Unexpectedly, getting his parents permission and setting up his schedule was easy.
Shirou finished everything in a week, with his passport being ready in only two days. All of the paperwork was completed by his parents with the help from Urahara and a little bit of... well, something.
His family were even kind enough to pay for the ticket, much to his surprise. It seemed they wanted him to enjoy his trip. He was planning to save the money for his own expenses.
However, the amount he saved from his part time jobs was still more than enough to last him for months in a foreign land. He didn't spend much, after all.
"Be careful over there." Masaki saw him off at the airport. She hugged him and smiled gently.
His father and his siblings were also there, wishing him the best. His twin was there, looking a bit worried but also happy for him. There were mixed emotions in Ichigo's eyes, which Shirou didn't understand.
But that didn't matter now because he was going to England.
"Okay." He nodded, returning the hug to his mother. "I will stay there for a month or two."
"Just take your time and don't worry too much." Isshin said with a grin. "I and Masaki have it handled. And Ichigo will take care of the girls, so don't worry about them either."
"Yeah, leave everything to me." Ichigo put his hand on his chest and showed him a badge he got from Captain Ukitake before leaving Soul Society.
That badge with skull and crossed bones was a substitute Shinigami insignia. It had a few functions, with the main feature of the Hollow detector, allowing it to locate Hollow in a specific area. And the other was to prove his identity.
Shirou smiled when he understood what Ichigo meant. He had gotten strong enough that he didn't have to worry about Hollows in Karakura Town anymore. He just needed to be careful and not get caught up in a fight.
[To all passengers, flight JL-432 for England is now boarding from Gate 4. Please make your way to gate 4 for boarding. I repeat. Flight JL-432 for England is now boarding from gate 4. Please proceed to gate 4]
"Okay." Shirou nodded and took a deep breath, "It's my turn. I'm leaving now."
Shirou waved his hand as he walked toward the gate. He could see his little sisters, Karin and Yuzu, waving at him. The former looked bored but still waved at him, while the latter looked like she was on the verge of crying.
"Don't forget to eat well and buy a gift for us!"
"I know, Yuzu. Don't worry. I won't forget to eat and buy gifts."
With a last look at his family, he went through the gate.
Now he would go to London and from there he would go to Glastonbury, England.
***
The flight was unexpectedly uneventful. He gazed through the window and watched as the plane pierced the sea of clouds.
It had been 13 hours of flying and his butt was already numb. He just couldn't get comfortable on the seat, and that made his mood sour. Shirou didn't have any trouble with the long journey itself. He was trained well in patience.
However, the strange excitement he felt in anticipation for his arrival in England made it difficult to relax. His heart was beating fast. His eyes were wide and bright.
He could not sleep.
Not that he was afraid of heights or something, he just didn't want to close his eyes and sleep like a log in the middle of a trip.
Shirou wasn't a kid, so he didn't act like a child that acted like one on their first flight.
But he could not help feeling excited. The fact that he would arrive at the airport soon and finally reach his destination was exciting enough to make his heart pound.
The plane ride wasn't as bad as it seemed, with plenty of food served during flight.
Shirou looked at his watch. There were a few minutes left until touchdown.
[...Please wear your seatbelt as we prepare to land at London Heathrow Airport.]
After hearing the pilot's announcement, he buckled up and waited.
The plane landed without incident.
Once they got to the gate, all the passengers disembarked. It didn't take long to walk from the boarding gate to baggage claim.
There were a lot of people waiting for their bags. It took him a while to get his suitcase and he went to customs.
"Please give me your passport." An old man with a large mustache and thick eyebrows asked, his voice was thick and rough, like the sound of gravel.
Shirou gave him his passport and the officer checked it thoroughly, "You're not from Europe."
"Yes, sir."
"How old are you, young man? And where are your parents? Why did you come to London alone?"
"I am on a vacation."
"Vacation? Do you have a place to stay?"
"Yes, sir." Shirou answered, showing the man the ticket and hotel reservation he got with Urahara's help.
"Alright. Welcome to London."
After that, he passed the border inspection.
Shirou sighed in relief as he walked through the airport lobby.
It was a bit difficult to understand English. His grasp of the language was pretty basic, but not too good to hold a long conversation with native speaker.
But he could read the signs. That much was a given since he had practiced and studied a bit about it. It would have been terrible if he couldn't even read a simple English word.
And he had memorized the necessary words needed to buy anything.
"Hmm, I need to check into the hotel and rest. And in 3 days, I will have to board another plane to go to Glastonbury."
Which meant he had 3 days to enjoy the sight of London before going to Glastonbury.
But Shirou's trip to the hotel was a disaster.
It turned out to be quite troublesome because of the taxi driver, who had tricked him into paying twice the original price and also made him pay the extra for his luggage. He had been cheated by the man, and Shirou knew it.
It seemed he needed to study more about the currency used in England.
Thankfully the check in was pretty easy. He was given the key to his hotel room, which was located on the 5th floor.
"Haa... that was a bad start." He muttered as he set his luggage down.
Looking around, he nodded in satisfaction to the room he got. It was a pretty simple one. The interior wasn't luxurious or flashy. The bed was clean and comfortable. The window was also big and clean. Overall, it was an okay place.
However, what made him happy was the fact it had a small kitchen. It wasn't as good as the one he had at his house in Karakura Town, but he could cook a simple meal.
"Should I go to buy groceries now?" Shirou wondered after he finished organizing his clothes. "No... I am already in London so it would be wasteful to cook by myself."
Buying a meal would let him enjoy the cuisine here better than cooking by himself. Not to mention he also had the opportunity to try various restaurants.
"I guess I'll find some restaurant."
***
Everything in this world had two sides.
For example: a coin. It had heads and tails, and no one would ever argue that there wasn't any difference between those two sides of the coin.
Then there was another one. The world itself. The universe, or rather the multiverse.
There was the normal universe with planets, stars, galaxies, and the like. And then there was the universe where all myths and legends happened, with gods, fairies and other mythical beings living.
Soul Society was the latter.
Shinigami existed and worked to maintain balance between the two sides. And then, Quincies had a job to kill Hollow, which was an evil spirit.
The worlds that had no Shinigami and the worlds that did.
The world of the dead and the world of the living. They were the two sides.
And then there was the front and the reversed side of the world.
A girl with long black hair walked down the rowdy street of London. She was wearing a black school uniform, her face was expressionless and cold as always.
Many students glanced at her and talked in a low voice. They whispered to each other about her, the cold beauty of the academy.
The uniform was unique to a famous school in London and was well known around the city.
It was an all-girl school that accepted only the elite of the elites. Only those who were chosen by the school's staff would have the chance to enter the prestigious institution. Those that failed were left to rot and suffer from their inferiority complex.
Right now, the girl entered an alley with overgrown weed and a dark, creepy atmosphere. It looked like a haunted tunnel from a horror movie. And the air smelled of mold and rot.
However, when she reached the end of it, a different view appeared before her.
A red phone booth stood at the center of the clearing surrounded by buildings and trees on all sides. It was as if the surrounding environment was trying to push away the foreign object.
Each building had a small tunnel that connected it to the outside world. But this place looked pretty ethereal and mysterious with the sunlight that illuminated the ground beneath them as if refusing normal people to enter.
It was like a garden, but with no plants or flowers. Instead there were weeds growing everywhere around them.
The girl approached and entered the phone booth without any hesitation. She fished a golden coin with WB written in the middle of it. She put the coin into the slot in front of the phone.
When the coin entered, the slot glowed slightly, as if scanning it.
"Noel Niihashi, reporting for duty."
Following that, the telephone booth's sign began to spin like a slot machine, changing the word 'Telephone' into 'WB' and glowed brightly.
A circle formed around the booth, pulling the booth down alongside the girl like an elevator. It was the entrance way to another part of London, one that was hidden and separate from the normal universe.
And this part was where magic users lived.
The Reverse London.
Normal people had no idea about this place, and the magic users had no interest in normalcy.
They didn't need the other part of the city and had no interest in it.
After all, the normal world had nothing to do with them.
However, there was a special person who had just arrived because he mistook the overgrown tunnel as a path toward a famous restaurant recommended by a certain shady shopkeeper.
This boy watched everything since the start and saw her disappearing in a circle.
"Is that... magecraft?" Shirou muttered as he stepped out of the tunnel, his eyes wide in disbelief and curiosity.
***
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