Eri had never taken a train before in her life, but it wasn't a problem. As long as she followed closely behind Shirou and Natsumi and mimicked their every move, she could manage... But once they got to Shirou's house and he urged everyone to go take a shower and head to bed, Eri did something outrageously inappropriate.
Right in front of the two of them, she started stripping off her clothes and even her pants. Her delicate pale body was fully exposed to the air as her bare feet pattered toward the bathroom.
Shirou froze. Natsumi was also dumbfounded.
But being the girl, Natsumi recovered faster. She quickly picked up a large, light coat from the floor and rushed to wrap it tightly around Eri's exposed body. The younger girl, confused, just looked at her with blank eyes and glanced around the room.
Eri genuinely didn't understand why they were reacting so strongly. Wasn't taking a bath something that required you to take off your clothes?
"Hey! Little one, yes, you take your clothes off in the bath, but not out here when we're all still watching! You can't just start stripping in public!"
Natsumi, who had just been busy dealing with the Greater Grail, felt a vein throbbing in her temple. But now... now she truly believed this girl was related to Nono.
After all, Nono sometimes also randomly undressed inside the house. So maybe this was just a strange family quirk?
What kind of weird household had Eri come from that no one even bothered to teach her the most basic life manners? Even Fenrir, that blockhead, knew the difference between playing around privately and behaving properly in front of his sister—if he didn't, he'd be scolded on the spot!
It was starting to become obvious: in her family, Eri probably had no one who sincerely cared for her or taught her the things a girl her age should know.
Thinking that, Natsumi suddenly raised her brows, theatrically covered her mouth, and gasped:
"Shirou-senpai, this is serious! It looks like Eri-chan doesn't even know the difference between boys and girls! Don't tell me... before you brought her back, you took advantage of her innocence and got all handsy? Would Nono be okay with that?"
"What the hell are you even saying!?" Shirou instantly snapped back. "I've taken care of her the whole time. Fed her, kept her warm, even bought her new clothes and a new handheld console..."
Eri, still holding her little notebook, raised it: "Shirou is a good person!"
Shirou stared silently at the goodwill coupon he just received from this girl. Thankfully, she always kept her language simple and didn't blurt out something like "Shirou is the great master who taught me how to run away from home."
Natsumi, however, was stunned.
"In just one night, you managed to gain massive favor from a young lady of a powerful Japanese family? You even took her on a midnight date? Shirou-senpai... just admit it—you're a super dangerous girl-seducer! Any girl who hangs out with you ends up doomed!"
"Thanks for the free title, but I refuse to accept it! And by your logic, shouldn't you be afraid of ending up doomed too? Maybe you should move out of my house early, just in case?"
Shirou waved off their banter and said, "Alright, enough nonsense. You two have half an hour to shower and get ready for bed. If you take too long, Natsumi, you'll miss breakfast tomorrow."
"Waaah! Shameless senpai, that's so low..."
Faced with Shirou's ultimate weapon—threatening to cut off food and lodging—Natsumi's face puffed up with frustration. But in the end, she swallowed her anger and sulked while following orders. She grumbled under her breath and reluctantly dragged the clueless Eri to the bathroom.
Wandering around a foreign country was hard enough... Even working here was exhausting. Without someone familiar to rely on, life would be nearly impossible.
If Shirou hadn't taken her in, where could she even find such a nice house to stay in, one that didn't charge outrageous rent or meals?
There was simply no better deal.
The more she thought about it, the more Natsumi realized that whether she was dealing with Norton or living here with Shirou, she was always barely scraping by. Life's constant beatings hadn't made her stronger—they'd turned her into something soft and sweet like mochi...
How did it come to this? How could this happen?
Would she ever make it to the other side? To a life of luxury and riches like a proper young lady?
She kept repeating to herself: "Endure hardship now to become the dragon above all dragons. Little Natsumi, don't be afraid of setbacks." Even though it made her angry, she knew that enduring just a bit longer might open up brighter skies.
Right now, they were just in the dark hour before the dawn of the Holy Grail War...
———
Late at night, a yellow lamplight cast its glow over Shirou's desk. He hadn't gone to bed yet.
He carefully opened the file envelope brought back earlier. Inside were the documents passed on by Genji Asao, full of intel on the Aoiya group—most likely gathered through black market channels owned by the Genji clan.
The header of the documents read: "Genji Heavy Industries Corporation," which confirmed Shirou's suspicions.
As he read further, he realized the information was far more detailed and highlighted the key points clearly.
"Aoiya is a relatively small yakuza group. The companies it manages aren't really profit-driven corporations—they function more like trade hubs between different underworld organizations."
"In other words, Aoiya is a black market broker, handling frequent orders and massive logistics, both within Japan and in transnational criminal networks."
"Among the recorded overseas dealings of Genji Heavy Industries, the most common were with South American gangs involved in human trafficking."
South America again...
Back when he was still in the Divine State, Shirou had encountered similar data in the Chen family's investigations. It had also pointed to South American human trade, a report compiled by the Zhou family and other noble clans, later organized and passed to him by the Lady Wa.
So now things were becoming clearer—at least at the trade level.
It appeared the three parties operated like this: South America handled the illegal human supply chain, providing test subjects to the other two. Japan handled divine body and Greater Grail research, and also shipped "Dead Servants" to the Chen family, who used them in Holy Grail-related experiments.
...Was this some new "underworld triangle trade"?
Shirou reread the files several times, marking and underlining with a pen, then organized the key points.
He drew a flowchart of the intel, with red arrows indicating direction. Most of those arrows pointed toward "Odin" and "Holy Grail War." Beside them, he lightly penciled in some vague terms: "Pan-Human History," "Lostbelts"...
He circled those terms and added big question marks.
Once done, he glanced at the clock—midnight already.
Even though he'd pushed himself a bit too far tonight, Shirou felt Genji Asao wouldn't delay long with the Aoiya investigation. Time was of the essence.
"The prep's done. Time to sleep."
———
The next two days passed peacefully.
Natsumi spent her time completing school assignments and running off to libraries, meaning she was only home half the time.
Compared to her busy schedule, Eri—who had just escaped Tokyo—was completely thrilled.
She believed that, thanks to Shirou, she had successfully shaken off her family's pursuit and even fled the city where her brother lived. To her, this was a "major victory" worth celebrating.
In the past, she had tried to run away several times, but the furthest she'd ever gotten was the crosswalk in front of her family's corporate tower. There, standing amid the endless stream of strangers and cars, she had cried.
That was her first time escaping the cage-like hospital ward and seeing the outside world for real.
Back then, Eri realized something: the world was filled with people, all strangers who lived their own lives, completely disconnected from hers.
This planet had billions of people, but in one lifetime, she might only ever meet a tiny fraction of them. Everyone else was a stranger—each one representing a different unknown world.
It was like how anime only ever followed a few characters across a few seasons of story... but reality, especially after she ran away, was full of countless new stories waiting to happen.
And so, she naively tried to extrapolate reality from her favorite anime settings:
She imagined that the A-Laws and Celestial Being from Gundam were still fighting. That the tyranny of Britannia over Area 11 from Code Geass hadn't ended. That the Great Ninja War among the Five Villages raged on. That somewhere out there, One Piece and the island of Raftel truly existed.
"They don't. None of that is real."
By the Nth time she asked, Shirou finally gave a resigned answer while she held up her notebook again.
"What you're talking about is all fictional. If you asked about legends from the mythological age, I could at least tell you that stuff used to exist."
(End of Chapter)
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