Borrowing Money

Time in the Nasuverse isn't something that can't be controlled—the Second and Fifth Magics can both manipulate it.

But Shirou isn't the old man of jewels, Kishua, nor is he the Magician Aoko Aozaki. For him, time is still the boss.

Three years later, Shirou is eleven years old. He's grown a lot taller, and... lazier. At just 1.3 meters tall, he often carries a longsword on his back—that's his Zanpakuto, the Black Winged Great Demon.

Shirou has always been puzzled by his own power. If he's a Hollow, he has no Hollow hole. If he's a Shinigami, he's still using Hollow power.

For three years, Shirou's body has been just like when he first arrived in this world—constantly absorbing magical energy from the atmosphere. Sometimes he wonders if he'll end up becoming something like a Lesser Grail.

But no matter what, Shirou now has the confidence and strength to go head-to-head with a Servant on the level of that big-eyed Marshal.

Fujino is fifteen now, able to use her Mystic Eyes skillfully.

Shirou taught Fujino how to use her Mystic Eyes. Even though Shirou himself doesn't have Mystic Eyes, in a certain sense, it's just power. If it's his own power, following instinct will always let him use it.

The two of them, still within the realm of children, need to head to Kanbiko City on their own today. Because Touko called to borrow money from Kiritsugu Emiya, and Kiritsugu can't get away due to some matters, so this task falls to Shirou and Fujino.

Same spot as last time, the same abandoned building. But what's different is that last time Touko was just an illegal resident; now she's officially obtained residency.

Garan no Dou. Shirou has no idea why Touko chose that name. But that's not his concern.

Walking up to the door, Shirou slams his foot against it with a bang, kicking it right open. As for manners? Don't be ridiculous. How could that still exist among acquaintances?

The door flies open, and Touko tenses up in alert at first, but relaxes when she sees it's Shirou.

"Can't you knock? And the door wasn't even locked—you could've just pushed it open," Touko says to Shirou.

"I was just checking how good your defenses are. Who knew they'd be this bad!"

Touko doesn't bother arguing with Shirou's excuses. She can't beat the kid, and he always finds a way to weasel out.

"Fine, fine, you're right. Did you bring it?"

"Of course!" Shirou shakes the briefcase in his hand. "It's all here—the one million yen you wanted to borrow."

"Oh, I'm so grateful!" Touko pushes up her glasses elegantly. "Come on, Mikiya, time to pay wages."

It's only now that Shirou notices there's someone else here. A plain black outfit, black glasses, with the look of a total pushover. That's right—this is none other than Mikiya Kokutou, one of the so-called Four Heavenly Kings of the Nasuverse.

"Hey, Touko, aren't you going to introduce this friend?"

"Oh, right." Touko casually uses a rune to fix the door, then says to Mikiya Kokutou, "You can handle this yourself, right, Mikiya?"

"Yeah, no problem." The good-natured Mikiya agrees. "I'm an employee of Garan no Dou—Mikiya Kokutou." He extends a hand to Shirou.

"Then I'll call you Mikiya. Nice to meet you. My name is Shirou—Emiya Shirou." Shirou takes Mikiya's hand.

"Just a friendly tip, Mikiya-kun," Shirou says, suddenly vanishing with Sonido to appear right by Mikiya's ear. He glances around to make sure Touko isn't paying attention, then continues.

"If you work for Touko, you'd better keep a close eye on the income and skim your hard-earned pay right off the top. Otherwise, you might end up in a situation where the boss borrows money from the employee!"

Shirou's words make Mikiya laugh awkwardly. In his view, someone as rich and capable of earning money as Touko shouldn't stoop to that.

So naive, Youth. Your boss can make money, sure, but compared to earning it, she's even better at blowing it! A million yen gone in an instant—get it?

"But isn't that illegal?" Mikiya can only manage that.

"Tch, people in our line of work aren't bound by the law." Shirou glances at Touko. "I'll bet five cents that if things stay as they are, someone will blow through every cent she has in less than two months. And I mean not a single coin left."

"It can't be that bad!" Mikiya scratches his head in disbelief.

"Nothing's impossible." Shirou stretches lazily.

"I'll tell you straight—three years ago, my family took a job from her. That was tens of millions in payment. Know how long it took Ms. Aozaki to burn through it?"

Mikiya shakes his head. How would he know that?

"It took... Fujino, how long did Touko take to waste that money?"

"Forty-five days." Fujino answers Shirou's question with a smile. She's very satisfied with her current life. Compared to her past "feeling of not being alive," she feels her days are now full.

Shirou doesn't have a bad memory—in fact, it's pretty good. He just uses it for keeping accounts and recipes.

"Forty-five days. Hear that? When it comes to wasting money, your boss has no equal." Shirou says to Mikiya with a straight face. "So take my advice—skim your wages before she blows through it all."

"This is a shady office, and your boss is a magician. There's no such thing as illegal or not. So just go for it!"

Listening to Shirou, Mikiya can only smile sheepishly, wondering what his boss did to offend this seemingly harmless kid enough to have all her dirty laundry aired.

The chime of an old-fashioned wind-up clock rings out. Mikiya looks up at it, then grabs his coat from the door. "Sorry, Emiya, I have things to do, so I'll take my leave."

Then he says to Touko, "I'm off, Touko," and leaves.

"So, what's he off to do?" Shirou asks.

"To see his girlfriend. Mikiya is devoted to her, even though she's been in a coma in a hospital bed for two years." Touko pours herself a cup of coffee, leaning against the table.

"Girlfriend? Mikiya's really loyal. By the way, what's his girlfriend's name?" Shirou has no manners around people he knows, picking up the coffee pot and drinking straight from it.

"That coffee's expensive, kid."

"No problem. Worst case, I'll reimburse you for the coffee. And you still haven't told me Mikiya's girlfriend's name!"

"Deal. Mikiya's girlfriend's name is Shiki—Ryougi Shiki." Hearing Shirou is willing to let her fleece him, Touko answers his question readily.

"Jerk!"