That morning, Shirou was sleeping in when Jeanne and Metatron woke him up and dragged him to the warehouse by force.
"Come look at what we found!"
Shirou forced his heavy eyelids open and stared. "Is this... some kind of fancy-looking table? Why is there a table in my family's warehouse...?"
"That's not it!"
Jeanne's delicate brows drew together in displeasure. "You don't even know what this is? Did you really live in the modern world?
"This is the greatest invention in modern Japanese history, a fully automatic mahjong machine!"
Shirou had no idea why there was a mahjong machine in his family's warehouse, but he couldn't be bothered to think about it.
In any case, they moved it into the living room.
"It doesn't do anything when we plug it in."
Metatron tugged on Shirou's sleeve and urged him, "Use that crackly Magecraft of yours and fix it."
"Fine, fine... Conformity... Begin..."
Shirou repaired the mahjong machine while yawning.
Jeanne and Metatron excitedly circled the table.
"All right~ Let's play mahjong~"
"Play~ Play~"
Shirou frowned and pointed out the biggest problem. "Mahjong is a four-player game, isn't it?"
"...... Oh."
Jeanne and Metatron's smiles froze. The mood, which had finally started to build, instantly plunged to rock bottom.
"Maybe we should move it back," Jeanne suggested.
"So tired..." Metatron picked up the remote and headed toward the TV.
"Then I'm going back to sleep." Shirou waved at the two of them.
"Haha... I was only joking." Jeanne also sat back down in front of the TV.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Jeanne: "Shirou, get the door~"
Shirou: "You're closer. You go."
Jeanne: "Let's play rock-paper-scissors."
Shirou: "You could answer the door faster than that!"
Jeanne: "Hehe~ Shirou's just afraid he'll lose to me~"
Shirou: "Hah? Fine, bring it on! You think you can outsmart Homurahara's resident genius strategist? Rock, paper..."
The outcome was obvious.
"Now that I think about it, why did I play rock-paper-scissors with someone who has the [Revelation] skill?"
Shirou muttered to himself as he opened the door.
"Wh... You, you're Me..."
"It's Lady Avalon."
"Professor!!"
Shirou threw himself at the pure-white Magus of Flowers and buried his face in her chest.
"I missed you so much, Professor! Where have you been?"
The female Magus gently stroked Shirou's head with a helpless smile.
"Oh my, oh my. Even your personality has been Inverted. This really is an unprecedented crisis.
"Though you're very cute like this, so I suppose that's a win for me...♡"
"Did you say something?"
"Not a thing, dear."
"Anyway, Professor, why are you here?" Shirou asked, confused.
"You know this already, don't you? I've acquired the highest-rank [Independent Manifestation] skill, which lets me manifest freely at any time and in any place."
"Of course, even I can't ignore the Archangel's authority... so this situation is a little special."
"I'm not the real Lady Avalon, but her [Echo]."
"The Professor (Succubus) living inside your mental world, in other words, a thought-form."
Shirou nodded. "I don't really get it, but I think I understand the gist. So basically...
"You're still the same peeping tom as ever, Professor."
Lady Avalon's mouth twitched. "I feel like your tongue has gotten even sharper. Or is that just my imagination?
"More importantly, my Arthur. I heard there was mahjong here, so I came. Want to play?"
...
Shirou introduced Lady Avalon to Jeanne and Metatron.
Jeanne frowned but said nothing, while Metatron looked at her warily.
"When did you learn to play mahjong, Professor?" Shirou asked curiously.
"How do you think I passed the last few thousand years?"
Lady Avalon planted her hands on her hips and proudly declared that she had mastered every form of entertainment invented by humankind.
"Well then, I look forward to playing with you."
And so, the four of them gathered around the table and began playing mahjong.
Shirou had learned mahjong directly from Ye Sizhen. Jeanne's knowledge of mahjong came from the Holy Grail. As for Metatron, she was theoretically omniscient and omnipotent.
Shirou: "Now that I think about it, why are we playing mahjong?"
Jeanne: "Yeah, why are we...? Oh, chi."
Metatron: "Well, well, isn't this fine too? Everyone gets the urge to play mahjong sometimes. Pon."
Shirou: "Hmm. Something feels off... I haven't forgotten anything important, have I?"
Lady Avalon: "Ron. Pinfu, Tanyao, Sanshoku, Iipeikou, Dora 1. Haneman, 12,000 points."
Shirou: "Damn it!"
Maybe he just wasn't suited for games of chance lately, Shirou thought.
"By the way."
Lady Avalon spoke while the tiles were being shuffled. "I'd like to ask everyone something. How long do you plan to keep this up?"
Metatron: "..."
Shirou frowned back at her. "What do you mean, keep this up?"
"A peaceful daily life. A quiet death. Those are words that should be far removed from all of you."
"Or is that what you want? If so, then I'll be deeply disappointed in you, Arthur."
"Do you truly believe you can simply fall asleep while walking toward the end?"
"..."
Under Lady Avalon's beautiful gaze, Shirou felt the words catch in his throat.
Metatron protested, "Hey! We're playing mahjong right now. Save the lectures and nonsense for later. Win first, then talk."
Lady Avalon smiled faintly. "My apologies. You're quite right. Then I'll claim victory first and earn the right to give my opinion."
They played from noon all the way until midnight.
As expected, Lady Avalon won by a landslide.
She had the best average placement, an overwhelming win rate, and a terrifying average score. Most shamelessly of all, she spent nearly the entire game in silent tenpai and never once declared riichi.
Shirou, Metatron, and Jeanne were completely toyed with.
Incidentally, Jeanne came in last the most often. Apparently, [Revelation] and knowledge from the Holy Grail were not especially useful in the world of mahjong.
"Professor, did you turn on [Clairvoyance EX]?"
"All right, lecture time. Shirou! Come here and sit in seiza!"
Lady Avalon ignored Shirou's suspicion, crossed her arms, and assumed a lofty, condescending posture.
Somehow unable to defy her, Shirou obediently did as he was told. For some reason, Jeanne knelt beside him as well.
"You've been living here for more than a month. Have the two of you forgotten something?"
Shirou & Jeanne: "......"
Lady Avalon looked at their blank expressions and sighed. "This is already terminal. Truly fitting for the Archangel who presides over [■■]."
With that, the female Magus turned toward the expressionless Metatron.
"If this continues, they may end up walking straight toward ruin, and that isn't quite what she had in mind."
Metatron said calmly, "Maybe you're right, but that's a separate matter. I can't..."
"What's wrong?"
Jeanne asked Shirou, who had suddenly risen from the tatami.
The boy's eyes were wide, as if he had just remembered something.
Without a word, he ran out of the living room toward his own room.
"Ah... ah... We could have taken it easy for a little while longer."
Metatron murmured as she watched the two of them run off.
"No."
Lady Avalon corrected her. "Even if they have infinite time, that's only from the perspective of the people living inside this world."
"At the very least, this world won't wait forever. There isn't much time left before she officially carries out her plan."
Metatron was silent for a moment. "Time can be stretched out, Miss Merlin."
The female Magus smiled like a blooming flower. "Hehe, who might you be talking about?
"Sorry, but I'm that person's younger sister. My name is Lady Avalon~"
...
By the time Jeanne arrived, the once-neat Japanese-style room had been turned upside down and reduced to a mess.
"..."
Shirou was kneeling on the floor, staring down at something resting on his thighs.
"Why did I forget...? It was something I absolutely couldn't afford to forget..."
It was a framed photograph.
The photo had been taken on the veranda of the Amamiya residence, where three people sat side by side in the bright sunlight.
The Shirou in the photo was even younger than he was now, still with the innocence of adolescence clinging to him. He was probably in middle school at the time.
Beside him was a bright, fresh-looking college girl with a brown ponytail. On his other side was a beautiful silver-haired woman holding a baby in her arms.
Everyone in the photo was smiling from the heart.
Jeanne understood at once. They were probably Shirou's family in the modern world, the people who had once lived in this mansion.
"There were people waiting for me to come home, and I completely forgot them..."
Shirou ran his fingers over the picture frame, his voice thick with regret.
"A month... We lived peacefully here for that long. You could almost call it a waste."
"Calling it a waste is rather harsh, considering they were rare days when you could live in peace."
A cold voice came from the corridor.
Jeanne turned around. "Miss Metatron, was this your doing?"
Influenced by Shirou, she had also regained her reason.
Metatron made no attempt to hide it.
"That's right. Let's see, how should I put it? I used sloth... the [Sloth] beam on you, I suppose?"
"Sloth... In this world, isn't that one of the Seven Deadly Sins?"
Metatron nodded. "Exactly. And that is precisely why sloth is a good thing."
"You're saying sloth is a good thing?"
"Without a doubt. Before you arrived at this Singularity, both of you had already been hurt many times, hadn't you?"
Metatron spoke calmly. "Let me tell you something. Even wounds to the mind (the heart) can pile up.
"Shirou Amamiya, the Savior, and Jeanne, the Saint who saved the nation."
"Perhaps to others, your hearts seem stronger than anyone else's in this world."
"But that is wrong. After being hurt countless times, your minds have simply grown able to accept cruelty."
"That's why I created this world for you. A space of sloth where you could forget your troubles, forget your missions, and keep merciless reality outside."
"I originally intended to heal your hearts completely... but this time, someone came along who just couldn't read the room."
"Hmph. You Succubus, faithful only to your own desires."
Lady Avalon, having been called out, gave an unconcerned smile.
To her, the current Shirou was adorable. Adorable enough that she wanted to violate him.
However, in the end, she still loved the original "her Arthur" more.
"I'm leaving."
Shirou spoke with his back to them.
His back was so resolute that merely looking at it filled Jeanne's heart with strength again.
"The world outside is unimaginably cruel, you know?"
Metatron (Sloth) said, "Are you sure you want to witness a future where your companions die in battle one after another, and six billion people vanish hand in hand within the light?"
"..."
"Well? Why not take my light one more time, forget all your worries and pain, and keep living in sloth?
"No one will laugh at your weakness. You've already done everything you could. You can rest as much as you want now."
"So... why don't you fall with me?"
"No. I'll keep fighting."
Shirou's expression was solemn, and his tone left no room for doubt. "That future you described... won't happen."
"I won't let it happen."
Lady Avalon: "...♡♡♡"
Metatron (Sloth) nodded. "What admirable resolve and determination. Even I feel moved by it.
"That Succubus over there looks like she's about to wet herself at any moment. Is she always like that?"
The girl abruptly cast off her earlier languid air, and a powerful presence wrapped around her entire body.
"But as the angel who presides over [Sloth], I will fulfill my mission and stop you from leaving."
Even if she fell far short of her aspect as the Ruler, she was still one aspect of the Divine Scribe, with power that surpassed even the First-Order Angels.
"Miss Metatron!"
Jeanne did not dare take this lightly and summoned her Holy Banner. Of course, she had no intention of running away either.
She had already promised Shirou that even if the enemy was the Archangel Metatron, she would stay with him to the very end.
However, Shirou signaled for her to lower her weapon.
"I don't want to fight you."
Shirou did not Project any weapon. He simply walked straight toward Metatron (Sloth), who had already entered combat mode.
"W-wait... don't come any closer...!"
For once, Metatron (Sloth) was overwhelmed by his presence.
She stepped backward, but her coordination had suffered from years of lazy living, and she tripped herself.
"Ow... that hurts...!"
Shirou looked down at the angel from above.
"Come to think of it, you've lived in my house for over a month without paying a single cent of rent, haven't you?"
"W-what are you going to do...? I'll pay the rent..."
The girl hunched her shoulders and trembled.
"No need. You can pay the rent with your body."
"Wh..."
Metatron (Sloth) hugged her slender, childlike body and looked at him warily.
"Now... lend me your power."
"!"
Metatron (Sloth), Jeanne, and Lady Avalon all looked shocked.
He wasn't going to defeat [Sloth], he was going to make [Sloth] serve him too!?
"N-no... I can't. I have my own mission... My duty is to keep you imprisoned here..."
She turned her face away, visibly flustered.
"What about the rent?"
"I-I'll work hard and pay it back later!"
Shirou: "Can you even work like that? If you took a service job, the customers would complain you to death!"
Metatron (Sloth): "O-online part-time work... maybe? Oh, right, stocks and foreign exchange! I heard those make lots of money!"
"There has to be some job in this world that even I can do... eek!"
Shirou ignored the girl's nonsense and pulled her to her feet.
"For an Archangel who presides over [Sloth], you really can't do anything."
"So, since you're such a complete shut-in failure, you might as well stop resisting and fall with me."
The girl bit her lip. "Ugh... Even if you stare at me like that, no means no..."
"What if I said you can use the kotatsu at my place whenever you want from now on?"
"Deal."
Shirou nodded. "Deal."
The red-haired boy and the angel girl clasped hands in perfect understanding.
"..."
The Archangel's sudden change of attitude was so shocking that both Jeanne and Lady Avalon were left speechless. Was that all it took to conquer [Sloth]?
Actually... maybe those two were extremely compatible?
Now that she thought about it, Shirou might be the person in the world most capable of tolerating someone like her.
Metatron (Sloth) suddenly realized something. Rather than making him lazy, wouldn't a diligent Shirou serve her better?
At that thought, a little motivation welled up in her, only to vanish almost immediately.
Ah, I'm so exhausted... I'll reward myself by going back to my room and lying down for a bit~
Metatron tiptoed away, trying to slip off, only for Shirou to grab her by the wrist.
"It's almost time for the strategy meeting, Miss Metatron. Where do you think you're going?"
"T-to the bathroom."
"Please take care of it here."
Shirou handed her a Pocari Sweat bottle.
Metatron stared at him in disbelief. "...Are you a demon?"
"I'm the angel's guardian on Earth. Is there a problem?"
Shirou said with a smile.