"...Aoko."
Shirou raised his head and asked seriously, "Do you really think Arisu planned the attack against us?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't believe Arisu would harm Aoko and me."
"Can I hear your reason?" Aoko asked.
"...It's just a feeling," Shirou answered in a firm tone.
Although he had spent only a short week with Arisu, those days had also become an unforgettable and precious memory for Shirou.
When he had first returned to Fuyuki City, Shirou had spent a long time unable to adapt to the fast-paced life of a modern metropolis.
Feeling out of place, he often stood near the park and gazed at the homeless encampment there.
Only later, with the help of the Fujimura Group and the Matou siblings, had Shirou finally gained a place of his own to live—the Amamiya Residence.
Although the Kuonji mansion was not Shirou's true home, it gave him another feeling of returning home—
Whenever he stayed in the mansion, Shirou felt as if he had returned to Orkney.
Tranquil and warm, time flowed more slowly and quietly there than anywhere else in the universe.
"If I really have to explain why..."
Shirou spoke.
He didn't believe Arisu would attack him and Aoko at the cost of turning the mansion she cherished into a battlefield.
"Miss Arisu definitely isn't that kind of person."
"I really want to record you saying that and play it on loop for Arisu. She'd probably be so ashamed she'd have nowhere to hide."
Aoko smiled like a loving mother.
Although she was still unwilling to admit defeat verbally, the True Magic User had been convinced by Shirou and agreed with his view.
That was right. This mansion was an important inheritance Arisu had received from her parents, and it was even more precious to