Alice Kuonji leaned against the cold wooden pillar as still as a statue.
It was uncomfortable, and a little cold, but once drowsiness overtook her, none of that seemed to matter anymore.
She had no idea how long she had slept. Half dreaming and half awake, the girl felt a wave of warmth.
Warm air wrapped itself around her body, and the winter sunlight fell across her face.
I wish this moment could go on forever, the girl thought in her dream.
She slept comfortably for a while longer before slowly opening her eyes.
Where is this...?
Still groggy from sleep, Alice let her gaze drift around her surroundings, only to realize that she had actually fallen asleep sitting on the floor of the front hall.
For someone as fastidious as Alice, just the thought of Aoko seeing her sleeping face was already unbearable enough.
And on top of that, an outsider had spent the night in the mansion yesterday... ugh!?
The girl snapped awake from her lazy haze and stared at the heater in surprise.
The heater, which had been broken for many years, was somehow working perfectly now, constantly sending out waves of warm air and making the entire front hall toasty.
What... is this...?
No, could it be...?
Alice did not want to think about that possibility.
"Chirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirp...!"
A blue robin appeared in the front hall.
It hopped down from the furniture, flew into its master's field of vision, and let out a series of shrill cries.
"..."
As the girl listened to the report from her familiar, her composed face grew darker and darker.
"So an outsider really did see me sleeping..."
It was already bad enough to let an outsider into the house, but for him to see her completely defenseless like that too!?
"Chirp chirp chirp...!"
The robin puffed up its feathers.
Whether it was criticizing Alice for being too careless, or envying the boy who had gotten to admire the girl's sleeping face, even Alice as its mistress could not fully understand every one of the little bird's cries.
"But..."
Alice placed her hand near the heater and felt the warmth coming from it.
"While I was asleep, he repaired the heater..."
Why?
Why had he not woken her up while she was sleeping, and instead chosen to repair the heater?
No, before that... how had he known the heater in the front hall was broken?
After thinking it over again and again, the girl could only arrive at one answer.
Aoko had told him.
"The heater in the front hall is broken. If you have time, go fix it for me... maybe that'll win Alice over."
"This morning, before Aoko left for school, she said something like that to the boy. That's why he went out of his way to repair the heater."
The boy said he had jumped to this era to correct history, but anyone who had seen the way he acted would understand.
He was someone connected to the Fifth Magic. He had come to this era for Aoko's sake.
So of course he would take Aoko's requests seriously.
Having sorted through the confusion in her heart, Alice felt a wave of clarity and rose from the floor.
Now only one question remained.
"How did that child repair the heater?"
Pinching her chin between her fingers, the girl thought as she walked toward the kitchen.
Now that she was awake, she planned to brew some black tea, then do Magecraft research while drinking it in the sunroom.
That was generally how Alice spent her days during winter break.
As for lunch, she had intended to just make do with some delivered ramen.
"..."
The moment she stepped into the kitchen, Alice froze.
The outsider who had intruded into the mansion last night was in the kitchen, wearing an apron.
"What are you... doing?"
"Ah, Alice-san, good morning."
Shirou quickly wiped his hands on the apron and walked over to her.
"I'm using the kitchen."
The girl raised a displeased eyebrow.
"I can see that."
Shirou scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"I figured I didn't have anything else to do during the day, so I thought I'd make lunch... Sorry, I should have asked before using the kitchen."
Alice glanced into the kitchen.
She saw the rice cooker making rice, diced ham and carrots on the cutting board, and peas, chopped green onion, corn kernels, and eggs in small bowls.
Fried rice?
So he really was cooking... Had he passed through the front hall when he went out to buy ingredients earlier?
The moment she remembered that this unfamiliar boy standing in front of her had seen her asleep and defenseless, irritation welled up in Alice's chest again.
If you hadn't suddenly decided to make fried rice, then I wouldn't have been...
At first, the girl badly wanted to snap, "Don't enter the kitchen without my permission again!" But then she reconsidered.
This was probably Aoko's doing too.
If Aoko had not asked him to, there was no reason for this child to go out of his way to cook.
Feeling a little lacking in justification, Alice gave up on scolding Shirou and simply said one word in a flat tone.
"The heater..."
"Ah... so you noticed?"
Shirou looked both a little hopeful and a little embarrassed. He had not repaired the heater to curry favor with Alice.
But if doing so could help close the distance between them again...
"Don't do that next time."
The girl's words, colder than the winter night wind, pierced straight through the boy's chest like a knife.
"I understand that you were only following Aoko's instructions.
That's exactly why it feels unpleasant... making a kind gesture like that when you don't actually have those feelings...
It really, really makes me uncomfortable."
Shirou: "..."
Alice silently walked past him into the kitchen and took out a full tea set from the cupboard.
Shirou stood there blankly for a while, then returned to where he had been and lowered his head to continue preparing the ingredients.
For a full five minutes, neither of them spoke.
When Alice left the kitchen carrying the teapot, Shirou called out to her.
"Alice-san, would you like to have lunch together later?"
Alice did not stop walking and left the kitchen without a word.
"I'll make your portion too!"
The boy's stubborn voice followed from behind her.
...
...
...
Back in the living room, Alice first took out the "Mirror of Slumber" to check on the state of Misaki City, then settled down to read.
The kitchen and the living room were separated by only a single wall.
Just thinking about an outsider being that close by put the girl in a bad mood.
As the mistress of the mansion, she could easily have ordered Shirou back to Aoko's room.
That was the only place in this house where he was actually allowed to be.
Somewhere in Alice's subconscious, Shirou had already become the equivalent of a stray dog Aoko had picked up on a rainy day and insisted on keeping despite the landlady's objections.
Although Alice could have simply ordered Shirou to stay away from her...
"I missed the best chance..."
Alice frowned slightly. She should have said it back in the kitchen.
She resolved that the moment Shirou made even the slightest noise, she would drive him straight back to Aoko's room.
What happened, however, was completely beyond her expectations.
Not only did she fail to drive Shirou out of the kitchen, even more strangely, she ended up completely forgetting he was there.
It was not that Shirou was deliberately keeping his noise down in the kitchen. Rather, after having lived in the mansion for over half a month before, he had developed a certain habit.
To put it in more fantastical terms, Shirou had already become able to blend into the mansion itself, just like the lady of the house.
That was probably why earlier he had been repairing the heater right there, and Alice had slept on without noticing a thing.
Of course, "Alice from the past" knew none of that. She only found it odd.
"...It's so quiet."
The girl furrowed her brow faintly, then realized what it must be.
Aoko must have told him this too.
"When Alice is reading, you have to tread as lightly as possible, or she'll scold you." ...Yes, that had to be it.
"...Who knew Aoko could be this considerate? You'd never notice it normally."
After murmuring that to herself, Alice went back to her book.
Judging by the sunlight falling into the living room, it was already noon.
In the gloomy winter weather, that sunlight felt especially warm.
Just as the clock was about to reach noon, Shirou returned to the living room carrying tableware for two.
On the beautifully decorated enamel plates sat Chinese-style fried rice, golden and gleaming.
"Alice-san, lunch is ready."
"..."
Alice had actually decided long ago what she would do.
The moment the boy brought lunch over, she would close her book, turn away, and leave him with nothing but the cold sight of her back in rejection.
She had already rehearsed the sequence several times in her head, but...
The aroma of the fried rice spread through the living room.
As she breathed in that enticing scent, Alice felt as though the sofa had glued itself to her.
The glossy golden grains were all separate and distinct, dotted with green, orange, white, and yellow that made it instantly appetizing.
"..."
Alice swallowed.
She had originally assumed Shirou had chosen fried rice because it was simple to make and high in calories, the sort of thing that suited a growing boy.
But... the plate of fried rice in front of her was definitely not on the level of "something a boy casually throws together to fill his stomach when his mother isn't home."
Just from the fragrance and appearance alone, she could already feel that the cook had poured something into it.
I'm not eating it...
Say it. Hurry up and say it, Alice.
Tell him I don't want it. I don't want to eat it.
By the time she came back to herself, Alice had already picked up the spoon.
The girl stared at the fried rice for a long time with a complicated expression, then finally scooped up a spoonful and put it in her mouth.
...It's good.
The fried rice the boy had made was not the kind of delicious that made you ravenous at first bite, nor the kind of delicious that brought tears to your eyes.
It was simply... very good.
Seeing Alice let down her guard and begin eating the fried rice at an unhurried pace, Shirou started eating too.
...
...
Alice gradually came to understand everything.
The boy named Shirou Amamiya was not some outsider.
As long as she thought of him as one of Aoko's "belongings," allowing him to remain in the house no longer felt like such a violation of her principles.
That was right.
Aoko Aozaki was a resident of this mansion, and Shirou was simply an "item" she had recently brought into the house.
Just like Alice's own Ploy Kickshaw, except this particular "item" happened to have the appearance of a boy, could talk, and could cook.
Once she framed it that way, Alice suddenly felt much more at ease. It was not something she could not tolerate.
So when Shirou came back to the living room after washing the dishes and asked whether he could stay there, the girl gave a small nod.
"As long as you don't get in my way."
Alice said it flatly.
When Aoko had first moved in, she had felt a little uncomfortable then too.
This was nothing more than a repeat of that.
Given enough time, she would get used to it.
And yet once again, the result was beyond the girl's expectations.
Alice did not feel annoyed at all with Shirou staying in the living room.
They did not speak to each other, but a certain unusual atmosphere drifted through the air.
There was both the freedom of being alone and the sense of security that came from having someone nearby.
The girl rose from the sofa and decided to go brew another pot of tea.
Had it only been two hours since her last cup of black tea?
No. It had already been two hours since her last cup of black tea!
In the kitchen.
"As repayment for lunch, I'll brew a cup for that boy too."
Alice watched the white steam rising from the kettle and decided to offset that fried rice with some black tea.
At that moment, she suddenly remembered something, opened a drawer, and took out a small blue glass vial.
Mescaline.
An alkaloid extracted from a spineless cactus native to South America.
About one to two hours after taking it, the subject would experience very unpleasant sensations such as anxiety, nausea, and trembling, after which dreamlike, vividly colored visual hallucinations would appear before their eyes.
The local indigenous people dried it and used it as a sacrament in religious rituals. It was merely an ordinary hallucinogen, but in the hands of a witch, it could become a slow-acting poison capable of killing even a Magus.
With her pale fingers, the girl pulled the stopper from the bottle, then looked at one of the two teacups in front of her.
The one prepared for Shirou.
After thinking it over again and again, Alice finally put the stopper back on.
She returned the glass vial containing the poison to the corner beside the spice jars, then resumed making tea.
...
...
"I'm back!"
At dusk, the lively voice of a girl came from the entrance hall.
Aoko hurried through the foyer and front hall, then entered the living room and found Alice sitting there.
There was no need to guess. She had obviously spent the entire day here again.
But Aoko had no time to worry about that right now. There was someone she urgently wanted to see.
"Where's Shirou? You didn't bully him today, did you?"
Without even looking up, Alice turned a page and said softly, "He went out."
"He went out? By himself?" Aoko frowned suspiciously.
"Mm."
"Did he say what he went out for?"
Alice shook her head.
"No."
The moment she heard that, panic flashed across Aoko's face.
"Why didn't you stop him? What if that child ran off again?"
Alice frowned faintly.
"Weren't you the one who told me not to argue with him?
If he runs away again this time, then that would only prove he really does have a problem."
"I already told you, he's not a bad person!"
Aoko shot back unhappily.
"If he really meant me harm, he could have killed me countless times last night."
"..."
Alice was somewhat dissatisfied too.
Because Shirou had run off right after finishing the tea she had given him, as though he had suddenly remembered some urgent errand.
Even though I didn't poison you...
Just then, there was a knock at the entrance.
Aoko's eyes lit up, and Alice turned her head in curiosity as well.
Shirou had come back.
"Sorry. I suddenly remembered there were still a few ingredients I'd forgotten to buy for dinner, so I made a trip to the convenience store."
"Seriously... if that's all it was, you should've said so sooner."
Aoko pressed a hand to her chest and let out a long breath of relief, while the boy apologized with a guilty look.
"Sorry for making you worry, Aoko."
Shirou's earnest apology caught Aoko off guard.
To hide her embarrassment, the chestnut-haired girl punched him lightly.
"Honestly, you scared me to death, idiot!
Wait... huh? Shirou, can you cook? Are you making dinner?"
Shirou nodded.
"Yeah. Since I'm staying here, I want to do something to repay everyone."
"Shirou's cooking? Now I'm excited~"
Then Aoko let out a kind of girlish voice Alice had never heard from her before.
"Um, Shirou... can I help too?"
"Of course you can."
"Hehe, great... I'll help carry everything over. Is all this going in the fridge?"
Chatting and laughing together, Shirou and Aoko headed into the kitchen.
Alice: "..."
The bothersome outsider had been taken away by her noisy housemate.
The living room, lively just moments ago, suddenly fell silent.
There was no doubt about it.
This was exactly the kind of environment Alice Kuonji had always dreamed of.
But why...?
All at once, the girl felt herself enveloped by an intense sense of loss.
It felt like something had been taken from her...
Or perhaps, like she was in the middle of losing something.