Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

"Help, help me, I have nowhere to go back to..."

"Sure, if you don't mind sleeping on the sofa."

Upon hearing the boy's reply, Asagami Fujino smiled genuinely.

……

……

Is it fair to say that he is the Magic Association's newest "Grand Master"?

Even without "clairvoyance," Aozaki Touko possessed remarkable foresight.

Before leaving Japan, she instructed Shirou, "You are not allowed to bring women to my office."

As an outstanding employee of "Garan no To", Shirou was more considerate of the president than anyone else and understood her unspoken meaning - Aoko was not allowed to enter my agency.

In other words, it doesn't matter if it's a woman other than Aoko.

Shirou led the girl he had picked up on the street, Asagami Fujino, toward the office.

On the way back, I bought the seasonings needed for sweet and sour pork ribs at a Chinese-owned supermarket.

Of course, it was done with company money.

"Um... Shirou-kun, let me help you carry it?"

"May I?"

"Ah."

I initially thought he was a gloomy and taciturn child, but it seems that's not the case at all.

Moreover, upon closer inspection, she doesn't resemble Sakura at all.

She has a pretty, delicate face with well-proportioned features, yet possesses a refined and sharp profile.

Her long, vibrant purple hair cascaded straight down her back, with a few strands tied up on either side of her ears before falling to her chest. Her neatly trimmed bangs gave the impression of a wealthy heiress or a princess from a period drama.

Although both are quiet and introverted beauties, compared to the mixed-race Sakura, Asagami Fujino has a more Yamato Nadeshiko feel.

After buying the ingredients for tonight's dinner, Shirou took the girl back to the agency.

After settling the girl on the guest sofa, Shirou went to the kitchen area next door to prepare dinner.

The kitchen area contains a stove, a coffee machine, and a sink with a row of faucets, suggesting it was originally intended to be used as a laboratory.

Just as Shirou finished slicing the ribs, preparing the seasonings, pulling out the wok, and rolling up his sleeves to get to work, Asagami Fujino appeared at the kitchen door.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"........."

Shirou's forehead twitched slightly: I kindly brought you back, and this is how you repay kindness with enmity?

Do you really want to take away my last bit of pleasure, woman?

"Um...am I disturbing you?"

The girl asked nervously, and Shirou smiled.

"No, that's not true. Miss Fujino, could you help me cook?"

"Okay, please leave it to me."

Asagami Fujino walked happily into the kitchen with a big smile.

She was indeed a young lady from a wealthy family. Shirou only glanced at her a few times out of the corner of his eye and he could tell that she probably didn't do much housework.

Shirou didn't take it to heart and refocused his enthusiasm on his first sweet and sour pork ribs challenge.

An hour later, Shirou and Fujino sat down at the table for dinner.

"Delicious……"

Asagami Fujino held her chopsticks, a look of emotion on her face.

Although he was used to hearing praise from everyone, Shirou was still happy that his first attempt at cooking was a great success.

After the two finished washing their rice bowls, Asagami Fujino got up to do the dishes, but Shirou stopped her.

"It's okay to do that later. I have something I want to ask you."

"Yes."

Asagami Fujino straightened her posture.

She was ready to tell Shirou everything.

This person is trustworthy—if she didn't firmly believe that, she wouldn't have followed Shirou to this dubious building.

……

……

Asagami Fujino began to explain.

When she was very young, she was playing house once and accidentally cut her palm.

Because among the borrowed items, imitations, models... these miniature cooking utensils, there was a real knife mixed in.

She picked up the small knife with its beautiful carvings and played with it, unknowingly cutting herself deeply between her fingers.

The girl, her palms stained with blood, returned to her mother's side. After scolding her, the mother hugged her daughter with tears in her eyes.

"Does it hurt a lot?" the mother asked.

The girl couldn't understand the meaning of those words, but she was happy to be held in someone's arms and cry with her mother.

"Fujino, it won't hurt anymore once the wound heals—"

The mother said gently as she bandaged the wound.

The girl still couldn't understand—because she had never felt pain.

"That's it."

After Asagami Fujino finished speaking in a low voice, she forced a bright smile:

"Shirou-kun, I was actually born with a very rare form of painlessness."

From a very young age, I was ostracized by the adults and children in my village because of this illness...

People even say I'm a cursed child... Hah, that's really going too far.

Shirou's mouth was half open: "..."

Fujino blinked: "Shirou-kun? What's wrong?"

The red-haired boy gave him a speechless look, as if to say, "What are you even talking about?"

Shirou said, "How can someone in this world be regarded as an omen of bad luck by those around them just because they have no pain?"

Fujino said, "Yes, I know you might not believe it... but it's true..."

"It's not that I don't believe you, it's just—that's not right."

Shirou asserted that it was not like that.

If what Fujino said is true, then she was indeed regarded as a cursed child when she was a child—but the reason was definitely not some kind of painlessness.

And her eyes...

Shirou became even more interested, as if there was some hidden story behind it.

He asked, "Which hospital diagnosed you with painlessness?"

"It's not a hospital."

"Not a hospital?"

The girl nodded: "My father told me... but he's no longer alive."

Did he take you to see a doctor?

"Yes, my father found me a doctor."

"When did this happen?" Shirou pressed.

“When I was five or six years old,” Fujino replied.

Was it around this time that you were being bullied by the villagers?

Fujino shook her head: "No... ever since I was even younger, everyone has called me the cursed child."

Shirou gasped, "Hmm... I see, I think I understand now."

"what?"

"Haven't you noticed the problem yet, Ms. Fujino?"

Shirou said.

“Your father didn’t arrange for a doctor for you earlier—when you started showing abnormalities and were ostracized by the villagers—but rather several years later, after you discovered you had no pain.”

"!!"

Fujino then realized the huge contradiction she had been ignoring.

When she was three or four years old, she showed a strong difference from ordinary people, so much so that the people in the village noticed it.

However, her father did nothing until several years later when he began to prepare a doctor for Fujino.

The girl asked instinctively, "Why... is this?"

Shirou deduced, "Miss Fujino, your insensitivity to pain is not something you were born with; it was probably acquired later in life."

You may not remember, but when you were very young, you were regarded as a cursed child by the villagers for "certain reasons".

In an effort to resolve your abnormality, your father secretly resorted to certain methods... I think it was medication, which resulted in you no longer experiencing abnormalities, but also losing your sense of pain.

The doctor he hired for you afterwards was probably just to continue the medication.

"how come."

The girl covered her lips: "Father, he..."

Shirou nodded: "While I cannot say for sure whether his actions were right or wrong, there is no doubt that your father did this to protect you."

Asagami Fujino fell into a long silence.

When she looked up again, Shirou noticed that there were tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"Shirou-kun... what is the real anomaly that my father has hidden from me?"

"I'm not sure about that right now either."

Shirou said, "May I give you a full physical examination?"

Volume 3, page 151: Isn't it common sense that ⊙⊙ is exposed during an inspection?

"Um...can you give me a medical check-up?"

Asagami Fujino paused for a moment, then asked instinctively.

"Yes, I have the relevant professional qualifications."

As Shirou spoke, he took out his therapist's license with his name on it.

This is what I prepared when I went to work at the hospital in place of Aozaki Touko (forged documents).

Since he had entered the hospital through a suggestion, this thing was only meant as a backup plan, and he never expected it to come in handy in a place like this.

"Shirou-kun is amazing, he obtained his medical qualifications at such a young age..."

Asagami Fujino only glanced at the forged document before easily believing Shirou's lie.

I'm only in junior high school, how is that possible?

She really was a sheltered young lady who knew nothing of the world. Shirou couldn't help but think of Irisviel when he first came to Japan.

His offer to examine Asagami Fujino was, of course, motivated by ulterior motives.

Shirou secretly scrutinized the girl in front of him. Although she was wearing a conservative Catholic girls' school uniform, the black fabric could not hide her overly developed figure.