42 - Playboy Father

"…So you guys just happened to encounter another Divine Aspect holder?"

Cassie nodded, "His name is Mordret. His Aspect let's him move through mirrors and control other's bodies."

"…What a sinister Aspect."

Shirou was currently sitting on the deck of the Chain Breaker alongside the cohort. They were informing him of all the potential threats that they had learned of.

Sunny continued, "He was born to Valor, but they tried to seal him away due to his Aspect. Speaking of Valor, do you know Morgan or something? She was acting pretty suspicious when that alarm went off."

Shirou placed his chin in his hand in thought, "I've never met anyone by that name. How would I even come into contact with a princess of a Great Clan anyways?"

Sunny shrugged, "Well, you should be careful if you ever meet her. Like we said before, Valor is willing to do anything to get you."

Shirou had actually gotten quite popular while he was gone. His fame actually rivaled that of Changing Star, which was strange considering that she was the one who led the Sleepers.

It was mostly due to the fact that he had created so many weapons for the Dreamer Army. Escaping the Dream Realm on his own just increased his fame even more.

I'm basically a celebrity now.

Shirou suddenly remembered something, "Oh! Didn't they make a movie about the Forgotten Shore? Let's watch it once we get back."

Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie widened their eyes in alarm. Effie and Kai started to laugh for some reason.

Sunny immediately shouted, "You can't watch that!"

Nephis continued, "It's not very good."

Cassie finished for them, "The romance was disgusting."

Nephis flinched.

Shirou tilted his head in confusion, "Why is there any romance in the movie? I don't think anything like that happened, right?"

Sunny seemed conflicted, "Actually, maybe you should see it. You wouldn't understand until you do."

Cassie desperately tried to change his mind, "But, what if he gets the wrong idea?! Wouldn't that be bad for you Sunny?"

Huh? What would be bad for Sunny?

Sunny sighed, "It'll be fine. He's going to find out about it sooner or later. At least it was him and not Caster."

What does Caster have to do with this?

————————————————————

The cohort was sitting in Sunny's house, watching the credits roll. There were red faces, faces of utter confusion, and a laughing barbarian.

Shirou blinked, "…What the hell was that?!"

Sunny nodded, "I know, right? The male lead should have obviously been m-"

Sunny covered his own mouth before he said something that shouldn't be said in front of Nephis.

Cassie was strangely angry about something, "If Shirou was the male lead, then shouldn't the female lead be me, and not Nephis?"

She glanced at Shirou a few times, but it seems that he wasn't paying attention. In fact, he was rather angry about something as well.

"Instead of that stupid romance, it should have focused on my heroic deeds! Also, I wasn't that tall!"

They heard someone open the door to the house.

Shirou whispered to Sunny, "…You're not abusing your fame and making girls come over, right? What about Nephis?"

Sunny seemed confused, "Yeah, a girl is coming in here. What does Nephis have to do with it though?"

Shirou glanced at Nephis a few times, making sure that she hadn't heard the conversation.

"She might burn down your house if she sees the girl you brought over."

Sunny blinked, "They've already met though? She never had an issue with Rain coming before?"

Shirou's brow twitched, "What does the weather have to do with this?!"

"Sunny?"

Shirou slowly turned around, seeing a girl who looked very similar to Sunny. She was just as pale, and seemed to be in middle school.

The rest of the cohort had greeted her while Shirou and Sunny were having their secret conversation. She was looking at the two of them in confusion, before suddenly realizing something.

She timidly spoke to Shirou, "Um, hello mister. My name is Rain. Do you know Sunny?"

Shirou did not reply for a few moments, "Yeah, I do know this gremlin. My name's Shirou. Also, I'm only sixteen, so don't call me mister."

Shirou started to slowly strangle Sunny when he realized that he had brought a middle schooler over.

That's a crime!

————————————————————

Rain's eyes widened when she realized who she was talking to. She had met Forged In Hell, who supplied the Dreamer Army with weapons, and was also an unparalleled combatant.

She had been surprised hearing his age, since Sunny looked like a middle schooler, but was actually eighteen. He looked somewhat older than her teacher, so she assumed that he was also an adult.

She watched as the rest of the cohort tried to stop Shirou from strangling Sunny. She heard something about "middle schoolers", so she guessed it had to do with her.

Shirou asked Rain, "I didn't know Sunny had a sister. Oh, I did hear something about it back at the Crimson Spire…"

He seemed to be trying to recall something, but Rain didn't want him to misunderstand the relationship between her and Sunny.

"N-no. We aren't siblings. He's just my teacher."

Shirou looked at her for a moment before looking towards Sunny. They seemed to speak to each other without words, before he set his attention back to her.

Shirou scratched the back of his head, "Well, I don't think that Sunny would give training to just anyone. You should take advantage of this opportunity."

Rain spoke quickly, "Y-yes. I will do just that."

Sunny sighed as he spoke to her, "Go downstairs Rain. The grownups have something to talk about."

She pouted as she walked to the Sunny's training room.

————————————————————

"…That's definitely your sister. Exactly what I imagined a female Sunny would look like."

Sunny looked at Shirou in suspicion, "Why were you imagining that?"

Shirou just smiled at Sunny, which caused him to shiver.

Shirou looked in the direction Rain had just went, "Anyways, you should probably tell her that you're her brother one day. I have to go home, so I'll see you guys in the Dream Realm."

————————————————————

Shirou was hammering away in his shed. He was able to bring Nightmare Creature parts to the real world by using the [Bottomless Box].

As he was forging, the weapons he made would all be of the Transcendent rank. Due to this, the abilities that the weapons carried were quite powerful. Fortunately, Shirou was able to perfectly sort them in his mind, which meant that he would be able to use them effectively in combat.

Shirou paused. His need for weapon memories has drastically decreased. In fact, it would be more efficient to use the swords he creates with the [Daemonic Forge], as he could use the [Sword Trial] enchantment to boost his damage output.

The [Bow of Swords] enchantment from the [Shroud of Justice] would be extremely useful for long range fights, so he should focus on creating a fighting style that implemented these two factors.

He activated the [Furnace] enchantment of the [Shroud of Justice], and watched as black flames appeared within his hands. They had gotten much stronger after ascending, and was also boosted by [Abysswalker], which made his soul essence more potent.

He would now be able to use the flames effectively in combat, so he should try to implement them as well.

Shirou decided to go to the archery range that he had recently set up in his backyard. He summoned the [Bow of Swords], which was a large black bow, which had a strange guard at the front.

He summoned one of the Awakened swords that he still had stored, and tried to use it as an arrow.

…This isn't working.

Shirou thought about all of the tools he had in his arsenal, before coming up with an idea. He used [Blade Alter] to change the shape of the sword, watching as it spiraled in on itself. After around a minute, it had become a gruesome screw.

However, this was enough for him to use. He set up the makeshift arrow, pulled on the string, and fired.

It was going to hit.

The sword-arrow hit the center of the target with quite a bit of force. It was designed to withstand projectiles at the Ascended rank, so Shirou didn't use any of the Transcendent swords he had made.

The main issue he found was that it took to long for the sword to become an arrow. He had to work on perfecting [Blade Alter] if he wanted to be able to use it effectively.

He dismissed the bow, as he saw Miyu watching him with a wide smile on her face. She seemed to enjoy the free show.

Shirou blinked, "What are you doing here?"

Miyu tilted her head in confusion, "Watching you, obviously."

Shirou sighed as he picked up Miyu by just gripping her skull. She tried to get his hand off of her head, as he dragged her inside the house.

"It's dangerous to be around when I'm testing my Aspect. You should stay inside until I'm done."

Miyu pouted, "Big sis would have let me watch."

Shirou was confused, "Who's that?"

"Illya, of course."

Shirou was alarmed. He didn't know of anyone named Illya.

"…When did you meet her?"

Miyu was lost in thought, "…I think I was seven back then."

That was a year before he was infected by the Nightmare Spell. It was also the time that Miyu's personality took a complete one-eighty.

Originally, she was much more timid, but didn't do anything unexpected of a kid. One day, she suddenly came back from school like she was a different person, acting much more outgoing. In fact, Shirou believed that she had started to emulate other people, as he could see hints of his own personality in her.

Mainly the delusional parts.

This change had baffled Shirou and Kiritsugu, who was still alive at the time. However, they simply brushed it off as her making some friends.

Miyu looked at her brother in worry, "Do you not know big sis? She's the old man's daughter."

Another thing she had started to emulate from Shirou was his usage of "old man".

What the hell?!

Shirou thought about how that could be possible, but he remembered his father going out for long trips quite often.

…I guess he was young once…

Shirou did not know how to feel about his father being a playboy, but he focused on the main issue.

Shirou slowly asked, "…How old is… Illya?"

"Oh, she's eighteen. Her flaw makes her age slower though."

…The math doesn't add up. How could she be two years older than me? And of course she just so happened to be an Awakened.

Shirou felt his brain about to explode.