"Ah-" I wake up, i can't remember what i was dreaming of, but for some reason i instantly want to recall it. For a moment, that white ceiling looks oddly familiar… It's morning...i should get out of bed.
I make my bed, not much for me to tidy up, I'll change. I look around, maybe Taiga is right, I don't have nothing going on in my room. But I don't see why I need anything, it's fine as it is.
"Bwaah" I guess i'm still sleepy, i'll change then wash my face.
Blue and white t-shirt, blue pants, the usual. After that I came out of the room.
Taiga should still be asleep, I should make her some breakfast. I wonder if she has cleaned the living room like she insisted she was gonna do.
Three days since he left. Is he doing alright?...What will you tell me this time when you come back, old man?. My steps lead me to the bathroom.I enter, it looks tidy and neat since i cleaned it yesterday. The only thing out of place is Taiga's comb, suspiciously full of hairs–'quack' . It seems I stepped on a toy duck, that definitely wasn't here before.
Anyways I put some stuff back in place, and proceed to brush my teeth, then wash my face. I wonder if we have enough eggs, that omelette she made yesterday didn't turn out alright at all.
I grab the towel to clean my face, I look at my reflection…
"..." I stare at my reflection for a second, thinking about it, didn't one of my classmates say something weird?. He said he has never seen me laugh but my smile looks weird…
Isn't that weird?. "Is that so…"
My lips curl, I try to make a smiley face. It looks fine..maybe it's my teeth?.
"Aaah…" No, there's nothing weird. It must be my laugh.
"Hah…hah hah hah hah." I shut my mouth immediately, I must look like an idiot right now..
I sigh, look at my face one more time..i don't smile at school?.
"Hm.."
I put the towel back and leave, no more time for this.
I'm ready for another day.
As i enter the kitchen i notice some cleaning tools laying about, i can't tell if this is halfway done or she genuinely forgot these here.
I make my way to the kitchen. Take out some ingredients from the fridge. And begin my morning ritual. A Tamago Gohan. I'll make something simple.
Time passes, I hear the slow and heavy footsteps behind my back.
I don't have to turn around.
"Shirooou, you are already awake...that's great." I turn around, she wears a lazy smile, her hair is messy. "Bwaaah~" she tries to cover her yawn.
"Good morning Taiga." I smile and go back to mixing the ingredients.
"Oooh, what are you making?"
"A tamago, it's gonna be ready soon so just sit." she's fine letting me make her meals, so…
"Thanks shirooou~" She goes back to the living room.
It's a nice morning. We have a peaceful breakfast.
"It's delicious!" She stuffs her face while I eat quietly.
"Hm…shirou, would you like to go to the park later?" her sleepiness is gone it seems.
"Hm…well, we do have to go shopping. Let's go after that." I glance at the clock. 8 am.
She nods. "Hm-hm!. Oh, and let's practice kendo again!" My eye twitches…i'm sure it'll be fine.
Taiga finishes her food, then grabs a newspaper, while stuffed with her last mouthful.
"Hmmmph Shshou lesh go shu tshe schity" She talks while reading the newspaper.
"Taiga, eat first." i sigh, and go back to eating
"Ah, sorry Shirou. I was saying, wanna go to the city?, we could eat some delicious food!" she flips through the newspaper, 'does she even read those or does she just not want to turn the tv on?'. Kiritsugu doesn't like to do that when he is eating, now that i think about it.
"I thought we were going to the park?" i raise an eyebrow
"There is one there!, it's really big and there's not that many people" she puts the paper down and smiles.
"Oh, I guess we can. We are going shopping first though. We don't have any milk or eggs anymore.." I finished my plate.
"Of course. Oh, have you done all your homework?" I guess she is trying to be serious.
"Yes Taiga, I did it all yesterday. Why do you ask?" I get up and take the plates.
"Hm, i want to help you out with your homework" Taiga pouts and crosses her arms. She takes this big sister thing too seriously.
"I can do it myself though.."
"I'm sure I can help you out with something!. How about P.E.? I can teach you some cool tricks!"
"I don't think that is a thing you can help me out in tho…"
"Nonsense! How about this, I'm pretty good with languages, you know?, next time let me help you!." She nods to herself, grinning.
"Hah…okay Taiga, i'll show you my homework later." I relent, if she is happy..
I proceed to clean up while Taiga watches some TV. She offered to do the dishes herself, but instantly changed her mind when I said I would.
"Maybe I should take up a hobby, like Taiga said.." I muse to myself as I clean.
When I'm done I go back to sit with Taiga.
She is watching some reruns of some drama, while stuffing herself with some cookies..'didn't i put those away?..'
Time passes peacefully, and soon enough it's 10 am.
I am at the door, putting on my shoes. Taiga comes behind me.
"Let's go!, we'll buy some wagyu!" She has casual clothes and is holding a small pocket purse.
"Taiga…the allowance is not unlimited. My old man said not to buy any funny stuff with it." I get up, and take the keys to the house.
"Pssh…i was just suggesting. Not like I would buy it. We can always go for matsusaka beef." She slides the door open and goes outside. I follow, a sigh escaping.
"Ah look it's a beautiful day!." Taiga looks up and covers her face when the sunlight hits her.
"Yes. The tv said it'll be like this the whole day." I comment as we both leave the residence.
Fuyuki looks as peaceful as always. I meet some neighbors on the way, a lot of them waving at Taiga. We pass through the familiar streets, going past the bridge and soon enough we are on the market.
I take out my shoppíng list and read through it. "Well..let's go for the vegetables first."
"Hm!, let's buy some more daikon!" She leads the way.
I nod and follow.
The browsing goes pretty fast, except for the occasional time I get to drag Taiga so she doesn't buy some junk food.
"Hm…we have 500 yen left." She counts the coins in her purse and makes a pout. "Let's buy some chips Shirou!"
"Hey! I told you–" Taiga runs before I can finish my sentence.
"Catch me if you can!" I follow, groceries in my hands.
After that trip we went back to the house. Guess after this we'll go to the city.
We enter, leaving our shoes, and go into the living room.
Putting down the groceries, I look through them, mostly food. I set aside the bags that aren't that, and go to the kitchen to leave the rest in the fridge.
Taiga helps with the bags left in the living room, humming some tune.
After putting everything in place we relax, Taiga sipping on some soda I suspiciously haven't seen before our trip to the market.
"Shirou. Do you like anyone?." She says with a straight face.
"Eh–" I'm caught off guard by the question. "...like, as a friend?"
"As a lover, you silly~" She makes a mischievous smile and leans forward on the table.
"I-I, of course not Taiga!. I…don't think about that stuff." I try to keep my composure but blush.
"Liar…you are probably swooning girls left and right don't you?" her smile widens.
"N-no!. I don't even see girls that way…geez, stop teasing." I quickly regain my composure, and sigh.
"Hmph. You are no fun. Though, let me warn you." I raise an eyebrow. "You aren't allowed to bring any girls home. Not until Kiri gets back."
My face turns into a deadpan, but I blush slightly. "I'm still a kid, Taiga."
"I'm just warning you. Your big sis will protect you from any seducer!" Taiga crosses her arms.
"Tell me that when I grow older…scratch that, don't even say it." I sigh again.
The hour quickly passes as we chat. It's 1 pm before we even know it.
Taiga looks at the clock. "Ah! It's time!, let's go Shirou!" She gets up and makes a line for the door, sliding it open. "I'll be back!" she will probably go back to her room.
Soon we are once again outside, passing the bridge to get to Shinto City.
"Hm-hm! Shinto-shinto~" She hums, her steps light.
"Do you even have money? Dad didn't set aside that much money." I look at her concerned, as i walk
"Hey! I'm clearly using my own allowance for this!." She looks at me with a pout. "C'mon, we'll stuff ourselves with teriyaki!, maybe we'll go to the arcade!" But then she beams at me.
"Well, if you say so…" I accept that and decide to follow quietly.
"Also…did you say 'dad' to Kiri?" she turns around, with a smug smile.
"I-I…" I blush at that. "...let-let's just go Taiga." I hurry up ahead.
"Hehe..later you'll say daddy and everything." She follows, chuckling.
We finally arrive. The modern scenery of Shinto appears before us.
"Let's go Shirou!, first let's pick something to eat, i'm starving!" she goes on ahead, a big smile on her face.
I follow, first we dine, Taiga loudly talking while stuffing herself. I find it quite funny, and laugh along with her jokes.
Later we check out the shopping centers, not before Taiga buys some takoyaki for both of us. I swear, she must have a bottomless stomach.
After that, we found an arcade, and played some games together. She seems really good at the racing and the fighting games, seeing as she was relentless while against me. She didn't give me even an inch, what happened to holding back for the sake of kids?...
Last stop, the park. We chat as we walk towards it, the sun still shining on, but I'm sure it'll go down soon.
As she said, there are no people as far as i can see, in fact i think it's deserted.
It looks a little dull, though it's big, a gentle breeze blows through us as we pass.
We find some benches and sit, Taiga unwrapping two lollipops, she hands one over to me. Then I lean back and enjoy it.
This has been a good day. Taiga really is good at these things, she really knows how to have fun…
But, this park, i gotta say, it really is quite grim…maybe its because the sky got a little cloudy. It looks…ominous.
"Shame we don't have much time. We can take a short walk, they put on a new seesaw, let's go on it after this!" She sucks on her lollipop.
"You really don't get tired of playing, you know Taiga?" I smile, and put the lollipop back in my mouth, it tastes really sweet.
"If only we had more time…how about we make a picnic one of these days around here?. Let's go a little earlier next time." she thinks, putting a finger to her lip.
"That sounds good, I'll make the bentos." I say and chuckle
"No complaints here!" She raises her hand. Agreeing to the motion.
Time passes, it's really peaceful with Taiga around, maybe being left with her wasn't such a bad thing after all…
"And then– then my classmate said–" She stifled a laugh, she has been telling me one of her usual jokes again.
I shake my head and get up. "We should look for that seesaw. It'll get late."
"Oh!, yeah! I totally forgot!" she gets up quickly again, looking around.
I look ahead, this park really is deserted. I wonder why?, not like it's not well maintained.
I look to the sky, it seems the sun is dipping low. Bathing the scenery a red-orange color.
The sun looks like it's overlooking the whole place. It almost looks like this place is on…
As if the place was surrounded, choked by fiery red…
A breeze passes…I can hear the sounds of the quiet park clearly now…
My eyes widened…
This place…its…
Something…
I grab my head. 'Huh?' it…hurts?, why does it hurt?. I…my hand? Why is it shaking?.
Why does it hurt?. Why?, why?-wh-wh-w–
I fell to the ground.
"Sh-shirou?!. What happened?!" Ah…Taiga…
"Sorry. It's just a little headache." I try to say, but those words never come out of my mouth.
I just kneel down, trying to get back up.
What…is this?.