Saberfes!

Chapter 183

Chapter 183

*bzzrt*

*bzzzzzrt*

*bzz-*

*dokkan!*

"OIIIII, SHIROUUU!!!!"

The sliding doors slammed to the end of the rails as a tiger barged into the Emiya residence, the stomach under the striped T-shirt rumbling in warning as saliva slid off it's teeth. The house itself seemed to tremble with the heavy footfalls of the predator, announcing its presence as if it owned the place, stalking its prey with experienced familiarity. Going through the kitchen, rummaging around in the fridge for snacks or leftovers, barging into every single room in the residence, it took a while before the neurons in the beast's mind finally fired.

"Oh crap, he's staying with Issei and Kuzuki now!"

Sprinting back out without even bothering to clean up the mess she had left behind in the house, she only remembered to properly lock the outer gate before jumping on her scooter and rushing off to the temple at top speeds, or at least as fast it was legally allowed. Not that the scooter was that fast in the first place anyways.

On the way there, she felt her mobile ring, raising the phone to her ear as she steered the scooter with one hand expertly, turning corners and dodging cars with no sweat.

"Taiga-chan? Did you see the news? The reporter was saying just now that a gas leak occurred on Ryuudou Temple because of the meteor strikes. It looks like the whole area is now sealed off by the police. Do you think Emiya-kun is ok?"

The anxious voice coming through the speakers was that of Otoko Hotaruzuka, also known as Neko to her friends. She'd known that Shirou had moved to the Temple to stay at as he'd told her after informing her that he would be taking extended leave from his part-time job at the bar she managed, but she never would have imagined that the an explosion caused by meteors would occur out of the blue at the temple he was staying at. Despite being remote, she had never heard of something like that occurring there at all.

The scooter screeched to a halt as Taiga unconsciously gripped the brakes tightly, her heart freezing upon hearing those words.

"A gas leak? Explosion? At the temple?"

"Y-yeah, that's what the news is saying."

Neko's eyes remained glued to the television mounted at one corner of the bar, photos showing a cordoned off entrance with the torii gate that led to the top of Ryuudou mountain, yellow tape wrapped around the place. Despite that, the craters and damaged stairs were plainly in sight, only slightly obscured behind the police officers milling about.

It sparked seeds of anxiety within Neko, and these emotions were transferred to Taiga as her imagination began to run wild, outrageous scenarios involving Shirou popping up one by one in her head, most of them ending up with his dead body. She flattened her body against her scooter like a pro cyclist, gunning the engines for all it was worth as the speed limits were completely ignored. Weaving her way through the thankfully empty streets as she rushed past the lights regardless of what color they were, her wheels screeched as they pulled tight corners close enough to the ground that her jeans almost scraped the pavement. The few people who saw her thought she was some daredevil youngster playing around, with no the wiser about her identity as a teacher in a local school.

By the time she pulled up at the foot of Ryuudou Mountain, her palms were sweaty and her heart was beating like a drum. Slamming the helmet onto the seat of the scooter in her haste, she left it idling as she raced up to the nearest police officer.