"...Ah."
Alice Kuonji stared at Shirou in shock, one hand covering her lips.
Then her cheeks rapidly grew hot with embarrassment.
"Alice-san?"
Alice Kuonji lowered her flushed face, looking like she wanted to say something but could not, then silently resumed drinking her tea.
"Alice-san?"
"...It's your fault for saying something strange, Amamiya-kun."
Shirou blinked in confusion.
"???"
"Even if you don't have a reason... if you want to come, you can come anytime."
Alice Kuonji looked away and spoke in a small voice.
"Really? That's okay?"
Alice Kuonji gave a gentle nod.
"Mm."
As far as Shirou knew, witches generally had an extremely strong sense of territory, and ordinarily they would never allow other people to come and go inside their base.
Since Alice-san was saying something like that, then that must mean...
She already considers me a friend, right? That's great.
Shirou brightened.
"Then I don't have to hold back. Please tell me about Touko Aozaki."
The witch of the mansion set down her teacup, took a moment to compose herself, and began to explain.
"The Kuonji family that I belong to is not a Magus Family, but because my mother was a witch, I was born with the qualities of a witch."
"Wow! That's amazing!"
Shirou asked curiously, "Then, Alice-san, can you also write down things that happened and learn them as Magecraft?"
A trace of surprise flashed through the black-haired girl's dark eyes, then she shook her head.
"No, I still can't do that... something like that already falls into the realm of an application of the First Magic.
I'm surprised you even know that. Anyone who isn't very familiar with witches shouldn't know it at all."
Shirou scratched his cheek.
"It's because I happen to know a Magus who's good at that sort of thing... I guess it's called [Fairy Tale Magecraft], right?"
"Is that person the witch Amamiya-kun knows?"
Alice Kuonji stared intently at Shirou, and he nodded.
"I see..."
The witch lightly held her delicate chin and fell into thought.
Shirou carefully said, "Um, Alice-san, I think we've drifted a little off topic..."
"We have not drifted off topic."
Alice Kuonji shot Shirou a fierce glare.
She seems mad...
Better not interrupt carelessly, the boy thought.
"Anyway, my mother was a witch who could use [Fairy Tale Magecraft], turning stories into Magecraft.
In the world of witches, she was known as a [Meinster], a great witch of the highest rank.
My father was the eldest son of the Kuonji family. He met my mother while studying abroad in Britain.
Because of my mother's identity as a witch, their union was only ever going to end in tragedy, but my father still married her, and after the wedding the two of them came to Japan to live."
At that point, Alice Kuonji looked around the living room with deep nostalgia in her eyes.
This mansion was the very place where her parents had lived when they were in Japan.
Shirou understood immediately, and at the same time he was not foolish enough to blurt out, "How come I haven't seen your parents these past few days?"
The black-haired witch continued.
"My mother died after giving birth to me, having fulfilled her duty of passing on the witch's lineage. My father raised me alone from childhood.
Then my father also passed away more than ten years ago. This mansion is the inheritance my parents left to me.
After inheriting the mansion, I set out on the same path as my mother, the path of a witch.
Then, when I was seventeen, I took my first apprentice.
That was Aoko, Touko's biological younger sister."
"How did that happen?"
Shirou immediately caught the issue.
Touko Aozaki was already a genius Magus whose name resounded throughout the Clock Tower, so why would her younger sister be learning Magecraft under Alice?
And at seventeen, no less, practically already an adult.
Alice Kuonji said, "That's right, just as you thought, Amamiya-kun.
Touko was originally the heir to the Aozaki family's Magecraft, but later the heir was changed to Aoko.
Because Magecraft is passed down to only one child, Aoko received no Magecraft education at all while growing up, and she was only formally designated as the heir at the age of fifteen.
Touko, on the other hand, was suddenly stripped of her inheritance by her younger sister, who was four years younger than her and had never had anything to do with Magecraft until then."
"I see, so that's why..."
That was how conflict arose between the Aozaki sisters.
And in that struggle over succession, Aoko Aozaki killed her older sister.
"The Aozaki family's situation is itself rather unusual."
"What do you mean?"
"The Aozaki are a lineage that passes down Magic."
"Magic..."
Long before the Holy Grail War began, Shirou had already heard about Magic from Makiri.
Magus from the Age of Gods could wield the Magecraft of the Age of Gods, something modern Magi could no longer use. To modern Magi, it was a miracle infinitely close to Magic, but it was not true Magic.
No matter how powerful a Magus from the Age of Gods might be, they could not be called a Magician. In this world, there were only five people who could truly be called Magicians.
And one of them came from Japan...
So it was the Aozaki family?
Alice Kuonji narrowed her eyes.
"Do you understand now?
No matter how outstanding Touko's talent in Magecraft was, it meant nothing in front of the Aozaki family's Magic."
After that, Alice Kuonji began talking about the Aozaki sisters' childhood.
In order to raise Touko as the heir to the family's Magic, the two sisters were made to live apart from a very young age.
Aoko was raised by her parents like an ordinary girl, while Touko lived with her grandfather in a Magecraft workshop deep in the mountains, and had not even gone to school until she was eighteen.
The two sisters saw each other often and talked frequently, but the older sister was a genius girl who knew nothing about the common sense of the outside world.
Even so, she was still a good older sister, willing to listen to her younger sister's troubles and offer advice.
Up until that point, they could have been called a warm pair of sisters.
Compared to Touko, Aoko's abilities were far too ordinary, so there was no need for her to have anything to do with Magecraft, and she grew up cherished by her gentle parents.
Then, just as she was about to leave the town for Tokyo and enjoy her youth, she was suddenly told, "No. The heir of the Aozaki family will be Aoko after all."
And so Aoko was forcibly dragged into the world of Magecraft and began training in the witch's mansion as an apprentice Magus.
Meanwhile, Touko cut ties with the Aozaki family and joined the Clock Tower after killing her grandfather.
As a genius girl, Touko quickly made a name for herself in London, and in only a few short years she attained the Clock Tower's de facto highest rank, [Brand].
There were even rumors that she was closing in on [Grand].
"With Touko's talent, reaching Grand was only a matter of time."
Alice Kuonji took a sip of black tea.
"But her time stopped forever eight years ago."
Before her duel with Aoko, Touko Aozaki had been researching a certain project.
To create a puppet completely identical to the original.
If she had truly completed that project, Touko would likely have earned the title of [Grand] through that achievement alone.
After all, it was a technique that produced an effect almost identical to the Third Magic, materialization of the soul.
And the moment she completed it, Touko would also have received a Sealing Designation from the Mage's Association.
Those assumptions are what happen in the overwhelming majority of parallel worlds.
But in this world...
Touko Aozaki was killed by her own younger sister before she could create a puppet completely identical to herself.
Because she never mastered the technique of making a backup body, there was naturally no way for her to revive after being killed. Her death was absolute.
[There will be a detailed explanation at the end of this chapter.]
The black-haired girl spoke softly.
"Yes, because it was a battle fought with their lives on the line... both Aoko and Touko went into it intending to kill the other.
So if one of them ended up dead, neither had any grounds to complain."
Shirou frowned.
"How was that even possible?"
On one side was a novice who had only been exposed to Magecraft for less than a year. On the other was a [Brand], someone essentially on the level of a Clock Tower Lord. The gap between them was far too great.
"Aoko used the Aozaki family's Magic in her battle with Touko.
No, to be precise, it would be more accurate to call it a byproduct of the Fifth Magic. Time travel does not even count as an application of the Fifth Magic.
In any case, Aoko accelerated her own time by ten years and obtained the experience and techniques of her future self.
The one who killed Touko was twenty-seven-year-old Aoko."
"......"
Shirou sank back into the sofa.
She advanced her own time by ten years?
Wasn't that basically the same thing he had done in the Holy Grail War?
Time travel was an application of the Second Magic.
Aoko Aozaki, however, had achieved time travel through the nature of the Fifth Magic.
"..."
As if something had just occurred to him, Shirou's eyes slowly widened.
"Amamiya-kun?"
Shirou suddenly stood up, strode over to Alice Kuonji, and seized her hand tightly.
"!"
The black-haired witch stared in disbelief at the hand he was gripping so firmly, so shocked that she forgot to make a sound.
"Alice-san."
"W, what is it all of a sudden?"
Alice Kuonji looked down at the floor, flustered.
"Amamiya-kun, this is troubling for me. Physical contact is a little..."
With a serious expression, Shirou said, "Could I ask you to let me meet Aoko Aozaki?"
"........."
The light vanished from Alice Kuonji's eyes in an instant.
...
...Why did this end up happening?
Alice Kuonji pressed a hand to her forehead and let out a faint sigh.
Right now, she was in a newly opened chain café in Misaki City called Ahnenerbe.
Shirou was sitting beside her, curiously watching the hurried pedestrians outside the window.
"Thanks for today, Alice-san," Shirou said.
"Mm. Just this once," Alice said.
In the end, she still had not been able to refuse his request.
Alice had agreed to let him meet Aoko Aozaki, because...
How cruel would I have to be to say no when he looks at me with those pitiful puppy eyes like that?!
The girl inwardly regretted her own softness. Why could she never bring herself to be firm?
She had no idea what Shirou intended to say after meeting Aoko, but she had a very bad feeling about it.
Even though the feeling was awful, she still could not refuse this child. Honestly...
"Alice-san, you seem low on energy today. Is it because you haven't gone out in too long?"
"Nothing like that. You're imagining it."
With a gloomy expression, Alice Kuonji said, "Are you underestimating my social skills?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Shirou secretly watching her.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"If you have something to say, then say it. It's irritating."
Just thinking about seeing Aoko again under these circumstances, after nearly ten years, made Alice's mood terrible, and her tone came out rougher than usual.
"Um..."
Shirou said a little sheepishly, "Alice-san looks really beautiful today. I couldn't help looking twice."
At home, Alice usually wore plain sweaters, and Shirou had gotten used to seeing her dressed that way.
But today, before leaving the house, Alice had dressed up a little.
At that moment, the short-haired girl in black radiated an air of noble elegance. She had that fairy-tale quality about her, so beautiful it was almost unreal.
"It's not just me who thinks so. Everyone's been staring at you too... uh, Alice-san?"
Shirou was still trying to explain himself when he realized the black-haired witch sitting beside him had somehow turned to stone.
When we get back, we're going to have a proper talk.
After recovering from petrification, Alice Kuonji said that with a resentful look in her eyes.
The bell above the café entrance rang, and the front door opened.
A young woman walked in.
She had well-proportioned features and long chestnut hair, and her simple casual clothes outlined a mature figure with striking presence.
Her chest is huge... no, wait.
Shirou instantly decided that she had to be the Magician he and Alice had been waiting for.
She waved at Alice as she walked over.
"I never expected Alice to contact me on her own. It really shocked me. I honestly thought it was some kind of prank call."
The young woman pulled out a chair and sat down across from them.
"It's been a long time, Alice," the Magician said with a smile.
"I'm relieved to see Aoko is still the same as ever," Alice replied calmly.
The two greeted each other across the table.
You would never guess they had once lived under the same roof for a whole year.
Well, after something like that happened, Shirou thought.
Aoko Aozaki opened the café menu, gave it a quick glance, and spoke.
"It must have been eight years, right?
We haven't seen each other since I dropped out of high school... so why did you go out of your way to find me? I doubt this is just a friendly reunion."
"Mm. Actually, I wanted to introduce someone to you."
Alice Kuonji turned toward Shirou.
"He is..."
"I know."
Aoko Aozaki gave him a sly smile.
"Shirou Amamiya-kun... I'm right, aren't I?"
Shirou and Alice looked at each other, and Alice shot him a displeased, accusing glare.
What is this?
I don't know either!
Didn't you say you didn't know Aoko?
I really don't know her!
"As a shut-in, Alice probably doesn't know, but this kid is a survivor of the Fourth Holy Grail War."
The Magician looked at Shirou with an expression that seemed to say, I know everything.
"Nice to meet you, Shirou-kun.
I'm Aoko Aozaki, the very person you've been looking for. You can call me Aoko-nee-san too ♡"
Under Alice's glare, fierce enough to set something on fire, Shirou took the hand Aoko held out to him.
…
Ps1
In the first part of Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, it is made very, very clear that Touko can be killed.
According to the latest setting, Touko created a puppet completely identical to herself in order to break the curse Aoko placed on her in Witch on the Holy Night.
Ps2
Mahou Tsukai no Yoru 1 takes place at the end of 1989. At that point, Touko was neither [Grand] nor under a Sealing Designation.
After losing to Aoko, Touko was placed under a curse that prevented her from ever setting foot in Misaki again.
In the spring of 1990, Touko called and said that because of the curse, she could not enter Misaki.
To break that curse, Touko began creating a puppet exactly identical to herself.
In the autumn of 1991, Touko returned to Misaki by changing bodies. Around the same time, she received a Sealing Designation.
At the end of 1995, in the well-known Paradox Spiral, Touko was killed by Alba and replaced her body.
The original line is, "A few years ago, during one of my experiments, I accidentally made a puppet that was exactly the same as me."
That "a few years ago" refers to the period between 1990 and 1991, when Touko created her backup body.