Chapter 10: Panicked Rin
In the past few days, whether on the news or from classmates and teachers at school, everyone has been talking about the recent frequent occurrences of natural disasters and accidents.
Only Rin knew the truth about these events.
These strange events that had happened recently were all due to the Holy Grail War.
Rin also had some understanding of the Holy Grail War.
Her father was probably currently engaged in a spectacular battle with other magi in the Holy Grail War.
Such a father made Rin feel proud at all times.
In order to get closer to such a father, Rin, as the 'only' person in the school who knew the truth, also developed a sense of responsibility.
And just today, Rin discovered that her good friend Kotone had not come to school.
Although Rin at the time did not think anything had happened to Kotone, after calling Kotone's home several times and receiving no answer, Rin began to feel a bit nervous.
Rin, who knew the truth behind the continuous strange occurrences and accidents, did not want anything to happen to her good friend Kotone.
Kotone was innocent!
She was just an ordinary girl, very cute, and always maintained trust in Rin, and Rin reciprocated this trust Kotone had in her.
Whether it was while cleaning the classroom or when Kotone was bullied by other children, Rin would stand up and chase away all those bad things for Kotone.
And now, Kotone seemed to have encountered something even more dangerous, but Rin felt she had no reason to back down.
As a magus, she was now holding onto the conviction of saving her friend, and her courage was unprecedented.
"Kotone... wait for me!"
Murmuring this, Rin took out a pocket watch.
From its appearance, it seemed to be nothing more than a very ordinary pocket watch, but it was a gift from Rin's father, Tohsaka Tokiomi.
It was not an ordinary pocket watch, but a magical device capable of detecting magical energy fluctuations, and by relying on this watch, Rin could locate places emitting strong magical energy fluctuations.
Rin held the pocket watch in front of her, staring intently at the pointer on the watch.
Rin was actually quite nervous about running from the Zenjou house to the New City area alone at night.
However, even if she recalled today many years later, Rin felt she would not regret what she was doing now.
Regardless of whether she ultimately succeeded or not, Rin felt she had to give it her all.
Just then, Rin saw the magical energy pointer in her hand begin to move.
It seemed to have sensed the direction where strong magical energy was being used, and the pointer on the watch began to tremble violently.
Then, it pointed to the position behind Rin.
"Huh?"
Rin immediately wore a confused expression, because if there truly were magical energy fluctuations behind her, why hadn't she noticed them on her way here?
Rin looked back and found an abandoned factory not far away. Its heavily rusted iron gate made a creaking sound as the night wind blew.
"There's no one there..."
Just as Rin was filled with doubt, the magical energy pointer on the pocket watch in her hand suddenly trembled again, then turned to face forward.
"The magical energy fluctuation behind me suddenly disappeared..."
Now, only the front remained with magical energy fluctuations.
Rin swallowed, feeling a sense of trepidation about the recent nights in Fuyuki City.
In the days before this, she had never seen the magical energy pointer show so many reactions.
She figured these had only begun to appear because of the Holy Grail War.
However, for Rin now, none of that mattered anymore.
Because outside the alley where Rin was hiding, a tall man appeared, walking past while holding the hands of two children.
The place the magical energy pointer in Rin's hand was pointing to was precisely a purple bracelet worn on the man's wrist.
"That's right, that guy did it!"
Just by seeing the two children whose hands the man was holding, and the lifeless eyes of those two children, Rin was absolutely certain that the man was definitely the villain who had abducted Kotone.
"Kotone, I'm coming to save you!"
Rin gritted her teeth, looked at the figure of the man who had already walked away, and quickly stood up, intending to follow him.
However, just as Rin was about to stand up, she suddenly felt as if something was approaching behind her.
Even without rear vision, a person will still have a special feeling if something is approaching from behind.
Rin was experiencing this feeling now, and especially when she was absolutely certain that someone was behind her, her hair instantly stood on end, her mouth opened wide, and she instinctively wanted to scream from fright.
However, just as Rin was startled and nearly about to cry out, a hand reached out from beside her slender, fair neck and covered her mouth.
"Wuwuwu...!?"
Being tightly hugged from behind and having her mouth covered, Rin instantly began to struggle in fright.
"If you struggle too much, you'll be discovered, you know. Don't you still want to save your classmate?"
Hearing these words, Rin's resistance immediately weakened.
Then, recovering from her brief panic, she turned her face and saw Shirou standing behind her.
Red hair, brown eyes, a handsome face, and a height slightly taller than Rin's.
Rin couldn't help but widen her eyes.
"You... you're the person who was stalking me after school!?"
"..."
Shirou was momentarily stunned.
Well, it seemed he wasn't very good at stalking after all.
"I just happened to be on the same path as you at that time."
Shirou offered an explanation he didn't even believe himself, but it seemed Rin wasn't foolish enough to buy it.
Shirou didn't care and continued speaking.
"My name is Orihara Shirou, and I'm a student at your school. By the way, what's your name?"
Rin was startled by the sudden question about her name, then hesitantly spoke her name.
"I... my name is Rin... Tohsaka Rin..."
"Hmm, good evening, Rin."
Shirou smiled and said to the girl.
Being called by her given name by Shirou, Rin felt her small face grow hot.
They were clearly not that close, yet he immediately called her by her first name.
What in the world was wrong with this person!