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Timeskip in previous chapter abort. Now it is still Christmas day.

Family activities!

I am bad at writing blooming romance, I think.

Chapter 10 – Home/Heart

Miyu didn't want to get up. Besides the fact that she was comfortably snuggling her beloved onii-chan, she also has a headache. It was the first time she had felt pain like this, but remembering the events last midnight made her think that such pain was nothing compared to forging a nigh unbreakable bond with the person she loves the most.

As she nestled closer to the warm body right next to her, her eyes slowly began to close once more. The hand that stroked her head lulled her into her dreams once more.

Shirou continued to sooth Miyu by stroking her head. Since it was the first time she awake for that long, she would undoubtedly have a headache. He would let her sleep in so that she could rest properly while he would man the kitchen. Unfortunately, her leech-like hold on him will rouse her from her sleep if he gets up.

'I finally did it.' He congratulated himself. He told the truth to Miyu, and she accepted it all. Had she hated him or ran away, he didn't know what he would have done. The only thing he needs to do now is to keep his promise to her. To give her a family and happiness.

He would definitely make good on that promise, on his life he swears.

A few hours have passed. The two siblings were stirred from their slumber thanks to the enticing fragrance wafting in the bedroom. As for how the aroma reached that far away, the answer is simple, Magecraft. The aroma was simply delivered to the room, being packaged in such a way that it doesn't lose potency.

They rose from their bed and put in order everything before leaving for the kitchen. Surprisingly, it seems like the kitchen wasn't touched at all, but the scent coming from the dining room stated otherwise.

As they entered, they saw Ritsuka enjoying the dishes laid down on the table, their own portions were already served too.

"Ohayo!" Ritsuka greeted with her usual energy after she swallowed her food.

""Ohayo…"" The two responded with less enthusiasm, both focused more on the food placed on the table. As they sat down and gave a short "Itadakimasu", they expertly handled their chopsticks to bring food to their mouths. The divine taste was just as expected.

Savoring their meal, they attempted to deduce the ingredients and cooking methods used to make the dishes. They will crack open the secrets of these heavenly food, even if it was the last thing they did.

"Onee-chan, do you want to take a bath with us?" Miyu asked as the time for bathing was approaching.

Onee-chan's expression started from startled, to contemplative, and finally to a smile. "Of course, Miyu-chan!" She cheerfully accepted. "Let's strengthen our bonds in the bath!"

Miyu heard nothing wrong with onee-chan's words. As she has successfully invited onee-chan for a family bath, she left to go grab onii-chan.

She will make this bonding moment succeed!

Shirou believes that he should stop taking baths and sleeping together with Miyu. Unfortunately for him, he would always lose to the cute imouto's puppy dog eyes, trembling lips, or downcast expression. With the power of those three combined, his surrender was simply inevitable.

With a sigh, he prepared the tub to be filled with water, towels to cover himself and dry off, and clothes that he thinks Miyu would like to wear. As he finishes, he removed all his clothes, tied a towel on his waist, and sat on a stool that had another stool in front of it. 'Oh, wait, I forgot about the sponges.' Standing up, he took some sponges and poured some liquid soap on those.

"Onii-chan, I'm coming in." Miyu entered the bath naked with a towel held in front of her chest, covering her front, and her hair tied up.

"Let's get you washed up Miyu." He returned to the stool he sat on before as Miyu sat on the stool with her back facing him. Giving Miyu a sponge so that she could wash her front, he—

"I'm coming in~" The door opened, revealing Ritsuka who, like Miyu, entered the bath naked while holding a towel in front of her and has her hair tied up. Shirou was immediately suspicious of her purpose.

"Here, onee-chan." Miyu called out. "Let me wash your back." She said with uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

"Sure Miyu-chan~" Ritsuka approached, but then, she realized that there weren't any stools she could sit on. "Hey, Miyu-chan, I'm going to do a magic trick, can you turn away for a few seconds?" She requested.

Miyu was confused, but she turned to face onii-chan who was vigilantly watching for any suspicious actions.

The moment Miyu turned away, Ritsuka held her hands out.

Shirou saw one of the maid golems that Ritsuka have peek in from the window. It suddenly lost its form and turned into a liquid as it entered into the bath. He saw it reform into a mud stool in Ritsuka's hands and changed its appearance from a muddy exterior to one identical to the stools they were using. All of these happened in a span of less than 10 seconds. [1]

All Shirou could think of was: 'Golems can do that?'

"You can turn around now Miyu-chan." As Miyu returned to her original position, she saw the stool in onee-chan's grasp.

"Eh? Where did you get that onee-chan?" There were only two stools in the bathroom, she checked, and she doubted that onee-chan was fast enough to exit the bathroom, find a stool, and return in the span of less than 10 seconds. 'Oh, so that's why she called a magic trick, because she did something that seems to be impossible without magic.'

Miyu, of course, had no idea that Magecraft was used to perform this, making it a genuine magic trick rather than an imitation.

"Can I see?" She excitedly requested.

"Nope, I can't reveal the secret of how I did this. After all, a magician never reveals their secrets~" She playfully winked as she sat on the newly made stool with her back facing Miyu.

Miyu, seeing that she won't be able to dig out the secret from onee-chan, turned to the person who saw the magic trick play out.

Shirou shook his head at Miyu, he refuses to reveal the existence of Magecraft to her.

Miyu pouted, but she didn't push, she wanted the first family bath they have to be successful after all.

With practiced movements, Shirou and Miyu started rubbing the sponge they had on the person in front of them.

Shirou kept an eye at Ritsuka while he washed Miyu's back like usual.

Miyu saw the difference between the bodies of her onee-chan and onii-chan. While onii-chan has a tough body with a lot of muscle, onee-chan is lithe, with a surprising amount of hidden muscle strength. [2]

She enjoyed washing onee-chan's back, it makes her feel as if they were bonding with each other. With onii-chan washing her back with his usual gentle yet firm hand movements, it was truly a wonderful family activity.

"Hey, Miyu-chan." Onee-chan broke the silence. "Let me wash your back too." The three of them rinsed their bodies with water.

Giving the sponge to onee-chan, she took the sponge being offered by onii-chan from behind and turned around to face the back that she was going to wash.

She stood up from her stool, she can't wash onii-chan's back properly if she was sitting since she was too small. She vigorously scrubbed his back which, even now, gives her trouble washing it since it was very wide. Onee-chan's hand movements were similar to onii-chan's, but it was slower and more thorough.

"Is this good Miyu-chan? Should I be gentler?" Onee-chan asked.

"It's good, onee-chan. Please continue like that." Miyu answered as she continued her task.

"Miyu, did you invite Ritsuka into the bath?" Onii-chan questioned.

"U-un… ummm, I just wanted to have a family bath…" Miyu was quite nervous. 'Did I do something wrong?'

"No." He answered. "I'm just checking."

After a few more times of scrubbing each other's backs, they used the sponges to wash their bodies and rinsed themselves to enter the bathtub. Shirou, being the gentleman that he is, let the two girls go in first before he himself entered the tub. The girls dropped their towels and removed the accessories holding their hair.

As he sat down, Miyu immediately went over to him and leaned back to his chest.

Shirou started to cover his palms in shampoo and Miyu separated a bit so that her hair can get shampooed. Feeling the familiar pleasant massage of her scalp, Miyu's eyes closed in contentment.

*Splash*

Miyu's eyes opened to see her onee-chan reaching for her head.

Her scalp was massaged by four hands, she thinks that it was excessive, but she won't complain since it felt really nice.

After the enjoyable hair washing experience she went through, Miyu turned around. "Onii-chan won't you let me help with your hair?" She asked, but she already knows his response.

"No, I'll take care of it, just wait for a bit." This back and forth was simply routine to them.

"How about mine Miyu-chan?" Miyu turned around to face her. "You can practice on me." She sat down with her back to Miyu as she placed her hair behind her. "Come on, don't be shy."

Miyu took a bottle of shampoo and poured it into her hands. She reached for her onee-chan's head and started spreading it into her hair.

"Ow. Miyu-chan, don't use your nails when massaging the scalp." She lectured. "You might damage it, use your fingertips instead."

Miyu obeyed her onee-chan's instructions. Using her fingertips, she massaged the scalp, earning a pleased approval. It was fun playing with the hair, twirling it, straightening it, and stroking it.

Shirou looked warmly at the scene of two sisters enjoying themselves.

After finishing up with their hair, they returned to their positions. Shirou on one end of the tub, Miyu placing herself on his chest, and Ritsuka on the other side who looked at them with a pondering gaze…

"Miyu-chan, don't you feel that you're getting poked by something hard?" Ritsuka asked in genuine curiosity.

Shirou's eyebrows twitched at her question. But as he let it sink in, it IS quite strange that he wasn't aroused at all. He didn't look at Miyu like that, but Ritsuka should have provoked some reaction from his body. She was quite pretty, and she had a fit and well-developed body. Although—

'Ah.' Shirou realized the reason why he wasn't attracted to her. Not only do they look too much alike, but he also cemented her as a family member in his mind, just like Miyu.

"No?" Miyu answered uncertainly. "Are you talking about onii-chan's chest and abs?"

"Not that." Ritsuka shook her head. "I meant the one between Shirou's legs."

"Between onii-chan's legs…" Miyu trailed off as she looked downwards. "Is that why onii-chan always has a towel around his waist when we bathe?"

"…" Ritsuka's eyes bored into Shirou. "Haven't you given her 'the talk' yet?"

"By 'the talk', you mean…"

"Yes, that one. It's pretty irresponsible of you to not educate her." She berated him. "I mean, she's at that age already." [3]

"…The talk? At that age?" Miyu was quite confused at their words.

"Heh, in place of your unreliable onii-chan, I, your onee-chan, will educate you in this matter." Ritsuka declared. "No buts Shirou, I promise that I won't give faulty information." She alleviated Shirou's concerns. "And since I'm also a girl, it's better if I'm the one who does this."

"Ummm, onee-chan, onii-chan, what are you two talking about?"

"It's pretty awkward to talk about this while in the bath, but…" Ritsuka collected her thoughts. "Listen Miyu-chan, what you're going to hear is essential for your future, so listen properly alright?"

Miyu nodded, she trusted them with all her heart.

"Alright, first of all, in the coming years, you might find yourself bleeding from your vagina—wait, don't panic Miyu, let me explain everything so that you understand." She calmed down the frightened Miyu. "That is a biological reaction that says that you can get pregnant, it is a natural event called a period. You might have read it from some of the books you have."

Shirou helped ease her by stroking her hair. Miyu recollected her memories. Indeed, there was a book that said that girls have periods, but it never said that she was going to bleed from it! Just that she would lose some uterus lining or something like that…

Miyu nodded at her onee-chan to show that she understood.

"Alright, let's review your knowledge base. Miyu, how does a girl get pregnant?" Onee-chan quizzed.

"An egg cell gets fertilized by a sperm cell, which results in a zygote that eventually grows to become a baby." It was oversimplified, but Miyu thought that she got it right. "The baby then grows up in the girl's stomach."

"That's correct, you really read your books Miyu-chan." She praised. "But where does a girl get a sperm cell?"

"From a boy." She answered.

"How?"

"…" Miyu had no answer since she doesn't know. The textbooks were annoyingly vague about it, as if she should already know about it, and thus, it had no explanation.

"Hmmm, your understanding of it is pretty good. At first, I actually thought I was going to hear the one about the stork again. Thank goodness I was wrong." Miyu became curious about this 'stork' that her onee-chan was speaking of, but she will shelf that for now. Shirou by the way, was packed with awkwardness from listening to the discussion.

"The sperm cell is sent to the egg cell by the act known as sex." Onee-chan's face changed into a more serious one. "It involves inserting the penis into the vagina." Miyu balks, that seems to be a very painful act.

"But that's only talking about the physical act. Sex has a very significant meaning in relationships." Onee-chan emphasized. "Between people who love each other, it is the greatest expression of love." Miyu perked up at that statement. "But that doesn't mean that you should do it." Miyu directed a questioning gaze, while Shirou breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why?" She asked.

"First of all is the physical problem. It is dangerous for young girls to have babies since their bodies aren't mature yet. In the worst-case scenario, they would die. It will also be quite painful due to the difference in size." Onee-chan explained. "So unless your body is mature enough, you shouldn't do it."

Miyu nodded to acknowledge her onee-chan's words.

"The second is the emotional problem. You see, feelings change over time. Take me and you for example. At first, you were really guarded against me, but look at us now, we're really close!" Onee-chan illustrated. "Strangers can become friends; friends can become lovers. It is also possible that lovers can become bitter enemies. Relationships are really complicated; it just can't be quantified so easily. So, while you may love Shirou, you should confirm your own feelings first."

Miyu flushed at that.

"Ritsuka, don't give Miyu weird ideas." Shirou interjected.

"I'm not giving her weird ideas." She denied. "Miyu really does love you. Whether it would end up as familial or romantic love in the end, I have no idea. But Shirou, if you haven't found anyone yet, and Miyu cemented her feelings as romantic in nature, please do take her feelings into account, not just yours."

Shirou would admit that if Miyu actually declared her love for him as a woman, he would definitely reject her. He can only see her as an imouto, he had no such romantic feelings for her. Ritsuka was right though, if he rejected Miyu, her heart would definitely get hurt. So, with great reluctance, he would look at Miyu's feelings and respond depending on how honest they were.

'Or I could just get a girlfriend before that happens.' He decided that he liked this option a lot more than the first one.

Miyu… didn't know what to think. There was no doubt about her love, but was it a familial or romantic love? She didn't know, so she will simply follow the advice given to her. To naturally let her feelings gain clarity through time.

The pondering of the two siblings was broken by the following words.

"By the way Miyu-chan, have you seen the thing between Shirou's legs?" She probed with a mischievous smile.

"Ritsuka!" Shirou shouted in exasperation.

"Ummm, no." Miyu answered with a blush on her face. She stole glances below her, as if trying to see through the towel.

"Miyu!" Her onii-chan's voice snapped her out of daze. She was being dragged into her onee-chan's pace again!

'Onee-chan almost got me there… If onii-chan didn't snap me out of it, she would've found more stuff to tease me with!' Miyu was at her limit being teased mercilessly about the kiss, she didn't need more material being used against her.

With a united front, the two siblings repelled Ritsuka's teasing until the end of their bath.

"Alright, I give up." Ritsuka raised both of her hands as a sign of surrender. "Enjoy your bath time!" Were her parting words as she left the bathroom.

""Phew…"" The two siblings breathed a sigh of relief. They successfully fended her off.

"That was pretty stressful." Onii-chan complained. "But you're still going to invite her again, aren't you?"

"Un." Miyu nodded. "Even when onee-chan is mischievous, chaotic, and shrewd, she is also supportive, truthful, and sympathetic."

"Even if Ritsuka gets her fun by messing with us, we owe her so much more than that." Onii-chan added.

If Ritsuka wasn't here, their relationship would never have been able to move forward, they would've been unable to open up to each other. That was what they believed.

"The least we could do is endure her teasing, don't you think?" Shirou rubbed Miyu's hair. "Come on Miyu, we've been staying too long in the bath, let's go."

Miyu nodded and separated from her onii-chan so that he could get up.

Shirou didn't know if it was divine intervention or a series of unlikely events that did it, but one thing was certain. The towel covering that part of him dropped down, and Miyu saw everything.

She was startled, until her face flushed as she realized what she was looking at.

Shirou dropped immediately back into the water as he realized what happened. The two of them stayed like that for a while, an awkward atmosphere formed between them.

"Ummm…" Miyu broke the silence. "At least onee-chan isn't here to see it happen."

That was the only solace that they could take.

After agreeing to never talk about what happened, lest they suffer the teasing of the onee-chan of the house, they calmed themselves down to give no indication of what happened inside before exiting the bathroom.

Miyu laid down on the futon, placing herself between her two family members. It felt really comfy.

"Are you sure you want me to be here Miyu-chan?" Onee-chan questioned. "Don't you want to have Shirou all to yourself?"

Miyu ignored that teasing jab and replied. "I'm sure onee-chan. Also, thanks for the onesie it's really cute, but what animal is this?"

The said onesie has a white colored fur-like head, two beady eyes, its mouth in a frown, and two long ears.

"I don't really know the name of the species, but I do know that it exists." Onee-chan's eyes glazed over in nostalgia. "We just called him Fou, since that's mostly what he says. He is a very friendly animal. Who knows? Maybe you'll meet him someday."

Miyu looked forward to it.

"Don't let yourselves be discouraged by failing to recreate the dishes. Just fight on! I'm sure the two of you can make it!" Onee-chan encouraged.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence I guess…" Onii-chan slumped. "I still don't understand how some of those were made, just what—" His head was bonked by onee-chan.

"None of that now, we're trying to sleep here." She scolded.

"Well, before that though, there's just one question that I want to ask." Onee-chan spoke softly. "Miyu-chan, are you happy?"

Miyu gave a full smile in view of her family.

"Yes." Was her simple, yet emotional answer.

"That's great… Now let me give you a hug!" Onee-chan embraced Miyu with her entire body. 'So soft…' Miyu noted. It landed her in an emergency situation. Namely, she couldn't breathe because of the breasts trapping her head between them.

'Guh! Can't… breathe…' It was simultaneously comforting and dangerous. Miyu preferred her onii-chan's broad and strong chest. At least that one didn't choke her.

Miyu couldn't help but think that maybe it was a mistake to invite her onee-chan to sleep together with them…

Classes continued, it was boring and listless as usual. Instead of trying to learn the lessons, Shirou was thinking about Ritsuka's words. It was when he described Sakura…

"You blockhead! How can you not see the signs?! Even I, who never met her in my entire life, can tell that she loves you! Haaa…. You really need to be more aware of other people's feelings Shirou."

Was he truly that oblivious? There was only one way to know. While he didn't meet Sakura on the way to school, she would definitely be at the archery range. There, he will confirm whether she truly had feelings for him.

*Thwack*

Once more, an arrow hits the bullseye. It seems that her senpai wasn't wrong after all. She is quite talented in this, not once has she missed her mark today.

*Thwack*

Oh, she should probably stop, those thirty arrows were all that the club has. She should retrieve them so that senpai could practice too.

"That's amazing Sakura! See, I told you that you'll catch up in no time!" Senpai praised.

"That does seem to be the case…" Sakura replied in defeat. "You were right senpai, I really did catch up to you."

The both of them went to the targets and recovered the arrows embedded in the targets. To her surprise, senpai didn't change his uniform.

"Senpai, aren't you going to practice?" A shame, watching him shoot is a really entrancing scene.

"No, I wanted to give you this you see." Sakura was given two packages. Looking at her senpai, who nodded, she opened the first one. In it contained a scarf, one with a different color from the one she had given, but having the same pattern. It was blue, while the one she gave was red.

"It was pretty difficult at first, but Ritsuka helped me out." Sakura raised an eyebrow at that. Her senpai has never talked about other people in his life before. It got her curious.

"Ummm, senpai, who is Ritsuka-san?" She asked.

"Oh!" He looked as if he came to a realization. "Come to think of it, I never talked about her, didn't I?" His hands dug on his bag.

"Here." He presented a picture, one where he was beside a female with striking resemblance to his own. It was as if it was her senpai turned into a girl.

"So Ritsuka-san is your sister, senpai?" She presumed.

"N—Yeah, she's the older sister." Shirou confirmed.

"I see." Well, at least she didn't have additional rivals, so that was good. She wanted to give a good impression when she meets senpai's family, so she asked a few things. "Senpai, what can you say about her?"

Shirou was wondering why she wanted to know, but he answered anyways. "Well, she's a really good chef, someone who I want to surpass. She's also one of the people who helped me deal with my problem. She's a good person at heart, but she likes to relentlessly tease people close to her. She's supportive and honest, but she is also chaotic and cunning." He tried his best to describe his female doppelganger, but her character is seriously complex. "Well, sorry, it's just really difficult to describe her more than that."

"She seems to be quite a character." Sakura giggled.

"Anyways, you should probably open the other package."

Sakura opened it to find…

"Cookies?"

"You should try it. I can guarantee that Ritsuka's cooking skills are the best I have ever known in my entire life."

With such a glowing review from her senpai, she took one cookie and took a bite. Huh, was she in Nirvana? This place she is in seems like paradise…

Sakura snapped out of her trance, only to see that the cookies given to her were already finished. 'Wow, that was amazing.' Sakura never thought that food like this existed. It was just so perfect.

"Just as I expected would happen." Senpai commented. "It's incredible, isn't it? It's my goal to reach that level of cooking ability."

"Hai, senpai. May I know how this was made? I would like to make some myself." While she was no slouch in the kitchen, she couldn't hold a candle to that godly cookie. She actually enjoyed cooking a lot, it was one of the only things she could do when there were no classes, and eating a good meal cheers her up.

"She doesn't want to tell, saying stuff like 'Believe in the me that believes in you!', at least she left hints though…" He grumbled.

"Oh, that's too bad then…"

"Why not help then?" Senpai suggested.

"Help? How?" Sakura questioned.

"Can you cook, Sakura?"

"While I may not be a five-star chef, I am quite confident in my kitchen skills." She boasted.

"You see, the hints that Ritsuka gave out are recipe books that don't have anything except the name of the dish, a picture, and a list of ingredients." Those books have been the source of many, many headaches for both him and Miyu. "I would like you to try and recreate them like I'm doing now."

"I accept!" For a chance to eat that kind of food again… There was no way that Sakura was going to decline.

"Thanks, I'll bring one of the books next time."

"Hai!" She enthusiastically replied. "Let's clean up the archery range now, senpai."

The bow and arrows were returned to their proper place, the floor was swept and mopped, and the door was locked as they left the premises.

"By the way, senpai." Sakura began. "What happened to whatever you were going to do?" She stopped to turn and face him.

"I succeeded. Thank you for your help." He dug in his pocket and pulled out the scarf given to him.

"I'm glad then." She smiled brightly. "Senpai, no matter what happens, I will definitely be your ally." She started walking ahead once more.

'…You were right Ritsuka, I am a dense blockhead.'

Sakura truly did love him. He didn't know what part of him was so desirable, but he cannot deny that Sakura's feelings are genuine.

He noticed more things now too, like how beautiful she had become, how she was so thoughtful and gentle. Small things that he never realized before had become obvious.

'I guess it's because I don't have any burdens anymore.'

Emiya Shirou finally forged a family, he finally had somewhere to belong, something to protect, and most of all, he was happy in a way that wasn't possible before.

[1] Gentlemen and gentlemen, I present to you, the Chaldean flex tape, golems.

[2] Game Ritsuka really did a lot of ridiculous things that can't be done without a fit body. Heck, even if they had a fit body, some of those stuff should be impossible.

[3] The age when she can get a period.

AN:

I doubled back on the chapter, and I found that the first few paragraphs were pretty misleading if you didn't read the previous chapter.

I added quite the awkward scene, I hope everyone felt awkward too.

Cozy home life, blooming romance, Shirou is living the high life, I guess.

I might extend one or two chapters more before the fight scenes.

Miyu's wish is still undecided, but if I still can't choose among the other options, I will just use the one I set as default.

My schedule has become pretty free, but don't expect a regular release.

Timeskip to April Something (Start of classes again)

Shirou – 16, 0 months till 17 April 15

Miyu – 9, 4 months till 10 July 20

Sakura – 16, 11 months till 17 March 2