As Manaka and Artoria returned to the Natsukawa house, upon entering, they saw Naoki lounging on the sofa, watching TV.
Seeing them return, Naoki turned off the TV and stood up. "Done shopping? Is that what Pendragon's wearing now? Looks pretty good."
The white blouse and blue skirt were what Artoria had tried on earlier. They suited her perfectly. For some reason, seeing her like that, Naoki felt a strong sense of acceptance, as if Artoria was meant to wear such clothes.
"Yes, the clothes Sajyou picked out for me are all nice."
"It's more like Pendragon-san looks good in anything—Naoki, you finished cleaning the room, right?"
"I'm sitting here, what do you think?" Naoki walked over, taking the grocery bags for dinner from Manaka's hands. "Pendragon, go upstairs and put your clothes away. Use my parents' blankets and stuff. Manaka, come to the kitchen with me, help out."
Artoria nodded and quickly headed to the second floor.
After entering the kitchen with Manaka and placing the ingredients on the cutting board, Naoki said while taking out kitchen utensils, "Looks like there's no problem anymore?"
"Huh? What's no problem?"
"Your mood wasn't great today. I thought you might have an issue with Pendragon… Now it seems everything's fine."
As expected.
Manaka smiled. "There wasn't really a problem, I was just overthinking. Talking with Pendragon-san made things better. But Naoki being so attentive to me is a bit surprising."
"If you say that, I might get mad."
Naoki lightly tapped Manaka's head with a soup ladle. "You're the closest person to me. If I'm not attentive to you, who else would I be attentive to? Dummy."
Holding her head, Manaka pouted slightly. "Who's the dummy? My grades are better than yours. Besides, saying [You're the closest person to me] so casually—your parents might not like that."
Though she said that, she was genuinely happy.
"They're only home for half a month a year; how could I be close to them? Compared to that, you, who's with me every day, are way closer and more important… Well, if we're talking importance, they're both number one, and you're number two."
"So, it's only natural I'm attentive to you. Don't ever say you're surprised by it again, or I'll hit your head for real."
"You'd dare?"
*THWACK!*
A light tap landed on Manaka's head. Naoki laughed. "Of course I'd dare. Help me wash and chop the vegetables; I'll handle the meat—you really didn't hold back spending my money on this much."
"Well, with Pendragon-san's appetite, a small portion wouldn't be enough."
"True."
"Ara, the mood's pretty good."
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
The real world.
Through Magecraft linked to the subconscious, events in the consciousness world were projected onto a TV screen. Watching Naoki and Manaka's rather intimate interaction, Merry lying on the sofa munching sunflower seeds, nodded.
"Is this what would happen if they met normally? So full of that awkward teenage vibe, it makes me want to fall in love too."
"Sister Merry, dinner's ready."
Emerging from the kitchen, Gray carried a plate of stir-fried vegetables and called out to Merry before approaching the TV. "How's Big Brother doing?"
"As you can see, he's living a pretty harmonious rom-com youth life. By the way, I heard a door close earlier—who left… or rather, who else left?"
"Yeah, Sister Riddell just went out. She said she had business to settle at the Clock Tower."
It had been four days since the Holy Grail War ended. Many of the people originally staying at this base had already left, each with their own matters to attend to.
Ryougi Shiki and Aozaki Touko were the first to go. The Ryougi family still needed Shiki to manage things, while Touko had to return to work at Garan no Dou due to new orders.
Next was Aozaki Aoko. According to her, watching her husband flirt with another woman in a dream was torture, so she'd rather not see it at all. She hopped on a plane and left—but before going, she deliberately went to Naoki's room and bit him a few times while he was unconscious.
Then came Atalanta and Okita Souji. They didn't leave for personal reasons but temporarily, to handle their identity documents in this world. If Artoria weren't helping Naoki, she'd have to go too.
Tohsaka Tokiomi was handling it. Plus, the two planned to work in the future, so diplomas and such needed arranging, requiring a day or two away.
Thus, only Morgan, Mordred, Merry, Gray, and Sajou Rei remained here—Arcueid had returned to sleep in the Millennium Castle on the day the Holy Grail War ended. For her, the war was partly to meet Naoki and partly because she was summoned by the Counter Force to monitor the situation.
Now that she'd met him and her task was done, she naturally returned.
Watching Naoki standing close to Manaka and cooking together in the kitchen on the TV, Gray felt a twinge of envy.
"Does little Gray also want to be that close to the King, doing things like this?"
"Huh? I… I… yeah, a little."
After hesitating, Gray nodded. "But now's not the time to talk about this. We have to wait for Big Brother to wake up first. I remember tonight's Miss Morgan's turn to keep watch, right?"
Since Naoki and Artoria were essentially unconscious, to ensure their bodies faced no issues during sleep, everyone took turns keeping watch—when Riddell and Aoko were still here, their shifts nearly caused problems for Naoki.
Finishing the last sunflower seed, Merry brushed the crumbs off her hands. "Alright, let's eat dinner—hold on, I'll turn on the Magecraft recorder. Just in case something inappropriate for kids happens while we're eating, it'd be a shame to miss it."
"Sister Merry…"
[Don't forget to send it to me later, Merry! I bet silly Gray really wants it!]
"Don't talk nonsense, Add!"