Chapter 14: Tiger Dojo
(A/N: sorry guys electricity went out hence the delay in chapters.)
The next morning Shirou woke up full of energy as if he hadn't spent all his od last night. That morning kiritsugu said that Shirou was getting too comfortable with the exercise so he added the requirement for Shirou to perform projection whilst doing the exercise.
This made Shirou fail immediately as he needed full concentration to perform the projection but when moving his body he failed spectacularly. After exercise a grumbling Shirou went to prepare breakfast.
After having breakfast Shirou went to school.
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Reaching the class Shirou was greeted by the signature look of superiority from Shinji. Sighing at the antics of Shinji he moved to his seat.
The school was again uneventfully finished. Walking how as the sun set Shirou pondered
So reframing his decision to learn swordsmanship, Shirou reached his home and found that Mr Raiga was sitting along with Taiga in the living room. Looking at the single tea cups Shirou quickly went and brought snacks for them.
When he brought the plates onto the table his father told him to sit alongside him.
As Shirou sat kiritsugu spoke to Mr. Raiga
"Mr Raiga as we were talking about, Shirou and I will join you at the sumo wrestling next weekend."
Mr Raiga replied while laughing boisterously
"Emiya let's go there together and let that Ryuudou rot in his temple."
Shirou listened as his father and Mr Raiga planned the next weekend's activity about hunting and going to the festival`s wrestling event.
While they were talking about this Shirou lost himself in thought until he heard the older emiya ask
"Mr Raiga do you know any good swordsmanship school or even an instructor around here?"
"You want to learn swordsmanship? I thought you were a marksman," said Mr. Raiga
"Not for me, Shirou here wants to learn swordsmanship." said kiritsugu while pointing at Shirou
The old man vigorously nodded and then while pattin Shirou on the shoulder said
"Good, good young people should be vigorous like this, Shirou if you want to learn swordsmanship then taiga here is best to teach you."
"You might not know but taiga is the best at kendo in this city at her age group, she is called "tiger of fuyuki" by the people."
Hearing that embracing name mentioned by her grandfather in front of her teacher taiga screamed
"Grandpa!!!"
While the old man laughed louder.
So while the 2 men discussed the 2 kids talked among themselves and it was decided, that Taiga would come an hour earlier than her tuition and teach Shirou kendo.
Then kiritsugu went to teach taiga and Shirou went to practise magecraft.
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The next morning Shirou can be seen doing pushups while his body randomly flashes with light as his circuits are tuned on and off. After 10 pushups he fell on the grass covered in snow while gasping for breath.
Kiritsugu looking at this scene shook his head and thought
After making breakfast while trying to perfectly cut vegetables using structural grasp Shirou was called by kiritsugu for his regular lesson on magecraft as well as knowledge of the moonlit world.
The day's topic was magic crests. Looking at the sitting Shirou, kiritsugu
"As I have told you the mana has decreased compared to the ages of god and the mysteries are fading so why do you think mage families are stronger the older they are ?"
" They normally have a very high number of magic circuits due to generations of good pedigree. They also must have stronger artifacts from the mores mysteries dense time and they most likely store knowledge of the mage craft they use hence the family magecraft gets more refined and hence stronger," replied Shirou
"Correct answer Shirou, we will talk about the artifacts or supreme mystic codes some other time because we will talk about the 3rd point, the passage of knowledge," said Kiritsugu pleased by the analytical ability and then said
"That happens in the form of the magic crest, they are like an artificial organ made up of magic circuits that are transplanted from generation to generation."
"When most mages near the end of their lifespan or anytime they want modify a small number of their magic circuits into a storage of knowledge about their mage craft as well their spells,"
"The circuits are then added to the magic crest and snowball with generations, hence the owner of these crests just have to pour mana into the crest and they can perform magecraft recorded in the crest."
" The crests act as a library as well as a magecraft support hence making them what defines a lineage as well as the method to maintain superiority.?
"Then how are circuits made and does everyone have one?" asked Shirou.
Kiritsugu explained how the 1st generation had to risk their life by implanting a mystic code or a part of a phantasmal beast to put the foundation for a crest. Then he explained how nowadays new families are made by borrowing a small part of an already established family`s crest and then becoming a branch family to them.
Then kiritsugu explained how the magic crest also helps to preserve your life regardless of injuries until you can provide magic to it. As well as how the crests act as a crystalised mystery that maintains the power of magecraft even with the declining mysteries.
He then talked about how only 1 person can have the crest so there is always conflict in families about heirs and most of the time blood is spilt.
Then he explained the limited examples of magic crests he had seen and their functions. When Shirou asked about his crest kiritsugu hesitated to tell the truth but then remembering the threat of sealing designation on his shoulders he spilled the truth,
He told his son about his father, how he was a genius but an obsessed mage. How his father was given a sealing designation when the man had denied compromise with the association.
How Kiritsugu had killed his father and how the magus association took 60 per cent of his family crest and left him the unimportant 40 per cent under the bargaining of his mentor and foster mother.
Kiritsugu told Shirou everything but hid the facts about Shirley because he didn't want his son to learn about his dark past more than needed.
Before Shirou could say anything kiritsugu continued
"Shirou the emiya family will end with me and I will not pass my crest on to you because there are moderate chances of death if you try to receive the crest while not being of the same bloodline."
Then kiritsugu spent time till lunch and after lunch discussing the side effects of crests and their cons as well as problems like rejection, malfunction or even death due to rejection.
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Taiga didn't have any lessons with kiritsugu that day but she still came to the emiya household. She brought with her an extra bag that had a shinai sticking out from it.
When she saw Shirou at the door she cheerfully said
"Shirou get ready! this sister doesn't show mercy to people when she is teaching them."
The stunned Shirou was pulled into the dojo by an excited taiga. There she started measuring the balance of the shinais in the dojo but condemned them for being unbalanced and rough making Shirou blush with shame.
Later Shirou can be seen performing straight swings with a shinai while taiga kept poking at different parts of his body while saying things like
"This muscle shouldn't move."
"Put all your strength into the swing."
"Keep your feet steady and don't tilt your legs."
"Just don't use your arms for the swing but use the whole body."
She also demonstrated the swing multiple times and then after the 5th set of 100 swings she started poking Shirou in such a way that it hurt for every mistake he made.
That day Shirou learnt what spartan training looks like and why the happy-go-lucky taiga was called the tiger of fuyuki.
After 3 hours taiga cleaned her shinai and put it into her bag such that her tiger-striped handle was visible. Turning around she said with a smile
"Your clothes are not proper enough for training so I have taken your measurements and bring a pair of training robes next time I come."
" Bye-bye, Shirou!"
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During dinners that night kiritsugu asked shirou about what he thought about his 1st day of sword training, to which he just laughed and said that it was good.
Later that night shirou fell asleep after pushing himself to od depletion with magecraft.
Kiritsugu saw this but didn't comment instead went out to fit the bombs onto the leylines.