Tags:
MORE Slice of Life, they are surprisingly difficult to write.
Ritsuka integrating herself to the household, with the power of HALP (only a bit).
The weather is weird, let's do snow activities.
Chapter 05 – Summer(?)/Connecting
'Sorry, Kiritsugu. Even when the opportunity to save the humanity might have already escaped my grasp, I'm still indecisive about this.' Shirou reproached himself. In the end, he couldn't treat Miyu as a tool like Kiritsugu did, although his mentality still hasn't changed. He still thought of saving humanity using Miyu, but the price of such a wish, Miyu being bound to the world to fulfill the wish, prevented him from going through with it. He still couldn't discard his borrowed ideals, though he no longer held the slavish devotion towards it.
'I just don't know what to do!' He wanted to ask Ritsuka for advice regarding this dilemma of his, but right now, he still didn't trust her completely. After all, a wish granting power within someone's reach tends to distort a person's morals. The contract would only restrain her for one year before she would be able to attack.
"Shirou, let's play." Miyu said as she tugged on his hand. After getting kicked out of the workshop and comforting Miyu, he had been spending more time with her again. Playing, doing chores, and giving her the newly bought books with non-practical knowledge. Of course, he didn't buy anything that was beyond her understanding. Just a few children's encyclopedias and basic education books, but of course, he has yet to teach her about those. He needed to teach reading, writing, and calculating first.
'Miyu became livelier after that.' He thought as he let himself get led by Miyu.
'Ritsuka-san, thank you for letting me spend more time with Shirou.' Miyu didn't actually say it to her, but she hopes that her sentiments were received. After Shirou comforted her, he started giving more of his time for her. Listening in their conversations afterwards, she discovered that Ritsuka banned Shirou from entering the shed so that he would spend more time with her. Her thoughtfulness made Miyu very grateful.
'I should start trying to know her.' Miyu would have to find Ritsuka outside the shed first. Then she should gather the courage to approach Ritsuka and get to know her better. She would spend her time with Shirou first though. No, she would only approach when she can't spend time with Shirou and if Ritsuka is free.
With Miyu's priorities set, she went to her brother.
"Shirou, let's play." She grabbed his hand and whisked him away to the open space behind the main house. As for what they are playing…
"I am the king of the snowballs!" Declared Ritsuka as she bombarded the duo with snowballs.
"Shirou! Ritsuka-san is cheating!" Whined Miyu as she ducked her head behind the cover they made. While they were playing in the snow, Ritsuka suddenly appeared and proposed a snowball fight. She told them that they would have five minutes to build a base and planted a flag she got somewhere to be the objective of each side. As they built their base, Ritsuka pulled out what seems to be a gun that has snow loaded as ammo.
Indeed, Ritsuka was using a tool, which seems to be a Mystic Code, to rain down snowballs like a machinegun. Shirou was worried that Miyu might discover the Moonlit World just because Ritsuka wanted to test her new equipment. As he was contemplating all this, he peeked his head out to take another look at the said item, only to receive a snowball to the face.
This scene continued until they were buried under the snow and Ritsuka was able to obtain their flag unopposed.
"Ritsuka-san is a big cheater!" Miyu complained as she pounded her tiny fists at Ritsuka immediately after she dug the both of them out.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Ritsuka reacted theatrically.
As the two were play fighting, Shirou took Ritsuka's gun and had a good look at it. 'The Magical Energy in this gun is really low. If I wasn't so good at sniffing out these kinds of things, I wouldn't be able to detect it.' He confirmed that the gun is indeed a Mystic Code, albeit a very weak one with a function useless for combat. As he kept looking at it, he found a set of English words engraved in it.
'EdisonTM?' Unfortunately, Shirou was not well versed in American history, and did not understand that he was holding a piece of history that would have given some historians aneurysms.
'Well, as long as it doesn't expose the Moonlit World, it's fine. Now then…' Shirou took aim at Ritsuka and started burying her in snow. 'Ah, come to think of it, this is the first time that the three of us did something together other than eating.' Ritsuka though, managed to disengage and returned to her base.
"Ritsuka-san, surrender now! If you do, we'll go easy on you!" Bribed Miyu. Unexpectedly, Ritsuka just pulled out another gun identical to the first one she used and retaliated. Shirou used his body to protect Miyu from the onslaught, allowing her to reach back to the base. Shirou on the other hand…
"Sorry Miyu, it looks like this is as far as I go…" He said as he was almost completely buried. "Take this and claim victory! I believe in you!" Shirou threw the gun towards Miyu with his inspiring speech before he was completely entombed.
"Shirou!" Miyu mourned his sacrifice. After a few seconds, she gathered her resolve to face her adversary and returned fire. Her accuracy was surprisingly good for someone who has never used such a thing, hitting Ritsuka who was on the other side. With newfound confidence in herself, Miyu rose from her cover and started to advance. She went unopposed, Ritsuka seemingly having difficulty firing back. Victory was close at hand.
'Just a bit more and I can get the flag! A few steps and I will—' Miyu fell in a hole. "Ehhhh?!"
"You just activated my trap card! Pitfall!" Ritsuka declared triumphantly "Now that you can't move…" She had quite the disturbing smile on her face. She lifted her gun and started to bury the immobile Miyu.
'I'm sorry Shirou… I failed…' Were her last thoughts as history repeated itself.
Under the snowy sky of summer, there were three people. A pubescent girl copying the other two, a young boy, and a young girl. Shirou suggested that they build snowmen after their defeat at the hands of the king of the snowballs. Their adversary agreed to the suggestion and they all cooperated to create a snowman.
The first thing to consider is the base. Shirou and Ritsuka told Miyu to gather snow that would be rolled to make the body of the snowman. The two teens finished their work swiftly, Ritsuka placing her snow atop Shirou's bigger pile and was immediately reinforcing and shaping the body of the snowman.
'She IS a golem maker, so I guess I don't need to help her with it.' Shirou went to see how Miyu was doing and saw her struggling to make her snowball larger.
'What am I doing wrong?' Miyu perfectly copied Shirou and Ritsuka's actions, so she should've made a decently sized snowball by now, but she just couldn't make it larger no matter how many times she rolled it. She was feeling quite frustrated at her lack of progress. She then felt someone's hand grab her shoulder. "Shirou?"
"You can't make it larger?" Questioned Shirou knowingly. Miyu simply nodded. "Come on, I'll teach you what you got wrong." He took her hand and looked around. After finding what he was looking for, he guided Miyu to a patch of snow.
"Miyu, you should use this one." Shirou pointed to the patch of snow he approached. Although Miyu was a bit skeptical, she made a ball from the patch of snow and started rolling it.
'It got bigger!' Miyu was quite confused, what did this patch of snow have that the one she was using before didn't?
"The snow you were using back there was too dry, it can't stick together if it isn't wet. See?" He demonstrated by putting a bit of the snow of Miyu's cheek. Filled with curiosity, Miyu also put some of the wet snow on her cheek, followed by dry snow she scooped up outside the patch.
"I understand now, thank you Shirou!" After playing with the two different kinds of snow, she concluded that Shirou was correct.
"Yeah, come on now, Ritsuka is probably finished with the body already, let's make the head for the snowman together." Even after saying that, Shirou and Miyu took things slowly, enjoying their time together. Ritsuka simply watches them as she kept sculpting faces on the three new snowmen she made after finishing up with the first snowman's body.
After an embarrassingly long time, they finally finish the snowman's head and proceeded to return to its body. But as they lay their eyes on the snowman, which already has buttons and stick arms, they inevitably see Ritsuka's project that was done while they were frolicking, which surprised them. While it was not a masterpiece, and the faces were a bit warped, the heads of the three snowmen undoubtedly resembles the three of them, each corresponding to their respective heights, the bodies were just like a normal snowman though.
"Wow!" Miyu looked in wonder. "That's amazing Ritsuka-san. How did you do it?" She questioned excitedly.
"Oh, these? I was just following the instructions of the voices in my head." Ritsuka answered with a bizarre statement. "Anyway, I'm just going to get the camera." She ran to the shed and entered. Shirou wondered if she was serious about the voices.
Miyu, on the other hand, was curious about the new term she heard. "Shirou, what is a camera?" She questioned.
Shirou considered how to explain. "It's a machine that captures memories and puts it in a photo." He answered after a few seconds.
"What is it for?" She inquired further.
"It's so that we can always remember the memories we made together no matter how long time has passed by." He responded.
"Memories… with Shirou…" She daydreamed. She wanted to recall all the memories she spent with Shirou. Each and every one was precious to her. But then she realized something very important.
"Shirou, do we have a camera?!" She asked with great urgency.
"Errr, we… don't." Shirou was taken aback by Miyu's fervor. Though he did get a bit concerned when Miyu slumps in a depressing pose while hugging the snowman head. "What's wrong Miyu? Why do you want a camera?" He worriedly asked.
After a period of silence, Miyu responded. "Because that means that we didn't get to make photos all this time. What if I forget about the happy memories we made?" She lamented.
Shirou thought on how to reassure her and decided that he should just let his emotions do the talking.
"It's alright Miyu." He comforted her. He went in front of her, looking straight into her eyes and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Even if we don't remember those moments anymore, we can always make more memories from now on." He uttered with great earnestness.
His words awed Miyu and eventually, her sad frown turned into a blooming smile, causing Shirou's own face to smile back.
*Ka-chick*
They were surprised at the sudden sound that they heard and looked at the direction it came from. What they saw was Ritsuka waving a photo with her right hand up and down and holding the camera on the other. She also had a stick on her back.
"Great! It works properly!" She stopped waving the photo, took a look at it, and approached the duo. "Here, take a look you two." She handed the photo to Miyu who received it after letting go of the snowman head.
In it, Miyu saw herself and Shirou staring straight at each other. It made the memories of what happened a few seconds ago come to the forefront of her mind. 'My first photo with Shirou…' She decided that she liked photos and that she would take even more photos after borrowing the camera, but she will give this first photo a special place in her heart.
"Thank you for this, Ritsuka-san!" Miyu put the photo on her chest and smiled brightly.
"Don't sweat it. Come on, let's get that head on the snowman."
Shirou moved to pick up the snowman head, but he was interrupted by Miyu who blocked him.
"Miyu?" Miyu picked up the head and tried to reach the top of the snowman. She failed repeatedly until she felt two arms wrap on her side and lifted her up.
"If you wanted to put it yourself, you should've just said so Miyu." He chastised. "Go on." He said as he brought her near the snowman's body.
*Ka-chick*
Ritsuka took a photo after Miyu successfully got the snowman head on, adding another to Miyu's precious collection of memories.
Each of them took items to attach on the snowman. Miyu took a scarf from the cabinet, Shirou took a carrot and coals, and Ritsuka took a hat in the shed.
After that, Ritsuka set the camera up using a stick in front of the snowmen.
"Alright, come on you two, get in front of the camera." As they did so, Ritsuka told them to reposition a few times before being satisfied with the arrangement. She set a timer and went to join the duo. After mentally counting the seconds…
"Say cheeeeeese!" Ritsuka shouted.
"Cheese." Shirou replied with less enthusiasm.
"Cheese?" Questioned Miyu who didn't understand the English word.
The photo contained a confused young girl, an enthusiastic female teen, and a smiling male teen. The background snowmen were irrelevant.
Another month passed by. The snow was slowly thawing out to give way to a new season. While Ritsuka was back at the workshop after lending Miyu the camera, Miyu was being tutored by Shirou. Writing, reading, calculating, the three basic foundations that he needed to teach. Miyu was a very quick learner, unfortunately, Shirou was not a very good teacher. So, while Shirou was able to teach Miyu in the beginning, his help after that was negligible.
As Shirou went for another grocery run, Miyu holed herself up in a room and started to self-study. She wanted to show off to Shirou and lessen her time being taught so that she and Shirou could play instead.
"Miyu-chan." Ritsuka called her. As she tore her eyes away from the reading materials, she saw the camera that she used these last few days.
"Is it fixed?!" Miyu rushed and snatched the camera away from Ritsuka. After taking more photos to place in her room yesterday, the camera stopped working, she panicked and asked Ritsuka to fix it. Taking a look at it, she saw strange engravings that would have read EdisonTM to those that could read it.
"It didn't actually break, it just ran out of film." Ritsuka diagnosed.
"Film?" Another unfamiliar term popped up that left Miyu confused.
"I didn't tell you since I thought you knew, but you can only take a photo 50 times before you run out of film in this camera. Think of it as ingredients, once you cook them, they would be used up and Shirou would need to do another grocery run to get more of them."
With the cooking analogy, Miyu understood now that she needed more of these films to get more photos.
"Here Miyu-chan, let me show you how to load in more film for the camera." After the short lesson on how to put in the film, Ritsuka gave her more films. With five more boxes, she would have 300 photos.
"Thank you, Ritsuka-san." Miyu bowed and imagined. '300 photos of me and Shirou…'
"Miyu-chan, you shouldn't use those films so frivolously." She scolded.
"Why?" Miyu retorted defensively. She wanted to have more photos with Shirou. What was wrong with that?
"You should use the camera only if it's important you know." She explained. "Growing up, achieving something wanted to do, when doing things that you want to remember, doing something new with the person you like, those kinds of stuff." Ritsuka's smile became a bit different (teasing) at the last one.
Miyu didn't notice the smile. She considered Ritsuka's words, she wanted to take more photos, but the film isn't infinite. 'Yes, it should only be used when it's for something important.' She didn't know the remaining supply, and she will regret it if she has a moment that she wanted to capture but can't do so because she ran out of film.
"Understood." She affirmed.
*Sigh* Ritsuka thought that trying to tease Miyu was quite difficult. She looked around the room and saw the neatly arranged reading materials.
"What's this?" Ritsuka asked as she pointed to the pile.
"I'm studying." She replied. "I will learn everything here so that Shirou wouldn't need to teach me." Of course, she didn't tell Ritsuka that she just wanted to have more play time with Shirou.
"Want me to help you? Even when I'm just mostly staying at the shed, I can make some time for teaching you. Actually, I can start now." She offered.
"Thank you for the help." Miyu hoped that she was better in teaching than Shirou at least.
"Tadaima." Shirou has returned from his grocery run, but strangely, Miyu was nowhere to be seen. She had always waited for him to return and sometimes tries to snatch the groceries out of his grasp. He didn't let her of course. She was still too young to carry those. After dropping off the groceries, he started searching the house. He didn't worry too much since he and Ritsuka have a contract after all.
"I finished it!" He heard Miyu exclaim.
"Wow, that's amazing. You actually learn everything in these books that fast…" Said Ritsuka in wonder.
"It's thanks to you Ritsuka-san, you're a really great teacher." Miyu praised.
"Awww, thanks Miyu-chan. I think it's more of your natural intelligence at work though." Ritsuka complimented.
"I can definitely say that Ritsuka is a great teacher." Shirou affirmed. He remembered all the lessons she taught him about Magecraft. So far, all of his abilities improved, lending a great deal of credence to her skills in teaching.
"Hehehe, you guys praise me too much. I'm just using the wisdom of my elders." She humbly deflected.
"Can you teach Miyu? You see, I'm really bad at teaching." Shirou requested. Once he went out again, he would buy more books for Miyu to read while he was out of the house.
Miyu wanted to defend Shirou from himself, but she realized that Shirou really was a bad teacher when it comes to educational materials and simply kept her silence.
"Sure, when I have free time I guess." Ritsuka easily accepted the request.
Shirou supposed that it was the best he could get, she was a Magus after all, she must be quite busy with her research. It was why he was surprised when she actually joined in playing with them in the snow. She was quite the unique Magus.
"Shirou, Miyu-chan, don't the two of you need to get started on the kitchen?" She asked.
"Oh yeah, come on Miyu, we'll be making potato stew today." He left the room expecting Miyu to follow shortly after.
"Coming Shirou." He wasn't disappointed as Miyu followed him like a duckling.
The Emiya household with three people having three different surnames continued their lives in peace.
AN:
I have corrected Shirou's circuit count in the previous chapter and nothing else.
Insert Snowman in Summer meme from Frozen or something.
Servant HALP is OP.
Reminder that Miyuverse weather conditions are messed up.
I think I did quite well for this chapter. They are simply enjoying themselves, for now…
It represents the youth in summer where they just enjoy life, but in snow.
Thanks to those that corrected me, I think I was infected by fanon. Or that I heard too many times that Shirou's circuits suck so much.
I will go in a Nasuverse rule breaking spree if needed by the story, but I will do my best to avoid fanons and rule breaking if possible.
Most of the following chapters will be SoL, the action in this fanfic is still quite far away. Due to this, I will temporarily change the rating of this fic to T and return it to M once there is appropriate content that falls under that category.
This chapter ends at September 1.
Shirou – 14, 8 months till 15
Miyu – 7, 10 months till 8
Sakura – 13, 7 months till 14