TYPE-MOON Universe, Earth, Japan, Fuyuki City
The next few days after the run in with Kirei and Gilgamesh passed quickly. Nothing of note happened in Fuyuki City. Though, both Tatsuo and Elicia could feel the tension rising. Yet, until the Holy Grail War officially began, there was not much either of them could do.
Though, Tatsuo did take it upon himself to scout the city during this time. And during his reconnaissance, he explored a few of the city's more notable places… At least the more notable places according to the source material this world was based off of.
On the first day, Tatsuo explored the Shinto Business District, where the Grand Hyatt Hotel was located. During this exploration, he stopped by several places of interest, such as, the Center Building, Fuyuki Station, and the Exciting Splash, to name a few. Though, the Exciting Splash, a large, indoor water park, was just something he checked on a whim. He did not deny the fact that it would be a good place to relax should the pressure of the Holy Grail War proved too much for Sakura.
On the second day, Tatsuo spent his time wandering around Mount Enzou. Mount Enzou could be considered the center point of the spiritual energy in Fuyuki, as it stood upon the intersection of all of Fuyuki's spiritual leylines. Plus, the lake that could be found on the mountain was one of the four places where the Holy Grail could manifest during the War's endgame.
On top of that, he checked out Ryuudou Temple, which was built near the top of the mountain. Knowing that Caster would make this place her workshop I the future, he decided it would be best to know as much about the surroundings as possible. Though, he had considered sabotaging her attempts to close off the temple in the future, he ultimate threw away that idea, as his skill in Magecraft was nowhere near as honed as hers was.
He also took the time to check out a large cavern underneath the Ryuudou Temple. In fact, this cavern was, more than likely, the most important aspect of the Holy Grail War, as this cavern was where the Greater Grail was stored.
The day after his trip to Mount Enzou, today, Tatsuo took a trip back to Miyama Town. Knowing where the usual cast of the Fate/Stay night franchise lived would be beneficial in the long run. Plus, he wanted to be sure he knew the way when he and Elicia took Sakura back to her sister.
"Before I find the Tohsaka Residence, I think I'll take a trip to Homurahara Academy." Tatsuo muttered to himself while running through the streets of Fuyuki in [Stealth]. "I'm curious to know what the reaction to Shinji's death is. Though, I think I can guess. Sakura's disappearance might be a problem, though."
As he ran, Tatsuo eventually ran into a group of students who seemed to be on their way to school.
"I'll just follow them." Tatsuo said to himself as he slowed his pace to follow the students. "It will be a lot easier than trying to find it on my own."
Just like that, Tatsuo walked behind the group of students, listening to their conversation. And what he heard did not surprise him.
"Man…. It's been a few days." A high school boy said while walking with his hands cradling the back of his head. "But there still hasn't been any news about what happened to the Matou Siblings."
"Well, I don't' really care what happened to Matou-Senpai." A girl carrying what appeared to be a bow case, said in a disdainful tone. "I mean, he was such a jerk. And the way he looked at me was gross."
"Yeah, I really don't think anyone cares about Matou." Another girl said in the same disdainful tone. "But I'm really worried about Sakura-Chan. She was so sweet. It's hard to believe that she was related to that asshole."
"Seriously, he even called himself the captain of the Archery Team." The boy said while shaking his head. "But he wouldn't have even been vice-captain if Emiya-Senpai actually cared about Archery."
"I know, right?" The first girl said energetically. "I mean, Emiya-Kun was so good. It was scary how good he was. But Matou-Kun drove him away because he was jealous. Like that would make him less of a jerk or something and the girls would be interested in him."
Like that, the conversation continued until the group of students reached the Homurahara Academy Gates. The conversation probably continued longer than that, but Tatsuo had no interest in hearing any more of it. Instead, he broke off from that group of students to explore.
"Now, let's see." Tatsuo said as he stopped near the gates. "I can feel a couple of sources of [Energy] around here. Well, sources more than the average person. One is sitting in what is probably a classroom. Meanwhile, the other is walking around with someone with average reserves. Let's check them out."
Then, Tatsuo first made his way to the stationary source of [Energy] he could feel. With the use of [Maiestas Divina], it did not take hm long to arrive in a classroom where a black-haired girl sat reading a book.
'Just as I expected.' Tatsuo thought to himself while observing the girl. 'The bigger reading was Rin. Which means, the one moving around, the smaller one, is Emiya. *Sigh* Alfonzo and James would have had a field day if they heard how I said that. Whatever. I should get going. I hope he's got some stuff to fix. Otherwise, this trip would have been a partial waste of time.'
Shaking off his thoughts of the two members of the [Dimensional Chat] with immature senses of humor, Tatsuo phased back through the classroom's wall. Then, he made his way to the other [Energy] source he could feel. And just as he expected, he found Emiya Shirou walking with another boy.
Shirou was a shorter than average young man standing at about 5'5" tall with short auburn hair and golden-brown eyes wearing the tan-colored male Homurahara uniform with a white t-shirt underneath.
Walking alongside Shirou was a male student, slightly taller than Shirou at about 5'7", with neatly-combed, short black hair, light brown eyes, and glasses wearing the same school uniform. This was the other, common magical signature Tatsuo felt with Shirou.
'So, that's Ryuudou Issei, huh?' Tatsuo asked himself as he fell in step behind the two high school students. 'He really looks like the student council president-type, doesn't he?'
While musing to himself about Issei's stereotypical student council president look, Tatsuo overheard the two's conversation.
"Seriously, Issei, how many times does this make this month?' Shirou asked casually as he walked with Issei. "That space heater has got to be at its limit by now. There's only so much I can do to fix something that's pretty much dead."
"I realize that, Emiya-Kun." Issei replied as he adjusted his glasses. "But I'm just doing my best to save the school money. If it can be fixed, it will probably be less expensive to do so than buying a new one."
"By this point, I'm seriously doubting that." Shirou said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Even so, I'll do what I can. But I can't make any promises."
"I appreciate your effort." Issei said, genuine appreciation in his tone.
Like that, the two friends continued to walk towards the room where the aforementioned space heater was located. All the while, they were unaware of the person following them from behind.
Eventually, the two reached a room. Above the door, the sign read, "Disciplinary Committee Office."
"Ah! I meant to stop at the Student Council Office before we got here." Shirou said, raising a hand to his forehead in what appeared to be distress. He then turned back to Issei with an apologetic expression on his face. "Say, Issei, do you think you could run to the Student Council Office to get my tool box. Can't work without the proper tools, right?"
"*Sigh* You can be so forgetful at times, Emiya-Kun." Issei said as he shook his head in slight exasperation. He then turned around and started walking towards the Student Council Office, which was at the other end of the hall. "But I suppose I can do this favor for you."
"Thanks, man." Shirou said cheerfully. "And while you do that, I'll take a look and see if I can figure out what's wrong with the heater."
"Sure." Issei replied. "I'll be back soon."
With that, Shirou once again put on an apologetic expression before he entered the Disciplinary Committee's Office.
"I really don't like lying to you, Issei." Shirou said as he stepped through the door. "But I can't let you see this."
Meanwhile, Tatsuo phased through the wall of the room with [Maiestas Divina]. Then, he watched Shirou as he approached the only space heater in the room.
'Alright, now I can learn the one ability I wanted to learn in this world.' Tatsuo thought to himself as he watched Shirou like a hawk. 'With Emiya's [Trace Version of Projection Magecraft], I should be able to recreate any weapon I come in contact with. Especially since my [Intelligence] should make me able to store more of the weapon's history in my brain when I use it. And instead of [Projecting] the weapons, I can completely recreate them with [Metal Magic]. Add [The End] to that, and I should be able to learn it to an even higher degree than even Archer could at his peak.'
While continuing to think about the advantages of learning [Projection] from Shirou, Tatsuo never took his eyes off of the young man.
"[Trace On]." Shirou chanted quietly as he closed his eyes with his hand pressed against the outer casing of the space heater.
With his chant, Shirou's magic circuits came to life before a pulse of mana surged through the space heater, touching every component and projecting an image into Shirou's mind. At the same time, [The End] activated, allowing Tatsuo to, through observation, learn how to analyze and record the makeup and history of an object to a level much higher than Shirou's current level.
{[Notification]
Learned new [Skill], [Projection Magecraft (Trace) – B-.}
'Hmm… I wasn't expecting the rank to be so high.' Tatsuo thought to himself while reading the [Notification]. 'I mean, at this point, Shirou doesn't even know how to [Project] an object into reality. I thought it would only be C-rank at most. Then again, I can pick up more of the object's history. So, I guess that makes sense.'
At the same time, Shirou, with his eyes closed began murmuring to himself about what he could see from the space heater's structure. He also determined that he could give the heater a few more days of life, a week at most. But that would probably be it. And in the end, Issei would still have to approve the Disciplinary Committee's request for a new heater.
Deciding he was no longer interested in hanging around the school, Tatsuo left the Disciplinary Committee's Office. Then, he took a quick trip around the school to make sure that there were no malicious spells set up around it. Although Shinji was no longer alive to set up anything so insidious, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Then, after leaving the school, Tatsuo traveled around the rest of Miyama Town, taking note of any place he found interesting. Then, around the time school let out, he left the suburbs and headed back to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the Shinto Business District.
"*Sigh* There really wasn't much of note in the suburbs." Tatsuo said to himself after phasing through the door to the hotel's emergency stairwell. "But what did I expect. It's not like I was gonna see some black dudes getting pulled over for riding four deep with a broken taillight. Hehehe… D.L. Hughley was funny in my past life."
Shaking his head at the nostalgic memory from his past life when he was confined to a sickbed for his whole life, Tatsuo ran up the stairs to the top floor, taking two steps at a time. Then, just like he did when he entered the stairwell, he phased through the door when he reached his destination.
A few moments later, Tatsuo reached the door to the suite he shared with Elicia and Sakura. However, when he did, he was not expecting what he saw.
"Hey, I'm ba--- Whoa!" Tatsuo said before he was forced to defend himself.
*Swish!* *Clang!*
As soon as Tatsuo walked through the door, the first thing he saw was what appeared to be a nail connected to a chain flying at his head. Reacting quickly, Tatsuo summoned his modified trench knives and parried the incoming attack. However, before he could relax, he was forced to parry two more strikes from similar looking weapons.
'Well, I guess they did the summoning while I was out.' Tatsuo muttered internally as he looked for the source of the attacks. 'It would have been nice to know before I came back. I mean, I probably would have knocked on the door first.'
*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*
"Rider! Stop!" Sakura's voice sounded from the bedroom she was using. "That's Assassin, Taylor-San's Servant!"
Along with the continuous clanging of weapons, Tatsuo heard Sakura shouting for her Servant to stop attacking. However, when he heard Elicia's follow up, he almost got hit because of how exasperated he was.
"Ah! That's right!" Elicia shouted, sounding as if she had just remembered something important. "I forgot to tell Assassin to knock on the door in the pattern we agreed on so that Rider wouldn't attack. Haha… My bad."
Tatsuo could then hear Elicia frantically guaranteeing that it was him who just entered the suite. And with that, the attacks eventually stopped. Meanwhile, Tatsuo decided that for the next few days, he would not be cooking for Elicia as punishment.