Eight years have passed since then.
When I wake up, I am greeted by the lines that I had become used to seeing each and every morning.
A long, full yawn came out of my mouth.
─Yawn...
After yawning and stretching my arms, I take the glasses that I left on the nightstand and put them on. The glasses immediately block the ability known as "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception", and the lines are removed.
This is how I live my normal quiet life from day to day.
I get out of bed, and immediately change into my school uniform so I can step out of the room on this ordinary day.
But as soon as I open the door...
─Shiki-kun, cover your nose! ─. A woman's voice raises all my death flags in an instant.
Through the smallest gap in the door, a black cloud enters my room, engulfing my vision in an instant.
Smell of smoke. I know what this means.
─Touko-san, is Aoko-san cooking again? ─. I cover my nose with the sleeve of my jacket asking said question.
Around the black cloud, a red-haired woman who is not my [Teacher] enters the scene. She is the sister of Aoko Aozaki, whose name is Touko Aozaki.
Touko-san practically became part of my family since Aoko-san welcomed me into the Aozaki Family, but I prefer to refer to both of them with their names and honorifics, since I think I need to respect them.
Both Aoko-san and Touko-san are users of [Magecraft], which is an occult art of common society and can only be used by the most select groups. The Aozaki Family is one of those groups, and they possess organs known as [Magic Circuits] of the highest quality which is what allows them to use [Magecraft].
Well. Touko-san may be someone who owns some of the greatest [Magic Circuits] in the world, but she lags behind with Aoko-san on one thing.
Aoko-san is a [Magus] capable of using [Fifth Magic], but what is the difference between [Magic] and [Magecraft]? Well, according to Touko-san, the difference is simply how many people can use them. There are very few people who can use [True Magic] and Aoko-san is one of those five people.
According to several comparisons I have been told, Aoko-san is one of the few people capable of facing a [Servant], who are the [Familiars] of the highest rank and power who are summoned in the event known as the [War of the Holy Grail].
In other circumstances, I wouldn't have even been able to learn so much from Aoko-san, Touko-san, or even from magic itself. I guess making the decision to live with Aoko-san was the best of all.
She has taken such good care of me, and I think I appreciate her enough to call her "my family." In the last eight years, I have realized that it is not a bad thing to have a family made up of all women.
Well. It turns out that I, Shiki Tohno, am a member of the Aozaki Family who does not have the family's last name.
Oh well. Let's put those things aside.
─Right, Aoko is not good at cooking yet! Shiki-kun, help me open all the windows!
I obey what Touko-san asks of me and I go to the nearest window to open it and thus let the smoke come out on its own.
By the way, Touko-san's first impression of me, about six years ago, was:
"Oh? Is this your [Student], Aoko? He looks a bit like Shiki-chan. Huh? Is your name Shiki too? That everyone with that name attracts [Mystic Eyes of Death Perception] or what?"
She refers to me as "Shiki-kun", because she knows someone else with the same name but she is a girl. She talks about Shiki Ryougi-san, who like me, possesses the [Mystic Eyes of Death Perception], which is an ability only possessed by those who have had a close encounter with death.
I met her a while ago, and the truth was quite surprising how she uses the skill together with [Magecraft], without a doubt her Teachery of the [Mystic Eyes] is superior to mine.
I would say that, of course, if it weren't for the study that I have conducted with Aoko-san for so many years that I discovered the usefulness of the [Points] that interconnected the lines of my ability. Unlike Ryougi-san, my [Mystic Eyes of Death Perception] are better suited for [Destruction], which coincidentally is one of the areas where Aoko-san specializes quite a bit.
But hey, I think I should worry more about the destruction of the house than the magic itself.
Aoko-san indoctrinated me to teach me to take problems one by one and not try to do everything at once.
By the time we opened all the windows and the smoke cleared, Touko-san and I went down to the ground floor in silence.
We open the kitchen door, doing that shows us a squatting Aoko-san with her head in her hands. Both Touko-san and I made dumbfounded and sympathetic expressions towards Aoko-san.
The squatting redhead notices our presence and she turns her head towards us. Only to look away right after.
It looks like a terrified squirrel. But Touko-san and I don't have the little sympathy to say that to her, we'd make her cry if those words came out of our mouths right now.
I walk to the stove, now sooty and smelling of burning. Everything is full of foam... probably this comes from the fire extinguisher.
I feel Aoko-san tug on my jacket sleeve trying to stop me from cleaning up the mess from her. Well, after all she can't use the [Fifth Magic] for anything as her body could be crushed for not having the will or the proper desire to use it, that's why she hasn't fixed it. .
I see her out of the corner of my eye, with a flat expression and I say to her being cruel:
─You have no right to stop me. It's the third time this week, how many times have I told you to wait for me to do these things?
Aoko-san drops her head instantly when I use those words to criticize her.
Certainly living so many years with Aoko-san and Touko-san has taught me the strengths and weaknesses that these sisters have. Definitely one of these strengths is not cooking. They are extremely clumsy for that, and even if Aoko-san used the [Fifth Magic] to advance her own time ten or twenty years into the future, we have proven that she will never be good at cooking.
The problem with the Aozaki Family is that they only train their members to be useful users of [Magecraft], that's why when it comes to housework, they both have their strengths and the things they are terribly bad at until the level of shame.
I had to learn to cook to put three plates on the table in this house to avoid overheated food. My first year living with Aoko-san was based on that alone, but even reheated food was better than eating charcoal, which is all Aoko-san can do.
No good. She makes excellent fried rice to be honest. I just can't leave her in the kitchen on her own for too long.
Or things like this are going to happen...
I don't mind having to clean these things, but I don't think it's fair to have to do it almost daily. Aoko-san probably felt guilty since she started helping me right away, on the other hand, Touko-san sat down to smoke a cigarette.
─Touko-san, the smoke detector is going to go crazy again, could you smoke outside?
I give that recommendation to avoid inconvenience.
Neighbors will believe there is a fire if the smoke detector is activated more than once in the same day.
Mm? Yes, it is normal in this house for the smoke detector to go off and not just because Aoko-san's food burns.
They are great and all, but for as long as I can remember we've been in imminent fire risk almost every day. It was like the time that Kiritsugu-san, an old acquaintance of Touko-san came to the house along with his son Shirou-kun and both he and Aoko-san were willing to cook.
The detail is that this time it was the closest we were to a particular fire. Too bad Kiritsugu-san died last year and Shirou-kun had to start taking care of the house on his own.
He had suggested to Shirou-kun that he live with us, but he refused because he had made a promise with Kiritsugu-san, something to fulfill the last will of his father.
I guess in a few years he's going to find a way to fulfill what he promised his father.
And between the time when I said all this, and Touko-san went outside to smoke, Aoko-san and I finished cleaning.
?
─Aoko-san, what time is it? ─. When doubt runs through my head, I can't help but turn it into words.
Aoko-san puts a hand to her chin and starts thinking.
─Hmm, isn't it ten minutes to eight?
That alarms me immediately.
I take Aoko-san by the shoulders and start shaking her.
─Why don't you ever wake me up like you should, you silly third-rate witch?!
─Shiki?! Don't shake me like that!
You should have denied that you were a third-rate witch.
Have you gotten used enough to me calling you that? That is unfortunate for being the person I admire.
Well... I've never tried to be too rude.
Aoko-san is still a [Magus], the fastest in her class, certainly. Although she may relax from her attitude and her way of being, that she is carefree around me, I have seen Aoko-san's killing intent up close.
It was only for a brief moment.
But I remember how she got defensive once against Touko-san, I only watched them fight once, but the killing intentions were so much that I was surprised to learn that it was a facet of Aoko-san that I hadn't seen previously.
Well that's just a memory from yesterday.
It doesn't matter. Aoko-san, could you give me money? Looks like I'll need to have breakfast and lunch at the same time today.
When I ask the question, Aoko-san without question takes out her wallet and hands me a 1000¥ bill, enough for one person. But if a certain person has no money, she is going to have to borrow me for lunch.
I see in Aoko-san a hint of sadness in her expression.
I'm being very cruel, huh...
─Aoko-san... ─. I spoke her name, feeling a lump in my throat.
In another circumstance she would have left her like this, but I believe that today is the day of my redemption.
I take the apron from one of the dining room chairs and put it on my uniform.
I roll up the sleeves of my uniform and wash my hands before I start cooking.
─Tell Touko-san that she is going to have to take me today. I didn't want to be late, but you don't give me a choice.
I immediately say that, it was as if Aoko-san was instantly excited as a glowing smile appeared on her face.
She replied with "Yes" and smoothly she went to give my message to Touko-san with a smile.
When I made sure Aoko-san had left the room... it was like a bucket of cold water was thrown on my head.
That's when I realized the things she was doing. Ridiculous behavior coming from me.
What the hell with all this exchange...?
Aoko-san seemed very happy when I made the decision to take her place in the kitchen. I can't explain it properly, but, that smile... was enough to melt my usual cold personality.
I have seen her smile many times, but this time it adds to the list of the few that really make her look like a girl my age.
What?
I am a healthy boy and I live in the house of two women older than me, how do you want me to feel about that? It is obvious that I am going to develop some awareness of them, and that is why I always try to be helpful to them.
Aoko-san and Touko-san have been very kind so far, so I must give back to them as much as I can.
─By the way, Shiki. ─. Aoko-san peeks through the door frame.
─Wah! ─. I cry regrettably.
She took me by surprise.
Just when she was thinking about embarrassing things, she suddenly appears. Aoko-san looks at me a little confused or well, maybe I'm being too conscious of her.
Fighting my embarrassment and trying to hide the redness on my cheeks, I see Aoko-san again with a hand over my mouth.
─W-what?
That was unfortunate. I want to die.
Aoko-san, who is unable to know what I am thinking, just speaks without caring.
─I am going to leave today and return tomorrow night, I have some matters to attend in Narita that are of the utmost importance. If it wasn't too much of a hassle, would you pack food for me for the outward journey? Please.
A-ah... so it was just that.
She thought she was going to say something like Touko-san's car has no gas or something like that.
Well, it doesn't matter. It's not like something too important is going to happen just because we don't have [Fifth Magus] with us for a day. Also, they still have Touko-san and me, who are adept in our own fields.
I just want to say one thing to annoy you a little.
─If you are going out, you must tell me eight hours in advance to make arrangements. You are very careless, Aoko-san.
─Hehe, but Shiki will always take care of me, right?
...
I smile a little. Looking towards Aoko-san.
Honestly, at the time I had no idea.
─That's right. I will always take care of you, Teacher.
That those words had a much heavier meaning than I had imagined.