HeroSlayer Presents:
Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days
Chapter Two: Jewel Seed Scramble
…
He was dreaming again.
The same dream repeated itself night after night. A single life changing day that would haunt him for the rest of his life. The details of the dream do not fade over time, nor does that day get any clearer. They continue unchanged.
Fire.
There is fire all around him. His lungs burn from exhaustion more than the smoke that clouded the area. He pushed himself for another step and another. He has to keep going.
Just a little further. That's what he tells himself. He just has to go a little further. He had survived, so that meant he should live. The boy wandered the area aimlessly since he had no idea where it was safe. He only knew that it would be dangerous to stay still.
He must have had the devils luck because he was the only thing left alive. Could he call it luck, when he lingered in this inferno while the others were able to die?
Even a child could understand that this place was hell. There was no hope of being saved. It was a wonder that he had made it this far at all. So maybe calling it luck was wrong.
Another step and another until, finally, his body finally gave out. The world tilts and the ground suddenly envelops his vision. He had fallen. His legs couldn't take another step. There was no energy, no life preserving instinct left. He had burned out. The fire had consumed him completely. There was nothing left but his body to burn.
The boy stared up at the sky and saw dark clouds looming over the area. That was good. The rain would put out the fire.
"It hurts." The boy whispers. The statement is less for himself and more for the people that can no longer speak the words. He closes his eyes and braces himself for what is to come.
…
"Ugh." Shirou groaned as the light from the window moved over his face. He turned over to keep the light away. "It's too early." It had taken him an hour to get back home after the fight and even after that he hadn't gotten much sleep. The rough process of patching up his ribs took a long time and sleeping with them was even worse.
"Ah." Shirou remembered his injury from last night and pressed a hand to his chest. He took a deep breath. "No pain. I guess it healed." Shirou smiled. That was great. He was worried about going to school with cracked ribs. He must have judged the wound a lot worse than it had been.
Shirou looked over at the clock near his bed and gasped at the time. "Oh geez, I overslept." He would barely have enough time to make lunch if he ate toast rather than making a proper breakfast. There wasn't even enough time for him to go through his morning exercise routine.
The boy dressed quickly and rushed to the kitchen to get a start on lunch. He hummed lightly as he sliced the slits on the sausages before frying them. He had mentally checked what else he had to put in the box and frowned when he realized that he would need to go shopping soon.
He poured some oil on the pan and started slicing up some vegetables as the pan warmed up.
'Shirou?'
Shirou paused in his slicing when he heard that. "Nanoha?" He looked around but saw nothing. It sounded weird to. It didn't sound like his ears caught sound more like he heard her voice in his head. 'Great. Now I'm hearing things.'
A girl giggling in his head causing him to freeze. 'You aren't hearing things.'
Shirou froze. That was definitely Nanoha, and she responded to his thoughts. Feeling a little silly he focused on Nanoha. 'Is this more of your magic?'
'Yuuno was explaining a few things to me and showed me this method to talk. I wanted to see if I could talk with you as well.' The girl explained.
Shriou couldn't help but marvel at the ease of which the girl was learning magic. It had taken him years to even get a single success with the easiest of Magecraft and now…
'Oh my god!' He had succeeded in Reinforcement.
'Ah! Shirou. Are you alright?' Nanoha's worried voice reminded him that she could still hear his thoughts.
Despite the fact that no one could see him, Shirou blushed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. 'Sorry, I just realized something.'
'It's no problem.' Nanoha sounded relieved that he was okay. 'I'm glad you're alright. And thank you for helping last night Shirou.'
'You don't need to thank me for that.' Shirou grinned and shook his head. He didn't need to be thanked for something like that. He wanted to do something like that desperately. His entire life was dedicated to being a Hero. 'I would have helped you no matter what. It's-'
'What a Hero would do, right?' Nanoha teased.
'Of course.' He shot back and scowled as his cheeks burned again. Maybe he should stop his constant reassurances that he'll be a Hero.
…
Shirou ignored the teacher's lesson and looked down at his notebook. Written in it were several notes about what he learned last night.
Yuuno was a magical ferret. He was searching for several dangerous objects called Jewel Seeds. These objects can causes wishes or something but if left alone they would create monsters.
The staff, Raising Heart, could only be used by high level magic users which included Yuuno and Nanoha. So far Nanoha had displayed sealing magic, barrier magic, and now some sort of communication magic. Yuuno had said that she had talent that was extremely rare, so did that mean those spells were innate to her or part of that odd Mystic Code.
Raising Heart had displayed sentience and ranked him as below average in magical capacity and unfit for a user. Though it had mentioned that he had magical pathways.
That final fact had been underlined several times. Shirou was desperate to know what that meant. He thought that he was a normal person incapable of using magic. Yet the device said he had the ability if not the talent.
He tapped the notebook a few times before adding a small comment next to the underlined sentence.
Magic Circuit?
He would have to wait until Kiristugu came home from his trip to ask about that. If he did actually possess Magic Circuits that meant that he could be an actual Magus instead of an imitator like he was. He could be a Hero just like Kiristugu.
Shirou sighed and closed the notebook and carefully placed it in his backpack. He pulled out his normal notebook for the rest of the lesson. There was nothing he could do about it right now.
When the bell finally rang and signaled the end of class Shirou quickly gathered his stuff and ran out to meet Nanoha and Yuuno. As he was dashing through the halls, a hand reached out and grabbed his arm. Shirou paused at the tug and looked behind him to see a girl from his class on the ground. He had tugged her off her feet.
"Ack, Hino-san, I'm so sorry!" The boy quickly helped her to her feet.
"Geez, Emiya. I didn't think you would be this excited about shrine work." The girl rubbed her shoulder before giving the boy an odd look.
"Shrine work?" Shirou's mind was so filled with theories and questions to ask Yuuno that he pushed everything else in his mind aside.
"You forgot?" The girl glared at him. Shirou winced and started to stammer some sort of an apology but the glare that she shot him shut him up. He racked his brain for any requests at a shrine but all he could think of was the possibility of using Magecraft.
"Look," The girl pressed a finger to Shirou's chest, "You promised my grandfather that you would help out at the shrine to give me the day off and you're going to make good on your promise."
Shirou opened his mouth to object but remembered that he did promise that he would help at the Shrine. He hung his head, defeated. "Yes ma'am."
…
Shirou found himself dressed in shrine robes at the Hino Shrine. He looked around the large shrine grounds and the leaves that littered the area. He then looked down at the broom in his hands and sighed. "I'm starting to see why people tell me that helping everyone is going to get me in trouble."
He had escorted Nanoha and her friends to Cram School like usual and ran off to help at the shrine. It was something he had done in exchange for the lessons on meditation that the resident priest gave him. He hadn't really learned anything that would aid his Magecraft, but he had learned some interesting things and wanted to repay the Shrine Owner. Eventually they agreed that Shirou would help out at the shrine for one day.
"Alright." Shirou finally finished sweeping the ground of the leaves into a pile and wiped the sweat off his brow. Then he looked down at the hundreds of stairs that lead up to the shrine. The sight made him groan. "I'm not even close to being done."
There was no chance of him asking Yuuno anything today. Maybe he should try to keep the questions and his apprehension out of mind. It would be good practice for Magecraft.
"Ah, is this the Hino Shrine?"
Shirou looked up from his sweeping of the stairs to see a teenage girl smiling at him. Shirou smiled earnestly at the girl and nodded. "Yep, this is the Hino Shrine. Do you need any help?"
The girl giggled and ruffled the boy's hair. He looked so cute. "I thought I would buy some charms for my exams coming up. Do you have those kinds of things here?"
Shirou tilted his head and tried to recall if they made those here. "I'm not sure. If you would follow me I can lead you to the Shrine owner." He led the girl up the stairs and asked to her to wait in front of the main building.
He ran around the entire shrine calling out for Hino-san but he didn't get an answer. After checking the innermost room of the shrine for the second time, Shirou was about ready to give up. "Man, did he go out and forget to tell m-" An odd feeling passed over Shirou causing him to pause in mid sentence. The boy looked around for the source of the feeling when he caught the scent of something that had no place in the shrine.
"Kyaa!" By the time the scream cut through the quiet shrine, Shirou was already running towards the source.
"Hey, get away from h- Big Doggy!"
Standing in front of the teenage girl from earlier was the largest dog that Shirou had ever seen. He wasn't even sure if this thing qualified as a dog anymore. It was probably the size of a van or a small truck. The beast's skin was black and spikes protruded from it. The crimson horns and mouth full of sharp teeth added to its demonic image.
The girl that had come to the shrine had fallen down and was just staring at the dog in horror.
"Oi, run away!" Shirou shouted at her but the girl just fainted as the demonic dog slowly stalked closer to her. "Aw man!"
Shirou shot forward and struck the back of the dog with his broom. The wooden handle bounced off the beast's hide but did no damage. It did however draw the attention of the dog away from the girl onto him. The beast snarled Shirou and the red head paled at the sight of the monster so close to him. "Ahaha, I did not think this through, did I?."
A swat of the dog's paw struck Shirou hard and launched him across the shrine grounds. "Argh!"
Shirou groaned. He really needed to start wearing some armor or something because this was starting to become a bad habit.
'Shirou!' A familiar voice cut through Shirou's thoughts on the benefits of body armor.
'Nanoha!' Shirou had forgotten that she could do this.
'Shirou, there's another Jewel Shard activating. It's coming from the shrine on-'
'I know. I'm already there.' Shirou frantically sent back as he got up and ran away from the charging dog. Whatever the dog was thinking, it seemed to want to play with the running boy more than it wanted to kill him. It thankfully let him get a small distance away before lunging for a bite. Like a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
'You're already there?' Nanoha then remembered how a disappointed Shirou told her he had to help out at a shrine. 'Ah that's right. Do you see-'
'Yes!' Shirou shouted at the girl as he jumped out of the way of another charge. This one taking out one of the trees that surrounded the area. Shirou watched the wreckage wearily and silently hoped that the tree fell on the dog. 'Please tell me you're close!'
'We're almost there. Just hold on a little longer.' The girl's reply was thankfully quick.
'Please hurry.' Shirou managed to duck away after the dog had missed a lunge. As he caught his breathe behind a tree he looked down at the broom in his hands. It wasn't the best object for this, but…
"Trace On." He gritted out as he felt something like a red hot iron pole be shoved into his spine. His entire body burned as he went through the perilous process of forging his nerves into a Magic Circuit.
"Magic Circuit set."
"Analyzing base materials." Shirou examined the broom with Structural Analysis. He saw the interior cracks that were made because of rough handling during manufacturing. The outer layers that had been eroded from use and time. He let the magic fade after examining the handle. The bristles were unimportant so they were ignored.
"Reinforcing base materials" Finally when that was complete, he poured Od through the hastily made Circuit into the broom handle. The temporary circuit strained even against the small amount of Od that he was pushing through it.
"Reinforcement complete."
Shirou let out the breathe he had been holding and gave the broom a quick glance over. It would hold for the time being. He looked around for the dog again when he felt something warm and moist pass over the side of his head. The Jewel Seed embedded dog had snuck up on the boy while he had been busy with his Magecraft.
"Argh!" The boy rolled away as the monster smashed the tree he had been hiding behind. Shirou dodged past the trees and ran back into the clearing in front of the shrine with the dog close behind him. Shirou spun around and swung the broom as hard as he could at the dog. The hard as steel broom handle struck the dog on the nose and stunned it for a moment.
Shirou hopped backwards and held up the broom in a defensive stance. The dog pawed at its nose before glaring at him. Shirou took a step backwards when the dog growled at him, but he stood his ground and met the dog's stare with his own. For a moment the beast and Shirou locked eyes and stood still.
'Shirou, we're almost there!' Nanoha's voice in his head broke the silence and Shirou looked over towards the stairs before he remembered the dog.
Too late. Shirou spun around just in time for the dog's tackle. Shirou was pinned down by its paws and the only thing keeping his body from getting mauled was the fact that he had lodged his broom in the dog's mouth.
"Ah! Shirou!" Shirou vaguely heard Nanoha panicking but his attention was pretty much focused on big mouth full of sharp teeth trying to separate his head from his body. The boy struggled with the beast and hoped to god that the broom wouldn't break.
Suddenly the beast paused in his attempts at eating Shirou and turned to the shrine entrance. The dog had noticed Nanoha and Yuuno and decided that they were a better treat then the struggling boy underneath him.
The dog growled and shut its mouth. Snapping the Reinforced broom into pieces before charging at the girl and ferret. Shirou abandoned his shattered broom and watched in horror as the dog went towards his new target.
"Ah, Nanoha!" The girl was just standing there while the monster charged at her. He could see Yuuno yelling at her to do something, but the girl was panicking about something.
Shirou pulled himself to his feet just in time to see Nanoha activate Raising Heart. A dust cloud was formed when the beast crashed into the girl. He sighed in relief when the dust cleared. Nanoha was sitting on the floor unharmed with Raising Heart in its staff mode. She must have summoned her barrier in time to defend herself.
"Thank god." Shirou sighed in relief at the sight of the girl unharmed.
That barrier was ridiculously strong. It looked like the beast had hit and rebounded off a solid steel wall. Nanoha was completely unharmed even when the dog went for a second charge. The barrier repulsed it even harder this time and this gave Nanoha enough time to seal the Jewel Seed.
Shirou watched carefully as Nanoha once again sealed the Jewel Seed in a flurry of pink energy ribbons. The ribbons covered the beast before the dog glowed. After a bit of glowing, a small dog and the Jewel Seed dropped to the ground.
"Receipt No. XVI," Raising Heart confirmed the sealing.
"That was too close." Now that he was sure that the action was over, Shirou fell to the ground in exhaustion. It was just after he hit the ground that he remembered something important. "Ah, I can't believe I forgot."
"Eh?" Nanoha had deactivated Raising Heart and picked up Yuuno when she saw Shirou run off in a hurry. "Shirou?" She ran after him only to stop when she saw him fretting over a teenage girl that was unconscious on the shrine grounds.
Yuuno shook his head at the sight of the small boy attempting to rouse the girl. The ferret saw the red streams running down the boy's right arm and wondered if Shirou even felt those injuries or if he was simply ignoring them. "He just had a fight with a monster and the first thing on his mind is to make sure that someone else is okay."
"That's Shirou alright." Nanoha giggled as Shirou tried and failed to pick up the girl who had fainted. "Always thinking of others."
…
By the time the girl had woken up, reassured Shirou that she was fine several times, and left with the small dog that had been affected by the Jewel Seed the sun had begun to set. The sky was painted in brilliant colors as the girl left the shrine completely unaware of what had just happened there.
"Well, I'd say this was a job well done, right?" Nanoha watched the girl leave with a smile on her face.
"Yeah. I'd say so." Yunno was sitting next to her. The two had agreed to wait for Shirou to change out of the shrine robes and back into his normal clothes.
"Hey, sorry to make you wait." Shirou ran up to the two once again in his school uniform. "Did the girl leave?"
"Mhm, she even took the little dog with her." Nanoha smiled and placed Yuuno back on her shoulders.
"That's great." Shirou smiled brightly. His first rescue and it had been pulled off fine. Sure he needed help from Nanoha, but he wasn't a Magus yet so that was to be expected.
Nanoha giggled at Shirou's happy expression. "Come on. All that excitement made me hungry. Let's go grab some snacks." Nanoha paused as she noticed the setting sun and frowned. "Oh wait, you have to get home for dinner, don't you?"
"Huh, oh don't worry about it. Kiristugu is on anoth-Urk!" Shirou froze as he realized what he had just let slip.
His little mistake didn't go unnoticed.
"Shirou," Nanoha stopped walking and turned to glare at Shirou. The boy squirmed under her gaze. "Is your father on a trip again?"
"What? Why would you think that?" Shirou's frantic attempt at deflecting the question failed miserably. It didn't help that he was panicking wildly or that he had no poker face at all.
Yuuno looked between the two in confusion. He hadn't seen Nanoha angry about something before and it was surprising to see the girl look so frustrated by something. "Kiristugu? Trip? What are the two of you talking about?"
"Shirou's father goes on a lot of trips." Nanoha explained as she glared at the sheepish looking boy. "However this leaves Shirou home alone. My family found out that Shirou has been fending for himself during these times and offered to take care of him when Emiya-san is out of town."
"It was a short trip this time. He'll be back soon." Shirou tried to defend himself. "I've taken care of myself for longer."
"It doesn't matter!" Nanoha applied a vice grip on Shirou's arm and started to drag him along. "You're going home with us and then you're going to tell my parents that you've been staying home alone again."
"What? No way!" Shirou tried to dig his feet into the ground. "Your parents are just going to scold me. And your mom might do that again."
"Is staying with them really that bad? Nanoha's family seemed really nice." Yuuno looked over at the boy and wondered what was causing him to try to escape. It seemed unlikely that he would get anything more than a mild lecture for his actions.
Nanoha rolled her eyes. "It's nothing bad, but my mom found the perfect punishment for when Shirou stays with us and doesn't behave."
Yuuno wondered what would scare a boy that would fearlessly face a Jewel Seed created monster without a second thought. He tried to imagine a fitting punishment with the image of Nanoha's kind mother and something that would freak Shirou out this much but couldn't come up with anything. Unwilling to let his morbid curiosity be unfulfilled he asked Nanoha. "What is the punishment?"
Shirou wailed out an explanation.
Yuuno almost fell off of Nanoha's shoulder when he heard what had scared the boy so badly. He stared at the struggling boy and just shook his head. "I don't get you people at all."
"It's just Shirou." Nanoha shook her head as she dragged along the crying red headed boy.
…
In all of his life, Shirou has faced more horrors that any nine years old should have to face. His unspoken memory of the day that Kiristugu found him, the constant threat of death that followed his Magecraft practicing, the pain that Magecraft induced, and just recently, monsters created from the latent desires of people all around. Yet nothing scared him more than the threat in front of him.
Momoko Takamachi stood in front of the boy with a disappointed expression on her face. Beside her was her husband, Shirou Takamachi, looking sternly down at him.
"Shirou-chan, you know that you're supposed to tell us when your father is out of town. We have no problem taking you in for a little while." The mother scolded him.
Shirou squirmed under the disappointed looks and tried to think of a good defense. He didn't really want to lie to the two of them so he just looked down and mumbled his answer. "I didn't want to be a bother."
The older Shirou sighed at defeated expression on the boy's face. "You're not a bother. I'm sure we've told that to you several times, and even Kiristugu has agreed that it would be best if you stayed with us when he's not there for you."
Momoko nodded and gathered herself. With a stern expression on her face she pointed at the smaller Shirou. The boy flinched at the motion and braced himself for the verdict to fall. There was no escape and he would be trapped here with no way out. Nanoha would make sure that he followed the decree even outside of the house.
"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ban you from the kitchen, Shirou-chan." Momoko solemnly announced.
The wail of despair that came out of Shirou's lips echoed throughout the house. It was a familiar wail. So familiar that when Miyuki peeked her head to see what was going on, she did so with a good idea of what was going on.
"Did Shirou-chan get banned from the kitchen again?"
"Yep." Nanoha passed her by with some tea on a tray. She set it down for her parent and Shirou and glowered at Shirou, who at this point was on all fours on the ground with a cloud of depression over him. "He didn't tell us that his father was on a trip. He was living by himself for days."
Miyuki winced. "Ouch. So I'm guessing the ban is for his entire stay then."
Nanoha's father laughed weakly. "I'm afraid so."
…
"I can't believe that you got so worked up about not being able to cook." Yuuno wondered how cooking could be so important to a person.
After Shirou had recovered from his depression, the boy was sent up for a bath. He sat in another lively dinner with the Takamachi family and gave the kitchen a look of longing before going up with Nanoha to her room to talk with her and Yuuno.
"But I'm so close to getting a recipe down. If I don't practice I'll lose all that progress." His beef stew had almost been perfect the other day. He was sure that he was about to make a breakthrough with the recipe but now it would be days before he could make another attempt. It was tormenting.
"Don't try to understand him Yuuno-kun." Nanoha sighed at the boy's antics. He was usually so normal, but give him a sword or a ladle and he'll turn into something else completely.
"Anyways, this is good. I had some questions I wanted to ask Shirou about his magic." Yuuno threw off the weirdness that had followed Takamachi-san's decree and got down to business. Shirou heard the mention of magic and turned to the ferret with a serious expression. Yuuno wasn't the only one that wanted to learn more about magic.
"There is no knowledge of Earth being able to house a magical community. It was thought that any magical people would simply have too little magical energy to do anything." Yuuno pondered whether or not this was accurate. The two kids in front of him were two completely opposite sides of the spectrum. Nanoha had a talent that was one in a million while Shirou was in terms of magical energy a complete failure. Yet Shirou had shown the capacity for magic without any device or external signature for magic. "I'm not really sure how accurate that statement is, but what I do know is that whatever kind of magic Shirou used is completely different from anything I've seen."
Nanoha nodded. "It didn't really look like magic. I mean, you made the wooden sword shiny for a moment, but other than that, it looked like nothing happened."
Shirou winced. "Well, Reinforcement is the most basic of basics for Magecraft." It was also something he had only just succeeded at doing. "I guess I could show you something else."
Shirou closed his eyes and emptied his mind. He once again went through the difficult process of turning his body into a Magic Circuit for his magic to flow.
Both Nanoha and Yuuno watched Shirou closely. Nanoha was excited to see what kind of magic that Shirou would perform, while Yuuno was trying to figure out what Shirou was doing. The amount of magic that the boy was using was miniscule so it couldn't be anything big.
Sudden the air in front of Shirou's hands glowed and the light condensed itself into a tight sphere. When the light faded, a small circular red gem was sitting in Shirou's hands.
"Raising Heart!" Nanoha cried out before reaching for the small gem.
"Teleporation?" Yuuno couldn't believe it. Did earth have the capacity for teleportation with such low amounts of energy?
"Eh? It's still here." Nanoha found the small gem and looked at it and the double that was sitting in Shirou's hands. Yuuno blinked as he saw that the Device was still in Nanoha's possession.
"I didn't teleport it. I just copied it." Shirou wiped off the sweat on his head and rolled the gem with his fingers. "This is called Gradation Air, but I like to call it Projection. It basically makes a copy of an object that I picture in my head."
"So it's another Raising Heart?" Nanoha looked closely at the second red gem and poked it to test its solidity.
"Not exactly." Shirou frowned at the small gem in his hands. "It just has the shape of the object. I can't copy Raising Hearts abilities or anything like that. Projection just makes a physical copy of the object."
Shirou put the Projected gem on the bed for Yuuno to examine. The ferret picked up the gem and marveled at the object. This was a solid object created from nothing but magic. An impossibly small amount of magic at that. The weight was similar to the original and its look would pass anything but a scrutinizing check.
"This is amazing." The ferret whispered.
Shirou shrugged. "It's also useless. Projections don't last long and they're pretty fragile. So other than for rituals, most Magus don't do anything with it." It was just his luck that his two talents, Structural Analysis and Gradation Air were both useless for a Magus.
Yuuno looked up at the boy as Nanoha held both Raising Hearts and was comparing them. "They don't last long?"
Shirou shook his head. "Things created from Gradation Air are unnatural so the world actively tries to get rid of that unnatural addition. So constant attention and magical energy is needed to maintain the object for long periods of time." He couldn't remember the exact explanation that Kiritsugu gave to him, but that sounded about right. "I can make them last pretty long, but they go away after half a day or so at most."
"Ne, ne Shirou. What else can you make?" Nanoha had abandoned the extra Raising Heart and smiled at Shirou in anticipation.
Shirou blinked at the girl's attention and shrugged. "Well simple stuff really. The more complicated it is, the harder it is to Project. See Gradation Air is all about how well I can project my personal image onto the-"
Yuuno idly listened to the explanation that Shirou was giving to a confused Nanoha but his focus was on the second Raising Heart and the magic that Shirou just displayed. The possibilities of such a magic were endless even with the limitations that were imposed on it. It was something to think about and with Shirou staying at the Takamachi's for the time being, he would have plenty of time to explore it.
…
The days spent at the Takamachi house went by quickly. Shirou was busy the entire time. School, helping out at the Midoriya, sparring with Kouya and Miyuki and finally when helping out Nanoha with the Jewel Seeds. Three more Jewel Seeds had activated. The first of which he had been busy helping at the Midoriya and couldn't go help Nanoha without raising suspicion.
Shirou leaned heavily on his wooden sword. He had used Reinforcement on it earlier, but even with the prana boosting its durability the sword had several cracks running down the blade. He had been running around trying to keep the latest Jewel Seed monster still long enough for Nanoha to seal it. The third Jewel Seed activation during his stay at the Takamachi residence had created another formless being that was a lot more aggressive than the last.
The black cloud shot downward at the boy and attempted to smash him one more time. Shirou jumped backwards and let it collide with the ground. The collision sent up a cloud of dust, but Shirou didn't let that stop him. He charged forward and unleashed a barrage of slices at the monster.
He felt his sword sink in several times and pieces of the monster all shot out of the dust cloud to reform.
"Gotcha." Shirou grinned viciously as the pieces all swirled around one spot to mold back together.
"Lyrical Magical! Jewel Seed Serial XX, Seal!" Nanoha fired out several ribbons that enveloped the formless monster and reduced it to a single jewel which was promptly absorbed by Raising Heart.
"Receipt No. XX" Raising Heart toned out.
Yuuno ran up to a panting Nanoha. "Good job Nanoha. This makes the fifth Jewel Seed in our possession."
After they were done, the trio slowly made their way back to the Takamachi residence. Nanoha was using Raising Heart's staff mode as a crutch and Shirou was favoring one leg pretty heavily.
"Are the two of you okay?" Yuuno looked over at the two kids and couldn't help but feel responsible for their haggard appearance.
"I'll be good by morning." Shirou grinned weakly before wincing as he put too much pressure on his bad leg. Yuuno was quickly learning that Shirou could recover from pretty bad injuries rather quickly. It probably had to do with the odd magic that the boy was using but Yuuno was worried about the inconsistency of the boy's magical healing. He had healed up from the injuries he got at the Shrine before they had even gotten home but the cuts and bruises he got from the last Jewel Seed had yet to finish healing.
"I'm fine, but…I'm just a little tired…" Nanoha trailed off and collapsed on the floor.
"Nanoha!" Both Yuuno and Shirou quickly rushed to the girl's side.
"Oi, Nanoha, are you alright?" Shirou lifted the girl's head up and shook her lightly.
"Zzz…"
Both Yuuno and Shirou were silent for a moment when they realized that the girl had just fallen asleep. The two shared a look of exasperation.
"She's out cold." Shirou groaned as he picked up the girl. After a bit of awkward shifting, Shirou was carrying Nanoha piggyback style. Yuuno had returned Raising Heart to its standby mode and followed after the limping boy.
…
"Good mo-mo-morning." Shirou yawned as he slowly padded his way to the kitchen table for breakfast. It was a testament to how tired the red haired boy was that he didn't even give the kitchen a second glance as he sat down.
"Good morning Shirou-chan." Momoko greeted the boy. She was glad that she didn't have to catch the boy trying to cook breakfast again. It was endearing normally, but after a few days it could get tiring. "Is Nanoha up?"
"Ung." The boy shook his head and mumbled his thanks as he was served his breakfast. He had carried Nanoha to her room and woke her up to get dressed in her pajama so her parents didn't catch wind of what they were doing.
After that was done he and Yuuno had discussed magic for an hour and he had finished off the night with some Magecraft practice.
Shirou had been running himself ragged like this for the last few days and it was really hitting him hard. He stifled a yawn and attempted to figure out his schedule for the day.
Today was Sunday which meant no school. Nanoha's father was coaching a soccer team and they had a game this morning. So he had volunteered to help at the café while Nanoha and her friends went to watch the game.
The boy quickly ate his breakfast and shouted his thanks to Takamachi-san and ran off to get dressed.
…
"Here you go." Shirou served up the last of the room for the soccer team's victory party. Nanoha's dad had treated them for their victory. He flitted throughout the store making sure the party had enough food and taking orders from some customers that had entered.
Momoko took the latest batch of plates from the boy with a smile. "Shirou. Nanoha and her friends are outside playing with Yuuno. You should join them."
"Right, I'll see if they need anything." Shirou ran outside before she could tell him he was wrong.
Miyuki giggled at her mother's expression. "That boy seriously needs to get his priorities right."
The girls were at one of the outside tables of the café. They already had their food and when Shirou walked out, Alisa was playing with a struggling Yuuno. Shirou wondered for a moment how uncomfortable Yuuno felt playing the normal Ferret.
"Geez, Bannings-san. Let Yuuno breathe." Shirou came to the little ferrets rescue. He plucked the rodent out of the blonde girl's grasps and placed him back on the table.
'Oh thank god.' Yuuno opened up the mental connection to Shirou and slumped in relief. 'Thanks for the save Shirou.'
"No problem little guy." Shirou placed the animal on his shoulder and gathered the used plates up.
"Well then, I guess we're all done for today." Alisa picked up her bag and got up.
Suzuka picked up her purse and nodded to Shirou as he picked up her plate. "I guess so."
"Oh, that's right. You both have plans for this afternoon, don't you?" Nanoha smiled at her friends.
Shirou picked up the last of the plates and paused for a moment to let Yuuno hop to Nanoha's shoulder before heading inside. He passed by Nanoha's dad and headed inside to help clean up the plates from the party.
…
The streets were packed in the afternoon and Shirou wiped his brow as he continued his run. His lack of stamina was starting to catch up to him and he needed to train harder if he was going to keep up with Nanoha he needed to get even stronger.
His mind wondered to the Jewel Seed encounters that he had been a part of. In all of them he had been able to do nothing more than distract the monster so that Nanoha could seal it. Even then, his distractions were only because the monsters had the grace to treat him as an annoyance. He doubted that he was even a threat to any of them.
Shirou had been thinking of how he could more helpful but the only thing he could think of was to be stronger. He could Reinforce objects, but he was too weak to use them in any useful way.
The barrier that Nanoha possessed was a lot more useful than him so far. He needed to be even stronger. His Magecraft wasn't going to get any better than it was at the moment without Kiristugu to teach him more. So his only option was to train his body.
Shirou shook his head and ran faster. His breath was starting to get ragged and his muscles burned with every movement. He was starting to reach his limit. The boy speed through the streets and dodged past the crowds and objects that littered the streets.
When he could finally run no more, Shirou collapsed onto a bench and fought to regain his breathe. He panted and cursed himself for only being able to run this far. He had planned to go so much farther.
Shirou pushed himself onto his shaky legs and stumbled towards the nearest restaurant for a drink. As he walked further he stopped as he felt the ground shake. He wondered if an earthquake was going on when the rumbling got worse.
The earth shook worse and worse and plants erupted out of the ground. Shirou yelled as the buildings around him had pieces of them knocked off by the rapidly growing trees.
"What is…?" Shirou threw his arms up as another branch of the tree shot up in front of him. He shuddered as a familiar wave of magic passed over him. "Is this a Jewel Seed?"
Shirou waited until the crowds cleared from the area and looked around. There were giant trees growing out of the ground and a few of the building in the area had holes knocked out of them by the branches.
A small noise broke Shirou out of his amazement. Shirou shook his head. He couldn't afford to stand still in this kind of situation. There was work to do.
Shirou ran towards the nearest cry for help.
…
"So did you hear about what happened in town today?" Kouya questioned the table.
If he had been paying attention, Shirou would have noticed Nanoha stiffen. However he was occupied with his own thoughts and nodded weakly. "There was some sort of an attack and a lot of buildings were damaged."
Miyuki shook her head. "Some people were saying some crazy things like they saw a giant tree growing out of the city."
Nanoha's father turned to Shirou. "Weren't you in the city around that time? Did you see what happened?"
Momoko turned to younger Shirou with worried eyes. "Is that true? Were you hurt Shirou-chan?"
Nanoha turned to Shirou in surprise. "You were in the city?"
Shirou started when he heard his name and it took him a moment to answer the question. "Oh, yeah. I went running." Shirou gave a weak shrug. "A lot of people were panicking so I got caught up in the crowd."
"Geez, who could do a thing?" Miyuki shook her head at the audacity of such a crime.
Nanoha stared at Shirou who was glaring at his own hand like it had done something wrong. 'Shirou, are you okay?'
Shirou twitched but gave no other outer expression. 'I'm fine, I'll… I'm just a little tired.'
The dinner went by and Shirou shook himself out of his funk when the conversation turned to what everyone did during the day.
Even as Shirou joined the conversation again, Nanoha made sure to keep an eye on the boy. The look in his eyes when he was staring at his own hand scared her.
…
It was late at night when Shirou got up and left the room he shared with Kouya when he stayed over at the Takamachi residence. The boy wandered out of the house and into the Takamachi's dojo. He picked one of the practice swords off the wall and walked to the center of the dojo.
Shirou moved into a practice stance and started to practice. Shirou paused in the middle of a slash and dropped the practice sword in disgust.
"What am I doing?" The boy fell his knees and slammed a fist into the ground. "Am I still this weak?"
Tears gathered in the corners of Shirou's eyes as he recalled this afternoon.
Shirou ran into the nearest building and looked around frantically.
"Somebody! Help!" A voice called out from the upper floor.
"Just wait, I'll be right there!" Shirou ran up the stairs as fast as he could. When he got up there and looked around. There was a girl a bit older than him trying to pull a piece of the building. Shirou swore when he saw that a boy was trapped under the debris.
Shirou ran over and started to help the girl. The both of them pulled as hard as they could but they could barely get the piece of the wall to move. The two of them paused when pieces of the ceiling started to crumble. Shirou looked up to see cracks forming in the ceiling. Shirou slapped a hand to the wall and with a cry of "Trace on!" scanned it.
The wall was starting to fail from the weight. They weren't going to be able to save the boy before it fell. Shirou made an instant decision and started the process for Reinforcement. If he could strengthen the wall then they would have time to get the boy out.
As Shirou focused on magically strengthening the wall the girl looked at him like he was crazy. The boy had stopped helping her with the pillar on her brother and was now focusing on the wall. She shook her head and was going to pull harder on the pillar when she noticed something.
"Look out!"
Shirou opened his eyes and stopped his Reinforcement when something collided into him. He felt his body fly a few feet away and heard a large crash. Dust clouded the room and Shirou coughed and choked on it. "Hey… are you okay?"
The magus-in-training looked up and froze. The girl that he had just been helping was on the floor with a piece of the ceiling on top of her.
"No…" Shirou ran over and struggled with the debris until he shifted it off of the girl. He started shaking the girl. "Hey, wake up!"
The boy sat there and tried to wake the girl. He stayed there until the trees faded and rescue workers came. He stayed there even when the rescue workers took the girl from him and moved the pillar and took the boy too. Shirou watched with haunted eyes as the girl who knocked him over was pulled into an ambulance.
Shirou opened his eyes and hit the ground again. "Damnit. What kind of Hero am I?"
"You're a little young to be a hero aren't you?" A voice cut through the darkness of the dojo causing Shirou to freeze. He turned and found Yuuno on the ground looking at him with a curious expression.
"Yuuno." Shirou shook his head. "Everyone keeps telling me that, but I can't accept that. Nanoha is-"
"Making mistakes just like you do." Yuuno interjected. At Shirou's surprised expression the ferret continued. "Nanoha noticed a Jewel Seed right after you left but dismissed it as her imagination. It later activated and caused the accident with the trees."
Shirou stared at the ferret and slowly processed what he just said.
Yuuno recalled Nanoha's expression when she saw the damage from the Jewel Seed and compared it to the expression on Shirou's face a moment ago. "Nanoha was beating herself up about it but she's been running herself ragged as it is."
"Yeah… but what can I do?" Shirou sighed and looked down as his hand again. "She doesn't even need me there. All she has to do is cast that barrier to protect herself."
Yuuno shook his head. "You're a big help. I'm sure you know, but using magic like that is not easy for a beginner to use. Any strain that you can keep off of Nanoha is going to make a difference."
Shirou swallowed as he heard that and remembered how Nanoha had collapsed last night. He had to carry her home because the girl was too exhausted to even stay conscious.
"Yeah, you're right. I just have to help her as much as I possibly can." The boy grabbed the wooden sword he dropped and stood up. "That just means I have to work harder to help even more."
Yuuno watched as the boy started to go through another sword kata before silently heading back up to Nanoha's room. He was glad that Shirou was back to normal. Hopefully having him support Nanoha would keep her from going beyond her own limits. The little changeling felt ashamed that he had to place this burden on Shirou, but Nanoha was the one that could seal the Jewel Seeds until he regained his strength.
The two boys fought to gather strength. Yuuno to regain his former powers, and Shirou fighting to gain new ones. Yet tonight, they both vowed to fight for the same reason. To support Nanoha.
…
In the night sky a figure watched Uminari city. This was the place that the Jewel Seeds seemed to have gathered. Several had activated in the city in a short amount of time and more will surely activate within the city once more.
Golden blonde hair danced in the wind and the girl's black clothes melted into the night. A black staff was held in her hands and a red wolf like creature rested on the building below her.
"The Lost Logia is around here." The girl's cool voice cut through the air. "It manifests as a small blue gem that is generally called a 'Jewel Seed.'"
The red familiar stared at her partner and silently listened to the review of their mission.
"Ah, that's right." The girl's voice is filled with emotion. The goal is within sight. "It will be mine soon."
Moments later the girl and the familiar are both gone.
It seems the scramble for the Jewel Seeds would only get harder for our Heroes.
2011-06-20, 13:12
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