Time: Morning of a certain day in December 1994.
Location: Matou Family Annex in Mifune City, specifically Shinjii's room.
Setting: The room's door is tightly closed, and the curtains are drawn tightly, creating an unusually dim atmosphere inside.
Asakami Fujino is lying unconscious on the bed, while Matou Shinji stands by the bedside with a peculiar expression on his face.
When you have the elements of a bed, a man, and a woman together, it's easy to associate it with certain inappropriate scenes. However, when the female protagonist is only 12 years old and the male protagonist is merely 7 years old, no matter how you look at it, it can only be considered at a child-appropriate level. It wouldn't be banned in any country.
Shinji is engaged in a very serious and professional matter—conducting a physical examination for Fujino... Ahem, please don't misunderstand. It's a genuine physical examination, specifically related to neurological testing.
Shinji is not leading the examination. His skills, talents, and knowledge primarily focus on combat, and even with ten more years, he probably wouldn't be able to perform such specialized examinations. The one conducting the physical examination for Fujino is Justeaze, and Shinji is just assisting.
However, because Justeaze transformed into a spirit and directly entered Fujino's body, it appears as if they are alone in the room together. The peculiar expression on Shinji's face is purely due to witnessing the extraordinary scene of Justeaze "entering" Fujino's body. It slightly challenges his perspective—while he has seen Justeaze passing through walls countless times, he has never witnessed her directly entering a person.
By the way, Justeaze usually only manifests as a physical entity when there are no outsiders present. If Shinji needs to attend public events, she transforms into a spirit and stays by his side or wanders elsewhere.
When Shinji finally managed to regain his composure and his expression returned to normal, Justeaze's head emerged from Fujino's abdomen. "You will apply a strengthening perception magecraft for further observation."
And once again, Shinji felt his perspective shatter. Of course, he didn't forget to use magecraft as requested by Justeaze.
Strengthening perception magecraft is a type of body enhancement that can make specific senses more acute. It is one of Shinji's specialties. It is thanks to this magecraft that he can barely grasp the rhythm of battles between Servants. Last night and now, he used this magecraft to enhance Fujino's sensitivity.
After another fifteen minutes, Justeaze finally finished tormenting Shinji's perspective and left Fujino's body, transforming into a physical form and sitting at the edge of the bed.
"What are the results?" Shinji's voice sounded somewhat weak, and he appeared more exhausted than Justeaze.
"Indeed, as you said, her insensitivity to pain is artificial. No, according to the current medical definition, it's not even insensitivity to pain." The term "insensitivity to pain" refers to congenital loss of pain sensation, but Fujino's condition doesn't fall within that category.
When Fujino was very young, she had normal sensations just like any other person. The only abnormality was her inherent ESP ability. The Asakami family considered it a taboo and labeled Fujino as the "Child of Ghosts," subjecting her to exclusion and even persecution, which continued until she was six years old.
That year, Fujino's ESP ability disappeared, along with her sense of pain. The Asakami family's suppression of the "magical" factor not only involved information censorship but also the suppression of abilities. To suppress Fujino's ability, her father started giving her painkillers. Fujino's loss of pain sensation was not a real illness; it was simply suppressed by medication.
That's precisely why Shiki's strengthening perception magecraft could temporarily make Fujino feel pain. Justeaze's examination confirmed this completely.
"As long as she stops taking the medication, it won't take long for her pain sensation to gradually return."
"What about the other aspects of her body? Are there any issues?" Shinji's concern stemmed from the fact that any medication has side effects, and long-term use can cause harm to the body.
The response came, "The other functions of her body are fine, except for her eyes—"
"What happened to her eyes?!" It's no wonder Shinji was so agitated. Fujino's ability resided in her eyes, and if there were any problems with her eyes, all of Shinji's efforts would be in vain.
"There are some changes in her eyes, but they are not severe. With timely treatment, it won't affect her vision."
"That's good, that's good." Shinji let out a long sigh of relief. "As long as it can be treated."
The girl lying on the bed opened her eyes and looked at Shinji with a confused expression.
"Why do you care so much about me?"
She regained consciousness when the strengthening perception magecraft was applied to her, but she didn't have a strong sense of her own body, so she allowed Shinji and Justeaze to do as they pleased.
Shinji paused for a moment, revealing a mischievous smile.
"Because this young master has taken a liking to you and wants to snatch you away."
"Snatch me? Why? What's so valuable about someone like me?"
Perhaps her gaze was too hazy, too dim, reminiscent of the two pairs of eyes in his memory that had lost their future. Shinji abandoned his teasing demeanor and spoke softly.
"Of course, there is. You are a one-of-a-kind existence in this world, and I want to obtain your power."
"Do I have power too? As someone without pain sensation, I might not even be considered human."
"Oh my, oh my, you made three mistakes in just one sentence. Let me correct them one by one."
"First, regardless of whether you have pain sensation or not, the fact that you are human won't change."
"Second, as you just heard, you will soon regain your sense of pain as long as you stop taking those medications."
"Third, you have power. When your sense of pain is restored, the suppressed power within you will also awaken. You should remember it, that ability to distort objects without physical contact."
Shinji's words seemed to carry a magical quality, awakening Fujino's long-buried memories.
In her childhood, she inadvertently distorted a spoon with her eyes, only to be scolded and even physically abused by her father. People around her started to reject her as well.
"Don't...don't you dislike this kind of ability?"
"Why would I? Not only do I not dislike it, but I like it. Just don't use it against me."
As he spoke, Shinji walked to the window and forcefully pulled open the curtains.
The bright sunlight poured through the glass, illuminating the bed, illuminating Fujino's face, illuminating her dim eyes, and illuminating her hollow and desolate heart.
She had been disliked since she was a child, never needed by anyone, and could barely feel her existence.
"So this...this is what it feels like to be needed...this is what it feels like to exist..."
Her eyes regained clarity, and a spark of hope ignited within her heart.
From now on, Fujino Asakami would not tread the tragic path she had been on before. She wouldn't succumb to self-destruction due to the loss of pain sensation, growing more and more distorted. She wouldn't encounter terrible things like being subjected to violence by delinquent youths.
Though an uncertain future awaited her, it would undoubtedly be a life where she could cry in pain and smile in happiness—a life of well-being.
The name "Fujino Asagami" would never appear again. There would only be the "Fujino Asakami" of the Matou family.
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