Bug Grandpa Comes to Make His Presence Known! (New Book, Please Support!)

"Anyway, we can talk about that later. You should wash up first. You'll catch a cold if you leave it like that."

"Thank you."

Accompanied by the sound of approaching footsteps, Shirou and Sakura's voices came from beyond the closed door.

Screech—

Shinji braced his hands against the floor behind him and casually glanced at his nominal younger sister, who had already reached her third year of middle school, entering behind Shirou.

"Shinji, your sister's here."

Shinji did not answer. He simply lay back on the tatami with his hands behind his head, crossed one leg over the other, and yawned.

While Sakura borrowed Shirou's bathroom, Shirou sat down across from Shinji in the living room and spoke with a slight frown.

"Shinji, Sakura told me that you've only gone home five times in the past two months."

"Yeah, so?"

"What do you mean, 'so'? Why haven't you been going home? Sakura's worried about you too."

"No need."

Hearing Shinji's utterly unhesitating reply, Shirou looked helpless. Even after all these years, the siblings were still exactly the same as before.

"I'm saying, I don't know what the reason is, but isn't your attitude toward your own sister a little too cold?"

"Emiya."

"What?"

"I'm hungry."

"Are you even listening to me?!"

"When I'm hungry, I can't hear anything. So please, make me dinner."

"I'm not making it! Besides, don't forget so easily that I'm still injured!"

"Ah, I forgot..."

"You really are... Hah..." Shirou ultimately said nothing more and merely lowered his head with a long sigh.

"Shirou, I came to visit you~"

Upon hearing Taiga Fujimura's voice from the entranceway, Shinji, who had been lying on his side on the floor flipping through a magazine, suddenly reacted. He sprang to his feet and hurried toward the living room door without a second thought.

Screech—

"How are you? Feeling any better?"

Taiga Fujimura asked as she slid open the living room door after coming all the way from the entranceway. But just after speaking, she suddenly noticed Shinji beside her, crawling silently across the floor as he tried to sneak away.

"My, my, Matou-kun~ Long time no see~" With her hands on her hips, Taiga bent down, her eyes curving into a warm, sweet smile.

Upon hearing Taiga's voice above him, Shinji froze. He forced a smile and looked up. "Ahahaha, indeed. It's been a long time, Miss Taiga."

At once, a red vein-shaped mark of irritation appeared on Taiga's forehead.

"How many times do I have to tell you?! Call me Fujimura-sensei!!!"

"Ow, ow, ow! Taiga-san!" Shinji hurriedly begged for mercy as Taiga locked his neck tightly in her arms.

"I told you to call me Fujimura-sensei! And we need to have a good talk about how you skipped an entire week of school right after the term started!!"

Taiga gritted her teeth and showed no intention of letting go, continuing to lock Shinji's neck tightly.

"It's going to break, it's going to break! I can't breathe! Taiga-san!"

Shinji struggled desperately, though it was completely useless. At that moment, Shirou, who had been ignored because of Shinji, finally spoke up.

"Um... Fuji-nee, didn't you come here to visit me?"

"Oh! I almost forgot!"

Only then did Taiga remember why she had come and turn to Shirou, who was sitting at the low table. She released the nearly suffocating Shinji and scratched the back of her head with a silly grin.

"Hahaha, I saw the biggest problem student in my class and couldn't hold myself back. Sorry, ahahaha..."

At that moment, Taiga finally noticed the purple-haired girl sitting across from Shirou, drying her hair and looking to be about a middle school student.

"Come to think of it, this girl is..." Before Taiga could finish, she caught Shinji trying to sneak away again out of the corner of her eye. She instantly grabbed him by the back of his collar. "Matou-kun, your teacher has a lot she wants to talk to you about~"

"You noticed that too..." Shinji complained, black lines appearing at the corner of his eyes.

"I see, so you're Matou-kun's younger sister."

At the low table, Taiga sat beside Shirou and looked somewhat surprised at Sakura, who was sitting across from them with Shinji, who rested his cheek on one hand with an impatient expression. But then she showed a hint of difficulty and continued, tapping her cheek with her index finger.

"Even so, as Shirou's guardian, I feel that this is a little inappropriate."

Just now, Sakura had tactfully expressed her wish to come help out until Shirou recovered.

"Fuji-nee, cough, cough." Shirou coughed softly twice and gave Taiga a meaningful look.

"What? Why are you making that face? Why don't you just say what you want to say? Or are you trying to make a move on your friend's little sister?"

"Fuji-nee!" Shirou, face flushed red, raised his voice in warning. Then he leaned close to Taiga's ear and continued in a whisper only the two of them could hear. "Anyway, I'll explain the details later. It has something to do with Shinji."

"Huh? Matou-kun?" Taiga cried out in surprise and looked at Shinji, who was propping up his cheek, yawning, and looking utterly bored. "Could your injury have something to do with Matou-kun?"

"No, and lower your voice. Actually, it's..."

Shirou had just begun to explain when Shinji across from him suddenly put on a grief-stricken expression. Clutching his chest, he spoke.

"Yes, it's all my fault. If I had taken better care of Emiya, he wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"What are you talking about, Shinji?" Shirou asked, confused.

"Anyway, it's all my fault!" Shinji stood up with an apologetic expression. "If I had stayed by Emiya's side twenty-four hours a day, I definitely could have prevented something like this!"

"No, twenty-four hours a day is a little excessive. Besides, why would you stay by my side?"

"So! Please let me take responsibility, Emiya!" Shinji leaned forward and clasped Shirou's hand with a deeply affectionate expression. "I'll make it up to you properly, Emiya. So before that, let's immigrate to the Netherlands together. I'll spend my whole life making it up to you."

"What are you even talking about?" Shirou looked strangely at Shinji's affectionate expression. "And why would I immigrate to the Netherlands with you?"

"Ahem." Taiga cleared her throat and whispered a reminder into Shirou's ear. "Shirou, the Netherlands seems to recognize same-sex marriages."

"Huh?"

"That's right! From now on, I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you! I'll stay by your side and protect you forever, Emiya! And Taiga-san, I'll leave being our witness to you."

"I told you to call me Fujimura-sensei!! And as his guardian, I will absolutely never approve of that sort of thing—!!"