"Um... Alice?"
Both Shirou and Aoko could tell something was wrong. Alice clearly wasn't acting like herself.
With the petite, slender witch at the center, an indescribable sense of unease and pressure slowly spread through the entire café.
Aoko cautiously asked, "...Do you really dislike the idea of me using magic that much?"
The only answer she got was the witch's icy, pitch-black stare.
"Aoko, is this really what your magic is meant to be used for?"
"What do you mean by that?" Aoko frowned.
If this had happened back when she and Alice were both still seventeen, it probably would have turned into a full-blown fight.
But now they were both twenty-five-year-old adults. Aoko wanted to calm things down as much as possible and keep it from becoming an argument.
Lowering her voice, she said, "This is to save Touko-nee-san... I know it's selfish, but this is the only way."
Alice Kuonji was unmoved. In a reproachful tone, she said,
"You're still just as reckless as ever, doing whatever suits your mood...
Even after all these years, you really haven't changed at all."
"Hah? What do you mean I haven't changed at all?"
Aoko raised her voice. A trace of ridicule flashed through her eyes as she looked at the girl in front of her.
"After all these years, who's the one who hasn't changed at all, Alice?"
Eight years ago, Aoko Aozaki killed her own older sister.
She sank into despair for quite a while afterward, even stopped going to school, but in the end, she still managed to come out of it.
Compared to who she was back then, she could now say with confidence that she had grown.
Whether as a person or as the Fifth Magician, Aoko Aozaki was no longer who she used to be.
Alice Kuonji, on the other hand, had hardly changed at all, either in appearance or in presence, despite now being a twenty-five-year-old modern witch.
It was almost as if her time had remained forever frozen in her girlhood.
She had at least managed to finish high school, but after graduating, she shut herself away in the Western-style mansion her parents left behind.
Had Alice Kuonji really grown at all?
"..."
The black-haired witch let out a disappointed sigh.
She didn't seem angry. She only looked calmly at her former housemate.
"Aoko... have you thought about what kind of unknown effects 'evading death through time travel' might have on this world? Can you really bear that responsibility?"
"..."
"Why aren't you saying anything? Who was it that stood in front of Touko-nee-san's grave and said she would become a great Magician?
Wasn't that the half-baked seventeen-year-old Aoko? Have you already forgotten the words you said back then?"
Alice Kuonji kept firing off one line after another. It was the first time Shirou had ever seen her so articulate.
After a brief silence, Aoko Aozaki said, "This is about how I feel.
You're right. I am going to act according to my feelings... that's just who I am.
And besides, I'm not trying to dodge responsibility.
If something really does go wrong with this time travel, then I'll figure out how to fix it when that happens. Isn't that exactly what Magicians do?"
The two girls stared at each other.
Neither Aoko nor Alice was willing to give even half a step.
Their relationship hadn't changed from before.
Even after living under the same roof for three years, they still couldn't understand each other.
There was, in some sense, something that could be called friendship between them, but whenever their opinions clashed, they could never move on without first crushing the other side.
Aoko was Aoko, and Alice was Alice.
At a moment like this, that loose, whatever-works kind of friendship between them had already been thrown aside.
"Seeing that you're still the same as ever, Aoko, is oddly reassuring."
The witch sighed softly, and her tone sounded even more disappointed than before.
"Let's set the arguing aside for now.
In any case, if you insist on using magic for that sort of thing, then I have my own way of dealing with it."
"Then..."
Aoko threw out a question that hit Alice like a fatal blow.
"So Shirou-kun's life or death doesn't matter to you anymore?"
Alice's expression visibly wavered.
"There are still many excellent puppet masters in this world.
If we spend a little time, we'll definitely be able to find someone who can help Amamiya-kun..."
Aoko cut her off. "How could there possibly be any puppet master who compares to Touko-nee-san?"
"..."
She had no rebuttal.
Alice Kuonji had personally experienced just how extraordinary Touko Aozaki was eight years ago. There was no way anyone else could replace her.
Alice turned to look at the red-haired boy beside her.
"Um... I'll take responsibility too," Shirou said.
"Amamiya-kun..."
Incidentally, because Alice had snapped "Shut up" at him earlier, Shirou hadn't said a single word while they were arguing and had obediently kept his mouth shut the entire time.
Alice bit her lip, then lowered her head.
"I understand...
Fine. If this is what Amamiya-kun wants, then I can't say anything more.
Of course, on a personal level, I also want Amamiya-kun to find salvation."
So Alice had finally accepted it.
Shirou and Aoko both let out sighs of relief and sank back into the café's soft booth, their backs drenched in cold sweat.
...
After that, the three of them left Ahnenerbe and walked back to the Kuonji residence on the mountain.
Shirou and Aoko still needed to discuss the specific details of the time travel, and that would probably take quite a while.
Aoko happily declared that she would be staying over at the mansion in the meantime.
"You do want me to stay here, right, Alice? Or do you not want to interrupt your time alone with Shirou-kun?"
With a sly grin, Aoko added, "Or should I just find a hotel somewhere instead?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Alice said flatly. "It's better for you to stay here than go out and make a spectacle of yourself somewhere else."
"Yes, yes~"
Coming back to life in the mansion after so long put Aoko Aozaki in a particularly good mood.
The room she had used before was at the end of the east wing corridor.
When she first moved in, Aoko had deliberately picked a room that wasn't very large.
There wasn't any deep reason behind it. She just thought it would be easier to clean that way.
Inside were a slightly larger bed, Aoko's favorite rosewood desk and wardrobe, neatly arranged storage boxes for tops, and two nine-tier bookcases.
Even after eight years, almost nothing had changed.
It really did feel as though time had stood still, Aoko thought.
Lying on the familiar bed, she looked over at the boy helping her carry in her luggage. "Which room is Shirou-kun's?"
"I've never stayed the night here."
"Huh?"
Aoko jolted and sat bolt upright on the bed.
"You've never stayed here overnight?"
"Yeah. On Mondays and Fridays, I go home before four in the afternoon. Other days I can stay a little later, and sometimes I have dinner here."
"Why?"
The Magician looked puzzled. "You're on break right now, aren't you? Don't tell me you still have cram school?"
"Because it's my turn to make dinner every Monday and Friday, so I have to go back," Shirou said as if it were only natural.
Aoko was speechless.
She had simply assumed Shirou had already been staying at the mansion all week, but apparently he hadn't.
Then why are you and Alice-san so close?
What exactly have you two been doing in this house every day?!
Shirou tilted his head and thought for a moment. "We drink black tea and have snacks together in the living room in the afternoon.
Sometimes I turn on the TV, and Alice-san reads on the sofa beside me."
"Whoa, what kind of retired old couple lifestyle is that? Anyway, Shirou-kun, starting today, you're staying at the mansion too."
"Is that really necessary?" Shirou asked.
"Of course it is," Aoko said seriously.
"We're about to do something no one in all of history has ever done, you know?
...First of all, straighten out that attitude. This isn't a school outing."
Shirou thought about it, then nodded. "Alright. I'll explain it to Alice-san at dinner tonight.
But before that, I want to call home first. It'll probably take a little while."
With Sella and Leysritt there, it should be fine even if I'm not home, Shirou thought.
The real issue was how to convince Iri and Fuji-nee to let him stay out overnight.
"I'll explain it to Alice-san myself."
"Okay."
Aoko lightly hopped down from the bed and left the room with Shirou.
One headed for the entryway where the phone was, while the other went to the living room.
...
As soon as she reached the door to the living room, Aoko was hit by a familiar atmosphere.
Alice was quietly reading there, while the blue robin hopped back and forth across the table.
It was such a warm, peaceful scene that it felt as though even a hundred years from now, nothing about it would change. That thought filled Aoko with both relief and a faint ache.
"Ah..."
That was when Aoko noticed something new in the living room.
"What's that?" she asked curiously.
Under the room's only two appliances, the TV and the VHS player, there was now a gray box.
Without even looking up, Alice replied, "A game console Amamiya-kun brought over. I believe it's called a PlayStation."
"I see... heh."
So it isn't completely unchanged after all, Aoko thought happily.
Shirou's arrival had brought a fresh breeze into the stagnant mansion, and even the eternal modern witch...
Even if Alice herself hadn't noticed, she had quietly begun to change.
After a brief moment of thought, Aoko did not go into the living room right away. Instead, she turned and headed for the kitchen.
Hmph. I'll show you how much I've grown.
Thinking that, the Magician skillfully dug tea leaves and a tea set out from the back corner of a cabinet, then started boiling water and brewing tea.
Ten minutes later.
"...Well?"
Aoko nervously watched the black-haired witch elegantly sip her tea.
Alice offered no comment at all. She only gave a faint nod.
Aoko smiled in satisfaction. She knew that already counted as the highest praise possible.
"Where did Amamiya-kun go?"
Alice finally lifted her gaze from the book in her hands.
"Didn't he go help you unpack your luggage? Why did only you come in?
Aoko... you didn't dump all the work on that child, did you?"
"As if! What kind of monster do you take me for?!"
The chestnut-haired Magician looked thoroughly wronged. "Shirou-kun's at the front making a phone call."
"A phone call?" Alice blinked.
Aoko took a sip of the tea she had brewed herself. "Yeah. Shirou-kun is starting to stay at the mansion tonight, so he's calling home to explain it.
I didn't expect it to take this long. His family is really strict."
"....?"
Alice looked puzzled. "Amamiya-kun is staying over?"
"Yeah. We still have a lot of prep work to do."
That was not what Alice cared about.
She asked, "Did Shirou decide to stay over on his own? Or…"
"I'm the one who told Shirou to stay here," Aoko replied casually.
".... I see."
Alice Kuonji pressed her cute lips together.
I see. Shirou is going to stay at the mansion.
If I asked him myself... yes, that child probably wouldn't refuse.
But...
Alice was truly envious, envious of how casually Aoko could say something like that.
So it would only be natural for her to take him away from me.
...
Tonight's dinner was made by Shirou.
This was not actually his first time cooking at the Kuonji house.
Alice had already tasted Shirou's cooking several times before, and even tonight's ingredients were leftovers from the other day.
"S-so good! Shirou-kun, you can cook too?"
Aoko kept stuffing food into her mouth while showering the boy's cooking with praise.
"It's just a personal hobby."
"That's amazing. When I lived here, dinner was always either bread or takeout... If only Shirou had been around back then."
"I was only four years old back then. What exactly were you expecting a four-year-old to do for you?"
"Make all three meals."
"I refuse!"
Aoko grinned and started reminiscing about the old days.
Back then, dinner at the Kuonji house had basically been handled however they felt like.
There were no hard rules about who had to cook. If someone felt like making dinner, they made it. If they didn't, they didn't.
On top of that, the two of them had been living on a very tight budget, so there were times when they went a whole week without a proper dinner.
"I heard from Alice-san that you really liked takeout, Aoko-nee-san?"
"That's why, if Shirou had been there, I definitely never would've gotten into takeout," Aoko said with a smile.
"So how far exactly are you planning to exploit a four-year-old?"
Shirou turned to the black-haired girl beside him. "How was dinner tonight? I adjusted the flavor a little."
"As delicious as ever. Thank you, Amamiya-kun."
Holding her rice bowl in both hands, Alice Kuonji murmured softly, looking deeply moved.
"I'm glad you liked it, Alice-san," Shirou said.
Dinner passed in a pleasant atmosphere. After they cleaned up the dishes early, Shirou and Aoko stayed in the living room to discuss the details of the time travel, while Alice went to take a bath first.
Alice was the type who, once she finished bathing, would not come back to the living room and would instead go straight to her bedroom, so in the large room, only the voices of Shirou and Aoko remained.
"Hey, Aoko-nee-san."
"What is it, Shirou?"
Having wrapped up their first strategy meeting, Aoko decided to relax a little.
Sitting on the floor, she pressed the power button on the PlayStation.
"It's felt kind of strangely quiet for a while now."
"Well, it's just you and me in here. Of course it's going to be quiet if neither of us is talking."
Aoko frowned with her back to him. "Don't tell me you're suddenly scared of being alone at night now. Want to sleep in your big sister's room tonight, you little pervert~"
"I'll pass. But, Aoko-nee-san... what's that?"
She looked in the direction the red-haired boy was pointing.
The next instant, a bead of cold sweat slid down the Magician's cheek.
"You really do have a nasty personality, Alice."
From the gap in the half-closed living room door, white mist was somehow starting to seep in.
It seemed the young witch of the mansion had no intention of letting Shirou and her off that easily.