Hello again! It's been a while, hasn't it? Still waiting for the next chapter of Archer of Black, aren't ya? Well, I'm not usually the type to disappoint (actually I am), but this is not a new chapter for AOB. There's a logical explanation for that which I will reveal right now.

It all started during the spring when I was looking for a job. I found one, in another country across the little pond we call The Baltic Sea. I was super excited about moving overseas, but misfortune struck. My computer broke during the trip and I had to go through a bunch of interviews and paperwork on my phone or a friend's laptop. I got the job and finally got my pay check, but most of it went to more important stuff such as rent, food, clothes, Bloodborne, and other vital stuff I wouldn't survive a week without. I was finally able to buy a second hand iPad and keyboard, but writing on it is like being impaled from the inside by a bunch of swords while fighting a genocidal priest who uses martial arts.

Oh, and did I mention I was finally able to finish FSN the Visual Novel?

It took me a long while, but I finally got the True Ending for Heaven's Feel. I finally understand how God Slaying Blade Works begins. I'm so happy I finally understand everything in the Fate-universe now!

Except I don't.

After reading every route and unlocking all endings but one; why is it that I still can't find the part where they find Shirou's Magic Circuits? I tried re-reading the entire game, but I can't find it. Can anyone please point out during which day they discover Shirou's circuits? It would be much appreciated.

Anyway, aside from that: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This chapter was originally supposed to be up on Christmas, but I think we all know what happens to Deadlines on Christmas Eve. Yeah, having family over to help with the cooking and cleaning doesn't give you much room for writing and it wasn't as if my hangover was willing to let me write anything after it was over.

So a lot of delays, I'm sorry to those of you who were waiting for the next chapter of AOB, but I had to take a break from that story. Aside from the agony of having to write on an iPad, the stress I was accumulating from writing that story was getting to me and I had to change gears a bit. Instead of making a crossover with FSN as I find myself doing quite a lot lately, I thought I would write a pure FSN fanfic instead. Or at least that's what I tried to start with: By the time I had finished the first rough draft of the plot, it was no longer a FSN-story as much as Fate/ Stay Extra Grand Apocryphal Prototype: Fake Ataraxia.

Yeah, I wasn't doing that considering there were too many loose threads in just three routes in the original Novel. Trying to integrate the extended universe simply because it exists doesn't make for a good story unless you're a really good author. I'm not that good, unfortunately, as much as I deny that sad fact.

So I tried to limit myself to just a few of them. Using the FSN-verse as the base, I decided to incorporate elements from the other –verses. So I suppose this is a crossover with the extended universe…

Also, this is a warning to all readers who are fanatical about the Nasu-verse. Okay, maybe not fanatical, but those of you who are extremely annoyed when something clashes with Nasu-verse's rules. I'm sorry, but this is most likely going to contain some bending of said rules. I don't think I overdid it, but considering I have only played the first game and none of the others (aside from Fate Grand Order, but it was in Japanese so I don't think I understood most of it). I have read parts of Apocrypha and other works, but most of my information comes from FSN and the internetz. So please don't hate me if you see something that goes against canon.

After this I will go back to AOB and try to finish the next chapter.

Anyway, please enjoy!

With Proper Guidance

The bandages were on too tight, he noted after the gauze rubbed against the wound on his shoulder. Not for the first time that evening did he curse his stupidity for not making the effort to properly wrap the bandages. It wasn't entirely his fault considering Ayako had sprung this on him less than an hour ago, but even so, he usually had more than enough time to secure the white fabric around his shoulder after school. The doctor had told him he needed to change the bandages once a day to avoid infection, and he usually did so after school, but why had he not had the time to do that today of all days? Thinking back, there were a few reasons:

The neighbour's cat had climbed a tree and wouldn't come down so he had to climb up and help it down.

The old lady Raiga was always playing shogi with had gotten her purse stolen by a thief, and Shirou needed to chase him down before he got away. It was mostly for the thief's own good. If Raiga found out that someone had stolen from one of his old friends and gotten away with it, then he wouldn't have rested until the thief was six feet under. The Fujimura Group might be a mostly legal organization now, but it still had roots in the Yakuza.

He also had to help a lost child find her parents and help the mall set up their Christmas decorations. If one took these time-consuming actions into account, then it was no surprise he barely had time to change his bandages, never mind the fact that a person suffering from severe burns should not be doing any strenuous activities.

Still, now he was here. Not that Ayako had given him much of a choice; she would have found some way to make him regret it if he declined her invitation. After Taiga, Ayako Mitsuzuri was one of the scariest people he knew.

He adjusted his sling slightly to alleviate some of the pressure on the wound. Aside from not being able to practice with a bow, the second most irritating fact about having a wounded shoulder was not being able to exercise at all. Growing up with Kiritsugu and Taiga meant having a very active lifestyle. Hell, growing up with Taiga was practically a series of triathlons without rest in-between.

He still remembered the stiffness in his muscles after the summer she had forced him to participate in the summer camp contests just to help her win a year's supply of ice cream. Ice cream she had refused to share….

Now he was stuck at home, resting and studying whenever possible. For someone who had spent their entire childhood running around the place and practicing whatever sport Kiritsugu and Taiga were interested in at the moment, spending more than two days not training some kind of muscle was torture. He almost preferred helping Taiga practice for her tournament, the tournaments she would always get disqualified from. That, if anything, was an indication of how badly he needed a distraction.

He wasn't even able to cook properly.

"Ah, and here he is, the man of the hour! The one, the only, the extraordinary… Brownie of Homuhara!" a voice behind him spoke. He didn't need to look behind him to know who it was, the slightly sarcastic tone could only be used by a single person without sounding offensive.

Shinji Matou was an interesting character to say the least. Most people simply had a hard time understanding him, and his personality didn't do much to help things either. He didn't have much problem with girls, but he did have trouble making friends with people his own age. It was actually difficult for Shirou to pinpoint when they had become friends. It had been somewhere around the school festival, but the exact day was beyond him. They were simply friends one day and Shinji had been one of the people to join the Archery club with him. Or rather, he had been one of the people forced to join the Archery club with him. Taiga hadn't given him much of a choice in the matter.

'Needing to keep an eye on him for Kiritsugu's sake', she just needed someone to help her take care of the Archery club. If the club fared badly, it would reflect just as badly on the teacher responsible for it. Taiga had apparently been given quite the reprimand for letting the club lose the prestige it had gained over the years, despite Ayako's attempts to reclaim its former glory.

So he had joined the club and, despite himself, he had learnt to enjoy it.

Except now he had missed the year's largest competition due to his injury. He had done the best he could to help the club with fixing bowstrings and carrying equipment, but it left a bad taste in his mouth, not being able to actually compete whereas Shinji (who had not wanted to compete that day) had been forced to take his place. Shinji had been quite vocal about his dismay, but once the girls had started approaching him about how cool he had looked with the bow, he had wisely shut up.

"I never agreed to that nickname," he said, leaning back against the wall to allow the people carrying the table past him.

"That's why you're not popular with the ladies, Emiya. It's not about what we allow people to think of us, it's about what we allow people to think what they think of us. If you let people think of you as a school janitor, then that's what they'll call you," Shinji said as he sipped from his glass of punch.

Another thing Shinji had adopted after his success at the archery tournament was the pompous tone he was currently speaking in. Shinji had always been a little arrogant, but after the praise he had received from helping the club win the tournament had gone to his head, his pompousness had risen to new heights. His arm movements had even started to look like what a theatre actor would use.

The fact that it only seemed to make him more popular just confused Shirou more.

"Is that so?" he asked hesitantly.

"That is so," Shinji responded with a smile. If the smile was meant for Shirou or if the smile was caused by the group of underclassmen walking by, he had no idea, but he didn't ask. He didn't think Shinji would appreciate the question.

"So how come you're not helping Mitsuzuri with the decorations?" Shirou asked. Instead of answering immediately, Shinji shrugged and took another sip.

"Hard labour is meant for those with unskilled hands. My hands should only be used with a bow; why should I help them put up a Christmas tree if they're only going to set in on fire tomorrow?" he grumbled.

"Come on, it's almost Christmas and it's a party. Don't you want a tree for it?" Shirou elbowed him with his good arm. He was careful not to move his bad arm too much. Shinji's responses tended to be quite physical when teased too much.

"It's the fifteenth of December; Christmas is a good nine days away! Besides, this was supposed to be a celebration for winning the competition. Why are we having a Christmas party instead?" He slapped Shirou's elbow away as he continued to grumble into his cup. He got his answer as they both felt a hand slap their backs with enough force to knock the wind out of them. Shinji, who was unfortunate enough to drink his punch at that very moment, got his face and shirt splashed with the hopefully not alcoholic - Ayako had joked about taking a bottle out of her parents' wine cellar for the party - beverage.

"Don't be like that, Matou! Don't you want to have a Christmas celebration with the club before everyone goes on vacation?" Ayako Mitsuzuri laughed as Shinji coughed out the liquid in his windpipe.

"Mitsuzuri, what the hell? What's wrong with you?" the blue haired archery club member growled as his face dripped with liquid. The threatening factor was rather degraded, though, considering the drink covering his face and dripping down his chin was a dark shade of pink.

"What's wrong with me? Nothing at all, I'm just happy that everyone is in the holiday cheer and most certainly isn't skipping out in work. By work, I mean of course the task I gave you to help Fujimura-sensei set up the tree. Because I know that you are most certainly not avoiding helping her by standing back here with Emiya. I'm right, aren't I? I am right, aren't I?" Although her tone had started out cheerful and kind, the last sentence was void of any emotion. It didn't help either that her smile didn't change the slightest.

"O-of course you are! I was just making sure Emiya wasn't lonely by himself. I'll just go and change my shirt and get right back to it." Shinji, usually the ever rebellious one, knew a lost cause when he saw it, and wisely retreated in the face of Ayako's patented ´Talk back and you'll wish I had killed you instead´ smile. It was usually only reserved for those who told her she acted like a boy, but the stress from having planned this party in secret had apparently brought out the darker aspects of her personality.

As they both watched Shinji scurry away to the bathroom, Shirou felt Ayako's stare zoom in on his injury.

"Is something wrong?"

Was she angry at him for not being able to compete? If Shinji hadn't been able to participate, they might not have been able to win. For a first year like Ayako, this had been the most important archery event of the year. Albeit one only for high schools, the Misaki City Archery Competition was a rather prestigious one. Had they gotten a bad result, then the school might have reduced their budget. For someone as passionate as Ayako, hurting her club was worthy of divine punishment.

The glare she was giving him was not the one he had expected. Instead of the one filled with promises of pain she had given Shinji, the one she was currently sending his way was at best annoyed.

"You don't seem to mind not being the centre of attention. One would think that since it was originally you who was supposed to compete, you might be jealous of the praise Shinji is getting. Am I wrong?" she said as she took the sport which had moments earlier belonged to Shinji.

"You're totally wrong," he said. When she didn't answer he continued. "Just because I messed up doesn't mean I'm jealous of Shinji. Whether it was Shinji or I who participated in the competition, it doesn't change the fact that the reason we participated was to ensure the club continued to exist as it is. I didn't sign up for any other reason." He finished his explanation by once more moving out of the way as the same people moved past him, carrying yet another table.

How many tables did they need? There were only so many members in the club, and not all of them were even here. Taiga wasn't staying for the entire evening since she was going to the dinner event held by the Fujimura Group each year, and he knew at least three other members were at home, sick with the flu.

"I see. I suppose you're right. Ignore what I said; it was a dumb thought."

Ayako smiled, not the scary smile from when she had ´persuaded´ Shinji to get back to work, but a relaxed smile. A real smile.

She might act like a tomboy most of the time, but that didn't stop her from having her moments.

"I still don't know why you decided to set up a Christmas tree if you're just going to burn it tomorrow. I know I told Shinji it was for the holiday spirit, but that's not the real reason, is it?" he asked hesitantly.

That had been the reason she had a Christmas party, apparently. Her dad had started renovating their backyard and had cut down the old spruce tree in the yard. Since they didn't have need for firewood and nobody they knew had a stove reliant on fire, the only thing they could do with it was a campfire. They didn't need a Christmas tree, either, since they had bought a plastic Christmas tree before they moved to the house. Since letting it spend days inside the house only made it harder to clean up the needles it would eventually shed, the only time they could use it was today.

And so Ayako had rounded up the club and brought them to her house for a party. Why she just hadn't decided to use the plastic tree to begin with since it was easier to set up and take down was beyond him, especially since they would need to set it up later regardless. Ayako had not bothered to explain her reasoning beyond `she felt like it´.

You couldn't argue with her logic.

"What do you mean?" she smirked, knowing he would have to explain his reasoning before she did.

"We didn't need to have a Christmas party at your house. We didn't even need to have a Christmas party at all since exams are coming up and it would have been much better to simply wait until after them." Normally the exams would have been held at the end of November, but there had been a problem with the printer. Some characters had a smudged edge which could make the character look like another similar one under the right circumstances. Not a big issue, even when all the exams in every subject had the same error. It wouldn't have mattered under most circumstances, but one of their teachers had decided to go from class to class and cancel all tests while collecting every piece of paper meant for the students.

If that wasn't all, he had even told the other teachers that since the same problem had existed with the tests already taken - in other words, all of them - all tests had to be revised.

Since the students had already seen all the tests, as in it was the final day of exams, the teachers had been forced to write up an entire new test, for every subject, for every grade.

Needless to say, the new teacher was instantly loved by the students… and thoroughly despised by the teachers.

So the exams were a week away and having a party wasn't the best of ideas to have before the exams. So why had Ayako, someone who knew the importance of good grades, have a party before the exams? Shinji didn't care much about the tests; he was always more focused on having fun, so he wouldn't notice the issue with Ayako's reasoning. Shirou, on the other hand, had spent the last few days studying, so he knew there was something wrong with Ayako's explanation.

"You know, Emiya, you're a lot smarter than you look." Ayako grinned. He was about to thank her for the compliment when the meaning behind it registered in his brain.

"What's that supposed to mean? Is that a compliment or an insult?" He frowned, and her grin only seemed to grow.

"Definitely a compliment. Don't worry about it." She waved away his concerns as she laughed. He wasn't satisfied by her explanation, and was about to continue his questioning when he noticed her smile suddenly dimming.

"Is something wrong?" His question startled her, snapping her attention back from whatever had caused her to look so forlorn. It wasn't an expression which suited the energetic Ayako Mitsuzuri at all. He hadn't said anything depressing, had he? He had made her smile and laugh; that should have made her feel the exact opposite of depressed.

As she looked back at him, he could tell her smile was more forced than usual. The edges of her lips weren't smiling, they were just being lifted by the muscles in an attempt to look like they were.

"What are you talking about, Emiya? I'm in the springtime of youth! You couldn't find a happier person than me," she teased, or at least it looked she was teasing him. Entertaining factor lost its power when the person doing it wasn't putting her heart into it.

"First of all, anyone who actually says 'springtime of youth' is well past it." She scowled at his answer, a sign of genuine emotion. That was progress, at least. "Second, you just said I was smarter than I looked. That means I'm smart enough to figure out when a friend is faking it. What's got you down?"

For a moment, it looked like she would ignore him. Her frown got deeper, and he was afraid she would just brush his concerns off like they were nothing. People who needed help were often the ones who refused it the most. If Ayako decided to ignore his questions then there was little he could do.

Luckily, it seemed that would not be the case. Instead of giving him the cold shoulder, she sighed and leaned back against the wall.

"You really are smarter than you look, you know. If you don't become a janitor after university, you could become a decent therapist."

"I never said I wanted to become a janitor, but it's nice to know you think so highly of me." Ayako snorted at his comment before she started speaking again.

"You know that the third years are leaving the club, right? They're graduating and one of the second years will become captain." Her words were calm, but they had a certain fragility to them.

"Yeah, Dai-Senpai will probably take over as captain. He's the one the captain's been leaning towards." Aside from being the most skilled second year, Dai Hachiman was the most responsible member of the club. He was the obvious choice for captaincy.

"I thought so, too, but I was wrong."

Everything Shirou was about to say disappeared from his mind. Suddenly, he couldn't ignore the sinking feeling in his gut.

"What happened?"

Ayako looked around and made certain no one was around to overhear anything. When she was sure everyone was either in the living room or the upper floor, she looked back at him.

"You didn't hear this from me, especially since I wasn't supposed to know in the first place. Hachiman-Senpai got caught growing something illegal at home. His parents got called in and it was a big problem. They didn't press any charges against him, since he's a minor and it was a small amount, but he's not allowed to participate in official tournaments and he's under a curfew now. His parents decided it would be best to move back to Okinawa since it's only a matter of time before it becomes public knowledge. I guess it's a good thing his parents are friends with the mayor and chief of police," Ayako whispered in a frightened voice, as if by revealing the secret she was breaking a law herself.

Shirou, on the other hand, was trying not to scream everything she had just said in shock. Hachiman, the ideal upperclassman, growing drugs at home? Granted, it didn't have to be drugs, but what else could it have been?

"All right, and you think this might hurt the club?" She shook her head in response. "So why are you worried…. Did you also grow something ill-OW!" Her punch came faster than he had expected, and it landed squarely on his wounded shoulder. It wasn't strong enough to damage the wound any further, but it had just enough power to sting rather painfully.

"Don't be an idiot! You think I would do something like that?" When he didn't respond, her eyes narrowed in barely repressed fury. "Emiya, I'm seriously starting to wonder what your opinion of me is. Tell me, what kind of person do you think I am?"

"A person who acts first and thinks later on the consequences. An intelligent gorilla. A vicious sociopath. A violent monster. A…" He shuffled back to avoid her second punch aimed at his shoulder, but allowed her kick aimed at his shin to connect. Ignoring the painful sensation in his leg, he looked back at Ayako, who seemed to have calmed down from his comic relief.

"So if you're not involved in anything dangerous, why are you so worried about this?" She shouldn't have to worry about it if it didn't affect her or the club.

"Apparently, Hojou and Hanzo were also growing marijuana at home."

OK, that might be cause for concern. Hachiman, Hojou, and Hanzo were three second years in the Archery Club. In fact, they were the only second years in the club.

"The police caught them as well?"

"Yeah, and they got the same punishment. No clubs, community service, and they have to do regular drug tests. It's good to have friends who have parents who are friends with the government, isn't it?" she grumbled as she drank from her glass of punch.

Was that what she was bitter about? That they didn't get a proper punishment? Ayako didn't seem the type to hold a grudge for that; it had to be something else.

Wait…

The third years were graduating, the second years were busted for drug possession… Did that mean only first years were currently in the club? In that case, who would be the captain?

"This might be a dumb question, but how do you know all of this?" Ayako did not have access to the police case files nor the case files in the city hall. How would a first year at Homurahara High School know about this?

"I was supposed to meet up with Fujimura-sensei after school to talk about my lost earring when I heard voices in the faculty room. I was going to enter when I heard something about drugs and the archery club. I kept quiet and listened in, and before I knew it, I had heard the whole thing. The parents explained everything to Fujimura-sensei, probably because she's the teacher in charge of the archery club."

That explained how Ayako knew about it. Taiga would have already known about it, considering her family's ties with the police and the city's officials. Then again, the crime was relatively minor and she never had an interest in the family business, so she might not have known about it.

It also cleared up why Ayako was anxious.

"So now one of us has to be the new captain?" he asked. Ayako nodded slowly, the reason for her morose state being clear. "It's you, isn't it?"

"It was the recommendation from Hachiman." It was obvious she was not happy about being recommended by someone who thought it was a good idea to grow illegal plants at home.

"If it makes you feel any better, I would have recommended you as well." It didn't succeed entirely in cheering her up, but it did bring a smile to her face, one that wasn't fake.

"You just don't want to deal with the responsibility," she joked, elbowing his ribs as she sat down next to him.

"That might be one reason. Having Shinji as an alternative might be another." They laughed at the thought.

They sat on the couch for a moment, quietly pondering over the information. In Shirou's case, he was still having trouble understanding why three relatively smart people would suddenly break the law. It just didn't sit right with him.

"When do you think it will be official?" They would need to announce the next captain before the year ended. Ayako would have to be informed of the situation before that.

"Fujimura-sensei wants to talk to me after the tree is set up. That's kind of why I assigned Shinji to help her. I might slow the whole thing down by another hour or so," she admitted sheepishly. Shirou snorted at her reasoning, and before they knew it, both of them were laughing at the thought.

"So what does this have to do with the party?" he asked once they'd calmed down. She was still giggling when she answered, but not noticeably so.

"If I become the captain, and that's a big if, the entire mood in the club will change. I'll be in the same grade as you guys, but it won't be the same as before. Being the captain is a big responsibility, and it's going to be hard to be friends when I have tell off the people who don't show up or don't practice." Unlike before, Ayako seemed to be more at ease with telling him what was wrong. It seemed to make her feel more relaxed to tell him what she was feeling.

"Before that happened, I thought I would have a party to celebrate what we had. One big get-together to make as many memories as possible before I become the unreasonable captain everyone doesn't want me to be."

So that was the reason. It seemed logical and even understandable.

It was also way too mature for a first year student to have to think about.

Ayako might have been mature for her age, but that was not the logic of a student. That was the logic of someone who had to burden the responsibility they had no business bearing in the first place. Mature for her age was one thing, jaded was quite another.

His expression must have showed what he thought, because Ayako laughed when she saw his face. "Don't be so serious, Emiya. It's not like I hate the thought of being a captain. It's actually kind of interesting, the chance to order other people around when I want. It just sucks that it's going to happen so fast. Last week, I thought the biggest worry I would have this year was getting a good score at the competition; now, I'm the one who's going to have to organize the entire club for the next competition and make sure I get a good score."

He grimaced, not sure how to respond. He hadn't really been prepared to hear that kind of bizarre tale when he asked her what was wrong, but he had to give it to her, she was a lot tougher than she looked. That was something when you considered she looked like she could beat Shinji in a fist fight.

"I see. Sorry I brought everything up; it can't have been pleasant to explain everything when this event was supposed to be a good memory." She waved away his apology, sending him a smile as she stood back up.

"It's the other way around. It felt good talking about it with someone else. I've been going crazy just thinking about it by myself. It was a nice change of pace." She might have continued, but a loud crash alerted them of the failed attempt to decorate the tree. Rolling her eyes, Ayako walked to the living room, Shirou right behind her.

As expected, the tree wasn't even standing. It was on the ground, a fallen chair and student right next to it. Interestingly enough, the student was not Shinji Matou, and the teacher called Fujimura Taiga was nowhere to be seen.

Grabbing the arm of the fallen student, Shirou pulled him up to a standing position using his good arm. He ignored the pain in his other shoulder; his muscles must have moved involuntarily.

"Where's Shinji and Fuji-nee?" he asked the dazed student.

"I don't know, really. She said something about the kitchen, but I don't know when. She told me to start setting up the tree if she wasn't back in twenty minutes, so it must have been that at least, but we started working on it a while ago, so…."

"That's all right, I've got it. You go get Fuji-nee back here while I start lifting the tree," he said, rolling up the sleeve of his good arm. Or he would have, if he hadn't felt a fist strike his ribs. Coughing, he looked back at the perpetrator, before shrinking back at the accusing tone in Ayako's eyes.

"As I recall, you are the one with an injured shoulder. Now tell me, what does an injured person think he's doing lifting a tree?" Ayako said in that horrifyingly hollow voice of hers.

"It's not that hard and it's just this once?" he answered, confused. Her smile became even more strained.

"Is that so? Then I must have been dreaming about the Emiya who was climbing a tree to help a cat down."

If Shirou wasn't sweating bullets before, he sure as hell was now.

"Oh…. You saw that, did you?" He tried to laugh it off, but it seemed to be the wrong move. Her eyes were practically slits, that was how narrow they had become.

"Indeed I did, Emiya." Ayako Mitsuzuri spoke with a deadly edge. "Here's what's going to happen: I'm going to find Shinji and Fujimura-sensei while you sit down, read a book, and wait for us to fix the tree. If I come back and find you holding anything associated with trees except for the paper in a book, then I'm going to get really mad. Understood?"

Her vocal cords could have frozen to ice and it wouldn't have made her words colder. His body moved before he could register the movement, and his head nodded in response to commands.

"Good, now go find somewhere to sit and read. I have two fugitives to catch." She disappeared into the hallway as she spoke, leaving him and the dazed student alone. As the other student left, Shirou resigned himself to his fate. Although he didn't want to do it, it seemed he had no other choice.

He had to read.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have had any problems with reading. Quite the opposite, one of Shirou's interests were history and mythology. Reading about ancient heroes such as Herakles and Minamoto no Yorimitsu had been one of his favourite past times since… as long as he could remember. The problem was that even before the injury he had sustained not too long ago, he had been studying more often than not in order to pass the exams. After the injury, that time had only increased since he neither practice at the club nor do his normal part-time jobs.

Now he was looking at the book case, and the dread he was feeling was not insubstantial. He let his eyes roam over the backs of paperbacks and hardcovers. Historical textbooks, fiction, biographies, and other kinds of books filled the shelves with their ink covered pages. There came a point when he wasn't even looking at them anymore, his eyes staring blankly into space. He must have stood there for at least five minutes, not even thinking about what kind of book he would read.

Did he even need to read a book? Ayako had told him to read one, but that was mostly to stop him from helping out with the preparations for the Christmas party. He could find something else to pass the time with. He could watch TV, but Ayako had told them not to since it would distract those who had to help out, especially the lazy ones like Taiga and Shinji.

He looked around the room, searching for something to distract him, but Ayako's home wasn't good for distractions. Much like his own, most of the Mitsuzuri household was relatively spartan compared to most Japanese households. The Emiya household had become cluttered as of late due to a certain Fujimura Taiga bringing a bunch of trinkets and junk over because she thought they were interesting. Some of them had found their way into his 'workshop', but most of them gathered dust in the house.

Ayako's house, on the other hand, had no hyperactive teacher coming home and messing everything up. It was clean and devoid of junk. It meant Shirou's search for distraction was the equivalent of fishing in the Dead Sea. The day's catch was pathetic.

Resigning himself to his fate, he returned to the shelves of books.

Some of them looked rather interesting, actually. There was a book about Japanese legends, wrapped in some kind of ancient looking hard leather. He was willing to bet it had enough age to be considered an antique. He didn't dare touch it, the possibility of him damaging it being high when he only had one arm to hold it with. He left it sitting on the shelf; hopefully someone who could appreciate it would one day pick it up.

A few other books caught his eye, but nothing too amazing. A few biographies by famous people, a book about western archery (Ayako had a treacherous mind it seemed), a book about cooking for the one you love, and a few books about naginata-based styles of martial arts. The books about the naginata were interesting, and it wasn't a martial art he was accustomed to. He only had experience with the Japanese bow and kendo. It might be fun to read about a new weapon for once.

He was about to choose one of them when he noticed another book on the shelf. It wasn't the title that grabbed his attention, nor was it the binding. It wasn't a gaudy book meant to draw people's attention. It was a simple black book, about the size of an A5. The binding was a series of rough strings, and the leather covers were worn and tattered. If he had to guess, judging by the binding and the condition of the covers, the book was more than a hundred years old, possibly older since leather was a durable material and it was hard to wear leather out if it was used as a book cover.

It was no published book, that was for certain. The amateurish bindings were not the quality of even pre-industrial book binders. Most likely the writer had bound the book himself and used it for his own purpose rather than to sell it. A journal, perhaps? He picked it up and tried to find what it was called.

There was no title. As he picked it up and checked both sides of the covers, he found no hint of what is was about. He couldn't find anything which could lead him to the identity of the writer, either. The leather was old; running his hand over the black cover he could feel the cracks and rips on the surface. Two leather cords had been tied together to hold the book shut, but they were old and seemed as if they would break at the slightest touch.

He had to admit it, his interest had been roused. He genuinely wanted to read it now.

He looked around and found the seats he and Ayako had been sitting on. Had he been able to use both his arms, then he would have gladly used the comfortable chairs to sit in, but he needed a solid surface in order to open the book without destroying the covers. He needed a table, but the living room and dining room were not available due to the chaos currently happening inside those rooms. Delicate work needed lots of space and a quiet atmosphere. Taiga had a tendency to claim the former and destroy the latter.

Didn't the second floor have a study? He could sit in there and read while the others tore up the living room. Grabbing the book carefully in his good hand, he walked up the stairs. He had never been over to Ayako's house before, but he remembered her telling him the study was just a place where her parents could work and where she and her brother could study. They wouldn't mind it if he read a book in there, would they?

He opened the door to the study after making sure to knock three times. When he didn't hear anything, he walked inside and sat down on the comfortable chair next to the desk. Putting the book down on the expensive-looking desk, he tried to reach for the knot.

He tried to reach for the knot.

As soon as his fingers got close to the small knot of corded leather, his fingers started veering off course. It was as if he had drunk too much sake and was trying to insert a key into a lock. He had seen lots of drunkards try and open the car doors, but most of the time all they managed to accomplish was scratching the paint. The knot was just like that: he couldn't put his finger on it, literally.

He stopped and looked at the leather cords holding the book closed. Had Ayako really spiked the punch with alcohol, or was the book trying to stop him from opening it? He thought Ayako had meant it as a joke, but now there was a real possibility of it being true.

He ran outside, looking for his glass of punch. He found it next to the couches they had been sitting in. Grabbing it, he ran back upstairs and locked the study. Placing the small plastic cup on the floor, he sat down and readied himself. Steeling himself for the pain to come, he looked at the suspicious piece of plastic.

"Trace… on," he spoke, and the pain in his neck was instantaneous. Even if he was prepared for it, creating a circuit was not something he was fond of doing. He had no idea how Kiritsugu managed to make it look so easy.

Structural analysis was the only magecraft he knew how to use. It was the only one Kiritsugu had taught him. A magus without talent such as himself would never be able to do much more, but it had its uses. The student council and staff of his school certainly appreciated his 'talents' with technology, even if they had no idea it was only because of his lack of talent in magecraft that he was able to help them fix the issues they had with the budget.

Now he was using that piece of otherwise useless magecraft to see if there was any alcohol in his drink.

He doubted anyone would think that was a good use of magecraft, not unless they had reason to believe anyone seriously wanted to poison them.

Although he discovered that Ayako had gone all out with the fruit since he found at least twelve kinds of fruits in it and an unhealthy amount of sugar, he found no amount of alcohol or drugs in the drink. He had surmised as much; he didn't feel like he was drunk. Although he had never been drunk before, he had tasted a few different kinds of drink, not all that surprising considering his guardian was the heir to a yakuza organization and he worked at a liquor store. He was in full control of his mind and body, so how come he had not been able to touch the book's lock?

He knew the answer to it, but it shocked him just as much as it scared him.

The book belonged to a magus. Someone had put a spell on the book to stop anyone from opening it, a book which belonged to Ayako's family. Did that mean Ayako was a magus? He had no idea if she was; she had not shown any signs of being one, but he wasn't exactly the most competent to begin with.

Could he still open the book? The damage was most likely already done, and even if he returned the book, they would know someone had tried to open it. Should he put it back where he found it? Or should he continue trying to open it?

Considering that whoever had placed the book on the shelf hadn't bothered to conceal it, he doubted the owner would have a problem with anyone reading it. He could always ask Ayako about it. If she was a magus, then she might just tell him to put it back since he couldn't open it. She didn't need to know he was a magus, in case she wasn't one as well.

Picking up the now confirmed magic book, he went downstairs again. If he was Ayako Mitsuzuri and he was looking for Taiga Fujimura, where would he look?

The kitchen.

He made a beeline for the kitchen, careful not to swing his sling around too much as he dodged the other club members. The kitchen was in disarray when he found it. Pots and pans had been discarded into the sink when the dish cooked in them had been finished. Ingredients covered every surface he could see and the finished dishes were barely halfway finished.

The reason for this mayhem? Fujimura Taiga.

As he arrived, he overheard the rant Ayako was giving the teacher. From what he could piece together, Taiga had decided to taste the dishes to make sure they weren't poisoned or something, but once a tiger started feeding, it was impossible to stop it. The teacher was sitting on a chair, holding her stomach as she groaned in pain, small burps escaping her throat occasionally.

It was quite the scene, but he had other things to worry about. Such as if Ayako knew what the book was about.

"Ayako," he called out to the future captain of the archery club. The caramel-haired student stopped her rant to look at him. "Do you know what this book is about?" he asked her, carefully observing her face for any signs of a lie.

"That book? I don't know, I've never read it. It was something we got from our uncle after he died. I never had an interest in it, so I never bothered. Do you want to read it?" She barely gave him a glance as she was too busy glaring a hole into Taiga after her food marathon.

"Thanks," he hurried back up and locked the door once more. This was the first sign of magecraft he had found since Kiritsugu first began to teach him. His heart was pounding in his chest once he sat down on the chair. He tried to untie the knot once more, but as expected his fingers never even touched the knot.

So he needed to find a way to undo the spell on the book? That would be hard considering he only knew structural analysis and he couldn't even do projection properly. Still, he only had the book for a limited amount of time. If he wanted to read the contents of the book, he needed to try as much as possible before the night was over.

An idea came to him. If he needed to understand the spell used to lock the book, couldn't he use structural analysis to analyse the spell? Did magic work on magic items? It should, shouldn't it?

He put his hand on the book, slowly inching its way closer to the lock. If his theory was correct, then it would be better to use the magic to analyse the spell while it was active. As his finger started to veer away from the knot, he created the circuit and cast the spell.

He hadn't even begun analysing the spell before the tightly bound knot flew open and the book opened on its own accord. The pain in his neck blossomed, and although the book had opened, he still analysed it. It was possible that he had activated another spell by opening what had been locked. Kiritsugu had told him of magi who would hide horrible spells under other less evil ones.

Even though he had opened the book, Shirou found no sign of magecraft other than the fading traces of what seemed to be a locking spell. That was new; he had never seen traces of a spell before. Actually, he had never analysed a spell before, so he wouldn't know what a spell looked like, but he could tell that there was something mystical about this book that was tied to the cords. That was the locking spell, he assumed. The traces were rapidly disappearing now that the spell was unlocked, however; did that mean the spell was permanently disabled?

He would worry about that later. He had a book to read.

He turned to the first page and looked at the name written in cursive English:

Zachary Ainsworth

He had never heard of the name before, but that was to be expected. Aside from legendary magi such as Merlin and Morgan, the names of magi Shirou knew were limited to those with the Emiya name. The thing that he did find strange was the fact that the name was foreign, most likely European. What was a European journal doing in japan?

But those kinds of questions would have to wait. He flipped the page and began to read. The book was in English, not his best language at the best of times, but it was also an old variant. It was most likely significantly older than a hundred years old.

My name is Zachary Ainsworth. I am a magus of the Ainsworth family, and its current head. Unfortunately, it also appears that I will be the last head of the Ainsworth. This journal is not going to be like my other journals. Those were meant to record my progress on the way of magecraft as a means to show other families how great the Ainsworth family is.

If only I hadn't been so arrogant, then perhaps this book would have been like them, a testament to our perfection. Instead, I challenged a greater family, and we suffered for it. My siblings were murdered, my children taken from me, and before I managed to escape, that wretched beast called Barthomeloi cast a spell at me. It was a simple cutting spell of wind, but when cast by those monsters, it might as well have been a hurricane. I managed to escape with my life, but that thing's aim was impossibly superb. She never aimed for my heart, it was my manhood she wanted.

I have now lost the ability to procreate and leave children behind, and those I already have are probably slaves to the Barthomeloi if they haven't chopped them into pieces for ingredients already. Our entire history has been destroyed because I couldn't hold my drink and accidentally called the Barthomeloi 'a fine woman, but nothing else'. I have no excuse, I cannot defend my actions. I was drunk and it cost me everything.

My crest is meaningless, now. Even if I somehow manage to acquire all the rare tomes we had before she attacked, the crest is useless without a blood relative. It might have been possible to create a homunculus using my blood, but I have neither the tools nor the knowledge to make one. It may seem a waste, but I have already given up on passing the crest onto another generation. I will endeavour to create an acceptable homunculus on the possibility of passing it along, but I have already come up with a more fitting task.

Instead of trying to regain lost prestige, I will create new fame instead. As I have no children to pass the craft to, I will have to settle for whoever is reading this book. You, my friend, will become the magus who will ensure the Ainsworth do not fade into obscurity as the family who disrespected the Wolf of the Clock Tower. It might not be the year you find this book, it might not even be the same century, but the world will know that the Ainsworth had more to offer the world than momentary amusement derived at the misfortune of the drunk.

Perhaps you have no history with magecraft, perhaps you do. I have no way of knowing, but I will assume you are a beginner to the art. The spell I cast on this book will ensure only those with magical potential will be able to open it. I will write everything I know in this book starting from the basics. Know that this will only be the first volume. Hopefully you will have found the other volumes with this one. This book in particular will only cover the basics of magecraft, as I need to ensure the next magus to carry the burden of the Ainsworth family is grounded at least.

With that over and done with, please, let us start this journey into the moonlit world together.

A journal containing the basics about magecraft?

That was…

That was perfect!

This had been everything he had been missing. Kiritsugu had no books about magecraft. What little he taught Shirou had been verbal and incredibly short. All of his lessons had been reluctant to the end, as Kiritsugu had not wanted him to study magecraft at all. Trying to make Kiritsugu continue teaching each lesson was like pulling teeth.

This book, on the other hand… it was a goldmine. The basics might not mean much to a magus like Kiritsugu, but for a hack like Shirou with no talent whatsoever, it was like an oasis in a desert. If he could take this book back home with him, he could finally make some progress with magecraft.

Would Ayako allow him to borrow the book? She did not seem to be very interested in it, so she might not care. From what he could tell, she didn't seem to mind him reading it, even though it had been locked on her bookshelf for years perhaps. Did the book have another spell on it, maybe a spell to make non-magi not want to read the book? It made sense if it did; no magus would want to expose the world of magecraft to the world, even if they were desperate for students to teach. It was possible that the book would make anyone incapable of magecraft or creating a circuit uncaring of who took the book.

In the end, theories were just theories. He needed to read as much as possible before the party was over.

Chapter 1

The basis of all magecraft is prana. Circuits are the reason humans can manipulate prana…

With Proper Guidance

As predicted, Shinji had spent as much time as possible procrastinating. He had watched TV, played video games on Ayako's little brother's console, gone out to buy ice cream, and taken a shower after being splattered with punch. It was as if he had an allergy for hard work. And if that wasn't enough, Taiga had pretty much done the same thing after eating up most of the food, including taking a nap in the master bedroom. It had taken the combined power of the club minus Shirou to force them to help decorate with the Christmas tree.

In hindsight, it hadn't been entirely Taiga's fault. She had been hanging out with a few of her grandfather's subordinates, and hadn't noticed that the drinks they had given her contained alcohol. This had been before they had dropped her off at the party, and it hadn't been so obvious at first that she was drunk, but after a while her behaviour became too outrageous even for the normal Taiga. Once she started singing and dancing, they had become suspicious, and after a few questions, it became apparent what had happened.

That was only Taiga's excuse, and as a result she had been the only one spared from Ayako's fury; Shinji had no such excuse and was forced to endure her wrath all by himself. Shirou wanted to help him, but knew better than to brave the glare of Mitsuzuri Ayako. Only those with a death wish tried that.

Besides, Shirou had been too busy fuming in the corner, silently directing his anger at Kiritsugu for not being a better teacher. It was probably the only time he had ever expressed any negative feelings towards his dad which didn't stem from the destruction of his kitchen when Kiritsugu tried to cook.

Kiritsugu hadn't taught him how to use magecraft properly. Kiritsugu hadn't even taught him how to activate his circuits. 'Creating a circuit', how had he been able to come to that conclusion? What kind of magus was Kiritsugu? He hadn't even known what kind of magecraft Kiritsugu was capable of. As a teacher, shouldn't his dad have at least explained the basics of the basics? The bare minimum of enacting a mystery, the activation of circuits, shouldn't that have been the first thing he'd been taught?

Had it been intentional on Kiritsugu's part? Was it Kiritsugu's idea of hindering from the grave? He had been against Shirou's learning of magecraft, and by essentially crippling Shirou's ability to practice it, he had been able to ensure Shirou wouldn't go overboard with his ideas. It could have been his only way to protect Shirou from the grave.

However, it didn't feel like something his old man would do. Kiritsugu was not that kind of underhanded trickster who would hurt his own family. He probably hadn't meant for Shirou to misunderstand his teachings, even if Shirou had no idea how he misunderstood it to such a degree. Creating and activating were two completely different concepts. Only a child could have mistaken them for one another…. He HAD been a child when he started learning magecraft. He had also been a little too eager to start learning, and hadn't paid as much attention as he probably should have.

Even if he could theorize the reason for his misunderstanding, it did nothing to quell the irritation burning in his chest. In fact, it was probably doing the exact opposite. It was feeding kindle to the small ember until it could turn into a bonfire, if he had to put his thoughts into words. The best thing he could do was probably to move on, to focus on what he had learned and continue learning even more.

As he swallowed his anger and went to the dining room for the Christmas dinner, his thoughts remained on the small book he had found. Even as Taiga clumsily spilled punch on Shinji's head, he only half-heartedly threw a towel in Shinji's direction. The food was good, but he didn't spend too much attention on it. Normally he would try to analyse how a dish was cooked and what spices were used, but he didn't much care for it. He simply wanted to get back to the study and read more. He finished the meal as fast as he could and played some games with the club, but when he saw the chance, he bolted up the stairs.

When the night ended and everyone was going home, Shirou barely registered the knock on the door. Quickly closing the journal, he looked back to find Ayako peeking in. She looked tired and in serious need of sleep, but the smile on her face was genuine. Whether it was because of the party or their conversation he didn't know, but something had helped, at least.

"S'up, you tired?" She closed the door and sat down in the chair next to him. Her speech was sluggish, and she suppressed a yawn as she spoke. How late was it? He checked his wristwatch and winced at the time.

03:30

He had been reading longer than he had thought. If he had found the book around 9 PM and eating dinner had taken a little less than an hour, then he had been reading for well over five hours. He hadn't noticed the time fly by, probably because he had paced his reading. He had carefully memorized every piece of information he had found. At first he had thought about writing everything down, but eventually decided not to. It was better not to leave any evidence behind. He still needed to ask Ayako for permission to borrow the book so he could study it at home.

"A little, you?" His voice was quiet. Even if they were alone in the house, it was way past midnight, and a lifetime of manners had been ingrained into him. If the neighbours were asleep, then it was only proper to be as quiet as possible.

"I'm fairly… exhausted I think is the right word." She slumped into the soft chair and closed her eyes in blissful comfort. "I had no idea it would be this tiresome to have a party with Fujimura-sensei and Shinji. It's as if they actually worked against the party the entire way."

He chuckled at her words, stopping when she cracked one eye open to give him a tired glare. "They're the lazy type, so I wouldn't have counted on them helping to begin with. Especially Shinji, he's a tricky one." Matou Shinji was many things, but Shirou wouldn't say helpful was one of them.

"Tell me about it," Ayako said, barely awake in the armchair. "We missed you, though; you spent all your time up here with that book. Is it really that interesting?"

Shirou felt his entire body stiffen as she said it. How would he explain the book to Ayako in a way that would let her borrow it? If he said it was a book about magecraft, she might not let him borrow it since she would want to read it herself, but even as a failed magus he knew it was better to keep it a secret. Then how would he tell Ayako what the book was about without letting her read it?

"It's actually… kind of interesting. It's some kind of handwritten story," he said, which was actually true. "The main character is a wizard who tries to teach his student magic. The funny thing is that the student is the reader, in a way. So if the student fails or succeeds to learn magic is up to the reader."

The truth was that he was an awful liar. He could never tell a convincing lie without it showing on his face in some way that he was uncomfortable. Taiga had made it a game to rate his lies whenever she spotted the signs on his face that he was lying. So far she had never rated his lies better than 4.5, whatever she meant by that.

But there was one thing he knew was vital to a magus: The ability to conceal magecraft.

A first-rate magus had several ways to do it. He could create a bounded field to hide his workshop from civilians, or he could create one which would eliminate those who tried to enter it without permission. Using hypnosis, he could tell people without magic circuits or the necessary magic resistance to forget the existence of magecraft. Another way to hide magecraft was the complete eradication of anyone connected to it in the first place.

Needless to say, Emiya Shirou was not a first-rate magus. In the first place, Kiritsugu had tried to teach him to be a spell-caster rather than a magus. Creating a bounded field was too advanced for him to begin with, and he wasn't about to kill Ayako because he wanted a book she owned. And if he could hypnotise, he wouldn't be struggling with magecraft to begin with.

So how had he managed to conceal his status as a magus for all these years, then, despite his lack of talent?

Lies.

Shirou was a terrible liar. Fujimura Taiga knew it. Kiritsugu knew it. Ayako knew it. Shinji knew it. Even he knew it. He was a catastrophic failure as a teenager. Whether it was keeping the alcohol he got from the store as a gift a secret, or the fact that he accidentally broke Taiga's favourite bowl when doing the dishes, every single time he tried to tell a lie, everyone would know he was lying.

The only exception was when it came to magecraft. The thought that Taiga might find out about magecraft and be killed as a result because the administrator of the land wasn't keen on having the secret of magic revealed to the world was a sobering thought, one so frightening he was actually able to make them believe his lies.

But desperation wasn't enough to make people believe him. It only made him more inclined to put more effort into his facial expression and tone; he still needed to make his lies seem more realistic. That was why he tried to stick to the truth as much as possible. `He needed to be alone whenever he fixed the equipment because he was nervous when working´, was technically true, but the nervousness actually came from the possibility of people realizing he was a magus rather than stage fright.

Now he was sticking as close to the truth in order to make Ayako believe him, because he knew his face would reveal his lie if he tried to make up something entirely different. He had become fairly good at lying, for a hack.

Ayako didn't care very much about his interests, it seemed, though. Her eyes were barely open, and it seemed as if she would fall asleep at any second. Considering the time, he should probably have left already. Ayako was one of those types who would not relax until the party was over and all the guests had left. He was probably the only one still here, and Ayako was waiting for him to go home. At the same time, she was too polite to kick him out herself. For a girl as tomboyish as Ayako, she had a surprisingly gentle side to her.

"I should probably go home. You look like you're about to pass out from exhaustion," he joked, and had to dodge her lazily swung fist.

"If you knew that, then why did you comment on it?" Ayako grumbled into the chair's stuffing. He suppressed a laugh at her appearance.

"No reason, just thought you might want to go to bed." He got up, careful not to show her the contents of the book. "Do you mind if I borrow this book for a while?" Tying the leather cords into a knot, he felt some kind of force tighten the cords until he doubted he had the strength to open it with brute force. Most likely the spell had activated once more and he would have to use prana to open it.

"Hmm? That one? Sure, but is it really that interesting?" She eyed him with her left eye, her right one having succumbed to sleepiness.

"It's an interesting read," he explained, and it was the truth. It did a good job of explaining all the things he had done wrong over the years with his circuit. `Creating a circuit´, how ridiculous…

She yawned and sank deeper into the chair. When she opened her eyes, she gave him a tired nod. "Okay, just make sure not to break it. There's nobody in this house who wanted to read it, but it's a family heirloom or something. My parents would kill me if you broke it, but they won't care if you borrow it." She got up, reluctantly leaving the chair and its warm padding. "Now, I think it's time to wrap everything up. I assume you remember the way to the door?"

"I'm injured, not amnesiac."

"Good, because I'm not going to see you to the door. I don't think I would make it back up the stairs before falling asleep, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave you behind here."

She waved him goodbye at the stairs as he left, his hand gripping the book tightly in his hands. He used the extra key Ayako had told him about to lock the door behind him before slipping it into the mail slot. The walk back to the Emiya residence was cold, as it should've been considering it was only a few days left before Christmas.

The cold didn't bother him, though. In fact, he felt as if a fire had been lit in his chest. Maybe it was the excitement from the discovery he had just made, maybe it was the many times he had activated his circuits that night, but he knew he had just made a huge step in the right direction that night. For the first time in years, he was able to do something about his lack of progress.

He had only been able to go through a few chapters before the party was over, but what little he had learnt had been extraordinary. So many things he had missed when Kiritsugu had been teaching, things the book had showed him were the basics. Formalcraft and alchemy, even strengthening and projection had been mentioned, although he had not actually reached the part that described different kinds of spells.

A new page had been written, a page starting with Emiya Shirou's discovery of real magecraft. He would become a real magus.

He would become a real hero of justice.