The Tailor of Honnouji Academy

“Why would anyone cry alone in a bathroom when there’s science to do?”

It was really no wonder he got along with her Brother, wasn’t it? It was thanks to many, many years of practice of listening to longwinded lectures that Reines was able to follow his spiel. She was even able to pick up an important fact during it all.

“So it’s not a time sensitive order. Perfect. I’m looking for someone to accompany me to one of the new winter attractions, and it would seem that while the Stars have taken away my regular choice, they have provided me another option.”

“I would suggest bundling up. It’s cold out.”

Nobility was nobility, he supposed. And while polite, it was clear Reines was a young lady who often got her way.

Unfortunately, scientists could be a stubborn lot.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to find someone else to accompany you, Lady Reines. As I’ve said, I’m in the middle of a project, and had booked off the evening to tend to that project and the experiment tied to it. I’m sorry to say I’m unavailable.”

To think, Reines sometimes thought she spent too much time at work. She had assumed that perhaps the other Spirale had exaggerated Iori’s workaholic tendencies, but it would seem she was wrong. The real him seemed to be just as bad.

Under normal circumstances, she would be more than happy to leave him to it. If someone was willing to inflict such suffering upon themselves, who was she to stop them? 

However, these were not normal circumstances. She was looking for a companion for her excursion, and Reines had just been handed a ready excuse.

“I was under the assumption the store closed hours ago.”

“Any particular reason you’re working this late?”

Old habits die hard, Reines!

“You’d be correct; the store is closed. But the workshop isn’t, and that’s why I’m here.”

Not like he slept much either way. He could nap when this project was done.

“Actually, I’m doing some thermal testing on the fabric from the Swirling Gulf, as well as its unique dye components. I’m trying to get this dye to visualize temperature related patterns, but since this is an organic dye derived from the corals, I’m unsure of how high I can raise the temperature until the bioluminescent proteins inside the dye denature. Which, of course, discolors the entire thing. So the next step is to see what kind of buffers I can add to the dye slurry that inhibits the destruction of those proteins, and then proceed on the rest of the testing. With any luck, the end result should be a piece of fabric that works in the exact same way a thermal camera does, without the camera.”

Fabric science really was weird, huh.

( @tailoredhonnouji )

It was late when Reines left her shop, as she had expected. This time of year was unreasonably busy. Everyone wanted to treat their friends, or buy tins of tea as presents, or just get something hot to help with the bitter cold of the snow of ice. Much as she appreciated the sales, it lead to some long hours.

Shifts like these often had her spending the night at her Brother’s house. Goodness knows it wasn’t worth the hike home at this hour. Only, she found herself still quite awake and without a shift tomorrow. The best option might not be either her home or her Brother’s, but one of the WinterFES activities that had drawn her interest.

Going alone would be boring. Perhaps it was fortunate that she knew another teenage shopowner that was sure to be burning the midnight oil, one bound to have the same vague memories of a close friendship than she had.

This was how she found herself knocking loudly at the door of Dressed to Kill. Sure, it might technically be closed, but the light in the window certainly told Reines that her suspicions of him still being there were correct.

At the knock, one of the cameras above the door visibly swiveled in Reines’ direction. From there, the response came fairly quickly.

[ “A moment.” ] Called a familiar voice on an intercom, followed by a couple locks disengaging.

[ “There. It should be open, I’ll meet you.” ]

True to his word was the tailor, hair tied up in a bit of a mess and in a lab coat covered in blue, shimmering strands of fabric.

“Lady Reines.”

A polite bow of his head, much as he’d done before. And while he felt he knew the young mage a little better, formalities were much more ingrained in Iori’s mannerisms than the other Shirou’s... But then again, it was like that for Satsuki too, wasn’t it?

“I live to aspire to such levels of dedication and spite.” It’s why she looked up to Iori in a lot of respects. But he was also an excellent second opinion to have that wasn’t L’uca.

“That bein’ said. You definitely saved my ass here. I owe you big time.” She said, handing him a few pins while she got to work.

“How’s about I give you a cut of the commission? I was seriously worried I wasn’t gonna be able to get this done in a timely matter.”

“Those two and caffeine make up my body.” Came a dry response as he pinned the folds in place.

“...There. That should give you the volume you’re looking for.”

@tailoredhonnouji​ gets an event starter

“I think I might be losin’ my touch, Iori.”

Within the confines of her crowded and messy apartment, Fiala had cleared a space in front of the couch to try and get help with her latest project. It appeared to be a dress of some kind, and was currently hanging on a mannequin.

“I know it’s a simple design and all that, but this material is really throwin’ me off. What the client wanted though. I just can’t get it to hang right. It’s supposed to poof more at the waist, not lay flat like this. Maybe I need to get some live models… But what do ya think?”

Judging by the face he made when he felt the fabric...

“Oh, it’s not you. I hate this stuff so much I wrote the tutorial on it.”

Which he printed and brought over, in case it happens again.

“To get it to look like how it’s done in the pictures on the website, there’s a few folds you need to make while you’re sewing. Like...”

Lifting up the top layer, he pointed.

“Here, at this seam? You have to layer it by two. So the first layer...”

[ . . . . . . . . ]

Perfect! Reines texted him the name of a 24/7 place roughly half way between them. It wasn’t her top pick of restaurants, but considering the time of night, it was the only one she could readily wager on being open.

A thick sweater came on, along with some winter accessories she had stashed away in case of such emergency escapades– being bored out of her mind after two days of her grounding definitely counted as an emergency. From there, it was just a matter of scaling the building down and hiking it to the store on foot.

Needless to say, Reines’ face was flushed bright red from the cold when she finally sat across from Shirou.

“Have you been waiting long?”

A shake of his head, and he put his sketchpad away. There was already a hot pot of tea on the table waiting for her.

“Not really. I didn’t expect to be given a ride here, so I arrived a bit earlier. But it really wasn’t any trouble or anything.”

[Text to: Shirou ( @tailoredhonnouji​ )

Are you awake? I’m bored and considering going to find a late night ice cream place.]

[Text: I mean, I’m technically grounded, but that’s hardly stopped me before.]

A yawn... but he looked at the progress on his chart, and back to the clock. He could do this for a few more hours, realistically. But...

[Text]: I can’t be blamed for what I don’t know.

Ice cream in the cold like this, though... maybe he’d get a coffee instead.

[Text]: Which place? I can meet you there.

He couldn’t help but laugh. It was mean, he knew, but he couldn’t help but laugh as he stood outside the building, looking up at the front-facing glass elevator.

“Really?”

Sure enough, if he took out his camera, he could zoom in and see the vague resemblance of a person.

“Really. So, you’re asking me to do something illegal because you got yourself stuck?” He waves up from the street and starts walking into the building, paying attention to local cameras. “You know I don’t just go around hacking into things randomly, right?”

“You are incredibly lucky that my hyper-selective romantic interests chose you - or maybe you’re less lucky and more just yourself.” He hums as he continues walking. “Or, that you have an incredibly talented partner who’s chosen to use his innate talents for the good of people around him.”

@tailoredhonnouji​

He tried to peek down below. Really tried. But one glance was all it took to send him reeling again. Something was off here, and he didn’t feel like his usual self. Not really.

But waking up in a stuck elevator with a glass bottom at the top floor? That’s too much. He hates heights.

“Houka.” He responded, clearly agitated on the phone.

“The last thing I need from you right now is sass. If I could get out of this myself, I would. As it is, I’m completely blind up here.”

Mostly because he refuses to open his eyes.

Spent his childhood assisting his uncle, a head butler of a noble family. Kind of thought the other kids in the house didn’t like him, with the exception of a select few (classic Fibonacci classism)

Studied incredibly hard and all the time, skipping multiple grades until he was able to enter college when he was just a teenager, due to his intellect and work ethic (Mostly because fabric science is... a really niche field of study, and boy was he good at it)

Unfortunately, his uncle passed away very quickly, and he bought a place in the lower levels of Fib on the very modest income his uncle left him. 

Imagine a 15 year old trying to get himself to college classes to keep riding those scholarships

Made an unlikely friendship with his recently divorced neighbor at the time, who helped him out of pity

Got two jobs so Shirou and Yuan could move out of that crappy apartment complex and into somewhere that had basic living necessities

Years of overworking himself finally took a toll on his own health, and shortly after moving, he became very, very sick.

While in the hospital, he met back with that old childhood friend of his. After explaining why he wasn’t around to play anymore, Reines took it upon herself to hire him as a personal tailor

Now a few years have passed, and he’s able to actually live a normal life. He’s still a student, but no longer out of fervent necessity

Aside from his studies (and his relationship with his long-time school rival), he runs an online business for taking custom clothes orders

His constitution is still lacking due to the heart condition that surfaced, but his mind is sharp as ever

Tears

Collection of the Mists had been difficult at best, and annoying at worse. He may as well, he figured, take advantage of the current activity and ignore whatever scenes were playing out next to him. Also - stay away from anybody who knew him so they couldn’t see the scenes playing out around him.

No bygone specters, no evil assholes popping out of the mists to come and get him. He was pretty lucky, damn lucky, really.

“If only they had just resurrected our Life Fibers so this could go so much more quickly.” The glass jars were put into his pack as he loaded onto the latch he had built into his hoverboard. Looking around, a furrowed brow as he wiped away one of the scenes.

And then went to wipe away another, but it didn’t go anywhere. Ah, Shirou and-

“Lady Satsuki?” She had appeared multiple times, but now was…

Hm. Convenient.

“Well, this can only mean that we’re being run through the same gamut as before, don’t you think?” He walks over to the two, his hoverboard following behind him on its own.

“Or it’s just a pleasant coincidence. Either way, I’m glad to see you. Both of you.” He wiped away another residual scene playing. “No signs of Life Fibers out here yet. And even the smallest mist still provides a bit of a prickle. I imagine where it’s thicker provides similar results to our previous excursions.”

@tailoredhonnouji​

​

To his greeting, Satsuki gave a bow of her head to him.

“It’s good to see you too, Inumuta.”

“I appreciate the caution, but I’m not a mist illusion.” Came a snarky retort back to him (even then, it sounded just a smidge playful.)

“Am I a mist illusion?” “I’m unsure. I don’t believe so, if you came with the ever-present eclipse in the sky. Then again, so did that student earlier... And that one was wearing a goku uniform. But Lady Satsuki dispatched it easily enough.”

With that bit of knowledge, the tailor motioned to Houka to lead the way. Though as he walked, he did so with a bit of a limp.

“Iori filled me in on the way here. This seems to be a test from those Stars that run the island, if all the prior information lines up. If that’s the case, remnants of the past are indeed leaking into this city.” “As Inumuta said, it’s something that happened before. It’s strong enough to resurrect the Primordial Life Fiber, even, though last time we routed it into a power grid.” “Smart thinking. But if something as small as a power grid took it out, it may not have been as powerful as the one we all fought.” “Right.” “That’s good, we may have a chance with the three of us if it arrives again. Let’s try not to get separated.”

Shirou has joined the party! Satsuki has joined the party!

... .....

A slew of data imprints from Iori’s past have returned--most of which are particularly not pleased with him. As the president of the Sewing Club, he was in charge of creating the uniforms that powered the student body and spearheaded the rebellion against REVOCs, a corporation that tried to sacrifice the Earth and its inhabitants to a parasitic alien force.

However, the methods he used fell in line with performing unethical (and occasionally fatal) experiments on his peers without any remorse or compassion, and some of them are back to take some revenge.

In addition to the students, remnants of the REVOCs takeover are floating around the city. These monsters take the form of white suits, which swallow up human victims to feed off their energy. They can multiply quickly, and when consuming a host, become powerful enough to be a formidable foe.

But luckily...

One person from Iori’s past is here to help him out! Caught in the middle of this weird event is Satsuki, the noblewoman Iori served since he was a small child. And with her around for some protection, things shouldn’t be too bad. However, her own canon point is in that strange in-between between episode 24 and the OVA, so she’s not quite post-series either (as such, she doesn’t have Junketsu (her combat uniform), but does have her two blades.) But she’s the world to Iori, and he’s happy she’s finally here after so long.

Slowly, Iori nodded, moving to stand. Her hand extended to him, easily pulling the tailor up off his feet.

“This is Radial Island, a place that routinely takes people from other universes and brings them, powerless, to this one. Power is gained through notoriety and upon completion of certain tasks through a period of time. As of now, the eclipse is open, allowing people in here at a faster rate than before, regardless of ability.” “Correct, my lady.” “And from what you’re saying, even people who come from the same place can arrive at different points in time. This is why the delinquent students are still here and accosting you, even though REVOCs and the Primordial Life Fiber have been destroyed. “Exactly.”

Bandages were, fortunately, something he was more than capable of doing. The one around his side was neatly woven into place.

“I’m not sure if anyone else ha broken through this odd mist in the city. Houka and I were the only ones here originally, until I ran into you.” “Houka?” “--Inumuta. Apologies.” “The apology isn’t necessary. Address him as it naturally comes to you, Iori. I was merely curious.” “Understood.” “We’ll talk about it later. For now, let us focus on the task at hand. From what you understand, you believe the objective here is to survive until the mists recede. Correct?” “That’s right.” “Hm.”

The young woman watched him pull his coat over the bandages and straighten his posture again, watching first with a calculating gaze, then a curious one.

...Finally, she gave a small smile, breaking her usually stoic expression.

“Then I know what I must do. I’ll accompany you around, in the event other echoes of the past decide to arrive to do you harm. For everything you’ve sacrificed for me, it is the least I can do for you. Can you walk?” “I can, yes.” At the moment, the tailor after-thought. “Let us be on our way, then. Let’s find Inu--ah, Houka, before he runs into trouble as well. Though I have the utmost confidence in his ability, I can’t gauge the city like the two of you can. Lead the way.”

Giving a sigh of relief and a grateful nod, the tailor began to walk, pulling out his phone to start tracking down the other. Over his shoulder was Satsuki herself, keeping alert and noting the way her companion moved as if he’d been through this countless times before.

...