Throne of Heroes

CHAPTER 1.4 - SHIROU, FOX GIRL, AND A STRANGE WORLD

Shirou found himself standing in the middle of a grassy plain. The gently blowing wind rustled the grass, and the blue sky with scattered clouds completed the beautiful scene. Unsure of what to do, Shirou did the first thing that came to his mind—to explore this mysterious place.

The last thing he remembered was falling asleep after a painful ritual with his father. Putting two and two together, he concluded that this might be a dream. However, dreams shouldn't be this vivid, this real. Despite being an amnesiac, he knew at least that much. Maybe he should conduct an experiment.

Shirou stopped his walk and raised both of his arms.

"Fly!"

...

Nothing happened.

Shirou pouted, "This is the lamest dream ever. What's the point of dreaming if I can't fly?" he grumbled.

With nothing better to do, he continued his aimless walk. After a moment of pure boredom, Shirou came across a small hill. He decided to climb it, thinking that maybe he would see something from a higher vantage point. Reaching the top of the hill, Shirou looked around. He saw a grassy plain with scattered hills, some nearby forests, and a distant... city.

Furrowing his brows, Shirou observed that it certainly looked like a city, but it was undeniably strange. For one, he noticed that the buildings were mismatched with each other. One part of the city resembled Miyama Town, with traditional Japanese buildings, only larger. Another part of the city resembled a western area, complete with what Shirou assumed to be a western-styled castle. There were also areas built in a desert, with buildings surrounding giant triangular things. There were many other areas in the city that he couldn't properly describe. It was all just so weird.

"Oh my, who do we have here?"

Shirou jumped a bit, startled by a sudden mysterious voice behind him. He immediately turned around to see the one who had spoken. A young, in Shirou's own opinion, very beautiful woman stood there. Her pinkish hair was tied in two and swayed gently. She adorned a modified ornate blue kimono. What caught most of Shirou's attention, though, were the fox ears on top of her head and the very fluffy-looking fox tail behind her back.

Shirou stared at her for a moment before deciding to do the polite thing and greet her. "...Hello."

The young woman walked closer, then knelt in front of Shirou. She gave him a beautiful smile and patted his head. Shirou couldn't help but feel very flustered when she did that.

"What a cute young master I have here. I'm Tamamo no Mae. You can just call me Tamamo or Tama-chan if you want, young master."

Young master? Why did she call him that?

"Umm, my name is Emiya Shirou... Uh, huh... Tama-nee?"

Calling a woman who was obviously much older than him by just her name bothered him a bit. But based on her bubbly personality, she might not appreciate it if he was too formal either. So Shirou chose the safest option and called her by a nickname, similar to how he referred to his kind-of-adopted-but-not-really sister, Fuji-nee.

Clearly, this was the best option because a moment later, Shirou was pulled into a hug by Tamamo. She was obviously over the moon, obvious by how much she smothered Shirou's face against her chest.

"Uuuuhhh, you're so cute, young master! Yes! You can call me Tama-nee from now on, hehehe."

After a couple more session of Tamamo hugging and cuddling Shirou much to his dismay and embarassement, she finally let Shirou go.

"I never thought I would meet you this soon, young master. But I'm glad nonetheless," said Tamamo with a warm smile.

Shirou, still red-faced and a little flustered, tilted his head. "Why are you calling me 'young master,' Tama-nee?"