"......"
Shirou stood on the streets of Fuyuki, closing his eyes as he quietly listened to the modern noise that the small town in Eastern Europe had lacked.
When he had first returned from the Fairy Kingdom to Proper Human History, he had struggled to adjust to modern cities. Now, though, it felt almost like coming home.
Was this how modern civilization alienated humanity? Terrifying... No wonder the Magi of the Wandering Sea and Atlas Institute lived such secluded lives.
After saying goodbye to Manaka and Leticia, Shirou had successfully returned to Fuyuki in the early twenty-first century.
The first thing he did, of course, was check the date.
A full month had passed since he had been forcibly summoned.
In other words, the month he had spent in the parallel world had flowed at the same speed as time here.
"So I've been missing and completely out of contact for an entire month..."
The thought made Shirou's good mood waver into anxiety.
Before leaving, he had promised Illya that he would come back as soon as he could.
A month... Did that count as "soon"?
It was a very delicate span of time.
Would Illya be angry?
Would Iri, Fuji-nee, Sakura, and the others have been worried?
I should buy them some souvenirs, Shirou thought.
It happened to be the weekend, and Shinto was bustling. He spent the entire day buying gifts for the women at home.
By the time Shirou returned to the entrance of the mansion he had missed so much, dusk had already dyed the courtyard orange.
Judging by the state of the garden, it had been kept in perfect condition even during his month-long absence... Thank you, Sella.
The last time Shirou had been away from home for a long stretch, he had wanted to surprise everyone and snuck in using "Presence Concealment," only to stumble right into Aoko and Alice facing off with Iri.
This time, having learned his lesson, he decided to enter through the front door.
"......"
He pressed the doorbell.
A long while passed before Shirou heard footsteps coming through the entrance hall.
From the sound, it was Leysritt!
Shirou could tell the women in his household apart by their footsteps. It was not a special ability, nor was it some creepy habit of deliberately memorizing everyone's sounds. After living together for so long, his body had simply learned it on its own.
Shirou called it "the bonds of family."
The wooden door opened.
"Hey, Leysritt. Long time no see."
"Shirou... Young Master...?"
Shirou put on the brightest smile he could, while Leysritt, Einzbern's number one poker face, looked visibly shaken.
"You're back..."
"Yeah, I'm back. No need to react that strongly, right? Or did you change your character setting? Kidding."
Shirou walked through the entryway where he had lived for nearly ten years, with Leysritt hurrying after him in a fluster.
"Is everyone here?"
"Ah, mm... yes."
"Who's here?"
"...A lot of people."
"Huh?"
Shirou frowned as he entered the living room.
"Huh?" "Shirou?" "Amamiya-kun?"
The women in the room widened their eyes one after another.
Just as Leysritt had said in the most literal sense, there really were a lot of people there.
Irisviel, Illyasviel, Rin Tohsaka, Sakura Matou, and Sella.
Sakura was one thing, but the young lady of the Tohsaka Family was practically a six-star rare character in the Amamiya household. They were gathered around the table, apparently discussing something.
"Big Brother!" "Senpai!"
Illya and Sakura did not even bother putting on slippers before running over with pattering steps.
"I'm back... Guh!"
Shirou was tackled by the two girls and hit the floor hard.
"Shirou, you liar! Shirou, you liar! Shirou, you liar! You promised you'd come back soon! Why? Waaah, uwaaaaaah!"
Illya cried as she pounded Shirou's chest with her fists.
"Senpai... Thank goodness... You finally came back... I kept thinking... I kept thinking, what would I do if you never appeared again..."
Sakura Matou buried her face against Shirou's waist, sobbing in broken, uneven breaths.
Irisviel covered her mouth with both hands and walked over with an expression of disbelief. Looking down at him, she asked,
"Are you really... really Shirou?"
Shirou nodded. "Yeah... Sorry for making everyone worry."
Rin Tohsaka, the only one present who could still keep her composure, gave him a sly smile. "Welcome back, Amamiya-kun."
"I'm back."
Shirou answered with complicated feelings.
…
Illya and Sakura spent about an hour clinging to Shirou and letting out their emotions before they finally calmed down.
Shirou had originally planned to find some way to hide the fact that he had gone to a parallel world and participated in a Holy Grail War, but that was impossible now.
He had no choice but to explain everything honestly, how he had been chosen by the Holy Grail and fought as a Servant. Of course, he glossed over the specific details.
Fortunately, Fuji-nee was not here today. If she had been, Shirou really would not have known how to talk his way out of it.
"I can't believe something like that actually happened..."
Rin Tohsaka held her chin, sinking into thought.
She had, of course, heard about Shirou using a Holy Sword to fight Servants during the Fourth Holy Grail War.
But for a living human like him to be summoned by the Holy Grail and subjected to Spiritual Descent was still far too absurd.
"Don't just disappear like that again!"
Illya shouted while hugging Shirou tightly. Shirou stroked his little sister's head.
"That's why we're discussing a way to solve this problem for good.
Honestly, I'm getting pretty tired of being summoned out of nowhere like this..."
"Tohsaka, can you help me?"
Shirou quietly called out to Rin Tohsaka in the hallway.
"Huh? Me?"
Rin was startled.
She had inherited the position of Tohsaka Family head after the last Holy Grail War, but she still thought of herself as an immature Magus.
She had never expected Shirou to ask her for help with absolutely no concern for his pride.
After all, judging from Sakura's complaints...
Wasn't Shirou closely involved with those women at the top of the Clock Tower right now?
"I don't want to drag Aoko and the others into this."
Unlike Shirou, who was still in high school, Aoko and Touko had their own careers now, and even Alice was working as a Magecraft consultant.
Shirou felt he could not waste their valuable time on his own problems...
What? The monthly scheduled orgy at the Western-style mansion?
That was different. That was necessary emotional bonding.
Shirou felt that for an ordinary boy like him to keep their hearts, all he could do was work even harder, getting on top of them and diligently plowing and sowing.
"Hmph~ So because you think a small fry like you isn't worth wasting the important people's time, you came to ask someone closer to your level, huh~"
Rin Tohsaka's mouth twitched in irritation. "......You really are looking down on me!"
Shirou bowed his head deeply. "That's exactly it.
I didn't mean to look down on you, Tohsaka. You're the only person I can ask."
"Uh, I was joking... Don't suddenly get so honest... Seriously!"
Rin Tohsaka flushed red in frustration.
Whether it was his "low self-esteem" or his "straightforward sincerity," Shirou Amamiya always left her at a loss.
He was so outstanding it was ridiculous, yet he had no awareness of it at all. The very way this red-haired boy existed was practically the ultimate mockery of all Magi.
"Fine! Fine! You want me to find out why you're being forcibly summoned, right? I'll help!"
Rin Tohsaka muttered that and fled.
Shirou watched her retreating back. Come to think of it, why was Tohsaka-san at my house in the first place?
…
Shirou returned to his normal life.
In the morning, he went to school with Sakura. At lunchtime, he either went to the cafeteria with Shinji or spent the break with Issei in the student council room.
After afternoon classes ended, he went to the archery club for practice.
At five-thirty in the evening, he left school with Sakura, bought ingredients for dinner in the shopping district, then went home to prepare the meal.
After dinner, he reminded Fuji-nee to walk Sakura home, played the new game that had come out last week with Illya, and finally went to the dojo or the shed to train.
He was finally back. The ordinary high school life Shirou had once taken for granted now felt unbearably precious.
However, amid that peaceful routine, Shirou also noticed something strange.
Something felt off.
Everyone's attitude toward him seemed a little odd.
Tohsaka had started showing up at the Amamiya residence a lot lately, and every time, she came with Sakura.
She was not there to see him, but Irisviel.
Although Irisviel was only in her teens in actual age, her mental makeup was already that of an adult. She was a mother who had given birth, and Shirou could not imagine what she and the Tohsaka sisters could possibly have in common.
Not only that, Illya even joined their conversations sometimes.
And whenever they did, Leysritt or Sella would stand by the living room entrance. No matter how he looked at it, they were clearly on guard.
As for who they were guarding against, that went without saying.
In other words, judging from the current situation...
Shirou was being left out by everyone.
"How did it come to this..."
Shirou felt like the sky was falling.
Leaving without a word and running away from home for a month was definitely my fault, but...
No, no, no. That's impossible. There's no reason for everyone to shut me out.
I must be misunderstanding, Shirou thought.
I get it! They must be secretly planning my birthday party. They want to give me a huge surprise...
Unfortunately, Shirou, who had grown up in an orphanage, did not have a birthday.
He tried asking Sakura indirectly. "What do you all usually talk about when you get together lately?"
As a result, the girl's expression changed completely. She stammered and fumbled for words, and when Shirou pressed her further, she almost burst into tears.
This can't go on...
Shirou looked up at the sky dyed red by the setting sun and sighed helplessly.
Sakura had plans with Ayako Mitsuzuri today, so she had not left school with him.
I kind of don't want to go home so early...
With his hands behind his head, Shirou walked along the riverbank, passing middle schoolers and elementary schoolers who had just finished school.
Maybe it was because he had told so many lies while describing the Great Holy Grail War in Romania, but his guilt toward his family had left him uneasy, and now he was overthinking everything.
Tohsaka was one thing, but he had no reason to doubt Iri and the others.
No matter what happened, they would definitely be on his side.
Absolutely. That was what family meant.
So...
When he got back today, he would ask them properly what was going on.
Once he reached that conclusion, Shirou felt much lighter.
Just then, he heard a faint melody.
At first, he thought he had misheard it. But when Shirou followed the sound, he realized he had not.
A piano?
No, not a piano.
It was a graceful melody a hundred times grander than the piano, which was praised as the king of instruments. Solemn yet delicate, it seemed vast enough to fill the entire city.
Shirou quickened his pace without thinking.
He walked for a full five minutes before he finally reached the source of the melody: Fuyuki Church.
The church on the hill, which had been closed since the Fourth Holy Grail War, had reopened while Shirou was away from home.
So that was it. An organ.
Shirou had heard about it in music class at school. It was a massive instrument that used a building itself as its body.
The church itself was an enormous, intricate instrument. You could even call it a completed world.
Listening to the sound, crafted as finely as glass, Shirou opened the doors of the church.
Sunlight poured in through the skylight, bleaching his vision white.
The spacious chapel was empty.
There.
A girl about his age was playing the Lord's compassion.
Dressed in a nun's habit, the girl sat upright before the small keyboard, her long lashes lowered slightly, her gaze fixed on her hands.
Her face was coldly dignified and deathly pale, as though it did not belong in reality. She was so beautiful he could not look away.
Her silver curls had been melted by the sunset into translucent amber.
"......"
Perhaps she was too absorbed to notice Shirou, because her performance continued neatly, without missing a beat.
The girl played the hymn to God alone. The delicate, clear notes were like raindrops at the end of winter, filling every corner of the air one drop at a time.
Shirou had originally intended to walk straight over, but changed his mind at the last moment.
He sat in the very back row of pews and became the girl's only listener.
The piece she was playing was one even Shirou had often heard before, the world's most famous hymn, Mozart's Requiem.
Her technique was not especially outstanding, nor did it express the performer's passion. There was nothing about it worth praising at length.
And yet, the quiet melody strangely touched Shirou deep in his heart.
It had a fantastical, dreamlike quality that drew him in before he knew it, and he slowly closed his eyes.
But then the music abruptly stopped.
Shirou opened his eyes again.
The silver-haired girl had stopped playing and was glaring at him with a very severe look.
The orchestral auditory hallucination, the lingering echo of the organ, even the noise of the city had all vanished, making Shirou think for an instant that the Day of Wrath (Dies irae) had truly arrived.
As the girl closed the keyboard lid and stood up, the organ vanished from the chapel.
Come to think of it, this chapel had never had such an imposing organ in the first place.
It must have been something she brought in.
The fact that she could bring in such a massive object and then make it disappear meant that its degree of Mystery already surpassed that of most Magi in the world.
"Welcome, Shirou Amamiya."
The girl smiled with a bewitching expression far beyond her years.
"My name is Caren Hortensia. Hehe... This is our first meeting, but I look forward to getting along from now on."
Shirou would only learn later that she was a nun dispatched by the Church, the new administrator of this church after nearly ten years.
Her purpose was to investigate the Holy Grail that had once again been observed manifesting in Fuyuki.
***
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