ACT I - Sunshine and Whispers

"Senpai? Senpai? Are you awake Senpai?" A girl's voice called out through the dusty old shed to the young man sleeping on the cold concrete floor surrounded by various kinds of tools and old electronics. The shed was small and had little room for much of anything, yet it had a single small, square window, and the bright sunlight was shining in.

The girl's name was Sakura, and she had been coming over to his house for a couple of years now in the mornings and evenings. He had gotten hurt and couldn't work, so she ended up taking care of him. Eventually he got better, and instead of kicking her out their relationship stuck. Now she was at his home just about every day, helping him out. It didn't happen too often, but occasionally she had to wake him up from sleeping in the old shed in his yard where he liked to mess with junk.

The young man opened his eyes and sat up after seeing her. "Good morning Sakura. Sorry about that, I guess I ended up sleeping in." He scratched the back of his head and grinned. His name was Emiya Shirou, a normal high school student except for the fact that his father was a Magus.

When he was very young, his family was killed in a large fire in Fuyuki City even Shirou himself was near death. His life was saved by a man named Emiya Kiritsugu who ended up adopting him and raising him. His father never taught him any magic, saying all it brought was trouble on those who used it. However he did teach Shirou a technique called "Strengthening" and taught him a mediation technique to create a Magic Circuit in his body. It was very painful, and if gotten wrong could cost Shirou his life. For that reason Kiritsugu didn't like Shirou using it, but Shirou kept asking his father to teach him magic anyway.

Shirou looked up to his father, wanted to be like him and save someone.

"Shirou, saving people isn't always the easiest thing to do. You're often made to make difficult decisions." His father once told him on a warm summer night.

"Like what Dad?"

"Saving one person generally means you're not able to save another. That's why I gave up." With a sad voice his father answered and looked up at the moon which hung brightly in the night sky.

"I'll do it for you!" He said with wide eyes and looked up at his father. "Yeah! I'll save people, I'll save everyone! Just like you saved me!"

His father chuckled and patted his head. "I'm sure you will son." He said with a bright smile.

A few years later Kiritsugu Emiya passed away, leaving Shirou his house and everything else he had. He never forgot the promise he made that day, and lived it every day. These days he was just a normal High School student with a part time job living life every day as he should.

"Shirou~ were you sleeping late again?" Another woman sitting at his breakfast table already eating a bowl of rice greeted him after he'd washed his face and gotten dressed. This loud woman was his homeroom teacher by the name of Fujimura Taiga. After his father died Fujimura practically raised him, now that he was old enough to take care of himself she just stopped by for meals much like Sakura did.

"Sakura you're going to spoil him if you let him take advantage of you like that." Fujimura pointed her chopsticks at Sakura as Shirou sat down

"I'm not spoiling him." Sakura said matter-of-factly as she filled a bowl of rice for Shirou and handed it to him. "Senpai works very hard every day, if something like this happens once in awhile I don't mind cooking breakfast on my own."

Shirou and Sakura normally cooked together. In fact Shirou was the one that taught her how to do it, over time she'd improved and was now almost as good as he was. Now the two of them cook meals together all the time and Shirou could tell she always looked forward to it.

"Fuji-nee won't you be late if you stick around much longer?" Shirou raised an eyebrow at her once the three of them finished breakfast. Until now she'd been relaxing and watching the news on television.

"Uwaa! You're right!" She exclaimed. "Sakura, are you ready to go?" She turned around and asked.

Sakura had been washing the dishes with Shirou when she turned around. Shirou looked over at her and nodded. "Go on ahead. I'll finish up here, besides you have club this morning right?"

"Um, sorry Senpai. I'm going ahead then." She waved and headed towards the door.

"Yeah, say hi to Mitsuzuri for me." Shirou waved the two of them off. Sakura was a member of the school's Archery club along with Fuji-nee and another friend of his by the name of Mitsuzuri Ayako. Shirou also used to be a member of the Archery Club, but after his accident he was forced to quit. Since then he's never gone back even though Sakura, Ayako, and Fuji-nee often pressured him to. Another one of his friends and Sakura's brother Matou Shinji who was captain of the Archery team looked down on Shirou for quitting. He and Shirou had an odd friendship, one person looking from the outside would never be able to tell.

Shirou was the last one out of the house. The house his father left him was almost as large as a hotel. The grounds were walled off separating the Japanese style house from the rest of the world by a small gate leading to the street. Throwing his bag over his shoulder he began to walk. It would take him about a half hour to get there, he would have to go through the district with the western houses and go by the old church to get to his high school. It was a beautiful spring morning, the sun was shining and there was a cool wind blowing. Shirou took a big lungful of air and enjoyed it, walking through the school's gates with a smile.

"Ah, Emiya you're here. Can I speak with you for a moment before class starts?" A student wearing glasses asked. His name was Ryuudo Issei, head of the student council and eventually will be head of the local temple. Well respected and also popular with the girls, though he himself didn't seem to have any particular girl he liked.

"Yeah sure, what's up Issei?" Shirou ducked out of the traffic in the hallway.

"I need some assistance from you at lunchtime. Do you have any plans today?" He asked while pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

Shirou thought for a moment and shook his head. "Not really."

"Then if I'm not intruding I would like you to join me in the Student Council room." He asked politely.

Shirou nodded. "Sure, I don't mind. If that's all I'd better get to class." Shirou jerked his thumb towards his class.

"Yes, you are correct forgive me. Of all classes you should not be late to Fujimura-sensei's. I would not be a very good friend if I made you late." Issei said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, I'll see you at lunch Issei." Shirou turned and left him, heading to homeroom.

Shirou headed into the classroom and took his seat by the window. Luckily Fuji-nee wasn't there yet, she normally arrived at the very last minute. Especially since she often had business with the Archery Club before classes started. The classroom was still noisy and there were a couple minutes before class was starting, so Shirou could still hear the idle banter of the other students.

"Have you heard? Tohsaka is absent again today."

"Tohsaka? You mean THAT Tohsaka?"

"Idiot is there another Tohsaka around here? The school idol, every man's dream. Beautiful, intelligent, and a great body to boot, Tohsaka Rin."

"No way, she's gone again today too?"

"Yeah I heard from someone in her class."

"That's almost a week now right? The teachers haven't heard a word from her."

"You think she's sick or something? I hope she's alright."

The talk went on like that. Normally something like that wouldn't even be mentioned. But the school idol Tohsaka Rin had near perfect attendance, what's more her homework was piling up. Tohsaka Rin had exemplary marks in school and she even had a small fan club building within the school. Naturally something as drastic as that was being talked about almost constantly, even by the teachers who were starting to become concerned.

The clock ticked and just as predicted Fujimura-sensei came barging in through the door with the grace of an angry rhino but with the energy of a squirrel after five cups of coffee. "Good morning everyone~!" She waved and greeted everyone as she slid to her desk in the front of the room. Despite how she was normally, Fujimura was actually a very good teacher, she kept her students in line and they respected her, even coming to her for advice.

Finally it was time for lunch and Shirou's appointment with Issei in the Student Council room. He grabbed his lunchbox and headed into the hallway where there were quite a few people heading towards the cafeteria. Luckily he was invited to somewhere quiet where he could enjoy his lunch.

Upon going up the stairs he ran into someone. "Yo, Emiya." Matou Shinji greeted him.

"Hey Shinji, you going out for lunch?" Shirou asked, squeezing into the hallway to let a couple girls go by.

Shinji smirked. "Yeah, the food here is too low-class so I thought I would take a couple of my underclassmen out to a nice place by the park. Why don't you come with us Emiya?" He asked. Naturally these underclassmen would be girls. Shinji was rarely seen walking around without a few of the younger girls behind him.

"Maybe next time, Issei said he had something he wanted to talk to me about." No doubt Shinji would try to set him up with one of his girls, Shirou would rather not have anything to do with that.

"Is Ryuudo asking you to be his workhorse and fix something again?" Shinji put his hands on his hips and frowned, clearly not used to being turned down.

Shirou shrugged. "I'm not sure, he just said he had something to talk to me about."

"Just keep in mind you're not in the Student Council, you shouldn't be spending so much time with Ryuudo. Later Emiya." Shinji walked passed him and continued down the stairs.

Shirou turned back up the stairs and headed towards his destination. He opened the door and was greeted by Issei who was already sitting down and eating. He looked up from his rice and set his chopsticks down. "Emiya, thank you for coming. Would you like some tea?" He asked. The Student Council room had a coffee maker as well as a teapot in it, Shirou often came here to eat with Issei and enjoy a cup of tea with lunch. It also wasn't rare to find Fujimura-sensei or even Kuzuki-sensei in here.

"Yeah, thanks." Shirou poured himself a cup of tea and sat down to open his lunchbox. "So what's this about?"

Issei looked at Shirou's lunchbox and saw there was a meatball in it. His own lunch had no meat in it, due to his father having strange tastes. "Before that, may I?" He asked, picking up his chopsticks again.

Shirou nodded. "Go ahead."

Issei offered a bow in thanks, grabbed one of the meatballs and popped it into his mouth. "Thank you." Issei finished eating it and cleared his throat. "You're aware of Miss Tohsaka being absent are you not?" He asked and leaned forward.

Shirou nodded again. "Yeah, it's hard to go anywhere without hearing about it. It's pretty unlike her isn't it?"

"Yes, as much as I do not care for her even I am starting to get a bit concerned. Before she had perfect attendance until now. The teachers have received no word from her at all and even her friends are starting to become worried." Issei said seriously. It was unsure where it came from, but nearly everyone knew that Issei Ryuudo and Tohsaka Rin were enemies and did not care for each other at all. Tohsaka always remained civil with Issei was around, but Issei never hid his dislike for her and didn't hesitate to let everyone know how evil he thought she was. However being the school idol no one ever listened to him.

"What does this have to do with me?" Shirou was quite confused. It wasn't like there was anything he could do to bring her back.

"As you can imagine, her work has been piling up." Issei continued. "Missing nearly seven days in a row is quite a lot of work. If she doesn't complete it she may not be able to save her grade, and she could be held back next year." He spoke as if this was the worst possible thing that could ever happen.

Shirou was still confused, but if it was Issei surely there was some reason behind it. He was sure he would explain so he just sat quietly and listened.

"I've already asked Mitsuzuri to do it, but unfortunately she has no time. Fortunately though, you have to pass by Tohsaka's house on your way home so Fujimura-sensei suggested that you do it." Issei said.

"Do what Issei?" Shirou asked cluelessly.

"Take Tohsaka's homework to her. Unfortunately she lives alone in that huge house, so there's no one we can call to come pick it up for her." Issei leaned forward and scooped some rice into his mouth.

"Wait a minute, why me? Surely one of her classmates..."

"We've asked them. It seems you're our last option. Even Kuzuki-sensei okay'd it." Issei heaved a sigh.

"What about Shinji? I'm sure he'd jump on the chance to go visit her house."

Issei shook his head. ""I have better things to do than be your errand boy, Ryuudo." Were his exact words."

"But to go to a girl's house is..."

"I understand your situation Emiya, but Fujimura-sensei assured me that it would be good for you." Issei sat back and crossed his arms.

Shirou sighed. "That Fuji-nee.." He growled at someone who wasn't there.

"Emiya, as much as I wouldn't mind to see that woman taken down a peg because of this, the rest of the school would become a post apocalyptic wasteland if something happened to her. As the President I can't allow that." Issei put down his chopsticks as he finished his lunch.

"Alright. I'll do what I can." Shirou looked down at his lunch, suddenly he wasn't that hungry anymore.

Issei smiled. "Thank you, I'll tell the rest of the teachers to bring Tohsaka's work by here and you can pick it up when classes are over. Is that alright?"

Shirou nodded. "Yeah that's fine." He was still unsure about all this. From what he'd heard Tohsaka had little interest in any of the male students that approached her, denying each and every person that had ever asked her out. It wouldn't be a surprise to learn that every guy had his sights set on Tohsaka. Even Shirou would be a liar if he said he wasn't attracted to her at all. To get an opportunity to go to her house was something that every guy in the school would kill for. He would have to be very careful or he could make a lot of enemies doing something like this.

Still if he could keep Tohsaka from being held back a grade then surely that would be worth something. Shirou was also curious as to what was going on, there should be no reason to not let the school know if she was going to be absent. This also might be a good opportunity to get closer to her. He talked with her a couple times as they passed in the hallways, but their relationship never passed beyond that.

Without meaning to Shirou had managed to put himself into a good mood. He walked back to his classroom after finishing lunch with Issei to Kuzuki-sensei's class. He had something to look forward to, it seems that after he agreed to help Issei out that his hesitation went away. After all, he didn't have to go inside, he just had to go to the door and give her work back to her. "Yeah, I can do that." He smiled to himself and stared out the window.