As I lay down on my bed, I think back to the CYOA I just filled out, and how exciting it would be to live in the nasuverse with all those upgrades. Just how much easier it would be to survive as Shirou Emiya during the fifth Holy Grail War, he always was my favorite character from the show. Of course, I was rudely awakened from my thoughts when I felt the bed get harder and experienced dust in my nose. I sneezed as people do and opened my eyes to see that I was in a shed littered with knives and my spine felt like shit. I was disorientated, I didn't know what to do, and the pain was blinding as the heat caused me to pass out.
I woke up once more, feeling better yet still confused on where I was, that is until I saw this girl with purple hair standing over me calling me "Senpai!". Like a bolt lightning went off in my brain I realized just where I was and how screwed I am. I got off the cold hard floor and let Sakura know that I was going to get ready and thanked her for waking me up, she blushed and went away. I wondered why she blushed when I realized I was smiling, I must say, Emiya is handsome when he smiles, I'm just lucky I got reincarnated into someone handsome.
I walked to the shed into my room and started getting ready for the school day, putting on my Homurahara Academy uniform, and setting the table while Sakura makes breakfast. Just as I was done putting the plates down, Taiga barged into the home and greeted me with an enthusiastic smile.
"Hey nee-chan, how are you?" I said, which caused her to freeze. She must not be used to Shirou Emiya calling her nee-chan, but seeing her shocked face made for some good entertainment. As I sat down, Sakura joined us and presented the food she made, and it looked absolutely delicious. "You should hurry up before I eat all the food nee-chan", and just saying those words got Taiga to reboot and dash to the table so she could get her hands on breakfast. Taiga questioned me on suddenly calling her nee-chan, but I just let her know that I wanted to see what her reaction would be, and she did not disappoint.
Of course, she fumed, that I called her that as a joke but I comforted her with some empty platitude and a promise to call her nee-chan once more. I did notice Sakura's silence but let it go because the food was too good to waste on conversation with her. We quickly finished our meals, and I took the plates away to clean them while Sakura and Taiga made idol chat. I finished cleaning the plates and got my bag, ready to go to school. Noticing my preparation, they got ready as well and left the house alongside me, though Taiga had to get there faster as she was a teacher so she left on her bike.
The walk to school was silent, yet comfortable, as this body and Sakura were familiar enough with each other that my silence wasn't out of the ordinary. Once we arrived, I bid Sakura farewell and headed to my class where I met Issei along the way and spent some time talking with him while we waited for the teacher. Soon enough, class began and I let this body move on autopilot throughout the school day, though I refused any repair requests as I wished to figure out my magic at home before attempting anything. This did of course get weird looks from those around me, especially Issei, and I just let him know that I was taking his advice and saying no, so I could take a break. Seeing as I was using his own words in response, Issei agreed with my line of thinking and we both continued our day.
When the school day ended, I waited for Sakura at the gate, and when she arrived we set off to my house for dinner. I saw Taiga's bike at the entrance and knew she was going to whine a storm for taking so long to come and make her dinner. Sure enough, I enter the home and whining is what I'm met with, luckily more of Shirou's memories come back to me so I'm able to respond with light banter. More of Shirou's memories resurface as I get ready to cook dinner, which helps immensely as I don't want to be pointed out as an impostor so soon, especially when the Lesser Grail is helping me in the kitchen right next to me.
Food is made and served, and we sat down to eat. I use Shirou's memories to exchange topics around the table and make small talk while we eat. Sakura asks me how the food was, and I use Shirou's knowledge to critique her and highlight the good parts of her dish. We are soon finished with Taiga leaving and I wishing Sakura well as she leaves. With them both gone, I can now focus on what's important, and that is going through Shirou's memories and figuring out what the hell happened.
I go to the shed out back and sit on the summoning circle while criss cross. I then try to access more of Shirou's memories but they seem to be at the edge of my grasp and it doesn't look like I can see them until I properly assimilate myself with this body. To do that, I might have to activate this body's magical circuits, or would they change now that I own it? Who cares, it's time for action not doubts. I look within myself, hoping to find my magic circuits and after 10 minutes, I see them, they look beautiful. I try to think of a trigger to activate them, when it comes to me, my darkest moment, when I held that knife in the palm of my hand and really thought of ending it there and then. For a second, I hesitate, and then slice that knife on my palm and open my eyes to energy flooding my body and new strength filling my bones, it felt like I found a lost piece of myself.
Of course, I perform structural analysis on my circuits right away, and to my shock find them to be 40 circuits of good quality instead of the usual 27 circuits of poor quality. I think to myself what changed, when I realize that I am the change and that the merger between Shirou an I has upgraded his soul and given it my magical aptitude on top of what he already had. I started laughing because with this, I actually have a chance now. I look up and to the right and see that the year is 2002, 2 years before the war, and 2 years for me to fully realize UBW before the inevitable match between CG EMIYA and I.