them to come back from the dojo and Shirou started to prepare dinner.

After dinner, Everyone except Alexander and Sakura who wanted to sleep early was sitting around the table while Shirou was trying to move the places where Alexander's healing was not enough. Apparently while it would be effective against curses, it wasn't that effective against normal wounds.

" It's been a while since you practised kendo in the old dojo, Shirou " said Taiga.

" A while ? Even though he had a fine sparring partner such as you Taiga ? " asked Saber.

" I suppose it has been ..... After dad died, I guess I stopped. " said Shirou.

" That's true. When Kiritsugu died, Shirou suddenly stopped picking up his bamboo sword. " said Taiga.

" It made me sad " said Taiga, acting sad.

" Fuji-nee, don't bring up the past like this. " said Shirou.

Taiga simply ignored him and pouted.

" Hmm, tales from Shirou's childhood ? " asked Saber, looking oddly interested.

At her words, Taiga completely turned around and stopped her act.

" Oh, want to hear it ? " asked Taiga.

" Yes, I am curious. " said Saber, now completely serious.

" Ok ! Be prepared to be regaled by big sister Taiga ! He was adorable as a kid. He was so trusting and he'd instantly agree to any request. But he had a strange stubborn streak. Once he set his mind to something, he wouldn't budge no matter what. I guess he was the polar opposite of Kiritsugu in this regard. " said Taiga.

" Polar opposite ? " asked Saber.

" Yes, Kiritsugu was the kind of man who was accepting of everything. He thought good and bad were subjective. However, if he ever saw someone in need, he'd try to help. And Shirou would always try to mimic Kiritsugu. " said Taiga.

" Shirou saw things in black and white more than Kiritsugu did, so he'd go around and beat the town bullies, saying ' It's wrong to do bad things. '. Yep, even back then, Shirou was already a hero of justice. " added Taiga.

Saber was slightly surprised by her words and turned to Shirou.

" Why do you want to be a hero of justice ? " asked Saber to Shirou.

" Well.... That's hard to answer... Because I look up to them I guess ? " said Shirou, obviously slightly uncomfortable with the question.

" You look up to them ? Heroes of justice ? " asked Saber

" Yeah, I guess .... " said Shirou as he scratched the back of his head.

" Why is that ? " asked once again Saber.

" Why ? Well that's because ..... " said Shirou as he seemed to be thinking about something.

" Shirou ? "

" Oh sorry, I'll... I'll be going to my room, I'm tired. " said Shirou, standing up and ending the conversation under the surprised gazes of Saber and Taiga.

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Shirou was currently under the stars in the Emiya residence.

' Why ? What am I afraid of ? ' thought Shiro, thinking back at the conversation he had with Saber.

' My reason for wanting to be a hero of justice ..... ' said Shirou as he thought of his father's words in the same place he was once before.

' I just wanted to follow his footsteps.... ' thought Shirou but he suddenly thought of Archer's words and Alexander's words.

* " There isn't such thing in this world. Let your ideals drag you to death." said Archer, completely angry at Shirou's words. *

* " I would prefer that you do not taint chivalry with your stupid ideals, Shirou " said Alexander with his blade on Shirou's neck. *

' Are.... are my ideals .... wrong ? ' thought Shirou, wanting to clench his fist but ultimately giving up while looking at the starry sky with uncertainties.