Chapter 5. It Takes Only One Arrow to Shoot Down an Iron Bird
His brain seemed to go blank for a few seconds. Only when he came to could Shirou feel his body lying on the grass.
At a distance that felt almost non-existent, Saber propped herself up with one hand, letting her other arm hang limply.
They were close enough to hear each other breathe.
If she let go of the hand supporting her, their figures would partially overlap, both lying there on the grass together.
The result of the exchange just now gradually became clear.
Shirou knew it was impossible to intercept the speed of that strike to interrupt it, so he hadn't planned on blocking from the start. He simply chased a 1% chance of reversal, seized the opportunity to execute a tactic, and simultaneously thrust his sword toward the opponent's vital point as predicted for the next moment.
This is the so-called "I'll get hurt, but so will you" tactic.
Since it was only a mock battle, even a direct hit wouldn't have pierced Saber's armor. However, if left ignored in a real fight, the result would have been mutual destruction.
The move succeeded. Because she had to avoid a vital strike, she twisted her body, which in turn affected the sword striking toward Shirou's own vitals.
And so, the situation became this—Shirou was hit in the shoulder by the wooden sword, while Saber was narrowly grazed on the left arm.
"A fine response, Shirou."
Saber wore a smile. An ache akin to numbness was no big deal to the two people here.
"A draw."
She let go of her support.
Literally, the two of them lay relaxed on the grass.
Shirou wanted to say something, but felt a twitch in his cheek.
It wasn't just the shoulder that was hit that hurt; the other shoulder was aching too. Most likely, Saber's finishing blow hadn't been fully held back, and without either of them noticing, it had grazed the skin, and the intense physical activity had torn the wound further.
"Shirou?"
Sensing Shirou's slight abnormality, Saber leaned in with worry in her voice. Her weight didn't even rest on Shirou for more than ten seconds before she immediately moved to sit upright right beside his shoulder.
A wound caused by Saber was special and wouldn't heal instantly. Perhaps because she knew this herself, she was more flustered than usual.
"It's fine. I've learned basic healing magecraft now; I can handle a surface wound like this. I just forgot I was hurt, which is why it looked so dramatic..."
Saber watched with focused intensity until the wound was healed, only then half-closing her eyes.
"Though I may have been too immersed just now to have the right to lecture, I believe you are pushing yourself far too hard, Shirou."
"If I don't push myself, how could I ever have a chance of catching up to you, Saber?"
Shirou's words made Saber fall silent.
After a long while, she nodded with an expression full of mixed emotions.
Saber really was considerate of others.
Shirou lay there for a long time in a position where he could see Saber's face just by lifting his gaze, and Saber continued to watch him in that same posture without tire, until Shirou suddenly remembered something important.
"As usual, please don't tell Sakura... no, don't tell Rin or the others either. About getting hurt during training."
Saber shook her head helplessly, then nodded as if giving in. After another long pause, she suddenly said:
"So, this is a 'secret between the two of us,' then?"
"Ah, yeah, you could put it that way."
Shirou nodded, not quite following. For some reason, Saber showed a smile of genuine joy. Different from her side as a swordsman, this smile could truly only be described as "cute."
Basking in the peaceful atmosphere, Shirou looked up at the boundless blue sky.
"...?"
An electric current surged through him.
The surrounding forest was peaceful, yet a thread of abnormality ran through his heart.
Something had moved in his flickering vision just now. Positioned in the sky, it was a speck as tiny as a grain of dust.
One might mistake it for a natural phenomenon, but it was abnormal. His surging blood insisted so. As his pupils focused, that small dot began to sharpen in Shirou's eyes.
It was a drone.
—And it was clearly suspicious.
The reasoning within his mind hadn't even taken shape yet. An instant after the information was input, his body reacted before logic could. He skipped the cumbersome process and jumped straight to the conclusion. This is called "Combat Intuition (Mind's Eye)."
Shirou understood the specific oddities a step later than the conclusion itself.
It was flying too high. The hardness of the analyzed materials was unnaturally high.
And while Saber might not have been able to see it in such detail, Shirou's eyes could see clearly: there was a tiny camera lens beneath the drone, pointed directly at him, rotating slightly with its flight path.
Surveillance?
Shirou knit his brows.
He didn't know who was watching, but he obviously couldn't just leave it be.
"Saber, I might have to interrupt you for a second."
Shirou stood up and signaled Saber to look up with his eyes. Saber, finally noticing the drone in the sky, her expression turned serious.
"At this distance, I can handle it."
Shielding Saber behind him, Shirou opened his palm.
"Trace—"
His left hand calmly gathered azure magical light.
"—on."
He gripped a silver-shining bow firmly in his palm.
The slender bowstring remained sturdy even when pulled to full draw, exuding a wild beauty. Its arrows were immaterial arrows of magical energy. Upon impact, they would dissipate without leaving a trace.
With eyes wide, Shirou's vision reflected the sky. His gaze and his bow were both locked onto the iron bird in the far reaches of the heavens.
Taking the full draw of the string as the signal, the "projectile" was fired.
Ssh.
With that sound, the arrow pierced through the air.
A beat later, the tiny iron bird in the sky turned into wreckage and plummeted. In the vision now free from surveillance, the corner of Shirou's mouth twitched.
A mere three thousand meters—Shirou could hit his target without fail. And that didn't just apply to things on the ground.
After making the bow vanish, Shirou looked up at the sky; it was clear now. Shirou leaned back against a tree, gazing at the white-tinged expanse of the heavens. The swordsman gazed at the sky alongside him.
"That was a blunder."
Even though he realized it now, Shirou could only sigh helplessly with a wry smile.
They had likely been under surveillance for quite a while. Was there any point in shooting it down only now?
But Shirou didn't voice his doubts. The past is the past, after all; there was no point being imprisoned by it.
So, the question was: who was watching? And why?
Was there anything about Emiya Shirou worth monitoring?
Being tracked the moment they stepped off the plane meant the surveillance net had been draped over the airport long ago. They might have even existed before Shirou arrived.
Emiya Shirou becoming a target of surveillance, and a surveillance net that had already existed in Snowfield. Was there a necessary connection between the three?
"Saber, let's head back. It's time for breakfast."
"True. After breakfast, we should ask Rin to investigate with her familiars."
Saber retracted her peaceful expression, looking as though a storm were brewing, and agreed.
Tucking a drone away at an altitude of three thousand meters where ordinary people couldn't reach was a neat trick, but such small games had no effect on Shirou. However, more than ruining the mastermind's plan, not even knowing who the mastermind was proved to be the more significant problem.
Shirou had discovered and shaken off the surveillance with ease; the observer themselves didn't seem to pose a threat.
But that was only in the sense of the "observer's skill level."
"Saber."
"I'm listening, Shirou."
"It's one thing if the surveillance was meant for us from the start, but... what if it wasn't?"
Though it didn't really matter to Shirou.
Still...
He was starting to get a bit of a bad feeling.