(Shirou pov)
We passed by groups of drunkards and exhausted workers on their way home, occasionally running into patrolling police officers who kept asking about our destination and our ages.
Well, it was almost curfew, so it wasn't surprising.
"This is the fourth time we've been stopped by patrol," Iroha sighed. She was clearly getting tired of answering the same questions over and over again, though she couldn't really blame them. They were just doing their job.
I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It's like at every turn, there's another one waiting for us."
"Umu." Iroha gave a small nod. "Well, it's getting late, and it's our fault for not paying attention to the time. It's almost time for me to study."
I looked at the girl standing beside me, as if I had just realized something.
"You're the workaholic type, aren't you?" I said, studying her face more carefully. That was when I noticed the faint dark circles under her eyes, barely hidden by makeup. "You should use this time to rest."
"I'd love to rest for a long time and just laze around," she replied with a faint smile. "But if I do that, how am I supposed to live? There are bills to pay. I still have to cover my tuition, and if I fail, my scholarship will be revoked."
She paused for a moment.
"Life is meaningless."
Her eyes suddenly lost their light as she looked at me.
I couldn't help but laugh at her words.
"I mean, once you get used to life, it becomes repetitive. It starts to make you feel hollow. That's why we look for something new, right?"
"Yeah. If you hadn't become my coworker, and my friend, I might've crumbled under the pressure today. And… thanks for inviting me on a date."
She stepped in front of me and turned around, flashing her brightest smile.
As if some kind of miracle had happened, a rainbow shimmered behind her, its colors blending together and making her look even more enchanting.
"Beautiful… Ah! I mean-"
I froze. I didn't have any excuse to cover that up.
Iroha blushed and looked away, but then she noticed the strange glow behind her and turned around.
Realizing something was off, I stepped beside her. That was when I saw it, a closet door sticking out from a utility pole.
"This looks like trouble," she muttered, quickly stopping the door from opening any further. "Whew."
She wiped the sweat from her forehead, then grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward a nearby apartment.
Then a beautiful melody echoed throughout the street once more.
I quickly stepped forward and jammed a piece of wood into the gap, blocking the door from opening.
Even I could tell this was nothing but trouble. It would be better to leave something like this to the Church… or the Clock Tower.
Ah, but the Clock Tower wouldn't bother with some backwater city like this. This place was nothing but trouble.
I mean, just thinking about Tsukihime, Dead Apostles, and all the strange mysteries happening left and right… yeah, I definitely didn't want to get involved.
"Good job," Iroha praised me for jamming the wood in place.
But as if something was mocking us, a loud bang suddenly rang out. The wood I had wedged in shattered instantly.
The door burst open-
And inside the utility pole… a baby was sitting there, laughing at us.
Both of us looked at each other in silence.
"Should we just leave this baby here?" I murmured.
The thought alone made my chest tighten. I would hate myself if I abandoned this little one.
Then, suddenly-
It felt like something had been forced into my head. A flood of images surged through my mind.
I saw myself-no, my past self-holding a baby in my arms. She was laughing while I played with her, singing "Happy Birthday" as she turned three. Her smile was bright, innocent.
Then everything went black.
Another image emerged.
I was running, clutching a child tightly against my chest. Behind us was a giant white beast. Buildings were collapsing around us. The creature wasn't just enormous, it was fast.
Too fast.
I was struck and thrown aside like a ragdoll. The child slipped from my arms and was hurled toward a ruined building. Debris rained down on her small body.
I saw myself screaming, crying, desperately trying to lift the rubble.
But I couldn't.
And then-
Darkness swallowed everything.
That was the end of the memory.
"Shirou!"
Iroha's voice snapped me back to reality.
When I looked at her, she was staring at me with worry written all over her face.
"Are you okay?" she asked softly. "You're crying."
I reached up and touched my cheek. It was wet.
"I just… remembered my niece," I answered honestly.
But who in the world was I in my past life?
Shaking my head, I forced the thoughts aside.
I'll think about it later.
Iroha stared at the baby for a long moment. As if she had finally made up her mind, she carefully picked her up.
"I think… I'm going to look after her."
I let out a deep sigh and scanned the surroundings.
If there was a magus nearby, I wouldn't hesitate to eliminate them.
Activating my Mind's Eye, I carefully observed the area, searching for any traces of prana or suspicious presence.
Nothing.
We were safe, for now.
Satisfied, I finally lowered my guard. "Let's go inside your apartment first. We'll observe this… alien. If anything bad happens, I'll protect you."
Maybe I should ask my parents to erase Iroha's memory about this mystery. It might put her in danger.
But this is the Type-Moon world.
Every place here is dangerous. Heck, the entire planet has been on the verge of destruction multiple times. From the future knowledge of Emiya, if he didn't exist, the world might've already been destroyed.
Yeah, I'm glazing him. Fight me.
Iroha looked at me and gave a small, wry smile. "Can you help me take care of her?"
Seeing that expression on her face, I couldn't resist teasing her.
"I didn't expect you to start playing house at this level. You even skipped ahead and got a child."
She turned bright red and kicked my foot.
I burst out laughing. "Hey, I'm serious here."
The baby looked at us, then started laughing too.
"My bad. But I'll help you take care of her… like the parents you want us to be."
I couldn't help flirting a little, but I was serious about helping her.
Iroha blushed and looked away. "We're still young for that. Let's leave it up to the future to decide what happens to us."
"Yeah," I agreed.
But I couldn't help thinking that my future was so messed up that it would try to kill its past self, and laugh happily while watching that past self die.
To any bystander, we probably just looked like a young couple fooling around with their child.
Looking at the utility pole, I couldn't help but blurt it out. "This feels like we just got our own Kaguya-hime. Except instead of finding her inside a glowing bamboo stalk, we found ours stuffed inside a utility pole. Kaguya from Temo."
"You!" Iroha laughed. "You shouldn't make jokes like that about a living child, but that was a good one."