The morning came with a cloudy mood today.

Aoi was woken up by her brother who had changed into his school uniform.

"Aoi, wake up, it's already morning"

Fortunately, Aoi is a good kid who doesn't have a problem waking up in the morning. Yawning softly, woken up by her brother's gentle shaking on her shoulder, she rubbed her eyes for a few second before she silently makes her way into the door.

"Today's breakfast will be the Kira Kira Magi Shoujo special Hamburg you know?"

That. Stops her right at the door, looking back at her brother with a sparkling eye she gave him a thumbs up before continue making her way to her room to get her uniform… but faster.

"Good grief, that girl."

Shirou sighed in good nature, looking at the messy bed she left behind. He promptly cleaned the bed and went downstairs to the kitchen and went to take out the ingredient that he had prepared beforehand.

Kira Kira Magi Shoujo special Hamburg, a hamburg steak from a popular magical girl tv show, an otherwise regular hamburg steak menu if not for cutely shaped boiled vegetables accompanying it. A pretty heavy menu for a breakfast but the meat to vegetable ratio was skewed heavily to vegetable side it is a perfectly healthy food if he adjusts the portion a bit. This food was a perfect food to goad the children to eat their vegetables so many parents welcomed the menu with open heart and Shirou was not an exception.

Shirou was already done with the breakfast preparation; he only needs to wait for Aoi to done with her own preparation and come down to the dining table when someone ringed the doorbell to his house.

"Hm? Someone visiting at this time in the morning?"

*Ring! Ring!

"Who could it be?"

The one who rings the bell was becoming impatient based on the interval between the bell rings keeps getting closer by the second.

"What's his business? Is it something urgent?"

When he arrived at the front door the ringing suddenly stops, Shirou wondered "is he gone?". But he still can feel the presence in front of the door, maybe the guest just decided to wait for the time being.

"Well, don't wanna let him wait any longer."

"Welcome, what can I help yo- "

"Good morning. Long time no see, Shirou."

A woman.

Beautiful blonde hair as if sprinkled with gold dust, a pair emerald eye full of life, and a call of endearment he hasn't heard for decades. A familiar face that he has etch into his soul, a promise to himself to find her again, a search that costed him a lifetime and he will voluntarily pay another lifetime to search for her.

"…Saber…"

His body taut, his breath hitched, he was holding his feelings in, because if he let go, his body will surely go limp and probably stopped breathing altogether. It was an exaggeration, instead he was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold himself from embracing the woman in front of him and told her the feeling he has been locked inside of him for decades and a lifetime.

Too bad for him, the woman embraced him first, pulling him in with her gentle touch, effectively undermine his effort to hold himself back.

That morning, the star-crossed lovers has got their miracle to reunite themselves into each other embrace, not caring about the neighbour giggles and whispers at the blatant public display of affection early in the morning.

0o0o0

"….mmhh…"

"…."

The two was currently sitting in the dining room with face red as tomato, with Aoi sweetly grinning at the other side of the table.

"Artoria onee-san… nii-chan's girlfriend?"

Aoi's tone carries the usual flatness and disinterest feels but to Shirou who knows her the most and Artoria who is sensitive to others emotion, her questioning was filled to the brim with mischievousness from catching them like "that" early in the morning. There was nothing they can do to explain because any effort has a big chance evolving to them explaining stuff Aoi doesn't need to know, so they decided to tell her a ruse. If only they had a time to construct one, everything from this point and on, the story will be a sugar-coated lies they pulled right out of their behind, lucky for them Aoi is a child and will accept any bull excrement excuse of a story they throw at her with a smile

"Y-yes, I met him a few years ago in a water park, when I was learning to swim."

There. Artoria deployed the first card, pulled from a memory of a distant past modified to her convenience. Aoi was still all smile, not a trace of suspicion on her face, eating her breakfast.

"Yeah, at th-"

"Eeeh, did nii-chan taught you how to swim?"

Shirou wanted to add another support to the story, but was cut short by Aoi timely interruption! The previous card still has her curiosity on hold. The turn was force fully given back to Artoria to respond!

"Yes, he taught me a lot about swimming, he was very patient when teaching me."

Continuing her own narrative was an easy job for Artoria, she continued reminiscing. But on Shirou's side, he felt that the current flow will surely leave him out of the loop, because the topic was steering dangerously from talking about their past to talking about him in particular.

"Nii-chan also taught Aoi how to swim! Nii-chan was so good, Aoi become the fastest swimmer in her class!"

A~nd there you go, her tone shifted from flat to a pitch higher and more expressive, her face lit up even more than before, Shirou would revel in the cuteness of his sister if not for the cause of it was them talking about him. His chance to intrude was also erased from the existence, now everything was left to Artoria to complete their background story.

"I agree, Shirou was really skilled in swimming I have to challenge him the entire day to win once."

"Yabai! Dangerous! Achtung! Bahaya!"

In Shirou's mind he calmly spoken his feeling in four languages, sensing the story was now steering dangerously from half made up story to his black spot history he was sure had forgotten after all the years he was suffering. His mind had forgotten about it, but his body remember vividly the suffering saber put him through just because she was a sore loser that cannot accept loss.

*Clap! Clap!

Shirou clapped his hand, forcing the two girls to pay attention to him.

"Hai, hai, yosh, Aoi, we are late. Let's continue this later after school. And Artoria, how about you? Do you have school or…"

"Ara, Shirou. You haven't noticed yet?"

Artoria's voice lowered a pitch, the tone also changed from her usual straightforwardness to something close to… sultry.

Lucky for them, a second ago, Aoi has just excused herself to toilet, so she didn't have to witness this inappropriate moment.

"Shirou. I was reborn. Reincarnated. Given a second chance. I was reborn without the sword, Shirou. I can mature… just like you."

Every word she spoke, she draws closer to him, proving to him her words. A body different than those he remembers in the past, she was taller than before, had curves of a mature well-endowed woman. The battle maiden he remembers was now a goddess and said goddess pulled him back into an embrace tighter than the previous one on the front door.

"Honestly, Shirou. When I heard that in this world, you're still a highschooler, I was expecting you to be as tall as you're back in the Fuyuki. I wanted to surprise you by being taller than you, but it seems that you hit your growth spurt early aren't you, Shirou?"

"Yes, you could say that I had mine earlier than what I had back in Fuyuki."

"How tall are you now, Shirou? I am 171 cm tall myself, way taller than myself when I was in possession of the holy sword."

"Me? The last time I measure it… I was 178… I guess? I don't know about now. By the way, for your information, if my growth is the same as I was before, I think I still a lot more room to grow, look forward to it."

"Hmm… I see. Oh yeah, the answer for your question is, no. Currently, I have nothing to do for a month until my preparation for college transfer here is complete. Fufu, Shirou… I'm still older than you even in this world~"

The pair was talking nonsense and trivial topic, but to them, every topic is precious, even the most outlandish and irrelevant topic. For them, simply talking to each other was already a blessing.

But their interaction was a heavy source of second-hand embarrassment and Aoi who was watching them from the corridor can vouch for that. Poor girl, was forced to watch the stupid couple to the point of covering her full of blush.

That day, Aoi and Shirou was almost late to school.