Fate: Hammer Time

Chapter 17: Misunderstandings

Shirou was currently on a mission, walking over the streets with a clear purpose in mind, but he was distracted by a flash of purple hair he saw from the corner of his eye. Shirou immediately stepped right, swiftly cutting off the girl's path before she could get away again.

"Hey Sakura. Good to see you here. How are you doing tod-"

"AH, Senpai! H-H-Hey." Sakura exclaimed, looking at him with horror in her eyes. "Uhm, I really don't have time to talk right now. I'll see you later, I have to go home. Bye."

"Wha? W-Wait..."

But Sakura didn't wait, just like she hadn't the previous times. She slipped past him and started running, sprinting even, to get away from him.

Shirou almost ran after her, but at the last second, he held himself back. If she didn't want to talk, he wouldn't force her.

When he had woken up the morning after he'd taken down the Magi, now two days ago, it had been in high spirits. Those had disappeared fast though when Sakura failed to show up for breakfast, and Shirou got outright worried when she didn't show up for dinner that day either.

The next morning, he had intercepted her on the way to school, intending to ask her about her absence. The moment she'd laid eyes on him though, she'd turned around and ran away, completely ignoring his cries for her to wait.

Shirou had been astounded, worried, and even a little hurt by her blunt rejection, especially since he didn't even know what he'd done wrong.

Had he angered her somehow? If he had, he would have to make amends immediately, but how could he do that when he didn't even know what he'd done wrong?

Doing nothing wasn't an option though. The mere thought of losing Sakura made his stomach coil and filled him with one of the most unpleasant feelings he'd ever felt.

It was clear he needed to have another conversation with Shinji, and fast. He could no longer allow himself to be blown off by insults and denials. Something was clearly wrong, and he needed to fix it.

Unfortunately however, the older Matou-sibling was also dodging him at every turn. Shirou was absolutely certain he had seen Shinji from afar several times, but just like Sakura, the other teen always fled before Shirou could speak to him.

By now, both siblings were probably already inside the Matou-estate, well beyond his reach, leaving him with no way to talk to them. Gritting his teeth, Shirou decided to cut his losses and try again tomorrow. For now, he had to prepare dinner for Fuji-nee.

Not with Sakura, but alone. Something that hadn't happened in a long time but had been the situation for two days in a row now. Which was two days too many.

Before he would go home though, he still needed to visit Tohsaka's house first, to deliver his apology-gift.

When he had raided the Magi's castle, he had not taken a lot with him. It had all been so vile and evil that he had burned just about everything present there, including all of their research.

That had been an objectively foolish move, Shirou freely admitted that. He could always use more knowledge after all and destroying the research might make the sacrifice of the people who died for it seem in vain.

Those people hadn't chosen to suffer for the sake of research though; They had been abducted and torn apart for things they didn't even care about. Every bit that resulted from that was vile to the core, and a hero should want nothing to do with it.

Shirou wanted to be a hero, and that sometimes meant doing what was stupid, instead of what was convenient.

Not the most pragmatic choice, but then again, being a Hero of Justice was far from pragmatic in itself.