Chapter 298: A Day in Shirou's Life
Since the previous exchange program had taken place during the break, very little of the holiday remained. With only a few days left at home, the third semester of International High School was about to begin. Time always flows this way, ticking away silently; it seems neither hurried nor slow, yet once a moment slips by, it can never be reclaimed.
In the limited time he had, Shirou quietly spent every moment with his family and friends, doing what he could and living in a way that left no room for regret.
He rose early to practice with a bamboo sword alongside Artoria. For half an hour, they engaged in a practical sparring session to stretch their muscles. He worked hard to parry every one of her fluid, sharp strikes, the sweat pouring off him in a way that felt liberating.
"Haah!"
"Hah!"
"Alright, let's stop here for today," Artoria said, sheathing her sword.
"Yeah. Thanks for the guidance, Artoria," Shirou said with a smile. It was a nostalgic routine; breaking a sweat like this always made him feel refreshed.
"No, you are growing stronger as well, Shirou. This is good exercise for me, too. Now that I have a physical body, I can continue to train myself to become even stronger."
After returning inside and washing up, he wiped away the sweat with a towel. Artoria went upstairs to wake Mashiro, who shared her room.
At that moment, Jeanne—who was prone to a bit of morning grumpiness—walked out of her room yawning. Shirou picked up a comb from the vanity to help her tidy her long silver hair; she wasn't good at grooming it herself, and it often stuck up in odd directions due to her messy sleeping habits.
Incidentally, the comb was a cattle-horn comb bought in China. Since they made excellent gifts, he had bought quite a few back then. His mother had even taken some to her company to give to her colleagues. After Jeanne arrived, he had given her the highest quality one—a pale, translucent white-and-blue horn comb that felt smooth and warm to the touch—as a daily necessity. However, he was usually the one using it on her.
By the time Jeanne finished squinting her eyes, applying toothpaste, and brushing up a mouth full of foam, she was fully awake.
Shirou then began preparing breakfast. With a sufficient budget and a family that wasn't picky, he could incorporate various Eastern and Western styles. He enjoyed rotating through different recipes and even experimenting with fusion ingredients; it kept things fresh and never boring.
"Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Shirou." His parents woke up on time as usual. Once they finished washing up in their room, they came to the dining room and sat down.
"Good morning, Uncle, Auntie," the girls greeted them.
"Morning. Just a moment, breakfast is almost ready," Shirou replied from the kitchen while flipping eggs into a rolled tamagoyaki.
Komachi arrived then, dragging a reluctant, sleep-loving BB-chan with her. Shirou first poured BB-chan a cup of strong milk tea to wake her up.
"Here, drink this," Shirou commanded.
"Mmph..." The purple-haired girl obediently held the cup and gulped it down. Though she was a "humanized" super AI, she was surprisingly fond of eating and quite the glutton. Setting aside her personality, she really did resemble the Sakura of his past life.
After leaving a foam "mustache" around her lips, her eyes flew open, and she was suddenly full of energy.
"Good morning, Father-sama! Mother-sama!" BB-chan swayed her head as she surveyed the room, greeting them with a brilliant smile. ...Wasn't it a bit late to start playing the "good girl" act now?
"Here, Father-sama, Mother-sama, please have some milk tea." The purple-haired girl stood up and busily served the two adults.
"Thank you." The parents seemed to appreciate it. Did having a "sweet mouth" really get you everywhere?
"BB-chan is such a well-behaved child. Even though you're a returnee with American citizenship, your Japanese is excellent. Looking at you, you and Komachi could be classmates. Please get along well," Mrs. Hikigaya said affectionately.
"Yes~! Please leave it to BB-chan~! I will treat Komachi like my very own little sister!" the purple-haired girl declared, patting her chest confidently.
"Eh..." Beside her, Komachi wore a subtle, complicated expression, looking like she wanted to say something but held back.
"I see, I see. Then we can rest easy."
"Here, Father-sama, please have some tea." BB-chan industriously refilled their cups.
"Thank you, BB-chan. Actually, you don't have to do all this."
"No, no! Father-sama, Mother-sama, you allowed us to board here and took the trouble to look after us. BB-chan respects you very much! Pouring a cup of tea is hardly enough to repay you."
"Ahaha, thank you. To be honest, I'm happy to have such a polite child staying with us. If only Komachi could learn from you and be a bit more considerate of adults, that would be wonderful."
"Tsk..." Komachi turned her head away, letting out a frustrated click of her tongue. "Old man! Manager! Have some self-awareness. What era do you think this is? Still wanting your daughter to hold your hand on the way to school? Do you still want us to go into the bathroom together so I can scrub your back? Please stop dreaming!"
Shirou watched them and smiled, returning to the kitchen with peace of mind. To be fair, if BB-chan simply refrained from causing trouble, he would be grateful. Komachi was a smart kid, though; he was sure she wouldn't be negatively influenced. In fact, seeing a girl who could out-act her in the "good girl" department was quite entertaining.
Komachi eventually ran into the kitchen to help, placing plates of breakfast onto trays and carrying them to the table. Once the food and utensils were neatly arranged at each setting, they called everyone to eat.
During the meal, the mother would chat with the girls, asking if they were getting used to the lifestyle or if anything was inconvenient. The father sat there with a newspaper, pretending to read. Everyone said things were great; it was heartening to see they had settled in so well.
Once breakfast was finished, the parents headed off to their lives as office workers. Jeanne took over the task of practicing with Artoria, and they sparred in the garden. Since Chaldea had bought the neighboring house, they didn't have to worry about disturbing the neighbors despite their daily training.
However, when the girls used techniques that aimed ruthlessly at the neck or chest, the sheer, serious killing intent felt like they were truly trying to eliminate each other. Compared to that, the clashing sound of bamboo swords was nothing—it was like the sound of a child first learning the piano, hardly noise at all.
'I hope it hasn't scared the neighbors. I should make some extra stew or cold dishes to send over to them later,' Shirou thought.
After finishing the housework, he brewed a pot of black tea, plated some cookies he had baked earlier, and headed upstairs to Mashiro's room. He wanted to support the pure-hearted artist; she had come here to pursue her dream of being a mangaka and worked hard every day on new manuscripts to pass the editor's review. Lately, she had also been working on oil paintings to change her mood.
The girl looked cool when she was creating—quiet and focused. As for what she was painting... well, laymen can't understand art anyway, so there was no point in worrying about it.
Because the girl tended to lose track of her surroundings when focused, Shirou pushed the door open directly.
"Mashiro, how about a short break? I brought tea and snacks."
"..." As if there were a lag, it took over a minute before she reacted. She turned around with a look of wonder, as if asking, 'Shirou, are you a ninja?'
Shirou had to repeat himself. "I brought snacks. Do you want some?"
"I want some." Seeing the treats on the plate, Mashiro's eyes lit up.
"I know. Here, wipe your hands with this warm towel first." Shirou placed the towel in the girl's hands.
"Mhm." Mashiro slowly wiped the paint from her fingers.
During this time, Shirou poured her a cup of black tea, added milk and sugar cubes, and stirred it evenly with a spoon. Mashiro picked up a snack and nibbled on it like a little squirrel; at this moment, she returned to being a simple, cute, and harmless girl.
"Mhm, thank you. Shirou, are you really not considering my previous proposal?" the girl asked, looking up at him.
'I take back what I just thought...'
"No! No need!" Shirou broke into a cold sweat and decisively refused.
"I see..." Mashiro looked down regretfully and took the last sip of tea. However, the light in her eyes hadn't faded; she clearly hadn't given up. She was a woman determined to become the Manga King; she wouldn't give up easily.
Escaping from Mashiro's room, he saw it was past 9:00 AM. He began preparing for lunch. Because there were many mouths to feed, even a full fridge wouldn't last two days; he had to go out and buy groceries.
He brought along BB-chan, who was currently a shut-in watching TV on the sofa, to the nearby shopping district where the ingredients were fresh and cheap. Their chosen mode of transport was "Bike One" and "Bike Two." Because her physical specs far exceeded humans, even without a Riding skill, she didn't need to use the "Self-Modification EX" she gained from merging with the goddesses. Shirou just gave her a brief lesson on how to ride, and she was soon pedaling smoothly.
Led by Shirou, they set off toward a supermarket that was about a ten-minute ride away.
"Ahahaha! BB-chan really is a genius. Senpai, wait for me~!" the purple-haired girl laughed triumphantly. She was wearing new Western-style clothes she'd bought yesterday. She pedaled hard, staying close behind Shirou, seemingly enjoying this mode of travel.
'Mhm, next time we go out, I can probably remove the training wheels,' the boy thought.
Usually, they shopped at the old shopping street near the neighborhood—the kind with private vegetable and fish stalls on the first floor and residences on the second. But today, a further
supermarket had a special sale, so he couldn't miss it. Pedaling for a few extra minutes would save a significant amount of money on the meat needed for Artoria's fried chicken and burgers. It was a happy trade-off. The money saved could be spent on other spices and ingredients, giving him more freedom in his cooking—spending the "good steel" on the "blade's edge."
"BB, put that back. You only get one bag of snacks," Shirou said calmly.
"Fine..." The purple-haired girl pouted reluctantly.
At that moment, Shirou ran into two unexpected people in the supermarket. On one side was his childhood friend, the blonde twin-tailed Eriri; on the other was his junior, Iiroha Isshiki, the school's student council president. The two were currently arm-in-arm, each carrying a shopping basket filled with snacks—chips, cookies, cola. Was that block chocolate, too?
"Ah, isn't this Shirou? You're here shopping too?" Eriri spotted him and hurriedly hid her basket behind her back, greeting him with a forced laugh.
"Yeah, I'm here for ingredients. There's a sale today. Eriri, Iiroha, what are you two buying?" Shirou asked curiously.
"Eh? No... Nothing! It's not like we're... practicing making chocolate together or anything!" Eriri's face turned red as she waved her hands frantically.
"Hello, Shirou-senpai! I'm on a date with Senpai~!" Iiroha Isshiki chimed in, her eyes darting around as she hugged Eriri and took over the conversation.
"Eh? Since when did you two get so close?" Shirou asked, somewhat surprised.
"No, no, Eriri-senpai and I have known each other since middle school. We went to the same school, after all. It's only natural for us to be close," Iiroha said.
Then Eriri remembered something. She stepped forward and lowered her voice. "Right! Shirou! You'd better be careful once school starts. Lately, Kasumigaoka has been hanging out with a group of very strange women. It seems they're practicing some kind of curse or holding rituals. I heard that from time to time, sounds like snakes slithering on the floor come from there, and women holding knives have been seen by the windows..."
"Eh? Really? Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? Is this a ghost story?" Shirou asked, taken aback. Even if she and Kasumigaoka-senpai had a workplace rivalry, there was no need to go that far.
"No. If it's you, it wouldn't be strange even if you were being targeted," Eriri said helplessly.
Shirou didn't quite understand.
"Believe it or not! Just be careful, especially on Valentine's Day," Eriri warned him seriously. She was then pulled away by her junior. "Let's go, Eriri-senpai~!"
Looking at the departing girls, Shirou didn't take Eriri's warning to heart.
"Senpai? Are those two from school as well?" BB-chan asked curiously.
"Yeah. Well, since we've picked out the ingredients, let's go home." Shirou nodded.
With that little interlude over, Shirou and BB-chan loaded the bags into the bicycle baskets and rode home. Once back, Shirou organized the ingredients and began preparing a meal that would satisfy everyone. The lavish lunch and dinner made everyone happy. The next few days passed in this leisurely fashion.
And then... the third semester of International High School officially began.