Chapter 2: First Friend
"Happy birthday!" Shirou awoke to his parents barging into his room. It had now been three years since Shirou was reborn and he was finally starting to look like a child rather than an infant.
"Thank you!" Shirou slid out of bed and hugged his parents. He graduated from the crib two months ago and now had a small bed all to himself.
"We have something exciting for your birthday," Kenji smiled down at his son. "But first, your birthday present."
"Birthday present?!" Shirou looked up at his father with a huge smile. He didn't mind acting like a child, especially since it seemed to make his parents happy.
"Happy birthday, Shiro," Akane handed Shirou a wooden sword.
"Thank you!" Shirou took the sword and immediately analyzed it. His parents had gone into town and ordered the toy sword to be custom-made by the local woodsmith. It took the shape of a backsword with a straight hilt. The sword was made of oak and painted over so Shirou wouldn't splinter himself. The sword was also in a tiny sheath strapped to a belt.
"Oh, you're going to be a great knight when you grow up!" Akane pulled her son into a bone-crushing hug.
"I can't wait to start training you!" Kenji ruffled Shirou's auburn hair.
"Can't… breathe…!" Shirou gasped. Despite being in his thirties, he still had the body of a child, and a child's body can only go so far.
"Ah!" Akane gasped and pulled away. "I'm sorry, Shiro."
"It's okay, mom," Shirou slimed as he clipped on the belt.
"You look absolutely darling with your little sword," Akane put a hand on her cheek and smiled.
"Now, we have a big day today," Kenji crossed his arms and smiled down at Shirou. "We set up your first playdate today!"
"Playdate?" Shirou tilted his head. Shirou couldn't remember his early childhood so he didn't know if it was normal to set playdates up this early.
"Yup! Our friends have a child that's a year older than you, so we set a playdate up," Kenji explained with a nod. "It'll do you good to make some friends."
"Okay!" Shirou nodded along and smiled.
"Let's go then," Akane hoisted Shirou up. "I'll carry you, okay?"
"Mom, I'm not a kid anymore," Shirou pouted. Taiga would pout like that whenever Shirou felt particularly mischievous.
"Hush, Shiro. You'll always be my baby boy," Akane replied.
"Fine," Shirou crossed his arms as the three left the house.
Shirou was excited to be outdoors. He had spent the majority of his life indoors and the times he had been outside didn't imprint themselves in his memories. There was no technology at all, say for electric lights that were powered by Sword Arts. It was very inconvenient to stab your sword in a hole in the ground to power on lights, so they were fairly rare, but a couple buildings had them.
"Where are we going?" Shirou asked. They had walked down a couple streets of houses before turning into the third street.
"Ah, their house is right here," Kenji turned to the third house to the left and knocked on the door. The house was like all the other ones, a basic wooden design with no defining features.
"Coming!" A man's voice responded. A couple seconds later and the door swung open, revealing a lean blonde with shining blue eyes.
"Evan! It's so good to see you," Kenji shook the man's hand.
"It's good to see you as well," The man, Evan, turned to look at Akane and Shirou. "And who might you be?"
"Oh, this is little Shiro," Akane introduced the young boy. "How's Lisa?"
"Exhausted," Evan shook his head with a smile. "Elizabeth has been quite the feisty one. She'll give the both of us a run for our money someday."
"Good to know," Kenji's smile grew. "Now, can we introduce ourselves?"
"Come in! Come in!" Evan ushered the trio inside the house. "Lisa! Kenji and Akane are here!"
"Oh!" A woman walked in from another room. She had chestnut hair and dark blue eyes. "How have you all been?"
"Great," Akane walked up to the woman. "Little Shiro has been such a blessing in our lives."
"Hello," Shirou greeted. He didn't convey any emotions with his voice, but his high-pitched tone must have conveyed something, because Lisa beamed in response.
"Your son is so cute! I can't wait for him to meet my daughter," Lisa turned around. "Lizzy!"
"Coming!" Although the voice was a higher pitch than Lisa's, the tone matched the woman's exactly. A small girl with blond pigtails and bluish-green eyes ran out into the room.
"Lizzy, this is Shiro and Akane," Lisa said as Akane placed Shirou on the floor. She then turned to Shirou. "And this is Elizabeth."
"Hi!" As soon as Elizabeth locked eyes with Shirou, her smile widened. "I'm Elizabeth! Wanna play?"
Shirou turned and looked at his mother, who gave him a quiet yet approving nod.
"Sure!" Shirou then smiled at Elizabeth.
"C'mon! Let's play knights!" The girl grabbed Shirou's hand and started to pull. "This way!"
"Alright," Shirou said as he let himself get dragged off by the young girl.
Akane was a proud mother. His son was extremely healthy and intelligent for his age. The boy was able to run when he was only about a year and a half old and was already asking his mom to learn how to read.
Shiro wasn't a genius or anything, but he was a curious boy, and Akane was more than happy to oblige his questions.
"I'll be the knight!" Elizabeth declared. The two children were outside, each holding a wooden sword. Elizabeth's sword was something Evan had gotten at the shops. She was waving it around excitedly with a huge smile on her face.
"Well, if that's the case, I'll be the evil demon king," Shiro smiled and unsheathed his own wooden sword. "Come, brave knight. You won't be able to beat me!"
"Your son is quite mature for his age," Lisa pointed out. "The other kids who wanted to play with Lizzy always complained because they wanted to be the knight."
"He's always been like that," Akane said proudly. The two kids ran at each other. Elizabeth swung her sword aggressively, trying to force a hole through Shiro's defenses. Shiro, however, stayed calm, blocking every strike. Akane's trained eye could see that there were a few opportunities that Shiro could have used for a counterattack in a real fight, but Shiro wasn't trained to fight.
"They're going to be great knights one day," Kenji smiled as the two kids continued to play-fight. "Shiro though… Honey, did you train him without telling me?"
"No, why?" Akane gave her husband a confused look. Kenji had his eyes narrowed and was focusing intently on Shiro.
"Look at his feet," Kenji replied. Akane did and her eyes widened. It wasn't perfect, but Shiro's footwork was reminiscent of the basic footwork students used back home. Akane then focused on Shirou's blade. It was unrefined, sure, but it was obvious that he put more thoughts into his moves than just swinging his sword.
"Is that… kenjutsu?" Evan also turned his attention to Shiro. "If neither of you trained him…"
"He's doing it on instinct," Kenji concluded with a growing smile. "Our son is a prodigy."
"Tch, just you wait. Elizabeth will blow your son out of the water," Evan chuckled. Kenji's head then snapped to face Evan.
"What was that?" Kenji growled with a murderous look in his eyes.
"I meant what I said," Evan turned to glare at Kenji. Sparks started to fly as the two waged a silent and unmoving war.
"Boys, play nice, please," Lisa stepped in between the two men. "We're in the company of children."
Akane sighed and focused her attention back on the bout their children were having. Shirou swung his sword which Elizabeth dodged by stepping backwards. She frowned as Shiro's stance went from a solid kenjutsu stance to something wildly different, leaving a glaring opening on his right side. As Elizabeth swung at it, Shiro's free hand moved, barely passing by Elizabeth's sword before it struck his side.
"Gah!" Shiro let out an exaggerated cry as he toppled over. "How could this be?! I am the great demon lord!"
"Your evil ways would never work on me!" Elizabeth declared. "Now begone!"
Elizabeth swung her sword, hitting Shiro's chest.
"Nooo!" Shiro grabbed his chest before falling limp. A few seconds of silence passed before Elizabeth cracked a smile.
"That was fun!" Elizabeth chirped.
"It was," Shiro opened his eyes and stood up. "Thank you for playing with me."
"You're welcome!" Elizabeth replied before running back to her parents. "Mama! Papa! Did you see?! I defeated the evil demon lord!"
"Yes I did, honey. I'm very proud of you," Lisa patted her child on the head. Meanwhile, Shrio walked up to Kenji and Akane with a small smile.
"You did good, son," Kenji smiled. Shiro returned the smile. Akane forced her own smile.
"I'm so proud of you, Shiro," Akane pulled her child into a hug. As Shrio wrapped his tiny little arms around her, Akane couldn't help but wonder. What was that last move he tried to use?
"Thank you for coming," Lisa said to Shirou and his family. The two families went inside after Elizabeth and Shirou were done playing and had lunch together. Shirou found their company pleasant, but Elizabeth spent the entire time all over Shirou.
"You better come back, got it?!" Elizabeth pointed a finger at the young boy.
"Of course," Shirou said with a small bow. "It's a promise."
"Oh, look at them," Akane cooed. "She's already got my little Shiro wrapped around her finger. What ever shall I do?"
Shirou could barely resist the urge to sigh. He was just being polite.
"I guess we'll have to set up another playdate then, huh?" Evan said with a smile.
"Looks like it," Akane replied. "Now let's go. Do you want me to carry you?"
"No thanks," Shirou shook his head and smiled. "I can walk by myself."
"If that's what you want," Akane said. The three then made their way out of the house. "Did you enjoy your first playdate, Shiro?"
"Yep!" Shirou nodded his head. He didn't mind playing with Elizabeth; it reminded him of…
Oh god… Shirou stopped walking. His daughter would have been around her age. His daughter that would have died in the fire—
"Shiro?" The young boy looked up when he heard his mother's. "Are you okay?"
"Yep!" Shirou forced a smile and ran to catch up to his parents. Grieving could wait. Right now, he had to spend time with his family… his new family.
Getting through the rest of the day was… difficult to say the least. Throughout the day, thoughts of Shirou's old family would lurk in the back of his mind and he would have to force down the tears and smile as his parents celebrated his birthday.
"Alright Shiro, it's time for bed," Akane finally said.
"Alright," Shirou nodded. He would usually protest, but he didn't have the emotional energy to stay up for much longer.
"Do you want me to tell you a bedtime story?" Akane asked as they made their way into Shirou's room. Shirou climbed into bed while Akane tucked him in.
"No thank you. I'm really tired," Shirou answered simply.
"Alright pumpkin. Goodnight," Akane kissed Shirou on the forehead before walking out of the room, blowing at the candle that lit the room on her way out.
Shirou waited for a few seconds after his mother closed the door before closing his eyes. His daughter's face flashed in his head and Shirou choked back a sob. Then Rin's face. Shirou started to cry. As he did, more memories started to surface. The implications of Shirou's situation was finally hitting him at full force. As more and more memories flowed into Shirou's mind, the more he cried.
Shirou laid in bed for hours, grieving for his family. A family that no longer existed.
To make things clear, Shirou doesn't know that the Incineration of Humanity happened. All he knows is that there was a fire and he died. Even if he did know what killed him, he would likely still blame himself for the death of his family. Please do consider leaving a review! I would love to read and reply to your thoughts. As this is an original world, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Also please join my Discord! I would love to talk to you all and answer all your questions! I talk a lot about my thought process while writing, so if you're interested in that, do consider joining. The url is discord . gg (forego the spaces) followed by a slash and CpVs7R8KXz. Unfortunately you'll have to type the rest of the url in manually because I'm not allowed to post links. Thank you for reading and I'll catch you on the flipside.