Things at Takamachi Nanoha’s residence, the one she shared with Fate T. Harlaown, were rather tense that evening. Unless you were Emiya Shirou, that is. For once, this was an occasion in which his legendary denseness proved a blessing. So, while the young man blissfully worked on one of his sumptuous meals, the three young ladies popularly known as the Three Aces of TSAB idled the time away while drowning in awkward tension.
It was Tuesday. That Sunday would mark the anniversary of Emiya Kiritsugu’s death.
Normally, it was a day in which even the likes of Hayate knew it was better to keep a distance from the boy. They thought it unhealthy, but Shirou preferred to spend that day alone in quiet melancholy. However, this time was different.
Emiya Shirou had a promise to fulfill on that day.
Emiya Shirou was also doing the performance of his life for the past three weeks. He just thought he could not forgive himself if he openly displayed just how bothered he was by all this. He made a promise and he intended to fulfill it, but it was not easy. His mind hurt from all the thinking he had done in the past twenty or so days. The choices were fairly simple and very clearly defined, but that did not make it easy to make a decision. At this point his brain would collapse before Sunday.
Uncomfortably aware of the unsubtle glances the girls shot his way almost every second, Shirou worked in the kitchen with a heavy heart. It was yet another reason to get thing done and over with: the current situation was even hindering his enjoyment of the act of cooking. Vita even said the quality of his meals had taken a small yet noticeable dip.
She might as well have stabbed him in the heart instead.
“Next comes the parsley, right?”
Shirou smiled as he glanced at the small figure seated on his shoulder.
“That’s right, Reinforce. How did you tell?”
“Ah, ah, it’s not the first time I see Shirou-san cooking this kind of thing.”
“So you’ve memorized the whole recipe?”
“Um!” The small Unison Device nodded proudly.
“Hmm…would you like to give cooking a try next time, then?”
The girl’s eyes glittered with excitement.
“Um!”
The doorbell suddenly rang, promptly drawing everyone’s attention. The Aces exchanged dubious glances, for they did not expect visitors at dinnertime.
“Ah, that’s probably Vita,” Shirou said while sprinkling the chopped parsley on the boiling pot.
“Huh?” Nanoha uttered while standing up from the ample chair she had been resting on till this point. “You invited Vita-chan?”
“Not…really. I’m just used to her popping up when I’m cooking…”
“That…is somehow not right…” Nanoha muttered while she took to the front door. Hayate had never taken her eyes off the holo-console. Everybody had noticed she was quite busy in the last weeks. She had yet to share the details with Shirou, but it seemed to be related to the latest series of drone attacks. It was a matter that worried him as well; he did not like not knowing the name of his and his precious people’s enemy.
Half a minute or so later, Nanoha returned to the spacious modern living room with their new guest.
“Yo!” The Knight of the Hammer greeted boisterously. She nodded in the direction of the evening’s cook. “Emiya.” Then she greeted the women present. “Inferior female specimens.”
“You’re really asking for the fist, aren’t you?” Hayate retorted without looking up from her work.
“But Hayate, it’s not my fault I’m so amazing,” Vita responded without a hint of jest. In the last years the content and rating of these girls’ jokes has gone up several levels, really. “Right, Emiya?”
“Yes, you’re Belka’s gift to mankind, Vita,” Shirou replied matter-of-factly. Busy as he was in the kitchen, only Reinforce Zwei next to him could see his petite smile, brimming with amusement.
“Mm-hmm!” Vita nodded in utmost approval. “That’s why I like you, Emiya.”
“And because I feed you.”
“And because you feed me~”
“When did my knight become so shameless, I wonder…?”
I think we can agree she was always like this. She just did not have an Emiya Shirou in her life before.
“So!” Vita plopped herself down on one of the available seats as if she owned the place. “You guys not going in one of your dates this weekend, aren’t ya?”
“Vi-Vita!” Fate spoke out in a scolding tone. “Sunday, it’s—”
“Yeah, yeah, Kerry’s anniversary, of course I know.”
“Kerry…?” Shirou muttered, trying out the bizarre and awfully spontaneous name Vita had just come up with for his father.
“But that still leaves Friday evening and Saturday. So?”
“Well, no...?” Nanoha said with some hesitation.
It was really rather pathetic, how it took them the whole of ten years to reach this point in their relationship. Then again, these kids are not precisely normal, functional young men and women. Still, it is rather astounding that it took so long for these girls to actually ponder the possibility of having the boy they liked take them out on dates, especially because Shirou did not put much in the way of resistance against the request. Hell, once he was asked to take Fate on a date, he asked the other two out himself—albeit mostly out of a sense of fairness and self-preservation.
They could only pray their relationship would progress faster in the future. Hayate would like to lose her virginity before the end of the year, in fact. Nanoha would probably not mind getting to at least first base.
Fate-san would be happy with merely holding hands, bless her innocence.
But, before that, these lovely yet pitiful girls would have to muster their courage to entice Shirou more aggressively.
“Cool.” Vita concluded and thus turned her full attention to the young man in the kitchen.
“So, Emiya, spend a night with me.”
“Too fast!” Hayate finally jumped off her seat because screw work. “That’s way too fast!”
“Sure,” Shirou replied in his usual easygoing manner.
“Eeeeeeeeeh!?” The Aces exclaimed in outrage.
And thus Vita of the Wolkenritter achieved in a few seconds what these nigh-legendary mages have failed to do after ten years of affection.
Isn’t it sad, girls?
*******
BROS’ DAY
Inspired by Heroslayer’s ‘Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days’
*******
“Hi-ho, Eeeeee-miyaaaan~”
Fuyuki City. Friday, 6:00 AM.
Emiya Shirou looked down at the grinning girl with the red duffel bag hanging over her right shoulder.
“Yo!” She said.
Emiya Shirou looked some more, until Vita noticed the awkward silence.
“What is it?”
“…you are early.”
“Yaaaah, you know…”
“No, I don’t know,” Shirou retorted, his lips however twitching a little.
“Well…” Vita began to explain in what passed as ‘coy’ to her. “…since we agreed to meet at nine, I thought I might as well pop up for breakfast~”
Suddenly, her face changed to one of utter mortification.
“Don’t tell me, you already cooked for one person only…?”
Looking at the honest, heart-wrenching dismay in the girl’s expression, Shirou could not help but feel something like butterflies in his stomach. To have someone who loved eating his food as much as he loved cooking it, it was truly the highest of blessings.
He sighed and tried not to show that he was brimming with happiness.
“Come on in; your breakfast’s already on the table.”
Vita’s face exploded with happiness.
Under different circumstances, Shirou thought, he might have fallen in love with that smile.
“I also prepared bento boxes we can eat on the train,” Shirou added. “The trip will be long, so we’ll probably get hungry—wah!”
Shirou froze in response to the unexpected. He really did not know what to do, what with Vita suddenly hugging him tightly from behind.
“Vi—Vita…?”
“Why…?”
For a moment there he thought Vita was in the verge of tears. But this is Vita we’re talking about.
“Vita…?” Shirou insisted.
“Why couldn’t you be my Master, Emiya…?”
“That’s a horrible thing to say, Vita,” Shirou replied with a comforting smile. Not that Vita could see it, though.
“I know, damn it! But…!”
“Well…” Shirou thought of something to say. “Maybe, in some other dimension out there, I am indeed the Master of the Book of the Night Sky, and we enjoy a wonderful life together.”
“…was that supposed to make me feel better?”
“…nah, not really.”
“Asshole.”
They chuckled together.
“By the way, this hug never happened.”
“Um, that might be a little too hard to conceal…”
“Why,” Vita uttered in a darker tone, her small arms strengthening her hold on the boy in a threatening manner.
“Well, you see…”
Shirou pointed ahead, towards the interior of the residence and the far end of the entrance hallway.
“…Sakura saw everything.”
Indeed, Matou Sakura stood there, her legs meeting at the knees and looking like she had just seen something nobody should have ever seen…which was pretty much the case.
“Doki-doki…waku-waku…”
“Wha-wha—what’s with that ‘I’m seriously misunderstanding things’ face, Sakuraaaaaa!?” Shirou shouted at the current Owner of the Fuyuki lands.
“Wah! Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa—” Vita promptly jumped away from Shirou to gape and rudely point at the unexpected person. “Ma-Ma-Ma, Ma…Matou Sakura!”
“Uh, um…hello…?” The purple-haired young beauty greeted the Belkan knight, sounding rather unsure of how to act in these circumstances.
“Wha-wha—what are you doing here!?” Vita turned to Shirou to her right. “What is she doing here!?”
Suddenly the small redhead gasped and glared at Shirou.
“Don’t tell me…another one!? You bastard!”
“How did you even reach that conclusion!?”
A few minutes later, the three were seated around the low dining table and partaking on breakfast. As it turned out, Sakura would be staying at Shirou’s Fuyuki residence at least for the weekend. The last of the Matou lived a curious life, hopping between the Emiya, Tohsaka and Matou residences and acting as caretaker of all three. She did not want to use the combined fortunes of Tohsaka and Matou in something as “mundane” as hiring cleaning staff for the large houses, it seemed.
“Hmm…” Vita murmured in a moment in which her mouth happened to be empty of food; a most rare of occurrences at breakfast time. “That’s very nice of you, girl.”
“Ah, it, it is my pleasure, Vita-san,” Sakura cordially replied. The red knight, however, responded with a naughty grin that made Shirou grimace.
“Now, you can just admit it, seriously.” Vita snickered before continuing. “You want inside Shirou’s pants too, don’t cha?”
Shirou choked in his glass of water.
“Buh!” Sakura blurted out. “No! No, no, no, no, no! N-n—not at all, Vita-san! I, I have utmost gratitude towards Shirou-san, bu-but, I, I, I do-do—don’t have any feelings of that sort!”
“…ya sure?”
“Yes!” Sakura insisted most wholeheartedly.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on Hayate’s side or something!?” Shirou finally regained his breathing, thus allowing him to voice his thoughts.
“Most of the time, yes, but in general I’m on the side that entertains me the most,” Vita shamelessly admitted. “Besides, in the end, no matter how many women you end up with, the fact remains that you are to feed me until the end of my days.”
“Is that everything I am to you!?”
“Ah, ahaha…” Sakura laughed rather strainedly. She was not accustomed to this side of Emiya Shirou.
To be continued...
Originally Posted by fraggle
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