Fate Coiling Sword

Chapter 7: Confrontation

Beta read by Shigiya

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-Afternoon-

Classes went just about the same routine as he expected, sitting down, listening to the teacher, taking notes, and finishing his homework during his breaks.

The exam season was approaching quickly, students were more focused and kept coming at him and Issei for notes and help. He found it kind of funny how he was the one absent from class for more than a week yet had better notes than most of his peers. Then again, it was all thanks to Issei who lent him his notebooks. Shirou didn't feel the need to study more or stress himself over the exams, he kept a disciplined lifestyle of studying two to three hours every day, even during weekends and holidays. This helped him in the end in keeping his grades and he wasn't planning on changing his schedule.

"The air conditioner's filter is filled with dust and dirt, this usually restricts the flow of cold air, causing it to build up inside the air conditioner and lower the internal temperature. Given enough time, that buildup of cold air can eventually cause ice to form on the coils." Swiping his fingers on the plastic, Shirou showed the small amounts of gray-colored ice, making some of the student council members gag in disgust. "This is the first reason why your room's temperature stayed the same as barely any cold air was being blown in. And some of the wirings have also had their outer rubber case decompose making the copper rust over time, so we also need to change that."

He was called to the student council room after Issei told the president how he could help them out. Not wanting for weeks for the school to respond and having to spend more days under intense heat, they called Shirou. 

The latter obviously was happy to help them, he wasn't known as the school janitor for nothing—even though he never chose that nickname in the first place. 

"Ooh, so I guess there's no way to have you fix it up then?" Haruto, the club treasurer, said as he began calculating the total cost for a replacement.

Even though they only had a month or two of time before the end of their scholar year, the heat wave was just too intense to ignore. Just by sitting there for an hour, he was already sweating and the high levels of humidity didn't help at all.

"I can clean up the filter, and replace the wiring for a bit, but you'll need to replace the entire thing nonetheless. It's been here for a decade and is barely holding up. While I can fix it today, it'll probably keep running for a week at best." 

Truthfully, the thing was already falling to pieces. Just applying some small pressure would break the plastic, but if he applied reinforcement to the air conditioner, then it would last a bit longer. But overall, it was still a temporary fix.

"You're a lifesaver Emiya, as long as it can run for another day or two, we'll have a replacement ready by then."

Their middle school had gone through a recent budget cut for the clubs, so everyone had to rethink their club spending.

"With the soon-to-come exams, many just don't bother stressing over such things and prefer to leave this problem for the next year's students. Kinda lazy and scummy way of thinking, as senpais, we must set up an example for the next students."

"I agree," Shirou said, half paying attention to the man he concentrated on removing some of the screws to extract the filter. His shirt was bound to get dirty with just how much dust had been accumulated inside, Taiga will not like that. "There…" 

"You need some help?" One of the other students in the room asked, which he politely declined. 

"Say, Emiya, have you decided which high school you'll attend?" Haruto asked, trying to start a conversation.