Prologue

Shirou didn't want to go to Tokyo.

All in all, it was a nice city, and after doing a bit of research, he was sure that there would be plenty of things he could do to spend his time there. It was the capital of Japan after all, so it was bound to be more expansive and modern compared to Fuyuki.

But either way, he expected that he wouldn't have too much time for that. And besides, Tokyo seemed like a pretty nice place, but Fuyuki was home. He had Sakura, Fujimura-sensei, hell, even Shinji had become somewhat kind after the holy grail war. He still couldn't call the blue haired pimp a friend, but it was still a start. Shirou could see that the boy was at least making somewhat of an effort, and appreciated it.

The holy grail war, hopefully, was now a thing of the past. After the events that had transpired, Shinji, Rin, and Shirou, the last surviving masters, had gotten together and agreed that everything had to be water under the bridge. Well, it was more of Rin negotiating with Shinji, but either way, the meeting had turned out effective. Shirou was glad that he could finally at least somewhat put the gruesome events behind him and move forwards. The image of Illya with her heart ripped out was still fresh inside his mind, but he made his best effort to move forward.

For a while, literally everything was normal. Too normal, in fact. Taiga Fujimura went back to spending the day in Shirou's house, Sakura naturally helped out, and Issei kept blasting Shirou for hanging out with Rin, calling the magus girl a "manipulating witch" who would turn him into a frog.

Oh boy, Shirou wondered what his reaction would be if Issei found out that Shirou was her boyfriend. No doubt, he would get at least a day of furious lecturing about how he was trudging in extremely dangerous grounds.

And the best part was, he would have a point.

To be a magus was to walk with death. That was something Emiya Kiritsugu had practically drilled into his head. And being involved with Rin meant that he would most likely be caught up in her strange little experiments with her magecraft. He wasn't one to dis-encourage the girl, but sometimes, they could get slightly... Out of hand.

This was the new normal for Emiya Shirou. At least, until a day ago when Rin suddenly told Shirou that they were going to Tokyo.

1 Day Ago

"E- Eh? Tokyo?"

"Yes, Emiya-kun, Tokyo."

"W- Why are we suddenly going to Tokyo?" He paused. "Wait, no, that isn't the question. Why are you taking me to Tokyo?" He asked in desperation.

"Because, Emiya-kun, 2 reasons. First off, I will be gone for a year, so I will need company. Second, I am investigating the mental shutdown cases there, so there may be possibly dangerous magecraft at work here. If that comes to be, I will need backup. These cases have already killed dozens of people on a train, and if it's magecraft at work, we can't allow this to continue. Don't you agree, Emiya-kun?" She paused. "And besides, I only asked you to come with me. You can decline, you know. Just know that you'll be spending an entire year without me." She stated bluntly before entering her room and closing the door behind her, most likely to change.

Shirou blinked in confusion. He could refuse? He stood on his spot unmoving for a good while, completely caught off guard by the conversation that had just transpired.

"So, Emiya-kun? Have you made your decision yet?" Rin's voice echoed out of the room.

'If I go, I'm going to have to leave Fuyuki for an entire year, and I won't be able to see any of the people I care about here... But the mental shutdown cases already killed dozens of people, and there might be a powerful magus at work...'

"I'll go with you." He sighed. "I'll go back home and start packing."

In her room, Rin grinned. She felt bad for exploiting Shirou's ally of justice ideals, but she really wanted him to go along with her.

But of course, she would never tell him that.

That would be way too embarrassing.

Present

Shirou opened the door to his house to find 2 very familiar faces.

"SHIROU! You missed dinner! Sakura cooked some kinda western meal and it was so good!" Taiga Fujimura said, energetic as always.

"Sorry, Fuji-nee, I was... busy." Shirou responded with a light smile, pondering on how he could tell 2 of the people who were practically his roommates that he was going to be gone for a year. He couldn't outright say that it had to do with investigating possibly life threatening magecraft, since neither of the people in the room were actual mages, but on the other hand, he wasn't exactly the best at making excuses. He wasn't an amazing liar in general either. There was a huge chance that Fujimura sensei would easily find out that he was up to something, and that he wasn't telling her the full truth.

He sighed. How the hell was he supposed to do this?

'C'mon Shirou, you survived a freaking holy grail war, you can do this easily!' He reassured himself to no avail.

Because if there was anything he was more afraid of than Gilgamesh, it was a pissed off Taiga Fujimura.

"Fuji-nee?" He softly called out, carefully phrasing his words in his head. "I... need to tell you something."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"I... am going to Tokyo for a year."

...

...

...

"WHAT!"

Shirou cringed in despair. This was already going south really quickly. "I am going to Tokyo... To take care of some business I have there." Shirou grimaced. It was a lame, cliche excuse, but he wasn't exactly the most creative person in the world when it came to things like these.

Fujimura sensei smirked and put a hand to her hips. "Hmm? And what business do you have in Tokyo, Shirou-kun?" Shirou grimaced. He really needed to think these things over before he put them into practice.

"U- Um... I... Have some personal business there!" Shirou stuttered out.

"Uh, no. Shirou, I'm your guardian, Shirou. And I know you well enough to know..." She paused with a coy smile. "That you are lying." Taiga grinned. "You're too much of a goody two shoes to lie, Shirou. So tell me. Why are you going to Tokyo, of all places?" She asked this time with genuine sincerity in her voice.

Shirou sighed.

"It has to do with... Kiritsugu." It wasn't a lie. It didn't have to do with Kiritsugu himself, but it had to do with his line of work. So it was still a half truth.

Fujimura sensei widened her eyes at the mention of his adoptive father's name, and Sakura... flinched?

Taiga sighed.

"You really have no intention of telling me, don't you, Shirou?"

"Sorry, Fuji-nee. But... It's really important that I go."

Taiga bit her lip, pondering the possibilities. Despite her carefree attitude, she really did care for the boy. Ever since he was younger, Shirou Emiya had truly been something else. Always putting others before himself, and rarely, if not never being selfish during his entire life.

She sighed. The boy wouldn't simply go to Tokyo for an entire year without a reason, and she trusted him. After all, this was one of the first times he had actually asked her if he could do something that didn't involve helping other in some way or form. Although, she did suspect that helping others had something to do with the request. He was, after all, striving to be an ally of justice.

Either way, it would be unfair of her to deny one of the first requests Shirou had given her.

"Alright. You can go."

Shirou's eyes widened. Just like that? He had expected Fujimura sensei to be a little more... resistant.

"BUT!" Taiga yelled. "You have to make sure you're safe, alright? And no skipping out on school, either." She said before mumbling, "Although I probably don't even need to tell you that..." She mumbled. "ANYWAYS! Just... Come back home next year, alright? I can't believe I'll live for an entire year without your cooking." The middle aged professor groaned, making Shirou chuckle lightly.

"Don't worry, Fuji-nee. I'll stay out of danger." That was probably a complete and utter lie.

He hated it. But no matter what, his magecraft had to stay a secret.

"Senpai? Can I talk to you about something?" Sakura interrupted quietly. Shirou turned to her, and saw that she had a dead serious look on her face. More serious than he had ever seen her before. Confused, he simply nodded, and found himself getting dragged by Sakura into his room.

Sakura closed the door tight.

"Senpai, you lied." Sakura's eyes were obscured by her bangs.

Shirou stuttered. "W-What? What would I lie about?"

"That you would stay out of danger."

Shirou stopped.

"I promise I'll be careful, Sakura." He carefully said.

"So you admit that you're going to be in danger?" Sakura asked sadly. "Senpai, there's only one reason you would go to Tokyo."

Shirou looked downwards. Did... Sakura know about his magecraft?

"Just... come back home next year, senpai. You're like a big brother to me." With that, Sakura simply gave Shirou an embrace and left the room.

And in the room stood Emiya Shirou, in all his glory, wondering what the hell had just happened.

...

"Yep, I told Fuji-nee and Sakura, and they said I could go. But Tohsaka, do you have anything planned out for a year long trip?"

"Emiya-kun, you underestimate me. Don't worry, I've already prepared living quarters, bills, resources, school, and gems." Shirou grimaced at the last part. Rin's gem magic wasn't exactly cheap.

"Tohsaka..."

"Yes Emiya-kun?"

"How many gems did you buy?"

Tohsaka Rin only giggled in response, and somewhere far away, Emiya Shirou shuddered and nearly dropped his telephone.

He had the sudden feeling, that some questions were better left unanswered.

...

Shirou stepped on the train and promptly moved towards the back, where Rin was already seated. He had not packed too many belongings to Tokyo. Just a few pairs of clothes, toiletries, and a book about Tokyo that he planned on reading some time in the near future. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about his companion, who had stuffed a duffel bag with what seemed to be extremely dangerous magic items.

He shuddered at the sheer thought before promptly sitting down next to Rin.

"Tohsaka?"

"Yes Emiya-kun?"

"I forgot to ask, what's the name of the school that you signed us up for?"

"Shujin Academy. It's a school with an overall good reputation, and thankfully, working equipment." She joked, looking Shirou in the eye.

"Well, I suppose we'll see about that." Shirou replied with a chuckle.

"NEXT STOP: TOKYO." The announcer on the train said as the train started to accelerate, heading into a city far away.

'Mental shutdown cases, huh.'

Shirou idly wondered what the next year would bring.

Notes:

Alright, prologue finished!

To put it short, this is my interpretation of what would happen if Shirou and Rin were to be in the Persona 5 plot. And don't worry, I won't involve them and make them buddy buddy with Akira and the phantom thieves right away, because I want to do something different than the generic "Shirou instantly joins the phantom thieves and does his hero of justice shit" plotline. He will eventually get involved with the P5 main cast, but it will be a long ways off. I'm still questioning whether I want Shirou to support the phantom thieves. And yes, Shirou won't take the place of the Protagonist. Akira will still definitely be involved in the story.

Now, 3 questions.

1. Who do you want Akira to be paired with?

2. Should Rin and Shirou have personas?

3. If Shirou/Rin DO have personas, who do you want them to be? (I'm tempted to make Shirou's persona Gilgamesh or something because it would be freaking hilarious watching Gilgamesh aimbot shadows with his swords while muttering things like, "Stupid mongrel...")