Chapter 93

Shirou looked up at the blue sky with a wistful look.

After his fight against Yammy, a day had passed. He prepared himself to face another attack. But it seemed like the enemies had no intention to attack him again, or at least, not for the moment.

It was weird to see how they retreated after attacking them like that without doing anything more.

But it wasn't the time to think about that. For now, Shirou decided to focus on the present, and not worry too much about the future. He had a lot of things he needed to take care of.

"Hey, Shirou! Are you listening!?" Ichigo's shout jolted him from his thoughts, making him look at his brother, "What is your opinion about this?"

In his hand, there was a piece of paper with some drawings and sketches. They had been brainstorming ideas for their project for a few days now.

Summer vacation in Japan meant a lot of homework. Because they were away in Soul Society for a few days, more than 2 weeks even, their homeworks piled up like a mountain and the deadline was approaching fast.

The two brothers had been trying to come up with some good ideas for their art class project for a few hours now, and they finally got it.

Ichigo looked at him with an excited expression. The orange haired teen was in high spirits.

"So?" He looked at Shirou expectantly. "What do you think?"

"It's a good idea." Shirou nodded, looking at the drawing with an appreciative gaze, "It should do just fine."

He smiled and continued, "Well then, I think we should go with that."

"Yeah!"

And thus, they began their project.

Ichigo was making a diorama, depicting a park with bustling activities of the town, and also showing the contrast between life and death.

Meanwhile, Shirou made a clay sculpture of a girl holding a sword. She was a pretty familiar girl, one that became his partner in his previous life.

Somehow making a sculpture made him feel at ease, even though the sculpture had nothing to do with magecraft. He began to like the working process and enjoyed it. 

The act of shaping and molding something with his hands, creating an art was really soothing to him. It helped him forget about the battle that happened yesterday, even if for a few minutes.

This reminded him of the time when he fixed some stuff around the house in Fuyuki City.

"I think you should make the face more feminine, or at least make her eyes bigger." Ichigo commented, "The one you have now is kind of weird. It doesn't really feel like a girl, you know. And is that armor?"

"Hahaha... I like it this way." Shirou admitted, laughing nervously.

Changing her design wouldn't sit right with Shirou's aesthetic.

The sculpture he was working on was Artoria in her armor, with her holy sword, Excalibur. Her image was still vivid in his mind, especially since he returned from England.

As if something prevented him from forgetting her.

However, Ichigo was right. He wasn't the most skilled person in sculpturing, not even among the most skilled in his class, so his work had a few flaws.

"Whatever. I will continue in my room." Ichigo sighed and went back to his work. "I don't have much time to spare anyway. The deadline is coming closer."

"Same." Shirou muttered, working on his clay.

For now he wanted to make it as perfect as possible before coloring it. He wanted to capture every single detail in the armor, her face, and her weapon.

Even the smallest thing that didn't seem important could make a huge difference.

When he was focused on his work, he suddenly was interrupted by a foreign energy he felt in his room. He snapped out of his focus and narrowed his eyes in caution.

Looking around, he realized the source was a tiny coin on his desk. The golden coin with WB written on the surface glowed brightly.

"What?" He muttered in confusion.

Why was the coin glowing?

Shirou reached for it and the glow stopped. He tilted his head in confusion.

"What the hell was that?"

"Yo." Suddenly, a voice resounded from his phone which was placed beside the desk, surprising him.

"Woah!" He exclaimed in surprise as he jumped back in shock.

Looking around in suspicion, he tried to find the source of the voice, but found no one in the room. So he looked at his phone, and then widened his eyes in shock.

A call was connected to his phone without him accepting anything. On the flip phone's screen, the name Ninny was written on it.

"Hey, are you there?" The girl's voice rang again, "I am talking to you!"

Without a doubt, this voice belonged to Ninny, the witch he met in London.

How did she connect to his phone?

Shirou blinked in surprise before picking his phone and answering her, "Hello?" Shirou said tentatively, unsure whether to answer or not. "How did you call me? How do you even know my phone number? How?"

"Oh, come on!" She whined, "It's magic! Why are you so surprised by it?"

"Well... It's not common to use magic to call people."

Especially in Japan where there was no magic. Though people had spiritual power and strange abilities, like Sado and Orihime, magic didn't exactly exist in Japan, and the rest of the world.

'Is it that coin?'

Maybe the coin became some kind of connector between his phone and her magic, connecting both of them and allowing them to contact each other. He would need to confirm that with her later.

"Anyway, what is your purpose in calling me?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Nothing much. I am just wondering what you have been doing." She said casually, almost as if they were friends. "I slipped a coin inside your bag last time and tried to contact you through that, you see. And wow, it's connected."

So, it really was her magic.

"Coin..." Shirou murmured. He thought for a while before continuing. "... Do you mean this gold coin?"

He raised the coin, looking at the object closely. He had no memory of ever using or having it before, yet somehow, it appeared in his room.

"Yes." She confirmed, "I use it as a medium to see whether magic can be used even when we're in a different country, just for curiosity's sake. Oh, and you can enter Reverse London with that coin if you decide to visit again."

"Hmm... Okay." He said with a nod.

Not that he would visit soon, but it was good to know he could visit that place again.

Reverse London was pretty interesting after all, and there was the chance that it held some secrets about the world and dragons.

Shirou would like to visit again to know how to access the reverse side of the world. His mind was still plagued by sister of flower. He wondered why she left those words behind.

For now though...

"If that's all, then I will end the call. I have a deadline coming and I have to work on this sculpture of mine."

"Oh, really?" Shirou could hear the excitement in her tone, "You have to let me see that- Wait, that's not it. I have something to tell you about. Wing Bind has detected something strange with the dragons in this area. Remember when we met on that street? Yeah, there was indeed a problem back then."

Shirou asked curiously. "What is it?"

"Apparently there are a lot of dragon eggs in London. A lot."

That was surprising information but he couldn't understand it. Shirou tilted his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

What if there were a lot of dragon eggs?

"I don't know. We are currently trying to track them down and see what is happening, but it seems like they're moving around randomly. Some eggs are here, some are there. And worse, it seems some newly hatched dragons flew overseas, passing through our barrier."

Dragons flew overseas outside of Wing Bind's barrier?

"Oversea?" Shirou was surprised, "Do you mean, like, to other countries?"

"Yea." She replied casually, "I successfully captured some, but we had worse news."

Tension began to rise up as Shirou heard her words.

"Tell me." He asked with a serious expression, "What is it?"

"We found some dead bodies. Dark dragons, or even a Marchen, is trying to go to Japan. Its codename is Snow White, and it's a pretty strong and dangerous dragon."

Marchen, the wicked dragons that were said to be progenitors of Dark Dragons. They had an active desire to hunt and kill humans.

Even though there were only seven of them in existence, they could cause destruction at least as big as a city or even worse. If compared to Shinigami, they might've equal to Captain-class Shinigami.

And now, one of them were heading to Japan.

Shirou frowned. This wasn't good news, especially when he thought of it combined with the recent events in Karakura town.

First, it was the attack by Yammy and Ulquiorra. Both of them were very dangerous foes that couldn't be taken care of easily.

Secondly, it was the strange movement that Urahara noticed. Hollows became stronger thanks to Hogyoku, or so he deduced, which also meant Aizen Sousuke had been on the move.

And now, dragons were moving too. Not just that, but the worst of them.

"Shit."

"Indeed, that's the correct reaction." Ninny said in a grim voice. "Worst part, Wing Bind won't work in Japan. There are no mages to activate the barrier. If Marchens arrive there, it will be the worst disaster for you. I only call to say that, so good luck, Magus!"

The call ended and Shirou looked at his phone screen. He stared at it in a daze.

"What should I do now...?"

***

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