To love a sword

Chapter 3: Bad luck

Beta read by Shigiya

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-Shed-

"...395…"

"...396…"

"...397…"

"...398…"

"...399…"

One last pull, that was all he needed to finish his daily morning routine exercise. So with sweat dripping down his face, he pulled on his muscles and made one last pull-up.

"400!"

A few years passed since the close encounter with the car and him saving that girl. Apparently, she tried to find him after waking up, but he asked both Saibai and Ringo to keep his identity a secret. He did not want to deal with anything from that day, nor did Emiya desire to be thanked in the first place. They respected his decision and asked the hospital to not divulge his identity.

After that, everything returned to normal… aside from the fact that Rito kept bringing that part of the past back again every so often. He could see the fascination his little brother had with the idea of him becoming a hero and saving the life of someone like that. But he reminded Rito that anyone would have done the same and there was nothing heroic about it.

Knock!

Knock!

Someone was on the other side of the door.

"Shirou, breakfast is ready!"

It was Mikan, calling him to join them before leaving for school.

"Coming, give me a moment."

The girl changed a lot, having grown a lot in the last few years. Now attending her fifth year of elementary, and even performing quite well amongst her peers. Even growing old enough to stop calling him Onii-chan, though she did slip back to it from time to time — much to her embarrassment.

"Hmm, I'll have to clean things up here." Emiya said while looking around the cluttered room.

Filled with a bit of everything, from books, spare parts for different vehicles he kept around, and a forge along an anvil.

Why a forge?

Mostly because he wanted to find a hobby, experience this miracle of having control of his life, and do things he enjoyed. He found himself regressing into habits he had long forgotten, found a part of himself he expected to have died long before his death to come back to life. The former Counter Guardian also tried out forging simple blades, an activity that made him lose himself in the process.

Why forge a blade or anything else if he could just trace it? Because that was what he wanted to do, have fun with the process and… experience a sensation of pride with every trinket he created with his own hands.

They were not fakes, not mere copies of weapons and items belonging to another. But his own creations, forever belonging to him and no one else.

"The hurdles I had to go through to have this in here, even Rin wasn't as stubborn as Ringo."

But that didn't mean he stopped practicing his magecraft.