Shirou was being held by Eris, sitting on the bed. There was no space between them, and they could feel each other's breath.
Shirou tried to pull away from Eris a little, but found that she was holding him tightly and wouldn't let go.
Because of this, Shirou realized that what he said at the banquet might have really hurt Eris.
Of course, the reason she's acting like this now is because of her mother Hilda's encouragement, but Eris must also have similar feelings of wanting to prove herself, so she's doing things so freely, using her actions to prove her own charm.
Shirou felt very helpless. He realized that he might really lack awareness about certain things, and the words he said often unconsciously hurt the people around him.
But he couldn't accept Eris here.
Not to mention that the matter itself is against morals.
Shirou himself could never make a move on Eris, who he sees as a sister.
Therefore, Shirou eventually pulled Eris away from his arms, gently stroked her head, and tried to tidy up her somewhat messy pajamas.
"..."
Eris didn't resist at all during the process.
She seemed a little confused, or perhaps she was enjoying Shirou's care.
Eris used to not want Shirou to touch her.
Maybe it was a girl's shyness, or maybe it was just plain pride.
But once, because the maids were busy, no one could help her comb her hair. Shirou, because he often used to comb Miyu's hair and had some experience in this area, volunteered and said he would comb Eris's hair.
Eris wasn't very trusting at first, but she couldn't do the job herself, so she could only let Shirou help.
As a result, once it started, there was no going back.
Eris completely liked the feeling of Shirou combing her hair. After that, she often made noise and asked Shirou to comb her hair, and even took her sword practice classes more seriously for this reason, hoping that Shirou would comb her hair after she finished her homework.
From then on, Eris almost completely lost her guard against Shirou, and even allowed Shirou to enter and leave her room freely.
But Shirou obviously wouldn't enter a girl's room casually.
Right now, Shirou wasn't combing Eris's hair, but his gentle actions of caring for her still made Eris feel comfortable from the bottom of her heart, and she even happily narrowed her eyes.
"..."
Seeing Eris like this, Shirou was slightly stunned, and the image of Miyu in his mind inexplicably overlapped with her again.
He quickly shook his head to stop those unrealistic thoughts.
The difference between Eris and Miyu was too great. Not only were their personalities different, their appearances different, and their hair colors different, they could be said to be two different species.
Shirou knew that his regarding Eris as Miyu was purely wishful thinking, a subconscious manifestation of the feeling of wanting a sister deep in his heart.
But this kind of thinking was undoubtedly disrespectful to Eris, and he would never allow himself to see Eris as a substitute for Miyu.
Therefore, Shirou let himself calm down completely and began to patiently examine the Eris in front of him.
Since Shirou first came to the Greyrat family, Eris has grown a lot. Not only has her body started to develop little by little, but because she practices swordsmanship every day, her hands and feet are also more slender and firm than ordinary people. And, maybe it's because she's wearing a one-piece pajama, or maybe it's because of her height, which is considered relatively tall among girls, but she looks more mature than usual now.
When he thought about Hilda and Philip pouring the ugly thoughts and wishful thinking of adults into this immature child who could be said to be just budding, Shirou felt a sense of inner rejection and was determined to protect Eris no matter what.
At least until she was fully mature and grown into a reliable adult, he should protect and guide her as much as possible.
At that moment, Shirou realized what he had to do.
This time, he took the initiative to pull Eris into his arms, scaring the girl so much that she made a small meow sound. She was both nervous and expectant, and her cheeks began to turn red.
But Shirou didn't take things any further. Instead, he took a deep breath and said, "Eris, I want to tell you a story."
"A story?"
"That's right, just listen to it as a story."
Shirou's heart trembled, but he made a firm resolution. He silently began to tell the story, "Once upon a time, there was a boy whose family was destroyed by a disaster. In his most desperate moment, he was rescued from the ruins by his adoptive father. Because he saw the excited look on the other's face when he was saving people, he began to admire becoming someone like his adoptive father, hoping to become a hero who could save others."
"But the story of the hero didn't happen. What appeared before him was a little girl who was brought back by his adoptive father. According to his adoptive father, the girl's existence was a wish-granting machine that could save everyone, a key to achieving a truly beautiful world. But in the boy's eyes, it wasn't a wish-granting machine at all. She was just an ordinary girl, one who didn't smile much, but clearly had human thoughts, and like humans, could cry, laugh, be sad, and be upset, an ordinary child..."
Shirou made up his mind. He was telling someone in this world for the first time the story of what he had experienced in his original world.
Even so, he tried to ignore some of the strange and difficult-to-understand parts as much as possible, and used words that could be understood in this world to explain everything that happened in the story.
Fortunately, this world already had knights and magic, so people wouldn't be confused by some supernatural powers at all. Even the most abstract things like the Holy Grail War, Shirou could explain with a pure magic ritual.
In short, Shirou told most of the things he had experienced, and he told the fact that he had given up the chance to save the world in order to save Miyu, and even turned against his former friends, destroying everything, all to save one person.
"After coming to Boreas Castle, I often instinctively see the shadow of my sister in you. Although you are completely different, it might be that I'm too lonely, and I often have those kinds of illusions from time to time. The reason I'm so gentle with you, Eris, might also be because my feelings for my sister have been transferred to you. I'm really too mean. I unconsciously treated you, Eris, as a substitute for my sister, and even wanted to use this to escape reality. I'm very sorry..."
Shirou completely spoke all of his thoughts, speaking the things he had always avoided facing in his heart, things he was trying to escape from.
"..."
Hearing Shirou's words, Eris fell silent.
She might have been shocked by the huge amount of information she suddenly took in, shocked by the too tragic story of Shirou's past experiences, or she might have been surprised by Shirou's sudden statement that he regarded her as a substitute for his sister.
In short, Eris briefly fell into silence.
Shirou then let go of Eris, lowered his head with an apologetic attitude, and was even prepared to be hit and scolded by Eris. He was ready for it.
But the hitting and scolding he had imagined didn't happen.
After sorting things out and realizing everything, Eris couldn't help but purse her lips, "What, so you were treating me like a sister."
"Yes, what I did was too selfish."
"What do you mean selfish? I've actually always been treating you like a brother?"
"Huh?"
Hearing Eris's words, Shirou looked up in surprise.
He saw Eris's face flushed, and she spoke somewhat shyly:
"Actually, I should have a brother, although my father has always been hiding it from me, but I can feel some things in the family, and I can also feel that I'm not their first child. I also used to imagine what would happen if my brother suddenly came back one day, whether there would be one more person to spoil me, or maybe he would just be an annoying jerk."
"I used to think a lot, but unfortunately none of it came true. I'm still alone. Maybe because my expectations were disappointed, I was more or less disappointed in the past, but after Shirou came, especially after you saved me, I often imagined that you might be my brother in the royal capital. After all, look, we both have red hair."
Eris said, showing off her fiery red hair.
Shirou rubbed his head because of this, and nodded somewhat awkwardly.
Eris then said silently: "Anyway, we're actually the same, and I unconsciously treated you as my brother. Actually, if I had a real brother, it feels like he wouldn't be as good as you, Shirou. I'd rather have a brother like you! Yeah, that's right!"
The more Eris said, the happier she became, but at the same time, the more shy she became.
Shirou then joked and said, "In that case, how about I really become your brother?"
"Eh? Really?!"
"?"
Shirou didn't expect Eris to have such a big reaction. Shirou had only said it without thinking, and now he realized that Eris might be serious.
He looked at Eris's appearance and said hesitantly, "If I could have you, Eris, as my sister, I would definitely be very happy, but the Boreas family..."
Before Shirou could finish speaking, Eris excitedly threw herself into his arms and said excitedly:
"Great, I have a brother! You can be my brother!"
"Eris..."
Shirou couldn't interrupt Eris's overly happy and excited appearance all of a sudden, so he could only smile wryly and stroke her head.
After that, the two continued to talk about things with each other.
Shirou asked about the Boreas family, especially about Eris's two brothers, and roughly understood the Boreas family's current situation.
Eris, on the other hand, was very curious about the story Shirou had just told about his past experiences and asked him to tell her where in the world that had happened.
Shirou really didn't know how to describe it, so he could only say that it was a very, very far place, a distance that couldn't be reached by walking, so he would basically never be able to see his real sister.
After formally establishing a brother-sister relationship, the relationship between the two obviously took a step further.
But precisely because of this, Shirou and Eris both relaxed a bit, and while chatting, they fell asleep on the bed.
The next day, the maid knocked on the door as usual to clean the room, but when she opened the door, she found the two of them sleeping in each other's arms on the bed.
In an instant, all kinds of rumors spread throughout the entire Boreas family!
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