"Irisviel, would you please have some decency? I shouldn't have to tell you every other morning that you should get dressed before breakfast…" I grumble out my complaints to the woman once again as I retrieve the rice cooker from the kitchen and set it next to the table. Irisviel looks down at her nightgown and pinches the fabric of the chest and lifts it while staring at it curiously as if she's inspecting it.
"Aww Shirou, don't be mean! I want to be comfortable whenever I'm in my own home and this nightgown is far more so than all of my dresses. Can't you at least let me be comfy when you abandon me and run off every day? Or do you want me to be lonely and uncomfortable?" I see she wants to play it that way…
"Alright, alright! I'm sorry, Irisviel. Wear your pajamas all day and night if you want to for all I care." She grins victoriously at me and starts happily humming while I fix her a bowl of rice and some miso soup. Meanwhile, Sakura returned with the cups and began pouring each of us some tea. I nervously glance up at Irisviel from time-to-time as I prepare everyone their food. I don't personally have a problem with her deciding to be comfortable in her pajamas all day, but I wish she'd choose a gown that wasn't as translucent… I can make out her lingerie beneath it…
I eat my breakfast and try to keep to myself, other than occasionally exchanging a few words with Sakura about archery practice and other school-related things. Suddenly, Irisviel firmly places her bowl of miso soup down and looks at me with serious eyes. "Uh, w-what is it, Irisviel?" Her expression becomes even sterner, but then devolves into a pout all at once.
"That's just it, Shirou! How many times do I have to tell you? When are you going to stop calling me Irisviel? You should be calling me mommy!" My face heats up at her suddenly bringing this up in front of Sakura and I choke on the bite of omelet that was in my mouth, upon which I hear Sakura giggle to my left from across the table.
"W-Why would you- How many times do I have to tell you?! There's no way I could call you something like that!" Irisviel gets a devious grin which indicated to me she was nowhere near done teasing.
"Ohhhh? That so? Yet it isn't embarrassing for you to call me Irisviel?" I hear Sakura speak up right after Irisviel finishes as my face continues to grow even redder.
"I have to agree with her there, senpai… I could understand a foster child not wanting to call their parents 'mom' or 'dad'… and yet you feel comfortable referring to her on a first-name basis." My blush was reaching critical levels as the two tore me apart.
I don't say anything and instead shovel down the rest of my breakfast and stand up, ready to dash out the house and run straight to school out of embarrassment. "Nooo Shirou, where are you going?"
"Isn't it obvious? To school! I wanted to get some things done before classes started so I need to leave early." That was a lie. I just couldn't stand the mortification of the situation much longer. I head out the doorway and turn down the left side of the hallway to go retrieve my bow from the outside shed, but then I remember how I can get back at her. "Oh yeah, Irisviel. If you keep buying nothing but junk food and nothing healthy nor any fresh ingredients for me to cook with, I'm cutting your allowance short." I didn't turn to look at her or go back in the room when I said it, but I knew my comment scared her, indicated by the baffled noise she let out followed by the whining about how mean I am to her.
While walking down the familiar streets towards school, I realize I left Sakura alone to do all those dishes. Ah jeez. I hate to do that to her, but she would've insisted on doing them even if I had stuck around. And I couldn't stand Irisviel poking fun at me much longer… I swear, that woman. It's been about ten years since I started living with her. She was the one who found me and saved me from the burning city all those years ago, from which I am the only survivor. When she adopted me, things were rough at first. Thanks to connections that her late husband, Kiritsugu, had here with the yakuza, we were able to secure a rather nice little mansion thanks to one of their affiliates; a teacher at my school and the head of the archery club who goes by the name Taiga Fujimura. The house and the property are nice, but the upkeep and cost are what were and still are troublesome. As I said, it was rough at first, but life has become so calm and normal now that the horrid fall of my old life, town, friends, and family all seem like a distant bad dream at this point. Were it not for Irisviel… I don't know how I would've ended up after an experience like that.
Once I enter the front gates of the school, I head straight to the archery range. I return my bow that I "borrowed" to be tweaked over the weekend. Truth be told, we're not supposed to take any of the equipment home and Taiga would probably skin me alive if she found out, but she wouldn't budge when I said I needed to change the bowstring and I wanted to fix it as soon as possible. The problem with it is, the bow's draw weight isn't heavy enough for me at this point, but the school's club can only let it go up to a certain degree as per their regulations. I still wouldn't be able to use that bow in a tournament or anything of that sort because if they found out then I'd be disqualified, but I also can't expect to improve if I don't up the ante during normal practices at least. After I drop the bow off, I walk into the school and head up to the second floor to go to my first class. It only then occurs to me that there's no one around and I suddenly remember how early I left the house to come here. As I stand in the middle of the hallway cursing myself, I hear a voice call out to me.
"Emiya, is that you? I see you're extra diligent today, showing up so early." I turn to see my friend Issei carrying a heater out of the doorway he's exiting.
I sit and tentatively drink my cup of coffee while Issei groans in frustration and bangs his fists against the heater that refuses to work. "Jeez… Emiya are you sure you don't want to try giving it a go?" I place my coffee down on the table and chuckle slightly at the suggestion.
"Come on Issei, really? If you can't do it, there's no way I'll be able to. I'm no good at figuring out how machines like that work and I wouldn't even know which part is different from which." Issei stands up, still whining, and lightly kicks the heater before coming to join me at the table.
"Seriously, you're always no help Emiya… at least you're good at cooking." I laugh again before taking another sip of my coffee.
"It is a shame though, Issei. The Student Body's office is really chilly now that the heater's busted. We should go pick up a new one soon." His whining persists, and he starts letting out crocodile tears while complaining about having no money and how no one would appreciate it even if he did. Once I was done with my coffee, I stand up and reassuringly pat Issei on the back before heading out of the room. As soon as I exit, I'm met in the hallway with the cold mistress of the school, Rin Tohsaka. She doesn't say anything to me, but I notice her glance at me once before walking past me and down the hallway. "I didn't know you got here this early." I call out to her in genuine confusion, remembering all the times she walked into the first class-period late. My words apparently don't reach her as she continues walking, unfazed. Just as I thought, she must not be big on talking.
School continued normally that day as it usually does until lunchtime, when I remember I bolted out of the house before I could pack a lunch. I start worrying I'll have to buy a school lunch, but then my saving grace, Sakura, shows up with a boxed lunch she packed just for me. "Here, senpai. I saw how quickly you ran off and I assumed you forgot about lunch, so I packed you one before I left, just in case." I felt almost happy enough to cry.
"Sakura… you know you're a blessing, right?" Her face grows flushed at my comment as she pulls up a desk next to mine to join me for lunch.
"What? N-Not really, I just don't want you to go hungry is all…" Ahh, she's so sweet. Oh, I forgot I usually eat lunch with Issei. Oh well, I'm sure he'll survive one day without me to keep him company and Sakura did pack me the lunch, so eating with her is the least I can do. Besides, Sakura is a good friend of mine too and I want to spend time with her just as much as I do him.
After lunch, classes continued normally, as they always do, until school finally let out. Once school was over, that's when the real fun began; that's when the archery club's scheduled practice starts. I always head into the range the moment the last class is over so that I can change before everyone else. As I walk across the cool, polished wooden floor and towards the changing area, I begin to think of how despicable I am for the reason why I'm so adamant about changing outside of the presence of the other guys. When I drop my school shirt, followed by my undershirt, the reason of why I do so is apparent in the mirror of the locker room.
Long story short, I practice my archery way more than the other club members. For most of them it's just that: a club. But for me, my skills with a bow are of extreme importance. I can't say there's a reason for it and that's because there isn't; it's just that ever since I was a kid, archery has intrigued me. And so, not only do I go way beyond my limits during practice, but I use almost all of my free time at home to practice as well. A direct biproduct of this is the shape my body is in now.
My left shoulder has grown to be noticeably bigger than my right and the bone structure is much more pronounced as well from how it's morphed and changed over the years so that it can firmly hold my bow in place. Meanwhile, my right arm is far more toned and buff than my left from all the times it has pulled back the arrows against the force of the bowstring. The unsightliest things about me though, were the scars on my body. Some on my knuckles and palms from blisters and calluses, the few lashes on my chest and biceps because of the bowstrings popping sometimes from too much stress when I change and tighten them, and the burn mark on my right arm that I received during my part-time job which was accompanied by a fracture in the shoulder. Other than that, my body was considerably more fit than the average high school student due to all the other exercises I do to keep myself in shape. Long distance runs, weight lifting, boxing, kendo; I stay varied in the ways I work out.
Once my practice clothes were on, I head out the room just as Shinji and the others head in. Shinji and I have a unique relationship together; I try to treat him as I would any other decent human being, and he makes it as hard as possible for me to do so. He once tried to convince me to stop coming to archery practice, at least for a while, because of my injury and even after it healed, saying it was unsightly for an archer to have such a scar. I didn't listen to him though, and I kept shooting even with a fractured shoulder and even now with the burn mark.
His words didn't prevent me from practicing, but they did make me feel self-conscious and not want to change with the other guys. The constant showboating, arrogance, and putting down on myself and others I can always deal with, but the one thing I can't stomach is when he mistreats Sakura. The one time I saw a mark on her from his abuse, I caught him at practice after school that day and beat him with his own bow until it snapped. I, of course, got in a lot of trouble and had to pay the expenses for the damaged equipment, but at least after that he hasn't so much as touched her. Either that, or he makes sure she hides the evidence even better now. It didn't take long for the memory of the beatdown to fade from his mind though, and he soon returned to his normal, arrogant self around me.
Once I return to the front of the range, I pull the arrow I hid in my bag throughout school today out and twirl it around in my finger. It's the same one I shot the maple leaf with this morning and it's the same one I always carry with me almost anywhere I go. The arrow has a certain sentimental value to me and I carry it with me as a reminder. The wooden shaft of it, the arrowhead, and even the old feather at the end of it, they all hold important significance to me. I gently return it to my bag and run over to where my bow sits in its spot on the rack. I place my bag down next to it and start my stretching as Taiga and Sakura both walk in from the front.
"Hello senpai. You're early as usual." I smile at Sakura while stretching my right arm across my chest. Taiga pokes Sakura on the shoulder and ushers her towards the women's changing room.
"No, Sakura, you can chat with Emiya all you want later, but for now you have to go get changed before we start practice without you." Sakura blushes from embarrassment and apologizes before running off, shouting out "I'll be right back senpai!" as she does so. I finally finish all my stretches and grab my bow, hoping to get in some shots before practice officially starts. I hear Taiga laughing as I head to the edge of the wooden floor with my bow and quiver.
"Is something funny?" She quickly shakes her head when I look over at her, but doesn't cease her laughter.
"I just think it's interesting how pathetic of a boy you are to have such a beautiful, young kouhai so clearly in love with you, and yet you haven't sealed the deal after all this time!" I become irritated at how giddy she is about it and how she worded her colorful insult. "Pathetic boy"?
"My apologies, I wasn't aware being a gentleman is now considered pathetic. This is all assuming she even likes me that way, which she doesn't; she's like a little sister to me and I an older brother to her. You should, at the very least, get your facts straight before poking your nose in someone else's business, Tiger." As soon as the word left my mouth, I felt chills run up my spine and my heart skip a beat. Taiga as well; her laughter stopped immediately when I called her by that name. "M-Miss Fujimura, listen I didn't-"
"AGH! How could you Shirou?! You know how much I hate being called that nickname, and yet you still used it! I don't care if Irisviel lets you call her by her first name, but I won't tolerate even calling me a name similar to mine; especially not that one! 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups! Run laps around the range 10 times! Then once you're done, do it again! No practice for you today!" I look at her with a look of disbelief, wondering for a moment if she was being serious. After seeing her child-like, pouty expression along with her eyes that had begun tearing up, I realized she wasn't. I return my bow to the rack and drop down on the floor to start my punishment.
While I walk a few feet behind Sakura, I fan my face and mumble in discomfort because of my clothes clinging to me from how much sweat I was covered in. "She's 24 years old and she gets upset over a nickname that almost everyone uses… how mature." Sakura notices my grumbling and laughs while slowing down so that she can walk next to me on our way to the train station.
"You pretty much asked for it, senpai. If it were anyone else, she probably would've let it slide, but you know how much it hurts when it comes from you." Yeah. I know. I know very well her "reason", but that still doesn't make it ok to punish me over something so minor. Taiga considers me something akin to family, as if I'm a nephew or even a son. It's all due to the friendship she apparently had with my foster father who died before I ever met him. Because I'm his son, she considers me a part of her family. It's odd, considering I barely know her outside of school, other than the archery club and the few times she's joined Irisviel for dinner or just to visit and catch up. I'd honestly rather if she just treated me like any other student. I wouldn't have cared when she punished me and scolded me, but since she took away all my practice time today, it really pissed me off. The only thing worse than that was Shinji's snide remarks and jokes he cracked about me while I ran around the range, which he made no effort to be quiet or discreet about.
Sakura and I parted when we reached town so that she could go buy some groceries for dinner tonight while I headed off to my part-time job. I'd like to say it's part-time, but I work there almost every single day of the week now. It used to be different, but after Irisviel stopped working, I put in double effort so that I can support her as well as myself. Ever since Sakura started coming over to help out, it's been easier, but "easier" doesn't mean "easy". I won't complain though; this is exactly how I want things to be. I'll put in any amount of work it takes so that I can be sure Irisviel doesn't have to. I never want her to work another day in her life; whether it's for my sake, someone else's sake, or even for her own sake. I'll take care of her and everything she needs or wants. I smile at and greet my boss when I enter through the door before heading into the back to change into my work clothes. Between school, practice, this job, and the time I spend at night in my little workshop in the shed out back and practicing my bow skills in the yard, I can see why Irisviel made that comment this morning. I really do leave her lonely, with the only time I spend with her being when we eat and occasionally in the few moments I'm not occupied with anything, which is rare. But, it's been that way the whole time I've been living with her; I always seem to be busy, so I can never spend time with her. Maybe that's why… I can't see her as my mother.
Work proves to be as busy as usual and once my shift is over, I bid my boss and coworkers farewell before heading off to the train station and catching the last one heading home. Sakura will already be preparing dinner at this point and Irisviel is probably whining to her about why I'm not home. After I board the train, I notice the cart is completely empty and I choose a random spot to sit at while still brooding over the fact that I didn't get any time to practice with my newly strung bow today.
I reach into my school bag after a while and pull out the old arrow to admire while the train begins to approach its first stop, the one right before mine. As soon as I rub my thumb across the arrowhead, I hear someone clear their throat in the chair across from mine; a woman's voice. I quickly shove the arrow into my bag and jerk my head up to see who was sitting with me. In the seat across from me sat a little girl, who couldn't have been any older than 12 years, in strange western-style clothes. When did she… I could've sworn I was alone; there was no one else on here when I boarded. I notice her white hair and when her eyes slowly open to stare into my own, I feel my breath catch in my throat. Irisviel? The little girl innocently smiles at me until the train rolls to a stop and the doors open while the conductor announces the station we've stopped at. The girl stands up and walks away towards the exit while I sit wide-eyed and with my mouth agape, still smiling contently as though she just won a prize. "W-Wait, who are you?" It couldn't be a coincidence that this young girl had the same other-worldly features as Irisviel and even wore similar clothes. She ignores me calling out to her and swiftly steps out the doors while they shut close. She glances at me one last time and tells me something through the crack of the sliding doors.
"You better summon one soon, big brother. Or else you're going to die." Once the doors close and the train starts to move forward again, I rush to the window so that I can peer out at the station and get another look at her, but she was nowhere to be found. I continue staring at the station until I can no longer make it out because of the distance the train covered from it. What the hell was that?
The appearance of the girl and the few words she spoke haunted me all the way until my stop. As I exit the train, I try to figure out who she could've been. Could it really be a coincidence that she looks just like Irisviel and referred to me as her "big brother"? I start to think any number of reasons as to why, and once my mind starts to wander to doubt Irisviel and think she might have a little bastard child running around here, I stop and almost slap myself across my own face. I can't believe a thought like that would even cross my mind; there's no way. And if she somehow did, she would've mentioned it to me before. Once I step onto the street that brings me straight to my house after a few blocks, I decide to just sum it all up to me having a mini heat stroke or something and believing I saw Irisviel on a train. That could be the case… if so, maybe I should start listening to Sakura and Irisviel when they tell me to take it easier.
As soon as I enter the house, the delicious aroma of a home cooked meal reaches me, and I hear Irisviel gasp in an exaggerating way and squeal like a little kid from the dining room. "Yay! Shirou's home!" I sigh while hooking my thumbs into my shoes and removing them before stepping on the wooden floor of the house. When I enter into the dining room, my face instantly becomes sour and my disappointment is clearly visible. Irisviel sat in her usual spot at the table, still wearing her pajamas, indicating to me she didn't change at all today, much less do anything productive. She noticed my expression and let out an "eep!" before crawling around the table and playfully hiding behind the other side. "Ah! Shirou's angry!" Just like always, I can't pretend to be mad at her for long and I let my grumpy face melt into a defeated, smiling one. I as well sit on my usual spot and Irisviel swiftly crawls around the table, still on all fours, and retakes her spot while trying to scoot next to me and cuddle up. "How's my favorite boy? Did you have fun at school today? Who'd you eat lunch with? Your giiiirrrrlllfriend?" I push Irisviel away while she leans in against me, not embarrassed at all by how close our bodies are, unlike myself who's face is as bright as it was before I bolted out of here this morning.
"My day?! I-It was fine, just like it always is! And you know I don't have a girlfriend!" She keeps giggling while pushing into me like a grizzly bear. I hear footsteps approaching from the tiny kitchen and Sakura soon walks up to the table, holding some of the dishes she prepared on her arms.
"Th-That's right, miss Emiya. Shirou doesn't have a girlfriend, he would've told me if he did." I could hear the relief in Sakura's voice for whatever reason, but I didn't pay it any mind as I was too busy trying my hardest to keep Irisviel from wrapping her scarcely clothed body around me. We kept pushing each other back and forth as if we were children fighting with each other while Sakura finished setting the table.
Irisviel and Sakura engaged in a conversation about how delicious the food is while I silently ate and occasionally glanced over at Irisviel. Still though, they look really alike; her and that child. Maybe I really was just imagining Irisviel considering how identical that little girl looked to her. I decide to not even mention it while I finish gulping down my bowl of miso soup. I stare at the plate of Mackerel with the steamed vegetables next to the other various dishes and I decide against helping myself to seconds. Considering I got no practice in at all today, I should excuse myself from the table earlier than normal so that I can shoot some in the yard tonight for longer than normal. I thank Sakura for the food once more and stand up to go change into something more comfortable, when suddenly Irisviel grabs my pant leg and gently tugs on it, looking up at me with puppy eyes. "Shirou, where are you going? We've only just started eating dinner and I was hoping tonight we could stay up with Sakura and maybe watch some movies; maybe have her stay the night?" Sakura blushed at the suggestion, but didn't refuse it, joining Irisviel in staring up at me patiently. I return Irisviel's gaze for a moment, but soon break it, suddenly feeling ashamed to look at her for some reason. Jeez, what does she want from me? She knows I always practice when I get home… I've never missed a day. "Please Shirou? You've been gone all day… I want to spend some time with my son." I made up my mind.
"Sorry, Irisviel, but I've kept this time every evening spent training constant. I'm not going to break my streak." I drag my foot along the floor, pulling my leg away from Irisviel, which she lets her hand slide off of. I knew I hurt her feelings because when I glanced at her while cutting the corner out the doorway and down the hallway towards my room, I saw her begging, puppy-face fade into a saddened one. I regretted hurting her feelings, but this is just something I have to do.
"Shirou, you need to get your priorities straight when it comes to why you shoot your bow. You're without a doubt the best bowman in the club, but you could be so much better if you would just work on your form. With how good you are, you shouldn't be winning almost every match, but instead every single one. It's about precision, not how many arrows you can shoot in succession and how much power you can put behind each shot. It's almost like you're not practicing archery when you shoot, but instead are a soldier trying his hardest to kill someone in a fight." I think about what Taiga said to me that one time while fastening my quivers on inside the shed. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Once, only once, have I ever missed the target; I knew before the arrow even left the nock on the bow that it'd miss. My accuracy is just fine. It all comes down to would I rather put emphasis on aesthetics or efficiency; and what purpose would all of this serve if it was just to "look pretty"? I latch on the final strap around my chest, holding in place the quiver behind my right shoulder on my back. Recently, whenever I've been shooting at home, I use three quivers to do so; two on either side of my waist and one on my back. It's for a technique I've been developing that lets me shoot off more arrows quicker than normally. By having three quivers, any unnecessary movement from consecutively drawing out arrows from the same quiver is eliminated. With each stroke of the hand as it lets go of the nocked arrow, the hand falls back to the next assigned quiver and nocks the next one. The amount of time it saves is so miniscule that it might as well be nonexistent, but it's still something. Not to mention more quivers means more arrows. I look down one last time at my special project before I leave the shed. I decide to just focus on getting some shots in today instead of touching it for now as I walk out and shut the sliding door behind me.
I turn on the giant spotlight on the back porch to illuminate the sole target I have way across the yard at the edge of the little bamboo cluster we have. Before I installed the light, I could only shoot during the afternoon before dark, but now I could go wild all throughout the night until dawn broke. I take a deep breath in and unsheathe an arrow from the first quiver on my right hip. Once it's nocked on the bow, I draw back the bowstring until the arrowhead is almost touching the smooth, wooden riser that its drawn shaft lies on. Then, I release. As soon as the feathered end reaches the riser, I dart my hand to the quiver on my back and wind it into another draw. I release. My hand instantly falls to my left quiver and draws another out. Nock, draw, release. I repeat the same exact sequence one more time and then I finally let my breath I'd been holding in out, before quickly intaking air again, feeling my lungs burning for some fresh oxygen. I look up to see the results of my rapid shooting. The six arrows all made it to the target; three of them were on the inner rings and one hit dead in the bullseye and was then split in two by another one that hit the exact spot. I was ecstatic I managed to accomplish that, but then my eyes fell on the sixth arrow lodged in the outer-most ring, almost missing the target entirely. I groan out in frustration and start making my way to the target to dislodge them while Taiga's words about inaccuracy blared in my mind. You're not inaccurate! Anyone would have trouble shooting that many arrows so quickly, if they could even pull it off. I pull out the arrow stuck in the side of the target and stare down at it while thinking how I ever got to the point where I could do something like this. Six arrows… shot in succession under a bit less than 10 seconds.
This insane skill of mine is something no one knows about other than myself; I've made sure to never pull off the feat at archery practice. If I were to go public with the ability, I would break the world record for most arrows shot in succession under a minute by quite a large margin. If that alone doesn't sound mind blowing enough, I didn't use a normal Japanese style bow, a Yumi, when I pulled that off just now; I used a traditional English longbow. With this bow, the draw weight is significantly higher than a Yumi, this specific one having about 80 pounds. The arrows have more force behind them when shot from this bow, but quick, successive firing is much more difficult to accomplish. If I were to use a Yumi like the one I have at practice, I could probably break the current record I have. Well, that is if its fragile frame didn't snap from the task, which is why I've abstained from attempting it with it yet. Hard work, dedication, me being unable to spend some time having fun with Sakura and Irisviel, the resolve to keep firing away with my bow even with a severely burned arm and fractured shoulder… that's what led me to develop this ability over the past ten years. But in the grand scheme of things, Taiga will always be right. These bow skills I've developed will never be useful. The efficiency in shooting arrows, how much punch an arrow can pack when you shoot it, neither of those help much when I compete with the club; never will I ever need to fight with a bow, either. And yet, every day I practice this way. I wonder why I insist on deforming my body and turning myself into some kind of bowmen fit for battle in spite of this. I walk back to my normal shooting spot with the arrows I retrieved clutched tightly in my hand when I notice the kitchen light shut off. Sakura's probably left by now… and I assume Irisviel decided she wasn't going to wait up for me. She's been lonely all this time, and tonight all she wanted was to watch some movies and spend some time with me… her son.
After shooting for about an hour longer, I find myself growing sleepy and my body getting chilled from the night air surrounding my sweat-covered skin. I return all my equipment to the shed and lock it up before running to the back porch to switch the, now hot, spotlight off. I feel around the hallway to make my way to the dining room and as soon as my first foot steps in, I gently pat around the wall with my hand until I find the light switch, flipping it on. I didn't know what I was expecting. Surely enough, the two women were gone, and all traces of the dinner Sakura prepared were as well. The tv, of course, is silent with no indications of it having even been turned on. I was disappointed, but I didn't have the right to be; I made my choice when Irisviel asked if we could watch movies.
I shut the light off and tread down the hallway again to go to my room, but stop when I end up in front of Irisviel's bedroom door. I walked to Irisviel's without realizing? Jeez… I guess I subconsciously know I need to apologize for not making time for her… I hesitate for a moment, then knock lightly against the paper door. After she doesn't answer, I crack open the sliding door slightly and whisper in to call out her name. Still no answer. "…I'm coming in." I make sure she knows so, before I walk in with her not being decent. I use the glow from my cellphone to illuminate the room instead of switching on the light, just in case she's asleep while I gently tiptoe in. It doesn't take me long to find her. She's kneeling on the floor with her face buried into her crossed arms that lie on top of her small table. "Irisviel?" She doesn't respond, and I assume she fell asleep while sitting there like that. I kneel next to her and gently comb my fingers through her long, silky hair which prompts her to adjust her head and turn it to the side, revealing her sleeping face to me. Her face was beautiful, as always, but I realized that her eyes seemed especially worn out and tired and were slightly red as if she'd been rubbing them. Has she been… crying? I notice her arms aren't just on top of the table, but are also on top of a few rectangular cases stacked beneath them. I gently lift her arms up with one hand while sliding out what's beneath with the other. I look down at what I'm holding and curse myself while feeling my heart break. A western, an old horror flick… a girly romantic drama? She wasn't exaggerating… when she said she planned for us to watch movies together tonight. I felt like crying myself, but I quickly shook my head and wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt. It won't be any good to regret what I did now; I'll make sure Irisviel knows how sorry I am when she awakens tomorrow.
I place the movies back down on the table and gently lift Irisviel up in my arms, bridal style, while taking note that she's still wearing her nightgown that she wore all day. Jeez. I know you were upset, but you should still change clothes every now and then. At least put on a different nightgown. While slowly walking her over to her huge, western-style bed with the giant veil that hangs from the canopy, she starts becoming restless in my arms and she eventually slightly opens her eyes to stare up at me while I carry her. I instantly become embarrassed due to how I'm holding her, but she just warmly smiles up at me. "Shirou… you're so… sweet, but you can be a real… a real meanie sometimes." She's still half asleep.
"I know Irisviel. Don't worry, starting tomorrow you will be the focus of all my free time, not dumb old archery." She very half-heartedly giggles at what I say while I lay her down and tuck her into her bed. "Good… I'll never say no to more attention. Now, come here." After she says this I look at her and see her eyes are closed and I can hear her lightly snoring. Telling me to come here and then immediately dozing off? That's so like you. I do as she says though, just to honor her wishes and I lean in until my face is next to her ear so that she can hear me whisper. "Goodnight, Irisviel…" Right as I'm about to pull away, she swiftly turns her face to mine and gently smooches me right on the tip of my nose.
"To you too, my sweet, charming little Shirou."