After Shirou's mental breakdown and his confession, life just awkwardly continued on, basically unchanged.

Illya was a little shaken up by the idea of a world where nearly everyone she loved died, but it wasn't long before she was back to her cheerful self, after vowing to be strong enough to protect her family as well.

That vow didn't exactly get very far. Pure hearted, talented and determined as she was, she was still a girl who was only just about to turn nine years old, and didn't exactly have the attention span for something like training. It had actually been kind of adorable in a way, seeing her give up after ten minutes of strength training left her with sore arms. Their mother's squeals probably had a good deal to do with her embarrassment to continue.

She did however wear her little workout uniform one more time, as she thought it was cute.

Natsumi on the other hand was a little more dedicated to her new morning exercise regiment, if only because Reborn wouldn't let her back out.

"I… I don't think I can run any more." Natsumi panted, her knees starting to wobble.

"Is this really the best you can do? Ryohei already left you behind a half a mile back." Reborn said, as he looked down at Natsumi from on top of the brick wall fence.

He wasn't really upset with her. A mile run for someone in her condition was pretty good, since she was purposely not using her Dying Will to make it easier.

"If you've had enough, that's fine. We can just cut things short and walk the rest of the way home." Shirou said gently.

Natsumi looked up at him and Taiga, seeing that them breaking a little heavily made her feel a bit better about how she felt like she was going to die.

They had started doing these morning jogs a week ago, and Natsumi was a little frustrated with her seeming lack of progress in her endurance, but with Shirou and Taiga's encouragement, she was trying to stick with it.

Gokudera had tried running with them at first, but stopped after the first day. As it turned out, smoking three packs a day made doing basic cardio exercises really hard, and after wheezing his lungs out, Gokudera slunk away in shame.

Natsumi was surprised to find out from Reborn that Gokudera actually didn't give up completely, and was just too embarrassed to be seen in that state. He had started to do morning walks on a different route and was even trying to cut back on his smoking habit. It was something that made him increasingly irritable with others, as he started to go through tobacco withdraw.

Natsumi gave the boy a few words of encouragement herself when she saw him on the last day of school, which seemed to cheer him up.

She hoped that Gokudera might be able to give up smoking all together. It really wasn't healthy for a twelve year old to be smoking three packs a day. Though as she thought about it, it really made her question where he got the money for such an expensive habit. All those bombs probably weren't cheap either. He was supposed to have ran away from home, and he doesn't have a job, so where did the money come from?

Natsumi was pretty sure she didn't want to know.

"Two more blocks. I'll jog for two more blocks." Natsumi said, trying to sound determined.

"That's the spirit." Taiga said with a grin as Natsumi looked over to her, only for her eyes to be distracted by something else.

"Um… are you two seeing this?" She said as she pointed in the direction that they were going.

A girl who looked like she was the same age that Natsumi was, with dark hair tied up in a ponytail was walking along the top of the brick fence, the same way Reborn was. Her arms were held out for balance and she didn't exactly seem steady as she approached them, stopping as she reached Reborn.

"H...Hello." She stammered as she tried to do some kind of curtsy while at the same time keeping her balance. With her embarrassed blush and the middle school uniform she was wearing, even though school was out, Natsumi thought she was kind of cute. Though as she was wearing a rather short summer skirt and standing up on the four foot tall wall, they were being given more than a little peek at her panties, even before she tried to curtsy.

Shirou casually averted his gaze, choosing not to draw attention to this face, but Reborn didn't seem bothered at all.

"Ciaossu." Reborn replied to the girl, as if this wasn't strange at all.

"My name… is Miura Haru." The girl said as a stammered form of introduction.

"I know. You live in that house over there." Reborn said, pointing to one of the nearby houses. This response seemed to please the girl greatly.

"Would… would you be my friend?" Haru asked the baby hitman.

"Sure." Reborn replied, as casual as ever. Natsumi had the feeling that he found this all very amusing.

The rest of them weren't nearly as amused as him as the girl's body suddenly went stiff as she began to fall to the side. They were panicking, each once drawing on their flames in order to rush to save her, but before they made it more than a step, Haru had somehow managed to do a complete 360 degree spin before landing on her feet in a manner that would leave cats gocking in disbelief. She then threw up her arms and gave a squeal of victory.

'Another crazy one.' Natsumi couldn't help but to think as Haru started to do something like a victory dance in front of them. She wondered if the weird girl also had something to do with the mafia, like Bianchi and Gokudera, and that this was more of the idol worship towards Reborn that she had seen from those two.

But this didn't really seem to be the case this time.

"Erm, uhm, I know it is rather sudden but…" Haru started to stammer, squirming around like a schoolgirl about to confess to her crush. "Can I hug you?"

Reborn paused, and Natsumi thought she could see the direction that the hitman's thoughts were going, beginning with Haru hugging him and ending with him having to bury another victim of poison cooking. "You shouldn't touch me so casually." Reborn said, before the girl could even notice the pause in his behavior. Leon then transformed into his gun form. "After all, I'm a hitman."

Natsumi didn't bother to get involved in this. She figured anything Reborn did to drive the girl away would simply work out.

She didn't expect Haru's eyes to widen before she turned and took a swing at… Shirou? "You delinquent bastard! How could you give him a baby a gun of all things!?" Haru growled as she struggled to free her fist from grip. Shirou didn't seem at all concerned about the fact that she had just tried to punch him in the face, only giving a slight sigh of irritation. This prompted the girl to take another swing at him, no more effective than the first. "Don't you sigh about it! Babies are angels with pure white hearts! Are you trying to destroy that lovely pureness with your rotten heart!?"

"Would you please stop that." Shirou asked nicely, as she started to try to kick him between the legs.

"Hey now, don't go jumping to conclusions." Taiga said, grabbing onto the girl's shoulders and trying to pull her back. "Shirou-kun hasn't done anything wrong."

"That's right. Shirou-senpai didn't give Reborn a gun." Natsumi said, trying to get between Shirou and the crazy girl after Shirou let go of her hands. "It's just a toy."

"Even a toy is bad!? That guy is Reborn-chan's big brother, isn't he!? Haru sees them around each other all the time!" The girl shouted, referring to herself in the third person, as if she was a three-year-old.

"We aren't brothers." Shirou said sharply, as if offended.

"Then you are an even bigger bastard! Making someone else's baby into a Devil!" Haru shouted.

"That thing was a Devil long before I met him." Shirou said, getting a snort of amusement out of Reborn himself.

"What did you say!?"

"Please, calm down." Natsumi said, trying to wave the girl down.

"Listen here you! You shall not be seeing Reborn-chan anymore!" Haru said, shaking a finger at Shirou.

"Sorry, but that's not possible." Reborn said from his perch on the wall. "After all, I have to get Shirou-kun to accept his place in the Mafia. I can't let him go before that."

"THE MAFIA!?" Haru almost shrieked, giving Shirou a death glare. "That is too far! Even for a delinquent's idea of fun! You're even restricting his freedom!"

"Restricting his freedom?" Taiga said, giving the girl a look as she tried to figure out where she got that one from.

"Tch. Haru swears that she will put a stop to you and protect Reborn-chan's purity!" Haru declared, before turning to Reborn himself, her face turning as innocent as a baby's. "I'll see you later than."

...And with that she left.

"...What just happened?" Taiga asked.

"I have no idea." Natsumi replied, before the both of them gave tired sighs.

"Hm, if we don't start heading home, breakfast will be late." Shirou said, looking in the direction of his house.

"How can you be so calm about this? Because of a weird misunderstanding, that girl absolutely hates you." Taiga said, confused by Shirou's casual behavior about it all.

"Why should I care?" Shirou replied with a shrug. "I'm not going to live my life worrying about what random strangers think of me. If she wants to hate me, that's fine. She's harmless, so I don't really care."

"...I can't tell if that is a really mature attitude or a really immature one." Natsumi said, trying to think over what Shirou had just said.

"More importantly, what would you like to make for breakfast?"

Miura Haru was not one who knew the meaning of the words 'give up', and she was determined to rescue the sweet baby Reborn so that she could give him all the hugs she wanted.

She had first seen Reborn a week prior and had been watching him every morning, waiting for the perfect moment to introduce herself, and during that time, she had managed to find out the place where they always went after their morning walks.

So after changing into a black jumper and tying a piece of cloth over her head to help her sneak around, she headed over to the house in question, ready to perform her rescue operation.

"Alright Haru, this is the moment. No time for getting stiff feet." Haru said to herself, trying to prep herself up as she stood at the end of the driveway, staring up at the door. "...Why can't Haru move forward?" She whimpered to herself after just standing there for two minutes doing nothing but work up a sweat in the early summer sun.

"Hello, can we help you?" A woman's voice came from behind Haru, causing the girl to jump and turn around. She had been so focused on the door, she hadn't noticed when a car pulled up in front of the house.

"I… Um..." Haru stammered, trying to think of what to say as a pair of adults stepped out of the car. One was a handsome Japanese man in his forties with jet black hair and eyes and tanned skin, while the other was a beautiful foriegn woman with pale skin, snow white haired and ruby red eyes. Haru's heart jumped as she was sure that these two must be Reborn's parents.

Haru didn't know what to say to them, but before she could think of anything, the woman smiled. "You must be one of Natsumi-chan's friends, coming over for that study group that Reborn was talking about. I'm Emiya Irisviel, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"H...Haru is Haru." Haru stammered back.

"Dear me, there is no need to be shy." Irisviel giggled at Haru's nervous behavior. "We were just getting back from a trip to get some snacks for everyone. Would you mind helping us carry everything in?"

"No, Haru would be happy to help!" Haru said, smiled back at the friendly woman.

Getting into the house was easier than she had thought.

"I can't believe that I am having to tutor you in English." Shirou said with a shake of his head as he was sat down with Taiga, going over her Summer homework in English, which appeared to be a reading assignment over a few old short stories.

"Don't make fun of me, I know I'm no good at English." Taiga pouted.

"Actually, I'm saying that because in my old timeline, you were my high school English teacher." Shirou said with a chuckle.

"What!? No way!" Taiga said, her eyes wide. "Me, an English teacher?"

"You once told us that you met a translator as a kid and that he inspired you to teach people English." Shirou replied with a shrug.

"An English teacher, huh?" Taiga mumbled. "But I always wanted to be a detective."

Hearing Taiga's confession, Natsumi nearly choked, thinking about what Raiga would say if the Yakuza boss heard that his granddaughter wanted to be a detective.

"Natsumi, try to pay closer attention." Reborn scolded her from his position in Bianchi's lap. "We've got a long way to go if you want to catch up to the rest of your peers before your school resumes."

"Uh, yes. I know." Natsumi apologized, bowing her head to her 'baby' tutor.

"Good, now how about we try tackling the next question. What is the difference between DNA and RNA?" Reborn started to give his lesson on basic cellular biology while Natsumi and Illya listened and took notes.

Natsumi had never been too interested in school, mostly because her constant string of failures had left her dispirited, but the idea of rising up and showing everyone that she could succeed made her want to give it her best. The encouragement she got from the Emiyas and Taiga also helped.

Natsumi had just barely managed to pass her final semester exams and avoid summer classes, but that was already a huge improvement. She wanted to improve more, and finally get her mama to stop calling her 'No-Good' once and for all. For such a goal, Natsumi was willing to work hard.

So Natsumi was going to concentrate as hard as she needed to… until the door to the room opened and Haru walked in, dressed like a cat burglar and holding a plate of snacks.

"Hey everyone. I hope you're all having fun studying." Irisviel said from behind Haru, as she carried in a stack of cups and a jug of milk.

"What's she doing here?" Taiga asked in surprise.

"Fufufu, Haru has come to make sure that the evil hearted one isn't being a bad influence on Reborn-chan and stop him from involving Reborn in any more of these Mafia games!" Haru said proudly, getting a giggle out of Iris.

"I saw her by the driveway, so I invited her in." Irisviel openly admitted.

"Mom, we've had this discussion before. Don't invite strange people into the house." Shirou said with a sigh.

"Oh, but I thought she was one of you and Natsumi's little friends." Irisviel said, trying to act innocent. She wasn't very convincing.

Honestly, Iris was nearly as big of a trouble maker as Reborn. Just more subtle about it.

"Mafia games?" Illya asked, confused by Haru's earlier declaration.

"I told her that I was a hitman." Reborn told Illya.

"Reborn…" Natsumi said, giving the hitman a look, since they weren't supposed to say things like that in front of Illya.

"It's my cover story, since I can't exactly tell people I'm a fairy." Reborn finished, not minding Natsumi's looks.

"A hitman?" Illya repeated with a tilt of her head. "No offense Reborn-san, but that cover is kind of stupid. If you are going to lie, you should at least make it something believable."

Natsumi could only laugh at the irony.

Though Illya's words drew the attention of Haru to her. "Oh, you're so cute!" Haru squealed before walking up to Illya and bowing. "Hello, my name is Miura Haru, would you please be my friend."

"Ah." Illya said as she quickly scrambled to get to her feet and give her customary curtsy. "I'm Emiya Illyasviel, and it would be a pleasure." Illya replied with a dazzling smile.

"That was so adorable!" Haru cued, before suddenly pulling Illya into a hug, startling the young girl.

"Well, you kids have fun now, and if you need something, don't hesitate to ask." Iris said before dismissing herself from the room.

"As fun as this aside is, we are still in the middle of a lesson. If Miura-san would like to join us, that is fine, but I am going to start continuing now." Reborn said, drawing Natsumi's attention back.

"Lesson?" Haru asked, confused.

"That's right, I am Natsumi-chan and Illya-chan's home tutor, after all." Reborn said with a slight smile.

"Oh, that's so cute. Haru would love to play student for you." Haru giggled as she sat down next to Natsumi. Moments later, the girl was shocked when Reborn continued his lecture on cellular biology.

Sometimes kids say the darndest things.

"Bye bye! See you on Saturday!" Haru shouted as she left the Emiya residence hours later, humming happily to herself.

After staying with them through the morning and joining them for dinner, Illya had invited the girl to her birthday party, not seeming to notice the levels of animosity the girl had for her beloved older brother.

Shirou continued to not really mind the completely unjustified hate being directed towards him, as it all just seemed to slide right off of him, like water off duck feathers.

"Are you sure you don't mind it?" Natsumi asked Shirou after Haru had left.

"It's fine. The girl is harmless enough." Shirou replied with a shrug. "It isn't as though she is a bad person. She just jumps to conclusions too quickly."

"I guess you're right." Natsumi admitted. Haru had been more than friendly to everyone but Shirou, and had happily joined in with their little study session. "I'm kind of surprised by how smart she was, considering her scatterbrained behavior from before."

"Haru-chan goes to a rather prestigious all girls school in the area." Reborn informed them as he invited himself into the conversation.

"Huh, she does?" Natsumi asked.

"That's right. She really is an interesting character." Reborn said cheerfully. "I've had my eye on her for a little while, since she has a bit of potential for becoming a 'magical girl'."

"What!? Haru-chan, really!?" Illya said, picking up on the words 'magical girl'.

"So, you noticed too." Shirou said with a small nod of his head.

"I spotted her a few days ago, when she started to spy on us during the morning jogs." Reborn admitted. "The fact that she paid any attention to me at all showed that she was at least somewhat resistant to the effects of my enchanted clothes. A sure sign that she has talent."

"I basically reached the same conclusion when she freaked out over your gun." Shirou said in agreement.

"...You know, I should be more surprised than I am." Natsumi said with a sigh. "I guess I'm just learning to accept that every weird person I come across is somehow related to all this."

So far, the only normal person Natsumi had met who had any kind of flame potential was Taiga, and even then, she was only arguably normal just by comparison. Even the Emiyas all had their weird quirks.

And after everything was said and done, Natsumi didn't hate Haru. She was a nice, friendly girl. She just hoped that Shirou would try a bit harder to make Haru understand that he wasn't a bad person, rather than trying to ignore her existence.

Honestly, why was he acting so childish?

That night, Natsumi had a horrible nightmare.

She watched as what looked like an older version of Ryohei, with his white hair and silver eyes, was led up to the gallows as a crowd of people screamed horrible things at him.

He didn't even fight back or drag his feet. He just walked with a look on his face as if he was already dead, the hate coming from the crowd washing over him in waves.

That sea of hate was the last thing that he would ever see in that world.

'This… This is what I sacrificed everything to protect.'