The two sat silently as they watched Shirou eat. Each bite was meticulous, calculated, and earned. To Shirou, even eating was a task he fulfilled without flaws. To explain what Olivia and Oliver were seeing, it would be like watching a robot follow a prompt to eat.
After he was done eating, Shirou wiped his mouth with a napkin, then began folding it neatly. It was an arbitrary action, though it was something he chose for himself to do. He looked up at the two, seeing the apprehension in their eyes. His face remained cold and distant; completely unchanging. However despite what his expression conveyed, he felt a bit guilty. Thinking of ways to cheer them up, he remembered a little party trick of his. Reaching his hand out over to his side, his fingers eventually stopped, as if they hit a wall. Pressing his fingers deeper, his fingers slowly started to disappear, as if they were entering a different space entirely. It was hard to see, but he was definitely proud of it. Shirou sneakily looked over to Oliver and Olivia, trying to see their reactions.
To his surprise, his trick did not bring comfort to the two. In fact they became even more worried. Shirou sighed at his failed attempt to cheer them up. He thought for a moment, before remembering a sure fire way to cheer someone up; by giving them gifts.
"Now... There's obviously only one reason you two agreed to have lunch with a random strange man like me..." Shirou said, as he began pulling something out of the empty space.
His fingers were back; to Oliver's relief, though Olivia was more focused on the attachment unit that was pulled out from the void. She greedily stretched arms out, trying to take it. Shirou gave it to her readily, as he had already intended to give it to her. She looked at the case with an unsightly expression, as she began rubbing circles on the face of the case.
"Now please be careful with that, Olivia. That is an SS-" but before Shirou could finish his sentence, Olivia had accidentally opened the attachment unit case.
The case turned into a katana with a round grey tsuba which resembled two koi fish circling around each other. The hilt was mostly wrapped with black rope, with weaves of blue in the shape of blue. The blade meanwhile was long and curved - the steel was black and dark red with an… almost flesh like texture and a jagged edge similar to a saw, or rows of shark teeth. Not only that, there was a faint blue aura coating the blade - as if to protect the world from its awesome power.
"Woah, it must have so much descent energy that it's overflowing!" Olivia exclaimed.
Shirou gave a confused look before taking a look at the blade. Without hesitation, he ripped off the blue film off the blade, throwing it behind him. Obviously, the two were shocked by Shirou's lackadaisical show of strength.
"Not only can he erect a golden barrier.... But he can also rip away descent energy like plastic?!" Oliver retorted, his hands shaking with fear.
"Just... Just who is this guy?" Olivia exclaimed.
Shirou blinked a few times, still not understanding why they were being so dramatic.
"That wasn't descent energy... That was just some thin plastic to keep the blade protected..." Shirou explained.
The two young investigators both turned to each other slowly. Olivia handed Oliver the blade before bowing her head.
"I've dishonoured our family brother. End me" Olivia said, in a dramatic fashion.
Oliver stood on his chair, raising his blade up high. He held back his tears as he looked down on his sister.
"I will never forget you... sister" Oliver said, his hand shaking.
As he was about to cut downwards, Oliver stopped himself. He lowered his blade, as well as his head.
"I can't do it sister..." Oliver said.
Clenching her fist, Olivia yelled at him.
"You coward!" Olivia yelled, with tears in her eyes.
Oliver nodded, raising the blade above his head.
"I've dishonoured our family as well... So I must pay the price too. Goodbye" Oliver said, his hands shaking as he gripped the hilt tightly.
Just as he was about to disembowel himself, Shirou stopped him. Leaning forward, Shirou used his pinky finger to stop the movement of the blade. A resonating sound filled their ears the moment his finger touched the blade. The twins were silent for a moment; not even moving a single inch. It was strange to admit, but it was incredibly beautiful.
Shirou sat back in his chair, sighing loudly.
"Sit back down you two" Shirou said, crossing his arms with a very disappointed expression on his face.
The two immediately sat back down quietly with no hesitation whatsoever. Unlike the first time they were told to sit down, they didn't listen out of fear. Actually they listened because they felt a bit ashamed. As if disappointing Shirou would be the worst thing imaginable.
The two sat with their heads down low and a guilty expression plastered on their faces. Seeing this, Shirou sighed once more.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Listen, I'm not mad at you two. But you two acted far too childishly. Even if you really did intend on hurting yourselves, I, as a responsible adult, couldn't let that slide" Shirou said.
His words were as dry and monotone as before, but they could tell that he was scolding them. The two nodded, promising that they would be better in the future.
"Good. Now... I almost forgot to give your present Ol-" but before he could finish his sentence, a call interrupted him.
He apologised and walked away for a moment. From a distance, the two saw his face slowly morph from a true neutralness to apathetic coldness. He quickly walked over to Oliver, bowing. This was a shock to both Oliver and Olivia. How could someone like Shirou bow down to a B tier Investigator like Oliver.
"I apologise, Oliver. I can't give you your present today. There's urgent business I need to attend to." Shirou said.
Oliver felt a bit weird having a man as great as Shirou mitsuzane apologize to him, so all he could do was laugh awkwardly.
"I- it's fine sir! Please take as long as you need!" Oliver said, rubbing the back of his head.
Shirou nodded, thanking Oliver for understanding.
"Oh yeah by the way sir... How are we supposed to get back home?" Oliver asked, scratching his head.
Shirou paused for a moment before his eyes widened a bit. It seemed that Shirou didn't think that far.
"You can't be serious..." Olivia retorted.
Shirou apologized before reaching out his hand to the side. Just like before, he pressed his fingers against an invisible force, but this time he didn't push gently. He forced his hand through, causing reality to shatter like glass. Shirou mitsuzane had created a portal.
"He can open portals too?! What kinda cheat powers does he have?!" Olivia yelled in shock.
"Let's not question him anymore sis..." Oliver said, laughing awkwardly.
Shirou readjusted his cuffs before turning his head to look at them.
"I don't usually like showing off my abilities... But it couldn't be helped. Please get home safe, okay?" Shirou said.
The two nodded, before walking through the portal. It was like walking through two different museum exhibits. One second they were in the restaurant, the next they were right outside their apartment. It was jarring to say the least.
"Wait... How did he know where we lived though?" Olivia commented.
The two were about to freak out, but shook the feeling off. They both looked at each other, agreeing that if it was Shirou Mitsuzane, they'd throw any logic out the window.
"You think he's actually an anomaly class Fester?" Olivia asked as they stepped inside.
Taking off his shoes, Oliver thought about it for a second. Most of Shirou's habits were very much inhuman, and he had abilities that didn't make sense for a normal person to have. So it wasn't really a ridiculous idea at first, but the more he thought about it the more silly it became.
"There's no way. He's got a mom and dad from what I know. I doubt a human could give birth to a Fester" Oliver said, storing his shoes on the shoe rack.
His words put a certain idea into Olivia's head.
"Then could a Fester give birth to a human?" Olivia asked, holding her shoes.
Oliver looked at his sister before snatching her shoes.
"Hey what was that for?!" Olivia asked, sounding annoyed.
"Shut up, I need to explain something..." Oliver said, raising the shoe up a bit.
He used his free hand to guide Olivia's hand to the bottom of the shoe.
"You feel that? It's rubber. Rubber is usually made from sap from the rubber tree. The sap is congealed over time into an elastic putty as it rests in the collection bowls..." Oliver explained.
Olivia looked at him like he was an idiot; not understanding how festers and rubber coincided. Oliver grimaced, telling her that he wasn't even finished.
"You see, Festers are created like rubber. First the "sap" - which is descent energy - gets poured into a bowl - which is a "concept". Inside that concept contains various different structures like memories, feelings and emotions. Those are our ammonia and acid. Over time, as the components inside that concept seep into the sap, it causes the sap to congeal - or fester - creating the monsters that share the name of their creation process, Festers..." Oliver continued.
Olivia nodded her head, starting to understand.
"So you're trying to explain that festers aren't born like people or animals right?" Olivia retorted.
Oliver put her shoes on the shoe rack before shooting a finger at her.
"Bingo..."
Olivia sighed at her brother's cringy personality, but she couldn't lie and say it didn't make her chuckle. Hearing her laugh made him smile.
“What're you laughing for? Shouldn't you know all this?” Oliver looked at her smugly.
Olivia immediately froze up, slowly backing away in embarrassment as she confessed the truth.
“Honestly I slept through most of my classes…” Olivia said, laughing awkwardly as she hid behind a vase.
Oliver stared at her with a stone faced expression before pinching her.
“Why you! How the hell do you always get perfect grades then?!” Oliver yelled, continuing to pinch her.
Olivia yelped as he pinched her, desperately trying to get away from his bombardment of nips to her skin.
“I just memorise before the test! It's much easier juggling all my school stuff and work that way!” Olivia explained, blocking each pinch with the vase in her hands.
Upon hearing that, Oliver immediately lost all motivation to pinch her, instead falling to his knees with a pout.
“Life isn't fair…” he muttered.
Seeing her saddened brother, she patted his head - still holding the vase as protection however. Oliver looked at her with an “are you serious right now?” Look, to this she responded with a “uh, duh? You were pinching me!” face.
The two pouted to each other before Oliver eventually sighed and began to stand up.
"Well... Other than the cruel hand of fate favouring you… I'm very impressed you caught up on the analogy.” Oliver clapped. “Festers aren't like normal living creatures. They're creatures born from concept, not from flesh and blood. So there wouldn't be any way for a Fester to give birth to a human, or vice versa." Oliver explained, walking further into the apartment.
"Still it's a pretty fun idea right?" Olivia commented.
Oliver grimaced before nodding.
"Yes it's a pretty fun idea... What's got you in such a happy mood though?" Oliver asked.
Olivia grinned as she held her attachment unit case against her face.
"Cause I got bladey today!" Olivia said, rubbing the case with an unsightly look on her face.
Oliver stared at her with a blank expression before snatching it away.
"Hey give it back, it's mine!" Olivia yelled as she desperately tried to grab the case from Oliver.
Using his new found height advantage against Olivia, he dangled the case like a prize. After a while, Olivia lost her patience and proceeded to kick Oliver in his shins. He fell to his knees, dropping the attachment unit case. Olivia quickly picked it up, before looking away from him.
"That's what you get for being a jealous jerk..." Olivia said, pouting.
Oliver looked at her with a bit of annoyance.
"I agree I'm a jerk.. but definitely not jealous" Oliver retorted.
Olivia rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms.
"Please... like I believe you. You're just jealous that I got a cool new weapon today while your present is on hold." Olivia responded.
Oliver grimaced at her response. He felt a bit annoyed that she was acting so childish, but he was definitely not jealous. He slowly got up as he began shaking his head.
"Why would I be jealous? Mr. Mitsuzane gave it to you himself. That means he believes you deserve it." Oliver explained.
Olivia didn't believe a word he said. How could she? From what she knew of her brother, he was the type to get upset when you scored slightly higher than him in a test.
"Yeah right. You're always like this. Back when we were kids, you'd always make a fuss whenever I got an award and you didn't. You'd always say things like 'of course I didn't win...' or 'why is it always you?'... it was kinda annoying" Olivia said to him, placing her hands on her hips.
Oliver grimaced once more - as if hiding something - before walking to his room.
"Yeah. When we were kids, Olivia... Grow up" Oliver said, before disappearing into his room.
Olivia was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to react. She thought back to what Oliver said, finding his words infuriating. She clenched her fist tightly as she looked at herself in the hallway mirror.
"Grow up? But I am grown up... I am... Right?"