Wrought King of Iron

Chapter 8: Eternity

What is love? Love is something highly subjective, and how one defines it will change from person to person. Before I attempt to give my own views on love, I should make it very clear that I will be referring to romantic love for a romantic partner. Some may define love as a deep attachment and passion for another, where they long to spend time with that other person. Some, merely view love as attraction, with no foundation of feelings but just an instinct of the brain to procreate with another. To some, love is an unfathomable feeling that comes and goes like the wind. It firmly grasps onto your heart and flourishes into an uncontrollable feeling infesting your daily thoughts. Ok, admittedly that last definition was just my personal experience of falling in love with Tohsaka, but nonetheless it is certainly love. But, despite the vast array of definitions, many types of love I have witnessed often felt, off. From what I could tell, many romantic relationships start when someone attempts to gain something from their partner. In that sense, their love is a conditional one that grew from the desire to take and take and take from the other person. If the pair place great expectations on each other, if there is a failure to meet that, their love fades and dissipates. I cannot call that true love.
So then, what is true love?

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It has been three weeks since Tohsaka and I started our studies at Clocktower. The first day was somewhat rough, having to follow the esteemed Tohsaka Rin as her disciple, with countless magi approaching her to ask her questions. It was as if she was some sort of celebrity, and me being the supposed student of hers was bombarded by sceptical people. They interrogated me about what sort of magecraft I was experienced in. They were quite disappointed when I told them I sucked pretty badly at most except for reinforcement magecraft, which is somewhat useful, and projection magecraft which the majority of magi think is utterly useless. I shared some classes with Tohsaka so we were together for a lot of classes, as well as to eat lunch.

Luvia and I encountered each other on the first day of term, for the first time after that incident with the assassins, and so I asked her about who attacked her. But she shrugged me off, trying to persuade me that as the heir of a powerful magus family, these incidents would occur very often. However, I was somewhat suspicious of such an answer, because these sort of things rarely, if ever, had happened to Tohsaka. I can't remember any such cases of her being attacked by other magi, except during the Fifth Holy Grail War. In addition, Luvia didn't seem to have any sort of back up or bodyguards. 

Due to my worries, I decided to be Luvia's friend so that in case the assassins would come back I could protect her. I can't consider myself as uninvolved in this case, because if more assassins were sent because of their belief in me being her bodyguard, then she may very well die, and that would be my fault. I can't allow her to die. Actually, I am quite thankful that Luvia has a more friendly attitude than other magi at this university, and allowed someone of my background to even talk to her, let alone be her friend. However, right now, Tohsaka and Luvia are fighting.

While I was conversing with Tohsaka in the hallways of Clocktower, a certain woman with blonde hair approached Tohsaka from behind. 'Your guard is down.'

'Guess again!' Tohsaka quickly deflected Luvia's hand with a powerful upper cut.

Luvia made no reaction at all to having her arm hit with a lot of force. However she looked and me and said my name, incorrectly that is. 'Sherou!'

'Ms Luvia?' I was rather surprised by what I just witnessed. It seemed as if the two already knew each other. On top of that, they don't seem to have friendliest relations either. This is gonna be a pain.