After Stella's match concluded, the number of people at Training Ground Seven visibly decreased. Listening to the discussions of the departing audience, Shirou remained unmoving, firmly seated. After all, his objective here wasn't Stella. Her Noble Phantasm had already been acquired by Shirou, so there was no need to specifically watch her. The next participant, Kaminomon Jun, was Shirou's target for observation.
"Shirou, did you come specifically to watch my match?"
After her match, Stella came to the stands, looking for Shirou. She quickly spotted him amidst the dense crowd.
Hearing Stella's question, Shirou, who initially intended to tell the truth, couldn't help but say, looking at her expectant eyes, "That's right, after all, this is Stella's first match in the Seven Stars Sword Dance Festival representative selection battle!"
"On such a memorable day, as a friend, how could I not come?"
"I'm not just representing myself now, but also Ikki and Alice. After all, you and Shizuku started your matches almost at the same time, so we, as your support group, had no choice but to split up."
Hearing Shirou's reply, Stella's face immediately lit up with joy. "Thank you for coming, Shirou!"
"It's nothing, we're friends!" As he looked at the joyous
Stella, the apology Shirou felt due to his lie gradually faded away. After all, he just didn't want to disappoint her. It was just a white lie.
Shirou kept telling himself this. However, Shirou didn't know that beside him, Kusakabe Kagami, a girl who knew all his secrets, was rolling her eyes at an empty space.
"Good heavens, I remember you didn't even know if the princess had a match here just now! And now you dare to say you came specifically to watch her. Truly, a man's words are a ghost's deception!" At this moment, the girl's original slight fantasies about Shirou instantly shattered and vanished. Her gaze towards Shirou had already changed. "So, this is 'form is emptiness'!" The girl understood!
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"I haven't seen you and Ikki during morning runs these past two days, where have you both disappeared to?"
"Haha, we've had some things to deal with these past two days, so we didn't go for morning practice." Ikki was exhausted from being tormented by him every night and simply had no energy to get up in the morning. As for Shirou? He had already practiced everything he needed the night before, so naturally, he needed to catch up on sleep during the day.
Thus, Shirou chatted with Stella while glancing at Kaminomon Jun, a third-year senior who had just appeared on stage. He had already summoned his Noble Phantasm, the Sharp Spear. Looking at the weapon in his hand, countless pieces of information were being analyzed in Shirou's eyes.
The next second, all information about this weapon was collected by Shirou. With this, Shirou's current objective was complete. It was time to move on to the next stop.
Listening to Stella's various questions, Shirou suddenly said, "Time passes so quickly, I didn't expect the second match to have already started. I have something else to
do and can't stay here long."
"Is it something important?"
"That's right!" Shaking the notebook in his hand, Shirou smiled and said, "I plan to take advantage of this selection tournament to collect more information on Noble Phantasms and enrich my combat methods."
"Can I come with you then?" Seeing that it wasn't a secret matter, Stella quickly expressed her idea.
"If you're willing, I naturally have no objections. After all, having a beautiful girl by your side is quite pleasing to the eye, isn't it?"
Hearing Shirou's compliment, Stella's face immediately flushed. "Beautiful girl? I'm not that good!" Looking at the humble Stella, Shirou smiled and led the way out.
"Let's go, to the next location."
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Accompanied by Stella, Shirou visited many places throughout the afternoon. Although he wasn't in a hurry, Shirou felt that he should do more when he had time and less when he didn't. This way, he wouldn't be disrupted by sudden situations.
During this collection journey, Kusakabe Kagami initially followed them both. But she left shortly after. After all, she wasn't originally there to wait for Shirou and intended to accompany him to collect Noble Phantasms.
Her target was solely Stella, the Crimson Princess. Her encounter with Shirou was just a coincidence. Therefore, in the latter half of this journey, only Shirou and Stella remained together. This made Stella inevitably nervous. To the point that she blurted out many shocking things in a rush. Looking at her face at the time, if Shirou hadn't pretended not to hear clearly, she probably would have been too embarrassed to face anyone again.
"Today's haul was pretty good!" After having dinner with Stella, they both returned to their respective dorms.
"I can tell from your expression." Ikki responded flatly,
looking at the book in his hand, while continuously lifting a single dumbbell with his other hand, exercising his body.
Placing his belongings on his bed and looking at the cooking utensils, which were exactly as he had left them, Shirou leaned close to Ikki's ear and whispered, "What, just got back from making out with Shizuku? In sage mode now?"
"Thud!" With the sound of a dumbbell hitting the floor, Ikki hastily defended himself, "We just had dinner together, it's not as dirty as you make it sound!"
"Is that so? Then you're nervous again, aren't you?"
Hearing Shirou's judgment, Ikki's lips parted and closed several times, but ultimately, he didn't refute.
"I don't know if it's nervousness, I just feel restless, unable to calm down!" His long-term life of enduring had already made Ikki unable to hear his inner cry of despair.
Therefore, he couldn't distinguish whether his state was
nervousness.
"You are indeed nervous!" Walking over to Ikki and patting his shoulder, Shirou said seriously, "Ikki, I know you've suffered a lot for this match."
"But it's precisely because of these things that you've become so strong."
"So don't fear it, accept it openly! Only then can you fully surpass yourself." Ikki's eyes still held doubt as he pondered Shirou's words. Indeed, other people's words about this kind of thing were useless. Only when he experienced it himself would he truly understand. But by then, it wouldn't be him comforting him, but another girl.
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Patting Ikki's shoulder again. "To truly understand this, you can only rely on yourself!"
Then, Shirou returned to his bed, tidied up briefly, and then took his toiletries into the bathroom. After locking the bathroom door from the inside, Shirou didn't immediately start showering. Instead, he took out his student handbook and sent a message to Shizuku far away.
"Ikki still hasn't realized it. Your chance has come! It's time to make your love confession!"
"Everything depends on your actions tomorrow!" Looking at the sent message, Shirou put away his student handbook and smiled.
"Ikki, I'm your staunch 'little sister faction' supporter!"
--------More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 300 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter