Fate/New Life

Brighter Day

"E-Emiya? What are you talking about?", I stuttered, narrowing my eyes at Shinji.

"Don't give me that crap, Archer. Now I have a strong idea of who you are, you are Shirou Emiya in some form or another, most likely from the future.", he countered while walking around the living room and scanning me, "Although you look very different, you are him for sure. I do wonder why you changed so much, even to the point of abandoning Tohsaka."

I clenched my fists, knuckles cracking in anger as he mentioned my regrettable mistake two years ago, "That's none of your concern, you wouldn't understand it."

Shinji chuckles amused at my reaction, clearly enjoying my reaction, "Maybe. However, that doesn't mean I can try to guess. But now is not a good time, even though I was starting to enjoy it", expressed Shinji as he heads out to the front door.

"My lord, I will be in close proximity to ensure your well-being. Summon me when the need arises", explained unemotionally Assassin as she goes into spirit form to use her Presence Concealment. He doesn't reply.

I follow Shinji out of the house and arrived outside, arriving at the gate. We exited through there and he turns around to face me.

"What's the plan now? Surely you must have some idea on how to rescue Tohsaka and that other girl?", questioned the blue-haired man, eyes hinting curiosity.

"I don't exactly have a plan. However, with Assassin's help, we can scout the city for any areas that they may use for a hide-out. I just wish we could have Caster to make things easier on the search since we have less than 18 hours before the enemy harms the hostages.", I answered while holding my chin, focused on assessing the best approach in this planning. 

To put this in a general way, there's not a lot of places where the enemy can hide in Fuyuki without alerting the public. Ryuudou Temple is definitely out of limits, there are civilians residing there, unless they eliminate them but that would draw too much attention. The church and its surroundings aren't exactly that concealing to hide in them and that would draw the attention of whoever's in the church. So that leaves...

"The only places that I can think of are either underground or the outskirts", I mumbled to myself.

"I did heard that there were some abandoned houses in those outskirts back when I was a little kid. But maybe there's nothing left there, how should I know?", Shinji noted while closing his eyes and shrugging, seemly discarding the fact that it isn't worth the effort.

"Interesting, we should check that out. From what I can think of, our choices are the outskirts, the sewers and search around Shinto District and its outskirts.", I added to the lists of places to scout.  The sewers can be checked quickly by Assassin, I could check out the Shinto area but the outskirts are very broad for just one Servant to go. 

"Shinji, you should go and check the sewers with Assassin, I will check Shinto District by myself. We will regroup here again when our search is done. Together we will search the outskirts of the city. Anything you want to say before we move on?", I asked.

"One thing I should mention, we should check the Einzbern's castle. Even if it's in ruins, it still serves as a hide-out in someway.", he mentioned logically. It's refreshing to see Shinji actually have some sort of intelligence. Then again, he did always like solving puzzles and mysteries back when we met. At least here, he's still alive and have a chance to redeem himself, somehow in some way...

"Agree, that will be one of the first places to check. We should go, time is not in our favor", I commanded as I walked away, heading to Shinto District.

"Emiya, wait", Shinji called out to me. I stopped in my tracks, my back facing him, waiting for whatever reason he mentioned my last name .

"Don't you dare die. I want some answers from you when this is finished.", demanded dreadfully.