"Mikiya, I feel like someone's watching us!" Shirou said, looking up at Kurogiri Kanya in the hospital corridor.
If he could help it, Shirou did not want to do this either, but Mikiya was much taller than him. After all, one had been born in 1979 and the other in 1987. The age gap was right there.
"No, I didn't feel anything. Are you being too sensitive, Shirou?" Mikiya asked, looking down at him. He was still holding a bouquet of flowers. Yes, he had come to visit his sleeping girlfriend.
"That's impossible. I can clearly sense the presence of every soul around me. I just can't tell what they're doing." Shirou looked around as he spoke, though it was actually useless.
"Oh, that sure sounds convenient, Mr. Magician."
Mikiya did not disbelieve Shirou. His boss was a magician, after all, so he had long since stopped finding inhuman abilities strange.
"It's all right, I guess. But I probably can't teach you this trick." Mikiya had mistaken Shirou's probing nerves for magecraft, and Shirou neither denied it nor explained otherwise.
Could he really put it that way?
Say that this was not magecraft, but an ability of a creature born without a heart but not without eyes?
Forget it. Even Shirou himself would not believe that.
"Ah, it's fine. Miss Touko Aozaki said I had no talent in that area, so I don't plan to waste time on it." Good-natured Mikiya did not understand what Shirou meant at all. Fine, let the misunderstanding continue.
"In that case, you could have Aozaki make you a new body. I can help transplant your soul. The process might not be very pleasant, but I can guarantee your safety. I'm quite confident when it comes to handling souls."
"Uh, I'll pass." Mikiya smiled awkwardly. "I think my current body is pretty good. There's no need to replace it."
"Really? I'm rather confident, though." Shirou made a regretful expression.
"Well, I'm still worried about that gaze. I'll go take a look first, so I won't accompany you."
"I see. Can't be helped. See you later."
"Yeah, I'll be quick."
"Mm, this should be the room." Shirou pushed open the door and entered the room that no one had been willing to enter.
There was only one bed in the room, with a wheelchair beside it. The cabinet was covered in medicine bottles, and the only thing that could count as decoration was a photograph.
A woman so thin she was little more than skin and bones lay in the hospital bed. When she saw Shirou enter, she immediately struggled to sit up.
"Who are you?" the woman asked.
"Who am I?" Shirou spread his hands and shrugged. "Who knows? Is that question really so important to you, voyeur?"
"I-I'm not..."
"Don't try to lie to me. My senses are very accurate." Shirou's gaze sharpened. "Ever since Mikiya and I entered the hospital corridor, you—or rather, another 'you'—have been watching us, haven't you? No, perhaps you were only watching Mikiya. I was just incidental."
"Who exactly are you?" Anyone would feel uneasy when their supposedly secret actions were seen through.
"That's hard to say. At the very least, I'm just a person. Whether I'm a good person, a bad person, a friend, or an enemy depends on how others treat me." Shirou found himself increasingly fond of this kind of mystifying, occult, slightly chuunibyou talk.
"I've never had friends, nor have I ever had enemies."
"What a pity. Humans are social creatures. Friends and enemies alike fall within the category of acquaintances. If your life contains only strangers... then all I can say is that it's a miracle you haven't gone mad."
"..."
Faint traces appeared in the room. Ordinary people and even magicians might not have been able to see them, but Shirou saw them clearly. It was a spirit body, one identical to the woman on the hospital bed.
"Um, the scenery here is nice, isn't it?" After a moment of silence, the woman asked that question. Both her physical body and spirit body stared at Shirou.
"It's very nice, but I've seen grander sights."
"Is that so? Then I envy you." Sick as she was, all she had was a view no larger than her window.
"I really like the scenery here. Can you become my friend? Can you bring me beautiful flowers like the ones that man with glasses was carrying every day?"
"Bringing you flowers is no trouble, but if you want to see flowers, why not go see them yourself?" Shirou asked.
"I..."
"Before, it was nothing much, but now I've started to take an interest in your ability." Shirou was very interested in her dual existence. From a certain perspective, his Black Winged Great Demon could also be considered his own dual existence.
"I'm looking for companions, the kind who can stand beside me. Since you possess an ability ordinary people lack, why not join my side?"
Shirou's words seemed to possess a bewitching power. By some strange twist of fate, the woman's physical body and spirit body nodded together and smiled faintly. "It sounds interesting. I've never had companions, so I have no reason to refuse you."
"You've made a choice you'll never regret. Of course, even if you do regret it, it won't do you any good." Shirou revealed a smile that was both kind and foolish-looking. Most people who saw it would think he was an honest man.
"My name is Emiya Shirou. My profession is magecraft, though I prefer being a chef to being a magician."
"Fujou Kirie."
"Fujou? What is your relationship with Fujou Building?"
"My father built that building years ago."
"Impressive. But it's getting late. I promised Mikiya I'd be quick, so I'll come pick you up tonight."
"Mm."
"Hey, Mikiya, how's your girlfriend doing?" Shirou asked in front of the hospital.
"Shirou."
Mikiya was not in a good mood. He was clearly different from how he had been at Garan no Dou, practically wearing his worry on his face.
"Not better at all. Miss Touko Aozaki has already intervened as a language therapist, but it doesn't seem to be doing much."
"People who have died once tend to have much less desire to live. I understand that deeply." Shirou had died suddenly before crossing over, and that pitch-black feeling had been indescribably unpleasant.
"Isn't that a bit exaggerated? You died once? Don't tell me you really died once?" Though he knew magicians were unusual, dying once was still too absurd.
"As you can see, you accidentally guessed the truth."