By the time afternoon gave way to evening, the sun was already nearing the horizon.
The distant sky glowed a hazy gold as the salty sea breeze drifted through the air...
...carrying with it the faint scent of rust.
Having grown used to riding around in Shirley's old, paint-chipped pickup truck, Kiritsugu didn't think much of it.
He sat alone on the balcony of the stilt house, idly swinging his legs.
"Sigh... Shirley's taking forever."
He let out a quiet sigh.
He had slept until noon, eaten yesterday's leftovers with a bowl of plain rice porridge as both breakfast and lunch, then spent the entire afternoon doing nothing at home.
There wasn't a single form of entertainment in the house.
The only person who ever brightened his day—
Shirley—
was unusually late today.
Kiritsugu's patience was finally wearing thin.
Glancing once at the withered white lily—the failed bloom Shirley had cultivated—he made up his mind.
Planting both hands on the railing, he vaulted off the balcony.
Then he sprinted downhill, running straight into the fading sunlight.
...
"Hey! Have either of you seen Shirley?"
Kiritsugu raced nearly five kilometers down the steep mountain path in less than twenty minutes.
Spotting the two neighborhood boys who always looked up to him playing basketball, he hurried over to ask.
"Big Sis Shirley? Nope."
The two children shook their heads.
"We haven't seen her all day."
"I see..."
"Thanks!"
After saying goodbye, worry gradually spread across Kiritsugu's face.
Without slowing down, he ran straight to Shirley's home.
Calling it a "house" was generous.
It was little more than a cramped, single-room shack built from corrugated metal.
Two small windows flanked a weathered wooden door that was barely wide enough for one person to pass through.
Through the gaps, the entire room was visible.
A bed.
A few belongings piled together.
But no sign of Shirley.
In truth...
This was how most people on the island lived.
Compared to them, the two-story stilt house where Kiritsugu and Norikata Emiya lived was practically a mansion.
That was precisely why Shirley treasured the opportunity to study under Norikata.
She wanted to change herself.
She wanted to lift everyone out of poverty through her own efforts.
To Shirley, Norikata—who taught her freely and asked for nothing in return—was someone she respected almost like a father.
That was why she reacted so fiercely whenever the islanders slandered him because of the rumors surrounding his research.
After all...
The Professor had only ever wanted to make the world a better place.
Kiritsugu had once invited Shirley to live with him and his father.
She had gently refused.
She believed she had already asked too much of her teacher.
Her current life was more than enough.
Peering through the crack in the door, Kiritsugu saw no one inside.
Uneasy, he knocked.
Creak...
The door swung open on its own.
It hadn't even been locked.
"Shirley?"
He stepped inside and pulled back the crumpled blanket.
No one.
That made him even more anxious.
Shirley always folded her bedding neatly before leaving.
She would never leave the room in such disarray.
The dim little shack was cluttered with all kinds of odds and ends she had collected from the beach over the years—things she could never bear to throw away.
Everything looked strangely chaotic.
Since there was nowhere else to search, Kiritsugu turned to leave.
Thunk. Thunk.
His foot struck something hard.
A glass bottle rolled across the floor with a clear clinking sound.
He bent down and picked it up.
It was a translucent brown medicine bottle with a label attached.
There were several numbers written on it, but those weren't what caught his attention.
He immediately recognized the handwriting.
It belonged to his father.
Norikata had repeatedly warned him that his research wasn't finished yet and had strictly forbidden him from touching any of the reagents inside his workshop.
The bottle...
...was empty.
Where had the medicine gone?
Kiritsugu didn't dare think about it.
He rushed back outside, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Shirley!"
"Where are you?!"
"Come out!"
"Stop playing hide-and-seek!"
"Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!"
Just as he was wondering which direction to search, a shrill chorus of frantic clucking erupted from behind Shirley's house.
A white hen, its feathers stained with blood, suddenly fluttered toward him as though fleeing from something.
It landed in front of Kiritsugu and tilted its head.
"Miss Chick..."
"What happened?"
Kiritsugu crouched and held out his hand.
The bloodstained hen hesitated before walking over and gently pecking at his palm several times.
After all...
Kiritsugu was practically one of its owners.
He and Shirley had raised it together ever since it hatched.
"AAAAAHHHHH—!!"
A bloodcurdling scream rang out from behind the house.
It was unmistakably a woman's voice.
"Shirley!"
"Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!"
Kiritsugu sprang to his feet.
The terrified hen was startled by both his sudden movement and the horrifying scream.
Flapping its wings wildly, it fled in panic.
As Kiritsugu drew closer...
The smell of blood became stronger and stronger.
His throat tightened involuntarily.
Then—
He saw her.
Hidden in the shadows beside the chicken coop, a girl in a white dress sat with her back to him.
Like a wild animal...
She was tearing into something with her teeth.
"...!!"
Kiritsugu's pupils contracted violently.
He couldn't force a single word past his lips.
"Sh... Shirley?"
he called in disbelief.
The blood-soaked girl froze.
She slowly lowered the chicken in her hands—
half of its body had already been torn away by her teeth.
Her trembling body turned toward him.
The beautiful amber eyes he knew so well...
...now glowed with an eerie crimson light.
"Ugh..."
"K-Kelly...?!"
Her voice was strained.
Broken.
Like a beast trapped inside a human body, only just learning how to speak.
"Shirley!"
The moment Kiritsugu realized the girl before him truly was the one he had been searching for...
He rushed toward her without a second thought.
But Shirley reacted as though she had seen something terrifying.
She stumbled backward again and again until she retreated into the filthy wire chicken coop.
With nowhere left to run...
She reached out...
...and locked the coop herself.
"Ugh... Aaaahhh!"
"Don't come any closer!"
"Kelly..."
"Don't look at me..."
"Please... don't..."
Curled into the farthest corner of the coop, Shirley trembled violently, desperately struggling against something inside herself.
The last remnants of her reason drove her to cover her blood-soaked face with both hands.
She couldn't bear...
...to let the boy she loved see her in such a hideous, twisted state.
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