"Hello, Emiya speaking."

"Hello, This is Ryuudou."

"Eh, Issei? How unusual. What's up?"

"Well, there is this... wait, before that, let me apologize for calling you on a Sunday morning like this, but I need to ask you for a favor. Are you free today?"

"Sure. I got nothing to do. Nothing too important."

"Good. This isn't going to take too much of your time, I hope. I need you to go to school right now."

"Okay. What for?"

"See, there is a new transfer student..."

Extraneous Encounter

Chapter 1 - Entrance

The time was just a little past 1 p.m. Drizzles had begun to turn into rain by the time I reached the school ground. Thankfully, I managed to get into the campus building before I could get drenched. Changing into my indoor shoes, I headed to the student council room where the transfer student was waiting.

"Kishinami Hakuno..." I muttered her name as I went up the stairs to the second floor. I kept mistaking her family name as 'Shikinami' earlier on my conversation with Issei. I wanted to be spared from the embarrassment that might result from making that mistake in front of the person in question, so there I was, mumbling her name over and over like it was some kind of mantra.

A crackling thunder gave me a pause right as I arrived in front of the student council room door. It was just way too loud and way too sudden. Have to admit that I got alarmed as it triggered certain memories.

Memories of battles.

However, what alerted me even more was the noises that followed immediately after from inside the room. Several thuds and a girl's panicked yelp. I quickly opened the door.

"Are you alright!?" I said as I barged in.

There was a girl sitting on the floor. She was small and slender and dressed in full uniform of our school. Her brown eyes, same color as her long hair, blinked at me as she looked up. Several books scattered around her, seemed to have fallen off the shelf by the wall.

"Ah, sorry, I was surprised by the thunder and accidentally knocked over the books..." she said calmly and quickly somehow, holding her hands in front of her chest. "I was just checking them out because I was waiting for someone..."

She seemed to have just realized that I was that very same someone she had been waiting for as she trailed off awkwardly. I couldn't help but chuckle at her flustered yet oddly impassive expression.

"I should be the one to say sorry for making you wait," I told her as I moved and offered my hand to her. "Are you okay, Shikinami-san?"

Damn it.

She tilted her head while my heart skipped a beat.

"Um... my name is Kishinami..." she said.

"Exactly. Can you stand, Kishinami-san?" I asked her again with all the smoothness I could muster. She stared at my hand doubtfully at first, but then she took it and let me pull her up gently.

"Thank you..." she quietly said.

"It's nothing," I said as I crouched down. When she noticed that I was picking up the books on the floor, she let out another yelp and quickly got down on her knees to do the same.

"It's okay, just sit down."

"No, I need to clean up after my own mess..."

"Ouch!"

"Oww!"

Accident happened in our rush for the last book. Our foreheads crashed together pretty hard. Kishinami fell to her butt while I had to take a step back.

"Oh geez, are you okay, Kishinami-san?"

Kishinami rubbed her head and cringed. "Your head is hard..." she said.

It was just too funny for me, the way she sounded serious as she said so, so I chortled and laughed. In response, she pouted at me, which made me laugh even harder.

"I... I'm sorry... haha... oh god, I'm such a terrible host... hahaha..."

"... yes, yes you are."

Despite her pout, Kishinami didn't really look angry. A smile broke into her face for a bit before she forced it down.

I guess it's fair to say that the two of us were dunces.

After the whole mess was sorted out, I introduced myself to Kishinami, then started her school orientation. As Issei had instructed me, I walked with her around school, pointing out the classrooms and school facilities. As it turned out, she would attend class 3-B starting tomorrow.

"Your homeroom teacher would be Tani-sensei," I informed her as we traversed the corridor. "He teaches history. A kind person. Smiles a lot, doesn't give too much homeworks."

"I see."

"Over there is the infirmary. The assistant nurse is a sophomore and my friend, her name is Sakura. She'll be glad to help you if you need anything."

Kishinami nodded. She took this tour seriously, even taking notes on occasions. I led her to the cafeteria next.

"Are you having extracurricular activities, Kishinami-san?" I asked, "maybe a cram school, or a part time job?"

"This school allows the students to have part time jobs?"

"Yes, but it's stricter for us third-years. Final exams and all. So, Saturday nights only."

"I see," she said, quickly scribbling on her notepad.

"Are you thinking of getting one?"

"Hmm, I do need the money and there is this bakery..."

A bakery, huh? I recalled that a bakery near my workplace had been putting up help wanted sign since last week.

"Could it be the Twins Bakery?"

"How do you know?"

"Just a guess. It's at the same street as my shop."

Kishinami stroke her chin. "So, if I were to work there, I'd get to see you more often."

"Would that be a problem?"

"No. I like you."

"Haha. Thanks."

I stopped dead in my track as realization dawned on me. How could she say such a thing so nonchalantly? Funny feelings rose from under my chest and up to my face in the form of body heat. I slowly turned to Kishinami who had stopped several steps ahead of me and was looking at me with curious expression.

"Uh, Kishinami-san...?" I began and stopped. Should I tell her that I already had a girlfriend, or was this just a misunderstanding?

"Is there something wrong, Emiya?"

"About what you just said..."

"You mean when I said that I like you? I really do like you," she said, tilting her head yet again. "I think we can be good friends."

A big sigh escaped me. I had this complicated feelings as I listened to her simple, nigh emotionless explanation. I felt both relief and annoyingly disappointed. This girl was either an innocent princess living in a high castle her whole life, or an exceedingly skilled tease.

"You... didn't think I meant something else, did you?" she asked. There was no hint of any particular emotion on her face.

Yup, she was definitely the latter.

It was now past two, and my job was pretty much over. We had covered all the essentials. The only spots I hadn't shown Kishinami were the rooftop and outer facilities such as the archery dojo. I had offered to take her there for a visit tomorrow morning and she agreed.

However, the rain was pouring still. Neither Kishinami or I brought umbrella, and none that we could borrow was available anywhere within the school. So, we went back into the student council room and waited for sunny sky together. There was tea set in the cupboard that Issei and I often used. I insisted to brew a cup for Kishinami.

"A little sugar would be good. Thank you, Emiya."

Soon, two cups of tea were served. Kishinami blew on hers before taking a sip. Even so, she still reeled back a bit and hissed.

"Whoa, slow down. Give it time to cool a little," I told her.

"Oh, right. Sorry."

Her response puzzled me. It nearly sounded as if she never had had a hot cup of tea in a long while.

"So, Kishinami-san, you live in Shinto, right?"

"Yes. I rent an apartment downtown."

Yet another statement that made me raised an eyebrow. "You rent an apartment? Are you, by chance, living alone?"

She nodded.

"What about your family?"

At that, she shook her head. I didn't feel like asking any further about it, judging from her change in expression. Maybe I'd find out some other day, when we were close enough as friends. We fell into silence for a bit. Kishinami took another sip of her tea without scalding her tongue this time.

"Where do you work, Emiya? And for how long?" now she asked me in turn.

"I work at a bar for five years-"

Her eyebrows rose.

"-doing heavy lifting out back, cleaning stuff."

"I see."

"What, you think I serve drinks?"

"You'd do a good job at it," she said, "your tea is delicious."

This girl was such a smooth flatterer. I chuckled. "Thank you."

"So, uh... is the pay good?"

"Ah, you are really serious about getting a part time job."

A nod. "I live by myself, after all. My allowance is enough for school fee and monthly rent, but beyond that, I'm pretty much penniless."

Was it okay to reveal your financial situation to a guy you just met today? And I got more curious about this girl. Was she living such a hard life by choice, or was there another story? It wasn't proper of me to speculate, so I left that train of thought immediately.

"The pay for students is standardized. Even at minimum wage, you should earn enough to feed yourself proper meals each month. But I got to warn you, you need to prepare for a frugal life if you are planning to save up."

"I expected as much."

There was no hint of either excitement nor anxiety in her response. It was as if she had already accepted that it was the only way to live.

"Hey, Kishinami-san. If you need any kind of help, please don't hesitate to ask."

She made a somewhat bitter smile, making me hoped that I hadn't offended her somehow with my offer. "Aren't you as poor as I am, Emiya? You're working too, right?"

"Ah, well... how do I say this? You see, I don't work part time because I need to... like, I'm not rich, but I'm living well enough."

"... then why?"

"I work, because I want to. It's good for spending time and building up strength. And I'm saving up money, so it's a plus."

It was rather embarrassing. I scratched my head as I explained so. Thinking about it, a lot of my decisions in life didn't always have logical reasoning behind them. Learning to cook, joining archery club, taking care of Sakura, looking for a job, studying magecraft, aspiring to be a hero... ultimately none had any motive behind them that went beyond "because I want to".

Not that I ever considered it a mistake or anything, but in comparison to Kishinami who did have a good reason to want to work, or Tohsaka who actually had an end goal in her pursuit of magecraft, it felt like I was disrespecting them.

"You don't look happy, Emiya."

"Nah, just having a strange thought. Sorry, I didn't mean anything with what I said earlier. I just want you to know that I'll help you if you need it. Because, well, you said we could be friends."

Kishinami let a small laugh. "It's okay, I'm not offended. I can tell you were being sincere."

"Was I?"

"Yes. I think it's nice, having such a simple way of doing things. Just do it because you want to. Being free to do whatever you want, but still giving your best when you're at it... it's pure. It's admirable."

"Oh, God. Stop it."

I couldn't help but look away from her, awkwardly drinking my tea to hide my goofy smile. This girl... how many times was she planning to make me blush today? And speaking of being sincere and pure... wasn't it the only way to describe a person who could say so much kind words without the slightest hint of irony?

"I think the rain has ceased, Emiya," Kishinami said.

I tried to listen closely to noises from outside the room. She was right, no more pitter-pattering sounds. I got up from my chair and went for the door.

My hand reached for the doorknob as I said, "You're right. Well then, it's time to wrap up the tour-"

"Emiya, wait!"

"-huh?"

Kishinami's warning and my sharpened instinct saved my life.

A hand snuck up through the half-opened door, aiming for my neck. I managed to jump back and swatted it to the side before it could strangle me. Immediately as I touched it, my magic circuits throbbed in warning. Who or whatever this was, it was dangerous and containing a large amount of mana. How could I not notice its presence until it was about to strike?!

"... Presence concealment?" the phrase escaped my mouth right after it popped in my brain. The skill of an Assassin-class Servant to completely stay hidden and undetected by normal and magical means.

However, this thing was not a Servant.

"E-Emiya?" Kishinami sounded scared. I held out a hand to her without looking away from the door. The attacker didn't make a move, but it didn't turn undetectable either. It was outside, waiting and planning something. I began to consider; should I pull out a noble phantasm?

The attacker didn't give me the chance to think. The door fell of its hinge and flew inward.

Kishinami screamed in fright.

Trace on.

My feet put me between Kishinami and the flying door. Right as I swung my right arm, the black sword Kanshou appeared within my grip. It hit the door squarely, splitting it in half. The split halves of the door crashed onto the floor loudly but harmed nobody.

I stood face to face against my enemy with sword in hand.

"What is that...?"

There was no way to know if she was asking about the enemy or the sword I brought out of nowhere, but my thought was exactly the same as Kishinami's.

The enemy was faceless. It was nothing but a shadowy figure of a man. Real, physical, but wrong. Like an ink portrait coming to life.

On where its face should be, a pair of what looked like red eyes glowered furiously.

Next Chapter: Enemy

Author's Note:

Sorry for starting this with a cliffhanger, folks, but that's just how I roll. Anyway, thanks for reading my second weird story. I hope you'd stay tuned to see where this goes. The basic premise of this fanfic is just as summarized: Hakuno comes to Fuuyuki somehow and Shirou has to protect her because I love crack pairings. It might become romantic between them later, depending on your feedbacks ;D

This is an exercise and experiment for me as a writer to write from first person's perspective and revealing things slowly in a way that makes sense logically and emotionally. I'll have you scratch your head trying to figure out what is actually happening and what happened to have caused it. That is, if I can make it engaging enough for you to care. Here's hoping I'm in luck.

By the way, I'm not promising anything about the next chapter of Fate of Black and Crimson other than that I'm still working on it. I've been rewriting those fight scenes for months and still doesn't find them satisfying enough. It's coming together, I just can't say when.

That's it for now. Stay home and stay safe. See you!