Chapter 67: Beginning of the End
Beginning of the End
"So this is where you live."
Lorelei looked around the Emiya-estate with an unhidden sparkle of curiosity in her eyes, taking in the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen, undoubtedly finding it to be rather small in comparison to what she was used to.
Or perhaps not. Her own chambers in the Clocktower hadn't exactly been overly spacious either, so maybe his house was perfectly adequate.
Since Lorelei was now officially his fiancée, and thus automatically also one of his girlfriends, Shirou had brought her home, as was tradition both in Japan and in England. She wouldn't be moving in with him, or even spend all that much time in Fuyuki, but even so, he'd asked her to stop by, even if only once.
She'd obliged him easily enough, not seeing any problem with visiting, but she'd been a little more recalcitrant about accepting the key he'd then offered her. She was a Magus through and through, so having someone, even her fiancé, give her such unfettered access to their house was a bit off-putting.
Though not half as off-putting apparently as the fact that he'd immediately keyed her into the Bounded Fields as well, basically giving her a full and unlimited security clearance to every part of his home. That had gotten him a very strange look indeed.
Shirou did not care though. He'd never been one for secrecy. As far as he was concerned, all of his girlfriends, including Lorelei, were welcome at his house at any time they wanted. His home was their home and all that.
Since the Emiya-estate contained its fair share of surprises however, in the form of Noble Phantasms lying around, ancient artefacts being mixed in with the mundane objects, and the dimensional doorways linked to the Vault, Shirou thought it prudent to give Lorelei a personal tour of the place first, to make sure she'd know her way around.
Having the Vice Direction get lost inside his house would be a most embarrassing affair, for everyone involved.
He had to admit though that he had been a bit nervous at first. He liked Lolerei, a lot, but he wasn't blind to her faults. She was a proud woman, with little patience for that which she deemed unnecessary. She'd been quite clear that she wasn't interested in romantic gestures, and this tour of his house, this bit of private time, might very well be seen as exactly such a gesture. A waste of time.
He'd worried for nothing though. Lorelei had been a bit perturbed at how casually he treated his own privacy, at the fact he'd given her a standing invitation into his Sancta Sanctorum, but other than that, she was pleased as pie to learn more about him. The never-dying sparkle of curiosity and enjoyment in her eyes was complemented by her soft smile, reminding Shirou once again of the fact that she was unfairly cute at times.
"Such a cozy place." She mused, still looking around his living room with unhidden interest. "It suits you."
"Oh, thanks." Shirou hadn't expected the sudden compliment, but he gladly accepted it anyway. "I've lived here for almost ten years now, so I did try to make it my own."
"You succeeded. Your influence is apparent in every corner of this place." Lorelei kept looking around, her gaze sharp and focused as if she were preparing to pass judgement, and Shirou could not help but start to feel slightly self-conscious at that analytical stare.
"I know it does not look like much at first sight, but it's home." He tried to assure her, and perhaps himself as well. "I mean, it might not measure up against the Barthomeloi manor, but-"
"Nor does it need to. This is the Emiya estate, not my family's manor." Lorelei gave him a sideways glance, evidently realising what was bothering him. "The lack of ostentatious wealth is of no consequence. Your house is perfect as it is. Do not become embarrassed so easily, Shirou, and do not compare yourself with others. It is unbecoming of my husband."
"…Thank you, Lorelei." That was exactly what he needed to hear, and Shirou pulled himself together. "Ahem, like I said, this is my house. I'm glad you like it."
"It is beautiful and cozy." Lorelei repeated, her expression softening again. "Like the reading corner my mother set up, just for the two of us, me and her."
"That was kind of her." The more Shirou heard of Lorelei's mother, the more he got the idea that she was a very sweet person, or at least as sweet as a Magus could be. "The rest of your family did not know?"
"They did know, but they approved. The heir of the Barthomeloi family must be well-read, and they believed I was only secluding myself to better concentrate on my reading." A flash of amusement passed over the brunette's face, tinged with nostalgia. "They are practical people. None of them disapproved of my mother's love for old, dusty books, nor would they disapprove of your estate. The only thing they might have remarked upon is the concentration of Magical Energy in the air."
"Magical Energy?" Shirou blinked, reflexively taking a sniff of the air. "You mean there isn't enough?"
"There is entirely too much." Lorelei corrected him. "There's more Magical Energy in the air here than anywhere else I've ever been."
"Is there?" Shirou hadn't even noticed, used as he was to his own house. "Well, I suppose that's my fault then."
"Undoubtedly." She agreed. "A Demigod cannot stay in one place for long without turning it into a small patch of the Age of the Gods."
"Really? Is that how it works?"
"Perhaps. The influence of the Divine on their surroundings has long been a topic of debate amongst several different Departments. Multiple renowned scholars have suggested that a god's Authority shapes the world around them without them even intending to, but their theories suffer from a critical lack of evidence."
"Hardly their fault." There was no way that modern Magi could get their hands on a god to study, and even if some of them had been alive in the Age of the Gods, which was exceedingly unlikely, the gods were not the sort who'd let themselves be studied by Magi. "Perhaps I should speak with them myself soon. I'm always happy to learn more about gods in general and Demigods in particular."
To him, it wasn't just theoretical knowledge anymore, but cold hard facts that permeated his entire life.
"These scholars are not receptive to visitors." Lorelei warned him, before cocking her head to the side as something occurred to her. "On the other hand, if you reveal to them your true nature, they would welcome you with open arms. Perhaps they would never let you leave again."
"Never mind then. I'm not too keen on spending any time in some Magus' basement." Shirou scoffed, crossing his arms. "No amount of knowledge is worth that kind of trouble. I'll figure it out as I go. That approach hasn't steered me wrong yet."
"Evidently."
"Do tell me though if the amount of Magical Energy gets too much." Such a thing could get toxic to humans very quickly, and having his home become a place dangerous to humans was the last thing Shirou wanted.
"I doubt that will ever happen." Lorelei assured him, before giving him another soft smile. "I can sense your kindness in the air. This much Magical Energy should already chafe normal mortals, make them feel bloated and nauseous, but here, it does nothing of the sort. It is as gentle and kind as you are."
She was praising him without compunction again, and Shirou awkwardly cleared his throat, looking away for a moment to gather his thoughts.
"My… My house might not seem like much, but the reason I am giving you a tour now is because it is actually a lot bigger than it seems." He moved the subject along, gesturing for her to follow him. "Since I've got eight people living here, nine now since I want to give you your own room too, I had to make a few adjustments to the place."
"Adjustments?" Lorelei cocked her head the side, walking after him as he headed to the back of the building, to the bedrooms.
"Adjustments." He confirmed, before they arrived at the part of the house that had undergone the most of said 'adjustments'.
Before he'd pulled his dimensional hijinks, this part of the house had been but a single hallway with two bedrooms on either side. Fairly sizeable, and far more than most people possessed, even in Japan, but not enough for eight people, let alone nine or ten. Hence, Shirou had partially connected it to the Vault, to create more room for them all.
Now that his house and his Vault had been melted together, the single hallway had become an endless system of corridors stretching out as far as the eye could see, with dozens if not hundreds of rooms on all sides. It had started out rather tame after he'd just made the connection, with just one long hallway with rooms to the left and right, but it had evolved over time, becoming something more akin to a three-dimensional labyrinth.
Finding one's own room was still a trivial matter though. The labyrinthic structure was a part of the Vault, and the Vault always made sure that one's path was clear. When you arrived with a destination in mind, it made sure that the room you wanted was one of the first five you came across.
Rin had nearly been frothing at the mouth with outrage and bafflement after she'd learned of these new properties, but Lorelei, never one to be impressed easily, merely nodded when he told her, as if it were a common thing among Magi.
"You never fail to amaze." She spoke, sliding a hand across the walls as she walked through the hallway, before making a slow pirouette to take in all the sights.
Meanwhile, Shirou found he mainly had eyes for her.
Lorelei was always beautiful, no matter her state or clothes, but there were some outfits that suited her better than others, that really brought out her beauty, and her current outfit was definitely one of the better ones.
If he had to rank Lorelei's outfits by his personal taste, he would put her battle garments, the one she'd worn during their duel, at the top, followed by the casual outfit she'd worn on their first outing together, just before the Purge of the Meluastea. There had been no third place yet, as her other clothes were never particularly impressive or noteworthy.
Now though, he had a third, or perhaps even a new second favourite.
Lorelei was wearing beautiful, Greek-style sandals, the sort that were tied up to halfway up her calves, coupled with several golden toe rings he'd never seen her wear before.
She coupled those Greek sandals with a teal-coloured Greek dress, a piece of clothing that most resembled a more practical toga, which had been tied around one shoulder, leaving the other bare, and fastened in place with a thin belt around her waist.
Her hair was done up in a neat bun, her neck was adorned with a jade necklace so tight it almost resembled a collar, and she wore fingerless gloves of the same colour as her dress, reaching up to her elbows.
All in all, she looked like she was about to attend some kind of fancy party rather than a tour around her new fiancé's house. She looked very dapper, elegant, and respectable, making him seem near boorish in comparison.
But then, his girlfriends often made him feel like that.
"I'll show you to your room." Realising he'd been staring for a while, Shirou blinked several times, before looking away, to the room in question.
"Please do." She agreed, holding out her hand.
Boorish he might be, Shirou knew the meaning of such an outstretched hand. He gently took it in his own, stepping closer to the brunette, before leading her to their destination.
Fortunately, the difference in their heights had lessened considerably over the past year, making their walk together feel natural, and since he was still growing, Shirou was reasonably certain that he'd reach her length soon enough.
As said before, the Vault made sure their destination was well within reach, and it was after less than a minute that they arrived at Lorelei's room, created by the Vault and decorated by Shirou himself.
Since he'd already visited her chambers in the Clocktower once, the redhead had a pretty good idea of what she liked in terms of decoration and practicality. He hadn't made her room here a carbon copy of the one at her department, that would be a bit creepy and off-putting even for her, but it was largely similar.
A round central chamber, with various doors leading to, amongst others, the bathroom, the study, the personal library, and the bedroom. As said before, similar to what she had at the Clocktower.
Similar enough that Lorelei herself remarked upon it when they entered her new room.
"I can see where you gained your inspiration. Are you trying to make me feel more at home?"
"I am." He confirmed. "Is it working?"
"A bit, though you need not worry about me. I acclimatise easily to new situations."
"Even so, I wanted to make your stay here as comfortable as I can." Letting go of her hand, Shirou made a gesture with his fingers, changing the colour of the walls from a gentle blue to feverish green and back. "But you can adjust these surroundings easily enough. They are more pliable than our own reality. Feel free to customise it to your tastes."
"Fascinating." That wondrous gaze from before was back, and Lorelei moved over to one of the walls, placing her hand upon it again to thoroughly study it.
Once more however, Shirou was more interested in her than in their surroundings, which he already knew like the back of his hand.
Where before, Lorelei would act at least a bit guarded around him, never once quite losing him out of her sight, that barrier seemed to have fallen away entirely since their battle. She turned her back to him without a care, held hands with him, and hadn't even checked once for traps or tricks since entering his house.
They said that a fateful battle between individuals could bare their Souls to each other, and apparently, Lorelei liked what she'd seen in him.
"Truly, the power of the gods is incomparable." She muttered as she inspected her room. Her eyes were shining with innocent curiosity, the sort he'd often seen before in Rin, and Shirou remained quiet for the moment, not even protesting when she suddenly punched a hole in the wall, to see what would happen. "This is often said of course, but truly, we are but children playing with sticks and rocks compared to our forefathers. They would surely laugh even at our greatest accomplishments."
"Perhaps, but do keep in mind that they were playing life on easy mode, at least as far as the Mystic Arts were concerned, and that is hardly an accomplishment of theirs." Shirou pointed out, disliking the way how Lorelei put herself down, again rather like Rin. "You work at least as hard as they did, maybe even harder. If they had any sense, your ancestors would be proud of you."
Lorelei made a small, grateful gesture in response to his words, though she never took her eyes off the hole in the wall she'd just created, which was already repairing itself.
Shirou did not join her in her study however, as he was a bit distracted. The hole was located around shoulder-height, so to properly study it, she had to lean forward a bit. Since her dress was quite tight, that meant the contours of her rear became clearly visible.
Shirou always tried to be a gentleman, so he looked away the moment he realised she had a wardrobe malfunction, as it were, and in turn, it did not take Lorelei long to notice him turning his head away.
"What is wrong?" She asked, straightening up again and making it safe to look at her once more.
"Nothing, really." He replied, turning his head back with a bit of a sheepish smile. "It's just that your dress got pulled a little tight around your… Well, your bottom."
"I see." She nodded slowly, before she cocked her head to the side. "And that is a problem, why?"
"What do you mean 'why'?" Shirou spluttered, before realising he'd answered a question with a question, which most people generally didn't appreciate. "It is not proper for me to look."
"I reiterate my question. Why?"
"B-Because it's inappropriate, by social convention." Shirou did not buy for a moment that Lorelei did not know the unwritten and written rules of proper behaviour, so her questions made no sense. "You know this. I am certain that you do."
"I know that it is improper for people to stare at each other, especially at the more sex-related areas of the body." Lorelei confirmed that she did indeed know. "What I do not understand however is why this has to be a problem for us."
"Us?"
"We are to be married. We are in a so-called romantic relationship. From what I understand, looking at each other, even while naked, is par for the course." She explained her reasoning. "I would not accept it from others, but if you wish to look at my bottom, you are free to do so."
"…I am?" She was right of course, as the normal rules of social convention were quite different between consenting partners, but Shirou had not expected Lorelei to be so casual and open about it. "Are you certain?"
Rather than replying verbally this time, Lorelei turned around again, to face the wall, whilst loosening her belt a bit.
Then, in a single movement, she lifted her dress up to her waist, baring her rear to him.
"Eh, Lorelei?!"
"I will not perform illicit acts with you until you are older, but looking is free." She said, continuing to hold up her dress. "And if this sight pleases you, there is no reason for me to deny it to you."
"…You don't have to do this." The redhead kept his eyes elsewhere for now, on an interesting spot on the ceiling.
"I know, but I want to."
"Even if it might be inappropriate?"
"It is not inappropriate. We are in a romantic relationship and in private besides. We can do what we want." Lorelei countered, her tone becoming more commanding. "Look at my butt, Shirou. I insist."
"Well, if you're sure…"
"I am."
"Thank you very much." Shirou lowered his eyes from that interesting spot, focusing on Lorelei's behind.
It was a very pretty butt, he noticed at once, barely obfuscated by the tiny string that had been wedged between the beautiful cheeks. The cloth was teal-coloured, the exact same shade as her dress, but the only reason he knew that was because of the hair-thin waistband.
It seemed she still preferred strings then, and side-tie strings at that.
"Why are you wearing underwear like that?" Now that he was actually allowed to look, Shirou asked the question that had been bothering him for a while, even since the first time she'd flashed him. There was nothing wrong with it of course, but after several months of living together with three girlfriends, he knew there was underwear that was meant for practical matters and underwear that was meant to be shown off. This was definitely the latter, and yet it seemed to be Lorelei's default choice for some reason.
"Why?" She blinked in response to his question, before she shrugged slightly. "I like it. It is pretty and unobtrusive."
"Unobtrusive?"
"I do not like too much cloth." She explained, still entirely casual. "At times, I don't wear any underwear at all, but that is not proper in a skirt or dress."
"…"
Wait, so did that mean that, at times, when he'd spoken with her while she was wearing trousers, she'd foregone underwear entirely?
Shirou really had no idea how to respond to that.
The brunette lowered her dress again a few moments later, tightening her belt once more, before making her rounds through her new room, entirely unabashed despite the fact she'd just admitted to going commando sometimes.
"The room is satisfactory." She concluded, looking most pleased indeed. "If I absolutely must, I shall be glad to spend the night here."
The shift in topics from her underwear, or lack thereof, to her new room was a bit jarring, but Shirou managed to keep up, somewhat.
"If you absolutely must? That doesn't sound like you're actually happy with it." He pointed out.
"As I said, the room is satisfactory. However, as your wife-to-be, I should spend the night in your room rather than my own."
And just like that, she struck him silent again.
There was no denying it anymore. Lorelei was also Dangerous, every bit as much as Sakura, Rin, and Ayako.
That was alright though. This was the kind of Danger that Shirou was absolutely fine with.
"There we go!"
Illya let out a cry of joy as she sailed through the night sky above Fuyuki, and Shirou smiled at her infectious enthusiasm as he followed, happy that she was enjoying herself so much.
They were finally going on that vigilante outing that he'd promised her some time ago, setting out together to punish evildoers and protect the innocent. Time had not lessened Illya's desire to become a true Magical Girl, and since she'd diligently finished all the homework that he'd given her, studying up on every relevant law and custom, he had no more reason to refuse or delay.
He still wasn't entirely sure whether it was the right thing to do, to revive Rakurai and plunge Japan's underworld into chaos again, but after some consideration, he'd decided one or two nights couldn't do any real harm.
Since he was now committed to the bit, he'd decided to go all-out from the start. Just like before, he was wearing his old and trusty vigilante outfit, consisting of black clothes, steel-tipped boots, a mask before his mouth and nose, as well as newly added goggles. All Reinforced of course, and designed to disappear in the black of night. An outfit that prioritised stealth, subterfuge, and ambush.
Illya on the other hand had gone down an entirely different route. She wore her Magical Girl outfit, coloured red and gold and pink, holding her Magical Girl wand at the ready in her right hand and a magical ribbon in her left. It was perhaps a bit more indecent an outfit than might be entirely proper, showing a lot of skin around the thighs and the stomach, but then, Illya was twenty-one, and more than capable of making her own decisions on clothing.
Frankly, Shirou was more concerned about her wand, which was made from stainless steel and tipped with a star form that was perfectly fit to crack open skulls. He was pretty sure he'd been able to impose upon her the importance of not killing or maiming the criminals they found on their path, but even so, he'd be keeping an eye on her.
"Where are we going first?!" Illya shouted at him, enthusiasm eroding away at her manners.
"Nagoya." Shirou replied, having done some research already on the best places to be for vigilantes like them.
"The harbour city?" Illya had clearly done her own research too, because she immediately recognised the name. "The place where the biggest port of Japan is located?"
"That's the one." Shirou confirmed. "Apparently, they're having a real problem with smuggling there, as well as forced prostitution and illegal organ dealings."
"Organ dealings?" Illya frowned, turning to him in confusion even as she continued flying in the same direction. "I get smuggling and prostitution, because that's about money and sex, but why would someone deal in organs?"
"Also money. Japan has a lot of citizens, many of them elderly, who need new organs for a transplant, but we also have the lowest number of donors in the civilised world." Shirou explained, having looked into it a while back. "It is estimated that almost twenty percent of organ transplants in Japan are performed with illegally sourced organs."
"How do you illegally source an organ?" Illya seemed fascinated by the concept, almost morbidly so.
"You either have it smuggled in, from places like Bangladesh, Thailand, or Vietnam, or you pay the Yakuza to arrange it for you. Usually, they take what they need from some poor sod who ended up in debt to them."
"They actually cut people open for their organs? I thought that was just an exaggeration by the police."
"No, old man Raiga confirmed it. Of course, he doesn't do anything like that, I checked, but he does know of other families who do. To them, it's just another source of easy money."
"Doesn't sound very easy." Illya huffed, scarcely able to imagine how that would even go. "But I suppose we should put a stop to it. How long do we have to fly to reach Nagoya?"
Shirou gave her a dry look in response, before he snapped his fingers. There was a flash of rainbow-coloured light, and the next moment, they were floating above the city in question.
"About one second." Only then did he reply, very cheekily.
"You are such a cheater, Shirou." Illya beamed at him, looking positively delighted that her brother was breaking all the rules. "I love it!"
"Haha." Once again, her enthusiasm was infectious, and Shirou could not stop himself from laughing for a moment. "Shall we get to work then? The harbour is over there, and it should be easy enough for us to check for smuggled goods."
The harbour inspection and the police in large port cities often struggled mightily with catching smugglers and intercepting contraband, mainly because of the immense amounts of cargo being imported and exported every day. They simply didn't have the time or manpower to inspect every container and crate, so they had to inspect on a sample-basis, picking out the shipments that seemed suspicious. Usually, they managed to intercept a fair amount of illegal goods that way, but the sheer quantity of it all meant that the lion's share still made it past them.
Shirou had his Clairvoyance though, and Illya had a similar though minor form of it, inherited when he'd made her his blood sister, so they could simply fly over the harbour and look down, instantly spotting all hidey holes and secret compartments that the smugglers so desperately wanted to keep hidden.
"Let's go." Illya pumped her fist, practically vibrating with excitement, but even though she was clearly raring to go and tear up a container or two, she didn't take off yet. "Ah, but first, what can I expect? Just drugs?"
"Drugs, yes, but also tax-free cigarettes, tax-free liquor, pirated copies of manga and light novels, firearms, and exotic animals."
"Manga?" Illya blinked, and Shirou nodded gravely. "Really?"
He understood her surprise. When he had investigated the most smuggled goods in Japan, he had expected the drugs, liquor, and firearms, but he too had been taken aback to learn that one of the most valuable goods being smuggled was stolen intellectual property. Piles upon piles of pirated manga and light novels being shipped out to be sold in countries all over the world. A profitable and popular market, apparently.
The exotic animals had also been a bit surprising, but mainly saddening, and in hindsight, perhaps not that surprising after all, considering what some people were like.
"We will get rid of the contraband. The smugglers probably won't be present themselves, so we can't arrest them, but if we can deny them profit by taking away their merchandise, we can still ruin their day." Shirou instructed his sister. "Burn the drugs and the cigarettes. The manga and light novels too. However, I want you to bring the liquor, firearms, and animals to the harbour inspection."
"Uh, okay, but why are we burning some stuff and not the other stuff?"
"Drugs, cigarettes, and paper burn well, and I don't want any corrupt inspector to get their hands on them. There is a chance they'll sell the contraband on themselves." Shirou didn't like having to be so suspicious, but he knew very well that the people working in law-enforcement weren't always of impeccable moral character themselves. "Liquor is a liquid though, and won't burn at all, firearms explode when exposed to fire, which is dangerous, and we are definitely not burning any animals."
"Right." Understanding his reasoning, Illya nodded firmly. "Except for wolves."
"No, we're not burning any wolves either."
"Mouuu."
"Stop complaining." Shirou was not about to indulge his sister's sadistic little quirks while they were out on a mission, instead handing her a small stack of sticky notes he'd just Projected. "When you bring the contraband to the offices of the harbour inspection, leave one of these with it. That should explain things adequately enough."
This is contraband we intercepted in your harbour. Please deal with it. Kind regards, Rakurai.
"What about me?" Illya asked after she'd read the message. "This is only mentioning your name."
"Have you finally settled on a name then?" Choosing a name for her vigilante persona had been one of the biggest challenges the white-haired girl had faced during her preparations, and judging by the complicated expression she gave him now, it was a challenge she hadn't overcome yet.
"Uh, ah, maybe… Well…" She hemmed and hawed for a moment, deep frowns creased in her forehead, before she made a snap decision. "Prism! I shall be Prism!"
"Very well, Prism." Shirou dismissed the notes he'd made earlier, reducing them to motes of light, before Projecting a new stack.
This is contraband we intercepted in your harbour. Please deal with it. Kind regards, Prism and Rakurai.
"You put my name first!" Illya gasped in joyous surprise, before she flew at him for a hug. "You're the best, Shirou!"
The redhead smiled, patting her head a few times, before she dislodged from him again.
"From now on, I am Rakurai." He hadn't accepted the rather embarrassing name for nothing. It served to keep his identity hidden, and he impressed upon Illya the need to do the same. "Do you understand that, Prism?"
"I do, Rakurai." She nodded firmly, putting on a heavier, deeper voice. "I am ready to begin the operation."
"Good. Move out."
With the instructions over, they finally got to work, splitting up to cover more ground as they flew over the immense harbour, scanning all the crates and containers both on land and on the ships.
It was barely ten seconds after they'd started that they both struck gold, and while Illya tore up several containers to reveal the hidden compartments filled with cocaine, Shirou carefully collected three severely malnourished crocodiles he found stashed away inside a truck.
The white-haired girl promptly set fire to the cocaine with a quick spell, laughing maniacally as she did so, while Shirou gave the crocodiles food and drink, before hastily bringing them to the harbour inspection office, calling both the local zoo and the nearest veterinarian on the way.
Those first discoveries set a trend that continued for the rest of the night. Everywhere they looked, some kind of contraband had been hidden away, and both Prism and Rakurai delighted in dragging it to the surface.
Prism was just a bit more obvious in her delight though, cackling as she burned the contraband with a bit too much zeal, sparking ghost stories that would continue to be told at the docks for decades to come.
Yamakazi Mitsuko was just about certain that her life had just turned into an action film.
She didn't know how it had happened, or why, but it was the best explanation she could think of for everything that was suddenly happening at the port of Nagoya.
As a harbour inspection officer, she understood that a lot of shady things were pretty much always going on at the docks, ranging from the smuggling of simple cigarettes and beer to full on cowboy-style shootouts between rival gangs. The docks were an immensely valuable area for both industry and crime after all, meaning it was never quiet.
Never before however had she seen anything like she did today.
Fires were erupting everywhere throughout the harbour, seemingly without rhyme or reason, while caskets full of liquor and crates full of guns were thrown through the windows of her office with such speed it took three men to haul them all away before the next batch arrived.
Gangs that normally were so skilled at flying under the radar were now buzzing around like ant hives that had been attacked by one of those cute anteaters Mitsuko sometimes saw in documentaries, rushing forth into the harbour with their guns drawn, but when Mitsuko and the armed response unit pursued them, they only found their unconscious bodies strewn around throughout the port.
"What is going on here?!" One of her colleagues bit out, sweat glistening on his brow. "Is this war? Has China declared war on us?!"
"We would have heard about it if they did." The captain of the armed response unit grunted, busily putting handcuffs on the unconscious gang members. "I'm running out of cuffs here. Someone, get me some new ones!"
"Can we get them from your main office?" One of his colleagues asked Mitsuko, as said main office of the harbour inspection was closer than the nearest police station.
"Of course. We should have a small supply." Mitsuko nodded, before holding up a hand to stop him from rushing off. "Prepare yourself though. It's a zoo in there."
"What?"
"Literally. Someone has been dumping wild animals in there for over an hour now. Last I heard, they had a flock of crocodiles, a pack of cheetahs, several lions and bear cubs, and more owls, toucans, parrots, and ravens than they can count."
The young man looked quite intimidated by the list, but he went nevertheless, making sure his protective equipment was in good condition as he ran.
"Are you serious?" The captain asked Mitsuko when the young man was out of hearing range.
"Completely." Mitsuko nodded. "Someone really has been dumping wild animals at the main office since nightfall."
It was yet another reason she believed herself in an action flick now. Between the fires, the guns, the gangs, and the animals, this night had everything required to make for a B-grade film.
"Is that not very dangerous?"
"So far, the beasts have been remarkably docile." According to her colleagues at the main office, the animals didn't attack anyone, but merely hung around the place with sleepy eyes, gratefully accepting all food and water they were offered.
Whatever the captain wanted to say in response was lost when another fire erupted not too far from them, ruby red and blazing hot.
"Damnit! Get the fire brigade over here!"
"The fire brigade is still on its way from the city, captain."
"What?! But fires have been breaking out all night! How are we not stuck in an inferno yet if no one's dealing with them?"
"They've been extinguishing by themselves, probably because of a lack of fuel." Mitsuko explained. "Some of the cargo being transported here is flammable, but the containers and the crates themselves are not, meaning the fire doesn't spread easily."
"Fire doesn't behave so conveniently. It should have no problem spreading, even if there is no fuel in immediate range." The captain countered as he looked at the conflagration nearby. "Something fishy is going on here."
"Fishy? Like what?"
"…" The captain was silent for a moment, weighing his options, before he made a snap decision. "Men, you guard these criminals here. Yamakazi, you're with me. We're going to check this fire out ourselves."
He rushed off, and Mitsuko followed after him, privately wondering whether it was really such a good idea to run towards a conflagration instead of away from it.
In the best-case scenario, a shipment of books had caught fire and would continue to burn until the paper had all turned to ash. Worst-case, a crate full of batteries was about to explode violently.
What they found when they arrived on the scene though was unlike anything either of them had expected.
"Is that heroin?" The captain asked as he stared with wide eyes at the burning pile of white powder.
"Yes, together with a bunch of manga." Mitsuko confirmed, quite surprised herself, though with her vast experience in the harbour inspection, it took her but a few seconds to connect the dots. "It's contraband."
"Someone is burning contraband?" The captain frowned, before his eyes cleared up as if something just occurred to him. "Wait a moment! So we have drugs and manga being burned, liquor and guns being thrown into your office, and wild animals being delivered to headquarters… That must mean…"
His voice tapered off, but Mitsuko connected the dots herself a moment later.
"Someone is attacking the smuggling operations!" She gasped, her eyes widening in shock.
It all fit. Someone really was combing through the harbour of Nagoya, ruthlessly tracking down all contraband to either destroy it or deliver it to the authorities.
No wonder the gangs were in such an uproar. Their livelihoods and profits were being attacked. Every crate of booze, every box of probably pirated manga, and every bag of drugs destroyed was thousands of yen down the drain. For the sort of criminals that punished even tiny mistakes from their closest allies with cutting off fingers, that had to be unforgivable.
They marched, to protect their investments, and they fell, taken down by an enemy that still managed to remain invisible despite the chaos that they were creating.
And as far as Mitsuko knew, there was only one vigilante with that kind of skill.
"Do… Do you think that this might be…?" She began, still a bit hesitant to actually share her theory, before she was interrupted by a loud clang nearby.
It was another crate of liquor, which had been thrown down next to them, somehow without damaging a single bottle inside.
The culprit was long gone by the time the captain and Mitsuko processed what had happened, and she instead focused on the crate itself.
It was filled with bottles, which had in turn been stamped with labels that claimed the contents were Irish whiskey. Mitsuko very much doubted that was true though, and even if the booze inside in any way resembled Irish whiskey, it was undoubtedly bootleg.
Bootleg alcohol was actually quite dangerous, often being made from methanol rather than ethanol, which could cause blindness and sometimes even death, so every crate taken off the market was a potential life saved.
This time however, Mitsuko was less interested in the crate itself and more on the note that had been attached to the side. A note with writing on it.
She read the short text, blinked, and then read it again.
Then she turned towards the captain with all haste.
"It's Rakurai." She stated, her theory now confirmed, as she handed him the piece of paper. "And someone named 'Prism', apparently."
"So he is back." The captain didn't doubt her for a moment, even before he'd read the note, showing that he too had had his suspicions already. "I… I have no idea what to do now."
A captain of the armed response unit was trained and prepared for a whole lot of things, from armed kidnappers to bomb-wielding terrorists, but there was nothing and no one that could possibly prepare them for something like Rakurai.
A normal vigilante would have been arrested promptly, both because they were breaking the law and to protect them from vengeful criminals, but to arrest Rakurai was nothing but a pipedream.
Even here, in the very midst of things, they couldn't catch a single glimpse of him, all while fires continued erupting, gang members went down screaming, and ever-increasing amounts of contraband were being unearthed and delivered to the authorities.
Worse, the vigilante seemed to have multiplied, if the note was anything to go by.
"Perhaps we should run damage control?" Mitsuko suggested. "We could at least make sure the fires don't spread, that the gang members won't escape, and that all the contraband being delivered is properly taken care of."
"I suppose there is enough to do." The captain sighed, resigning himself to his current powerlessness. "We should call every zoo in range, for the wild animals, and I'll chase up that fire brigade. They should have been here an hour ago."
They moved out again, back to their respective units, and they got to work, dealing as best they could with the maddening chaos all around them.
As for Mitsuko's impression that she was now stuck in an action flick, it was stronger than ever. Chaos, guns, wild animals, and criminal gangs had been joined by a legendary vigilante. A story that even Steven Spielberg and George Lucas couldn't devise together.
…She probably shouldn't admit out loud that she was actually enjoying herself quite a bit.
It took the two-man team of vigilantes about three hours to thoroughly search the harbour for all larger shipments of contraband. Of course, they hadn't found nearly everything in such a short time, but at the very least, all living animals had been saved. That mattered more to them right now than some weed ending up in someone's desk drawer.
With the whole city's attention now squarely on the docks however, Shirou and Illya decided it was time to move on. They didn't have anything to fear from the police or even the army, but the media was on the move as well, and neither fancied being caught on camera.
Guns and tanks weren't scary. An irate Lorelei very much was.
So they moved a little deeper into the city itself, towards Nagoya's red-light district.
Red-light districts generally had a bad reputation, which, to be honest, was often a reputation well deserved. Dens of vice and sin, they were places where people who behaved normally during the day could indulge in their darker desires during the night. Unassuming salarymen, loving husbands, and polite seniors flocked to the darker side of the city, to fight and do drugs, to pleasure and entertain themselves, often at the expense of those who were forced to be said entertainment.
In theory, red-light districts didn't have to be evil. Under the right circumstances, prostitution could be just a job like so many others, and if people wanted to destroy their own bodies with drugs, it wasn't exactly Shirou's place to interfere. The fights that broke out regularly rarely ended in serious injury, let alone death, and the many bars, clubs, and hotels were just like those outside of the district, only a little edgier and more expensive.
In practice however, there was always some rot hiding beneath the glittery surface.
Debt-slavery for instance, a form of servitude based on unpaid debts and the threat of force. It wasn't exclusive to the red-light districts, as it happened all over the world, but it did propagate wildly there. Furthermore, there was forced prostitution, mainly of very young women who were pressed into the business by lover boys, as well as drug-abuse, unlicensed gambling, large-scale fraud, tax evasion, and on very rare occasions, organ-harvesting.
Illya and Shirou couldn't do much about the tax evasion, but most of the other issues could be handled by burning down a building or two. Pimps and debt sharks couldn't run their businesses without a headquarters to call their own, and losing their paperwork in the fire also meant they lost most details on their 'clients', freeing a lot of people from their yoke.
The unlicensed gambling dens, where people were purposefully made high on opium so they would gamble without compunction, also went up in flames, as did the single laboratory for organ-harvesting that Shirou could find.
The police were on the scene quickly of course, but since they were completely overwhelmed by all the other issues surrounding them, such as the aforementioned laboratory and opium dens, avoiding them was even easier than it normally was.
The fire brigade was actually a bigger problem, drawn as they were to every fire that Rakurai and Prism set in the city.
"We might as well burn the whole district down at this point." Illya remarked when they convened for a moment on the roof of the biggest luxury hotel cum gambling house in the city, which for now remained unburned. "Criminals and scumbags seem to be hiding everywhere we look."
"Come now, Prism, don't exaggerate. We haven't burned down even a fraction of Nagoya so far." Shirou pointed out, correctly. "And we're almost done anyway. Most of the criminals around here have scattered to the wind, so it's up to the police from here on to catch them. I just need to deal with this place, and then we can go back home."
'This place' being the hotel they were standing on.
"You know, I meant to ask, why are we burning down casinos?" Illya cocked her head to the side, and even with her goggles on, it was clear she was squinting her eyes. "I thought gambling was legal in Japan."
"Some forms are, like betting on horse-races, as well as pachinko, keirin, kyoutei, and toto. Many other forms, like roulette, poker, blackjack, and bingo, are not exactly legal, but usually tolerated, provided the gambling houses are discreet about it." Shirou replied, doing his best to condense Japan's very complicated relationship with gambling in a few sentences. "I'm not against casinos or gambling myself, except when they are run by Yakuza-gangs for the explicit purpose of fleecing people and getting them into debt in order to practically enslave them."
"Ah, clear." Illya nodded, before also looking down. "And this place is doing so?"
"It might be one of the region's worst offenders." The redhead confirmed. Since the hotel was run by a Yakuza family, old man Raiga knew quite a bit about it, and he'd told some stories that made it clear the place needed a good torching. Stories of rape, murder, extortion, blackmail, and all kinds of other misdeeds, so many of them the hotel seemed to have some kind of black sheen about it in Shirou's eyes.
Burning the hotel down wouldn't completely solve the issue of course, that would require altering human nature to make them less susceptible to the lure of doing something as edgy as gambling, but it would make things far more difficult for the Yakuza who were operating from here.
And that was the whole purpose of this expedition. Not to manually catch every criminal, like Shirou had been doing before, but to disrupt their organisations and their operations, costing them immense amounts of money, effort, and time, while also leaving them open to the police.
Burning down this hotel should go a long way in achieving that.
"I'll come with you." Illya offered, but Shirou shook his head.
"I need you to set fire elsewhere. If I am going to burn down this hotel, I need to get everyone out of there first. I'll activate the fire alarm, but even then, it will take some time before everyone has evacuated, perhaps too much time. I cannot have the police or the fire brigade show up too early, so I need you to distract them."
The word 'distract' made Illya perk right up, the slight impish air that always hung around her increasing tenfold, and Shirou almost felt sorry for the emergency services of Nagoya.
"Hehehe." Her devilish laugh didn't make it any better, and Shirou watched with no small amount of apprehension as she flew off, ready to make mischief and create chaos.
He swallowed his apprehension though, resisting the urge to call her back, and instead made for the roof door of the hotel, unlocking it with a wave of his hand. Once inside, he tripped the first fire alarm that he saw.
The piercing and deafening sound blared through the entire building, loud and shrill and impossible to ignore, and the guests started moving at once.
Their response was so fast that it suggested they had seen something like this coming. Probably, they'd noticed the fires that he and Illya had set earlier and had been ready to go at a moment's notice.
The few guests he passed on the way down, who were all dressed and had packed suitcases at the ready, confirmed his suspicions. They really had been expecting this.
Good. That made things much easier for him.
Once he was sure that the top floors were completely empty, Shirou began setting fire to his surroundings, slowly working his way down. As always, the fire he created seemed to have a mind of its own, always remaining two paces behind him, as if it were some kind of trained dog. This allowed him to keep the flames under control, making sure that no one got caught by the heat or smoke. He wasn't here to kill anyone today.
Before him, he saw people fleeing in a panic, both guests and staff, and the presence of malnourished and half-naked young women, clad in appealing outfits and covered in garish make-up, as well as the persistent stench of burning opium, showed that he had been right to target this hotel specifically.
He looked up in alarm though when an explosion sounded in the distance, but a quick glance with his Clairvoyance showed it was Illya's work, and that it was more light and sound than it was substance.
It also worked very well to distract the fire brigade.
Down and down he went, past all the guestrooms and suites, through the gambling halls and dining rooms, before ending up in the parking garage, which was the hotel's first floor.
Most of the cars were long gone, but some remained, probably having been abandoned. The entire hotel was now one big inferno, so Shirou doubted anyone was still hanging around here.
But that wasn't entirely correct.
One of the parked cars suddenly started moving, accelerating quickly as it drove right at Shirou, purposefully targeting him.
Not five seconds after it had started moving, it crashed into him.
It was a large car, certainly weighing two tons, if not more, driving at over eighty miles per hour. The force of the impact was immense, leaving no doubt that the driver had aimed to kill him.
Of course, it wasn't nearly enough to actually harm Shirou. He had withstood spells and attacks that could shatter hills, so there was no way that a mere car was going to do any damage.
Still, the laws of physics demanded that a young man like Shirou, weighing less than seventy kilograms total, should be at least launched away by the force of a speeding car. Even if he wasn't harmed, he should be knocked back and thrown to the ground by the impact.
The laws of Divinity said 'screw that noise'.
Shirou didn't move an inch, remaining exactly where he was, while the car came to an immediate halt, warping around him as its rear was launched into the air. It would have done a full summersault too, but the redhead held it back, putting down again on four wheels.
Then he looked at the occupants of the car.
There were two of them, he noticed, one who had been wearing his seatbelt and one who had not.
How did he know? Because the one wearing his seatbelt was now sitting in his chair, panting and gasping with a seatbelt-shaped bruise across his torso, while the other, the driver, had been launched through the front window, his blood and brain matter having been splattered all over the engine cap.
Shirou frowned at the body, seeing instantly that there was nothing he could do for that one, before he moved over to the passenger, who was looking at him with wide eyes.
The door was jammed, since the car had been crumpled and crushed, but Shirou ripped it out easily enough, further scaring the already terrified man.
"M-Monster." He panted, his face white and his eyes bloodshot from terror. "D-Demon!"
"Almost." Shirou looked him into the eyes. "You will forget all about this, and you'll go outside to hand yourself in to the police. Tell them everything you know about your illegal and legal activities here."
"I will." The man instantly calmed down, now under Hypnosis, and Shirou reached out to heal him, bathing him in golden light.
Once that was done, the man scurried off, heading outside, and the redhead left too, his work here being done.
By now, the hotel had turned into the largest fire in the city by far. It was impossible to miss or to ignore. Both the police and the fire brigade had surrounded the place, establishing a wide perimeter and preparing for the worst.
The worst wasn't going to happen though. Shirou had no desire to destroy Nagoya in its entirety. Once the hotel had been reduced to ash, the fire would extinguish by itself.
He used the smoke and ash as a cover to fly up and away unseen, and soon, he found Illya again, who was still throwing around fake explosions, though they had lost most of their effect by now.
"They seem to have figured out I am bluffing." She said when Shirou came to fly next to her, gesturing at the fire brigade and the civilians, none of whom seemed very impressed anymore by the loud bangs. "And there's a lot of people filming on their smartphones."
"Let them. They never know where to look." It was inevitable that the eyes of civilians would be drawn to fire and movement, which meant that Shirou and Illya, who were purposefully floating around somewhere else entirely, were in the clear.
It also helped that they were so high up as to be little more than dots, even on camera.
"Let us leave." Shirou had done enough for one night, and he took Illya by the shoulder, before they both disappeared in a gentle flash of rainbow-coloured light.