Floccinaucinihilipilification

Indemnification

Indemnification

[inˌdemnəfəˈkāSHən]

(in-DEM-ni-fi-CAY-shun)

NOUN

Noun form of Indemnify.

Indemnify

[inˈdemnəˌfī]

(in-DEM-ni-fy)

VERB

Compensate (someone) for harm or loss.

• • • • •

     My chance didn't come until three days later, and even then I almost missed it. I hadn't seen Shirou all weekend since Friday afternoon, which was unusual to say the least. Therefore, my objective was pushed to Monday. It was hardly conducive to confront him at school seeing as I had next to no classes with him, so I was forced to wait until afterwards. I knew he had soccer practice on Mondays. I also knew that unlike most people, rather than immediately resting after exercising, Shirou preferred to let his adrenaline level fall more gradually. His most constant method was climbing, trees being his usual way of accomplishing this. 87% of the time, at least. The other 13% was composed of various options ranging from rocks to buildings. If today was one of the outlier days that happened to fall in the 13%, I was out of luck. However, all probability said it was not, so I was not unduly worried. Now, all that was left was to determine which tree he would climb, or at least the general vicinity in which he would turn up. After analyzing several possibilities, I settled on the southwest corner of Spring Park. It wasn't far from his practice field, it was rarely occupied, and it was full of sturdy trees, perfect for climbing.
     It took me an hour, twenty-seven minutes, and fifty five seconds to walk there, meaning I arrived approximately 7 minutes before I estimated Shirou would. I took the opportunity to look around in the hopes of determining which tree he would be likely to climb, and was quickly able to narrow it down to only a small handful. It then occurred to me to take a closer look, and I realized that the grass at the base of one of them was sparser than expected judging by observation of the surrounding area. Perfect.
     I didn't bother with any elaborate hiding strategy. Instead I simply walked around to the side of the tree opposite the direction Shirou would be coming from so I would be effectively hidden from view. I leaned against the tree and waited. He should be arriving in approximately 3 minutes and 17 seconds.
     My calculations were incorrect.
     It took 37 seconds longer than predicted.
     Hmm.
     His arrival was given away by the crunch of cleats on dirt. They got closer and closer, finally stopping on the other side of the tree I was standing behind. Perfect.
     I heard the rustle of clothing as he bent over to take off his cleats, shinguards, and socks, then a soft thump as they were dropped in a pile to the side. He began climbing the tree, but I didn't move yet. I waited until he stopped, then waited several seconds more to make sure he was settled. I then quietly slipped off my own shoes and padded around to the place where Shirou had gone up. Looking up into the branches, I saw how high Shirou was. I almost whistled, but restrained myself. It would be unwise to give away my presence just yet. I grabbed a branch and easily swung myself up into the tree, sticking close to the trunk and avoiding leaves when possible in order to minimize noise.  It was a good thing that I read in trees often, otherwise I may not have been able to accomplish this task nearly as efficiently. As I made my way higher and higher, I realized I was hearing singing.  My first thought was, That cannot possibly be Shirou. My second, more logical thought was Of course it's Shirou, he's the only one other than yourself for several acres, at least. In light of this realization, I thought it only practical to listen.
     I continued to climb until I was on the same level as Shirou, only a few branches away from his back. I wasn't at all surprised that he hadn't seen me, with the amount of branches this tree had. There were at least three convenient blind spots on nearly every level.
     I finally settled there and listened. I realized I had somehow never heard Shirou sing before. I didn't even know he could. There was a significance in that which, in different circumstances, I would have deciphered immediately. However, this was not other circumstances. Right then, I was captivated by the pure voice of the friend that I realized I might not have known as well as I thought.
     This is what I heard: