Emiya's Daily Life and...

After Kiritsugu brought Illya back to Fuyuki, the new life of the Emiya family began. Along with Kiritsugu and Illya came Sella and Lizelotte, who were essentially Illya's "accessories," obeying her every command completely. With Illya's insistence, the Emiya family officially expanded to five members.

At four-thirty in the morning, Shirou opened his eyes on the dot, not a second more or less. Then, while the other four in the house were still asleep, he began his morning training.

In truth, Shirou's so-called morning training was just about further mastering his own body. He knew his own situation well. He lacked combat training, had no real battle experience, and most importantly, he had power but didn't know how to use it!

Take an example: in Fate/Apocrypha, the Red Lancer Karna was ordered by Amakusa Shirou Tokisada to attack the Ruler Jeanne. As a top-tier hero of India, setting aside his stats, one of the Golden Rule trio, Karna excelled not only in his Noble Phantasm but also in his martial skills.

On the other hand, Jeanne, as the Ruler, had stats granted by the Holy Grail that were undoubtedly top-tier, along with a Unique Skill like "Revelation" to avoid danger. In theory, even if she couldn't win, she could still escape. But in reality, she barely avoided death, saved only by the Black Saber Siegfried.

The Little Sun and the Holy Maiden taught you through their own experience: fighting relies not just on stats and equipment, but also on technique!

After morning training, Kiritsugu and Illya were still asleep, so Shirou began preparing breakfast with Sella.

As for Lizelotte, although she was also a maid, the two were polar opposites in household skills—one was a domestic all-rounder, the other completely useless. So Lizelotte naturally became a cute mascot-like presence.

Once breakfast was ready, Shirou knocked on doors to call Kiritsugu and Illya to eat. Incidentally, thanks to Shirou's gentle personality and Kiritsugu's persuasion, Illya's attitude toward Shirou began to shift. From resistance to less resistance, and now to full defection.

Because his past life was a post-90s kid, Shirou's thinking was broader than most people's. A shut-in is a creature that finds joy without ever leaving home.

Shirou had been a shut-in too. Under the influence of the many interesting little gadgets he came up with, the Illya ship sank.

After breakfast, Shirou would start practicing gun use. This habit originated from his past life's childhood fantasies and his love for rummaging through boxes and cabinets. No matter where anyone in the house hid something, it couldn't escape Shirou's notice.

The guns Kiritsugu once used were no exception, dug up by Shirou. After persistent pestering, he got Kiritsugu to teach him how to use them.

Oh, and one more thing: another reason Shirou did this was that he really didn't want to go through elementary and middle school again. He wasn't a lolicon, so screw school!

In shooting, Shirou also had incredible talent. It only took him half a year to graduate from being a complete novice and shoot proficiently. Well, at least he wouldn't have to worry about missing with the Spear of Thunder anymore.

Next came lunch. Shirou had an obsession with meat that was hard for ordinary people to imagine. The most extreme example was when he made tofu and potatoes taste like meat!

Kiritsugu had warned him about this, saying kids shouldn't be picky eaters, but Shirou bluntly replied, "Can't help it. Just like you're a man, Dad, I live to eat meat. Even if I die from eating too much meat one day, I'd die happy."

Though he had no idea what being a man had to do with eating meat, since Shirou had put it that way, Kiritsugu couldn't say much more. Otherwise, Shirou might turn all the vegetables into meat-flavored dishes.

Then came the afternoon.

The Emiya household in the afternoon was filled with a relaxed atmosphere. The men of the house spent the whole time playing with Illya. Occasionally, Fujimura Taiga would visit, and after learning Illya was Kiritsugu's biological daughter, she became intensely interested in her.

With her bold and slightly childish personality, Taiga quickly hit it off with Illya.

After dinner, the Emiya household returned to tranquility. Illya, Sella, and Lizelotte, as homunculi, were limited to twelve hours of activity per day, so they went to bed early.

Shirou would return to his room to continue practicing Projection and Reinforcement magic. After coming back from Einzbern, he had also asked Kiritsugu about healing magic.

The light in Kiritsugu's room was always on. Sometimes Shirou would see him searching for something.

This life went on for half a year. Starting in the spring of 1995, Kiritsugu began going out, leaving for months at a time. Both Illya and Shirou were unhappy about it, but they said nothing. The Emiya family were raised free-range; as long as no one was in physical danger, no one interfered.

And so, in June 1995, after entrusting the house to Fujimura Taiga—whom he wasn't entirely confident in—Kiritsugu took his whole family to Kanbako City.

In the car driving from Fuyuki to Kanbako City, Kiritsugu was at the wheel, Shirou had his hands behind his head with his eyes closed, and Illya, like a curious little kid, pressed her face against the window, watching the scenery blur past.

"Hey, Dad, what's the big deal that you're dragging us all to Kanbako City in such a hurry?" Shirou asked, leaning motionless in his seat.

"Yeah, that's right. After extensive inquiries, I found out there's a very skilled dollmaker in this city named Aozaki Touko. Maybe she can solve Illya and the others' problem."

Kiritsugu glanced at Shirou, then turned his eyes back to the road. He was still driving, after all; carelessness could be fatal.

"A dollmaker... Aozaki... dollmaker..." Shirou muttered to himself, then asked, "Are you sure it'll work? Illya and the others are homunculi, not dolls."

"That Aozaki Touko isn't an ordinary dollmaker. She's the youngest Grand Magus I know of," Kiritsugu replied.

"Oh, never heard of her!" Shirou said flippantly, looking out the window, lost in thought.

Shirou was lying. He had seen The Garden of Sinners; he couldn't possibly not know Aozaki Touko, but he didn't know much about her.

Becoming a Grand dollmaker at twenty, born into a family of mages, proficient in Rune Magic. Unlike that fraud Darnic, she was a true Grand Magus.

"..." Kiritsugu fell silent.

The car grew quiet as the Emiya family drove into the small city called Kanbako. Five more years, Shirou remembered clearly—five more years until the story of The Garden of Sinners would begin. But for now...

Heh, who cares!