Thanks to Shirou's careful care, Aoko and Alice soon recovered from their severe colds.
During that time, more than a few blush-inducing things happened, such as checking Alice's temperature with his forehead, helping Alice change her underwear, and doing things with Alice...
Whenever any of that happened, Aoko was fast asleep in her room.
By the time both of them had recovered, Christmas had arrived.
The three of them ate roast turkey and a Christmas dinner together at the Western-style mansion.
As before, they spent their time chatting on and off in the living room, enjoying the slow pace of life.
The one thing that had changed was that Shirou and Aoko were now officially dating.
"Aoko... this is unquestionably a crime." Alice frowned, her beautiful brows drawing together.
"It's fine. Shirou and I are only five years apart."
Aoko said it as if it were nothing.
Although they were "only" five years apart right now, once Shirou returned to 1997, the age gap would become thirteen years.
Aoko, however, insisted that an age difference of that level meant nothing to a Magus. In fact, it was practically meaningless.
Incidentally, the Aoko here was not the "future Aoko," but the "seventeen-year-old Aoko."
After the duel with her older sister ended, the future Aoko returned to the future.
Even so, the "seventeen-year-old Aoko" still retained those memories.
According to her, when she handed control of her body over to her future self, she had remained conscious.
In the world of Magecraft, this was called "possession."
Normally, there were two possible cases: "the original person loses consciousness" or "the original person remains conscious."
Aoko's case, however, was even more special.
Possession required compatibility, and this time, the one possessing and the one being possessed were the same person. Their compatibility was miraculously good.
As a result, the Aoko inside the body could not only see and hear, she could fully feel every external stimulus.
For example, Shirou's kiss.
In a world where she could not move, yet her senses were painfully sharp, the seventeen-year-old girl confirmed her feelings once more.
She really did like Shirou most of all.
It was love at first sight.
The moment she first saw Shirou, she was drawn to his mysterious, indescribable air.
A girl who was stronger than the boys at school had accepted protection from the opposite sex for the first time.
From that night on, Aoko became a girl in the throes of first love, though she herself never realized it.
Later, they lived together in the Western-style mansion for a week.
The aura of Mystery around Shirou faded, but Aoko only came to like him even more.
At heart, he was a gentle and steady child, but he also had a rough, impatient side. Every now and then, he would let slip a few sharp remarks without even realizing it, and Aoko found that terribly cute.
By the time she noticed, she could no longer take her eyes off Shirou.
She clearly understood that her first love had begun to bloom.
And the choice Aoko made was simple.
She would tell Shirou exactly how she felt, and she would not ask him for an answer.
That was Aoko Aozaki's view of love.
As long as she liked him, that was enough. She did not believe she needed to know his feelings in order to be happy.
I think I'll probably like Shirou for the rest of my life, she thought. That's enough.
But Shirou unexpectedly gave her a clear answer.
"You're not the only one who fell in love at first sight, Aoko."
With that single sentence, the boy made Aoko Aozaki fall completely.
"Amamiya-kun, Aoko really isn't threatening you, is she? If she is, you have to say so."
"Alice, what kind of question is that? Shirou and I like each other... uh, that's right, isn't it?"
Aoko looked toward the red-haired boy, sounding deeply unsure of herself.
Seeing the pleading look in his lover's eyes, Shirou smiled and said, "Is that right? No, I seem to remember Aoko using some kind of spell on me..."
Alice covered her mouth. "You actually used suggestion Magecraft on Amamiya-kun? Aoko... your crimes are even worse than I imagined."
"I never used anything like that at aaaaaall!"
Every so often, Shirou and Alice would team up to tease Aoko like this.
"I've had enough. I'm making black tea."
Aoko rose from the sofa in a huff and headed for the kitchen.
"Oh, right. Since Shirou still plans to stay for a few more days, why don't the three of us go somewhere together?"
"..."
Seeing Shirou and Alice both staring at her in surprise, Aoko hurriedly explained, her face turning red. "We can't spend the entire winter break shut up in the mansion, can we?"
"What's wrong with staying at home?" asked Misaki's number one shut-in witch.
"Looks like Aoko already has somewhere in mind," Shirou said.
Of course he saw right through her.
Aoko sighed, pulled three tickets from her pocket, and slapped them onto the table with a thud.
"Hot spring vouchers...?"
Aoko said, "Shirou, you were really unhappy with that artificial hot spring last time, weren't you? This time, let's go to a real hot spring!"
"A hot spring trip for the three of us! Alice is coming this time too!"
"..."
Alice Kuonji's delicate brows furrowed slightly. After a moment of silence, she began, "I'm not..."
"Great, let's all go together!"
The moment Shirou heard they could go to a real hot spring, his interest was immediately piqued. The artificial hot spring last time had left a serious scar on him.
Aoko turned toward the black-haired girl with a sly smile. "Sorry, Alice-san, what was that?"
Alice Kuonji shyly hid her cheeks behind her book.
"...If Amamiya-kun is going, then I'm going too."
...
A day later, the three of them arrived at a hot spring inn deep in the mountains of Gunma.
This time, it was finally a genuine hot spring. Shirou was so moved he was speechless, while Aoko laughed and told him he was exaggerating.
It was already night when they arrived, so after entering the inn, they first split up and went back to their rooms to put away their luggage.
Aoko had reserved three single rooms.
Half an hour later, the three of them met up in the inn's hallway.
"All right, let's go soak in the hot spring."
Aoko had become the one giving orders.
Seeing the red-haired boy beside her looking as if he wanted to say something, she gave him a wicked grin. "Shirou, I know what you're thinking...
"But sorry, your hopes are about to be crushed. The hot springs here aren't mixed baths."
Shirou frowned. "I wasn't hoping for that."
"Really?"
Shirou nodded. "Really."
"Aww, now I'm a little hurt... So Shirou isn't interested in my body at all."
Aoko wrapped her arms around Shirou's arm. "I was thinking of giving you a little reward tonight for taking care of me when I had that cold. But I guess never mind."
Shirou looked completely calm. "Do whatever you want. It's not like I like Aoko for her body."
"..."
The girl's eyes went wide, and her cheeks flushed all at once.
"I-idiot! Why would you suddenly say something like that? But I'm so happy... ngh."
They had only just arrived at the inn, yet the two of them were already flirting.
Only Alice stood off to the side, her body frozen solid like the "Giant of the Bridge."
Her expression shaken, she muttered to herself, "Aoko... you and Amamiya-kun have taken a mixed bath together...?"
Aoko and Alice went to the women's bath, while Shirou went alone to the men's bath next door.
"So? A hot spring trip once in a while isn't bad, right?"
With Shirou absent, Aoko finally no longer had to keep up the act of a proper young lady.
She rested both arms on the edge of the bath like a middle-aged man at a public bathhouse, her two large, snow-white fruits floating on the rippling surface of the water.
Alice, by contrast, remained graceful and composed even while soaking in the hot spring, as beautiful as a painting.
"Mm... once in a while, it's not bad," she said.
Aoko looked victorious. "You've changed quite a bit too, Alice... Back then, even if you agreed deep down, you'd never have said it out loud... Hehe."
Alice had no answer.
After all, over the past half month, she had felt the consequences of failing to properly express her thoughts more keenly than anyone.
"Aoko has changed far more than I have." Alice, however, still refused to lose.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"I see..."
Aoko smiled and said nothing more. Instead, she tilted her head back and looked up at the glittering starry sky, so different from the one in the suburbs.
"Aoko."
"What?"
"Why did you invite me along?"
Alice voiced the question that had troubled her most.
Shirou and Aoko were already dating. In that case, there was no need to bring a third wheel along, especially since the two of them had already gone on a hot spring trip together before.
"There's no need to worry about my feelings. The two of you should just enjoy yourselves." If it had been anyone else, Alice would certainly have said that.
But this was Aoko. She was not the sort of person who went out of her way to worry about others.
Faced with Alice's question, Aoko looked completely unconcerned. "What's this? Alice, why are you angry?"
"..."
Alice stared closely at her face. "Aoko, you noticed after all, didn't you? That I love Shirou."
Love...
Aoko covered her mouth and barely managed to stop herself from bursting out laughing.
Next year would be the 1990s, and there were still high school girls who used a word as heavy as "love" with a straight face? As expected of a witch left behind by the times.
"Yeah, yeah. I noticed."
Aoko admitted it.
As a girl of the same tender age of seventeen, there was no way she could be so dense that she failed to notice the changes in her housemate.
Alice had fallen for Shirou too, just like her.
Though it was only natural. After all, Alice and Shirou had already, long before Shirou met her...
After learning the full story behind the time travel from the "future Aoko," Aoko finally understood one fact.
She was the one who had taken Shirou away from Alice.
Because of that, though she said nothing, guilt had begun to grow in her heart.
And on the other side.
From Alice Kuonji's perspective, she was the one who kept taking advantage of Shirou's kindness, shamelessly clinging to him the whole time.
Both of them felt guilty.
Both Aoko and Alice believed they were the third party who had cut in and stolen someone else's love.
"To think I'm actually being pitied by Aoko. How irritating."
Alice said indignantly, "You don't think you've already won, do you? I understand Amamiya-kun better than you do."
Only a week ago, this same girl had said, "I don't understand him. I don't trust him." Now she was saying that she understood him better.
Aoko very badly wanted to retort, but she knew perfectly well that what Alice said was undeniable fact.
As frustrating as it was, Alice understood Shirou better. Alice could make Shirou happier.
If not for one misunderstanding after another, Aoko, the latecomer, would never have had any room to insert herself between Shirou and Alice.
"But... I don't plan on losing to you, Alice."
Aoko met Alice's gaze and issued her challenge with full force.
"...Hmph."
Alice turned her face away and said nothing more.
After that, until they left the hot spring together half an hour later, neither of them spoke again.
But this time, Aoko and Alice had not fallen out. In fact, it was the exact opposite. In their silence, they had reached a certain unspoken understanding of "fair competition."
The relationship between the three of them would surely continue spiraling onward in an even more twisted way from now on.
The two of them, dressed in yukata, appeared at the door of Shirou's Japanese-style room.
"Shirou, Alice and I are here to play."
Aoko hugged a pillow to her chest and slid open the shoji.
...
After Christmas and the hot spring trip ended, Shirou did not stay in this era to celebrate the New Year.
On December 31st, he returned to his original time.
Using the device given to him by the "future Aoko," Shirou safely returned to 1997.
Although he badly wanted to go straight to see the twenty-five-year-old Aoko and Alice, there was something more important he had to do first.
He needed to go home and greet Iri and the others.
After picking out souvenirs for the women at home, Shirou returned to his house in Fuyuki.
It was evening.
At this hour, Irisviel and Fuji-nee should both be home.
Shirou activated "Presence Concealment," crept quietly through the entryway, and reached the living room.
Five people were seated there with perfect seriousness.
They were Irisviel, Taiga Fujimura, and Lady Avalon.
Facing them were two women. One had long chestnut hair, while the other had short black hair.
The low table placed across the living room was like the Rubicon River, dividing two armies locked in confrontation.
"Welcome home, Shirou."
"Ah, Shirou, you're finally back!"
Irisviel and Aoko greeted Shirou at the same time, each wearing a completely different smile.
Although Irisviel maintained the bare minimum of courtesy, "Disciple Number One" beside her made her true feelings perfectly clear.
Taiga Fujimura was glaring at Aoko and Alice through gritted teeth, as if they were enemies who had invaded her territory.
"..."
Shirou began to regret dispelling "Presence Concealment" at the entrance to the living room.
"Shirou, don't just stand there. Come sit down first."
Irisviel ordered him with a smile that did not reach her eyes.
All right, Shirou nodded obediently.
Since the two sides of the table were three against two, Shirou had no choice but to sit on the side with two people for the sake of balance.
"Pfft pfft."
Lady Avalon, sitting directly across from him, looked utterly delighted. The corners of her mouth were barely under control.
"Now that Shirou is here, let us continue the topic from earlier."
Irisviel gave Aoko and Alice a deep look. "What relationship did you two just say you had with this child?"
"Shirou is my lover," Aoko declared.
"Shirou is my Master," Alice stated.
"..."
Shirou felt that his life was over.