(Third Person POV)
Ai looked at the couple flirting right in front of her, a small smile forming on her face.
As if she is reminiscing about something.
"Well, should we buy some breakfast first?" Shirou asked, looking at Iroha and Ai, waiting for their agreement.
Iroha nodded. "We didn't eat breakfast this morning, and we still haven't bought milk for her." She gently poked the baby's cheeks.
Ai looked at the baby and smiled. "What's her name? She's cute, just like my twin."
Shirou and Iroha glanced at each other and spoke at the same time.
"Kaguya."
The two laughed softly at the perfect synchronization.
Shirou then looked at the stroller and asked, "What are their names? They're cute too. This might sound weird, but I think your daughter already hates me." He pointed at the baby girl who had been glaring at him from the start.
Iroha nodded in agreement. She had also been weirded out by how the baby kept staring at him.
Ai laughed and picked up one of the twins, but she almost slipped. Fortunately, Shirou quickly caught her by the waist before she could fall.
Her eyes widened, then she gave him a bright smile. "Thank you. The big brother is Aqua, and the little sister is Ruby. They're my precious children."
Shirou gave her a wry smile and gently reprimanded her. "You should be more careful. If you slipped while carrying your baby, they could've gotten hurt."
"I was so shocked when you almost slipped," Iroha said with a sigh of relief.
Seeing the genuine concern from the couple, Ai couldn't help but feel a little warmth in her heart.
Ai carefully placed the twins back in the stroller, but Ruby continued staring at Shirou with suspicious eyes.
"Well then," Ai said cheerfully, "let's go before the breakfast rush gets worse."
The four of them walked side by side through the mall. The morning crowd was slowly increasing, families chatting, children running around, and the faint aroma of coffee and freshly baked bread drifting through the air.
After a while, Iroha handed Kaguya to Shirou, getting tired of carrying her. Shirou took the baby with ease and walked beside her, occasionally playing with Kaguya. He even tried to play with the twins in the stroller, making silly faces in an attempt to make them laugh.
Instead of laughing, however, they looked at him as if he were crazy.
Ai laughed at the expressions on her children's faces and followed closely behind.
Eventually, they stopped in front of a cozy family restaurant called Guardian Tales.
"Let's eat here," Iroha suggested.
Shirou nodded. "Sounds good."
The bell above the door chimed softly as they entered. The interior was warm and welcoming, decorated with wooden furniture and soft yellow lights. The scent of sizzling meat and butter filled the air.
A waitress led them to a table large enough for all of them and handed over the menus.
"I'll have a breakfast set with pancakes and coffee," Ai said after scanning the menu.
"I'll take the omelet rice," Iroha added.
Shirou glanced at the menu but barely registered the words.
Because at that exact moment, He froze.
Behind the open kitchen counter, wearing a chef's uniform and apron, stood a tall man with long blue hair tied back lazily, casually flipping a pan with a grin that screamed trouble.
Right beside him was a white-haired man with sharp features and a perpetually unimpressed expression, expertly handling multiple dishes at once with mechanical precision.
Shirou's eye twitched.
Both Chu Cúlainn and Archer Emiya.
'How in the world did those two end up here? Is there a Holy Grail War happening, or is this restaurant just crazy?' Shirou thought to himself, questioning the reality.
Cú Chulainn was laughing loudly about something while stirring a pot, clearly slacking off between movements. Meanwhile, Archer Emiya moved with flawless efficiency, plating dishes with professional skill, as if running the entire kitchen by himself.
"Must been the wind" Shirou muttered. Slowly lowered the menu and decided to turn a blind eye, pretending he had seen nothing.
He calmly looked back at Iroha. "I'll have the same as you."
"Are you okay?" Iroha asked, tilting her head slightly.
He nodded and answered "Mm. Just hungry."
For a split second, Archer paused. His sharp eyes shifted slightly toward Shirou.
A brief silence followed before he scoffed quietly and returned to cooking.
Cú Chulainn noticed the movement and followed his gaze.
He blinked. "Huh? What're you lookin' at?"
"Nothing," Archer replied flatly. "I thought I saw the one I was looking for, but the person I found was different."
Back at the table, Shirou calmly sipped the water that had been served.
He chose to ignore them, like as if he didn't know them.
Ai sensed a subtle tension in the air but couldn't quite understand it. "Is something wrong?"
"Not at all," Shirou replied smoothly.
Kaguya gurgled happily in her baby seat.
Ruby continued staring at Shirou as if he was he was a bastard.
Aqua, on the other hand, seemed oddly calm.
Moments later, their food arrived.
Omelet rice with perfectly shaped eggs. Pancakes stacked neatly, butter melting slowly on top.
A breakfast set plated with near artistic precision.
Shirou stared at the omelet rice and thought, 'I hope that guy didn't put poison in my food.'
But if he's me, then I know he wouldn't do something like that to a dish.
The knife sliced cleanly through the egg, revealing a soft, creamy interior.
Annoyingly perfect.
He didn't need to look to know who had cooked which dish.
Archer's cooking carried that unmistakable refinement.
Cú Chulainn's was slightly rougher, but still impressive.
Shirou quietly took a bite. After confirming there was no poison, he thought, 'So he's working part-time as a cook now?'
Across the kitchen, Archer glanced in their direction again.
Their eyes almost met.
Shirou smirked faintly before looking away first, continuing to eat as if nothing had happened.
After a short pause, Archer finally made a decision.
He stepped out from the kitchen and walked toward their table.
Stopping in front of Shirou, he looked down at him with unreadable eyes.
"Do you still want to become a Hero of Justice?"
Shirou paused for a moment.
"No, I don't plan on becoming a stupid hero. Justice isn't fair to everyone, and becoming its embodiment would be like torturing yourself."
Archer glared at him, then glanced at the girls and the babies. "Just as I thought, you aren't him. But I'm glad that, out of everyone, you're different."
After saying that, he turned and walked away without looking back.
Cú Chulainn, completely unaware of the silent tension, shouted from the kitchen.
"Oi! Who ordered the extra-large parfait?!"
Iroha and Ai wore dumbfounded expressions.
Weirdly enough, the twin babies had the same expressions as their mother.
As for Kaguya, she was simply being a baby, completely unaware of the tension.
"What was that about?" Iroha asked.
"It's nothing," Shirou replied. "He's just a childhood friend I used to play with. We did a lot of role-playing back then." He explained while watching Archer's retreating figure.
"The world was cruel enough to him. He experienced a lot of loss and faced betrayal as he breath," Shirou continued quietly. "But I'm glad it looks like he's finally getting back his life."
Ai's eyes shone with curiosity, clearly wanting to know more, but seeing Shirou stop talking, she chose to respect his privacy.
'Is this related to the Moonlit World?' Iroha thought, but she said nothing.
"This is delicious." Iroha said and continue eating.
_______________________
Shirou was carrying a lot of things, from children's toys to children's clothes, wondering how it ended up like this.
Ai nervously scratched her cheek and said, "I'm sorry. It looks like I overdid it."
Iroha smiled wryly, still confused about how rich Ai must be.
Little did she know, Ai was terrible at managing her own money.
The moment she got her hands on money, she would splurge on her children without a second thought.
Ai looked at the things Shirou and Iroha bought and asked, "But why did you only buy a small amount of clothes and diapers? And you only bought a single can of milk powder."
"Because we won't be taking care of Kaguya for that long. A relative left her with us since they're going on vacation," Iroha explained, sweat pouring down her forehead as she grew nervous.
What if she thinks Shirou and I are kidnappers? she thought, trembling at the imaginary image of Ai calling the police.
Ai's mouth hung open in surprise. "I thought she was your daughter. I thought I had met a comrade," she laughed. "You two looked like a family after all. Does that mean you're dating?"
Shirou blushed and looked away. Iroha did the same.
Seeing their reactions, a smirk formed on Ai's lips. "Looks like I hit the bull's-eye."
After calming down, Shirou looked at Ai and said, "So you approached me and Iroha because you wanted your child to have a playmate?"
Ai smiled wryly. "Yes," she confessed and apologized. "But I also wanted to be friends with the two of you. When I saw you talking, you looked like a happy family. And since we're the same age, I thought I could talk about parenting with someone my age."
Iroha was surprised by her honesty and said, "I'm surprised you're so straightforward about it. But it's not like you did anything wrong."
Shirou nodded in agreement. "There's nothing wrong with befriending strangers. But you should be careful about the people you approach. Who knows? Maybe you'd even open your door if someone rang the doorbell without checking the peephole first."
"How do you know about that?" Ai asked in shock. She didn't expect Shirou to know that she once opened the door without checking who it was. "My manager even said the same thing."
Hearing that, Shirou facepalmed. He didn't expect that she had actually done it before.
Iroha suddenly realized something. "Wait, you said manager? Are you an actress? A model? Or perhaps, an idol?" Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she asked.
She had been a huge fan of VR idols from the start, and Shirou already knew that.
Overwhelmed by the questions, Ai didn't get nervous or even break a sweat. Instead, she smiled brightly. "I'm Hoshino Ai, an idol," she said, striking a pose with a peace sign and sticking out her tongue.
"Cute," Iroha said, then quickly looked at Shirou, only to see him staring at a billboard. "What are you looking at?"
Snapping out of his thoughts, Shirou flinched. "Nothing, nothing. What are you talking about?"
"Ai is an idol," Iroha explained briefly, though she glanced toward where he had been looking. She was curious, but since other people were around, she didn't question him further.
"We almost entered a dungeon," Shirou muttered. His expression turned serious as he looked at the three sleeping children. He quickly sent a message to his family saying he would be late, or that if he didn't come home, he would be staying at a friend's house.
He was glad that he had checked the settings of the Gamer System. If he hadn't, he would have left the Auto-Enter Dungeon option on, and it would have dragged the people around him inside if their bodies were too close.
From Shirou's sight, a small window panel floated in front of him, displaying the message, [Do you want to enter a dungeon?]