Chapter 12

[After the little girl yells "Mom" for the first time, you try to engage her.]

[But soon, you discover a problem.]

[You, Emiya Shiro, are mentally twelve years old and physically six years old. Even if you count the fictional six-year life arranged by the simulator, The highest level of education you have received is not very high.]

[Furthermore, after Kiritsugu taught you how to practice magic, you spent almost all your time learning magic.]

[Unfortunately, despite your mature behavior and intelligence level compared to your peers, your current academic qualifications are weak. It embarrassingly dawns on you that you are not qualified for the task of children's education.]

"I'm a failure, I'm truly sorry! There's no need to repeat it! I know it in my heart!!!" Late in the evening, in a brightly lit study room. Shirou Emiya looked up at the sky and shouted with a somber expression.

[If you want to be a good mother, taking care of people is not enough.]

[After personally experiencing the life of a mother, you decide to enhance your knowledge and begin studying textbook materials beyond junior high school, hoping to enrich the intellectual world of your children through these efforts.]

[Unfortunately, little do you know that this time-consuming endeavor is futile.]

"???" Emiya Shiro felt like the simulator was bothering him on purpose, but he had no evidence.

At that moment, there was a sudden sound of light footsteps outside the door.

With a creaking sound, the half-opened door was pushed in from the outside.

"Mom..."

Emiya Shirou raised his head from the stack of books, turned to face behind him, and saw a little girl with a rosy and delicate appearance, toddling towards Emiya Shirou's chair with her short legs.

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she extended her slender and immature arms like fragile white jade towards Emiya Shirou and opened her adorable pink lips, producing a somewhat indistinct pleading sound: "Mom, hug..."

...

'Although I had already resolved to meet the child's expectations and had prepared myself to treat her as family, hearing the words "mother," no matter how many times I heard it, it still felt a bit difficult to accept...:

Helpless, Emiya Shirou suppressed the urge to cover his face and sigh, gently lifted the girl under her armpits, and slowly placed her on his lap.

He lightly patted the little girl's back, his voice soft and affectionate, sounding like that of a younger mother: "It's already so late, why aren't you sleeping yet?"

The little girl's head bobbed in front of Emiya Shirou's chin as if she would fall asleep in the next second.

It was evident that under Emiya Shirou's comprehensive care, her sleep and wake schedule had been well-adjusted. Therefore, once it was late at night, drowsiness would uncontrollably wash over her.

However, upon hearing Emiya Shirou's question, she persevered in enduring the drowsiness flooding her mind and, with some difficulty, said, "Mom is tired too. I want to sleep with Mom..."

"Um..."

How should I put it?

He was deeply moved by the child's straightforward expression of concern, but to be honest, as a Servant who didn't require rest at all.

Of course, he couldn't confess to the little girl who had just turned one-year-old something like, "I am just a Servant, so I don't need to rest."

Therefore, Realizing that not going to sleep would have a negative impact on the little girl who was struggling to sleep, Emiya Shiro decisively stood up from the chair.

[See, this is just a useless waste of time.]

The assistant lady emotionlessly repeated the words she had just spoken a short while ago.

Emiya Shirou's eyebrows twitched slightly, veins bulging on his forehead, and he quietly cursed in a voice only he could hear, "If you don't talk, no one will consider you dumb."

After finishing his statement, he gently held the little girl, who had tightly closed her eyes and fallen into a peaceful sleep and returned to the bedroom.

The little girl's pink eyelashes trembled slightly with Emiya Shirou's soft footsteps.

[Under your meticulous care, the simulated subject has warm and happy childhood memories.]

[You provided her with basic education, and soon, under your guidance, she learned to speak and grasped the fundamental knowledge of right and wrong.]

[You realize that this child is a genius, and even though she isn't qualified for elementary education herself, she easily absorbs everything you try to convey to her.]

[However, for some unknown reason, despite understanding the basic common sense of the world and knowing that only women can be "mothers," she still insists on calling you "mother."]

"But isn't a mother just a mother?"

When Emiya Shirou attempted to correct the little girl's self-designation for the sixteenth time, she tilted her head and asked with a puzzled expression, "The book says that a mother wakes me up every day, cooks for me, helps me bathe, hugs me, tells me stories when I sleep—someone who is with me every day. Even if my mother isn't a girl like me, she's still my mother."

"Um..."

Faced with the girl's innocent question, Emiya Shirou was at a loss.

How should he put it? This was probably the result of children being too intelligent.

This immature yet extremely logical argument, difficult to refute, left Emiya Shirou unsure of how to respond or convince her.

—He couldn't straightforwardly tell this little girl, "You don't actually have a mother; you're just a child I picked up," right?

Realizing that he was delving further into the role of "mother" and that he might not be able to find his way back in this life if he didn't apply the brakes, Emiya Shiro made a final effort: "Well, if that's the case, it's fine for you to consider me your mother, but don't call me that in front of other people, okay?"

"And why?" the girl curiously asked, blinking her bright pink eyes.

"According to others, only girls can be mothers. Even though I... can be regarded as your mother, in the eyes of others, it's something quite unusual." Emiya Shirou was satisfied with his explanation. "After all, unless we inform others ourselves, there's no way for them to know that we've been living together, right?"

"Oh, I see!" The girl suddenly had a moment of realization and nodded.

Just as Emiya Shirou was delighted by the girl's understanding, the child became inexplicably excited.

"So, the relationship between my mother and me is like those couples in storybooks who are oppressed by evil people and can't reveal their relationship, right?" The girl's eyes lit up as if she had made a significant decision. She solemnly grabbed Emiya Shirou's hand and vigorously shook it up and down. "Don't worry, Mom! I will definitely protect our relationship!"

"Huh?"

Emiya Shirou wore a puzzled expression, a large question mark appearing above his head.

What kind of storybook was she reading? Did the books he bought for his children contain this sort of stories?