Entering the archery club, he saw Mitsuzuri Ayako had been waiting for quite a while.
Already changed into her kyudo uniform, she looked valiant, exuding the aura of someone well-practiced in martial arts.
But the words that came out of her mouth were, "Yo, you came early, high jump boy."
That teasing tone made Shirou's eyelid twitch.
'This "high jump" thing isn't going away, huh?'
"Mitsuzuri, please call me Emiya."
"Such a stiff tone," Mitsuzuri Ayako rubbed her chin and smiled faintly, "But you're not unhappy or demanding that I change what I call you. Very gentle, aren't you?"
Shirou had no words.
"Relax, relax," Mitsuzuri Ayako said boldly, "You really put on quite the show yesterday. Cheer up. By the way, is your body okay now?"
She had seen Shirou collapse unconscious yesterday, which gave her quite a fright, though she wasn't exactly surprised.
With that kind of physical ability, just holding on until the end was already unbelievable. Never mind the fact that his opponent was Heracles.
"I'm fine now. More than that, my strength even broke through a bit."
While Miyu was changing clothes, Shirou said, "I should be able to try the fifty-pound yumi."
Even as an ordinary person, he wanted to become the best among ordinary people.
At the same time, he also wanted to see whether his muscles had reached the limit of human potential.
Mitsuzuri Ayako was stunned by his words. After a pause, she finally said, "You're not sick, are you?"
Yesterday he was still struggling with a ten-pound bow, and today he wanted to challenge fifty pounds.
What's the difference between that and being 1.5 meters tall one second, and wanting to grow to 1.8 meters the next?
"Of course I'm not sick, and I'm very serious," Shirou put on a cool look, "Mitsuzuri, you have to understand, people can change. Remember who I am."
"High jump boy," Mitsuzuri Ayako blurted out.
In an instant she shattered the atmosphere Shirou had been trying to build, "It's King of the World, Mitsuzuri. Say it wrong again and I'll really get mad!"
"Whoa!"
Mitsuzuri Ayako exclaimed, "You sounded just like Fujimura-sensei just now."
"Didn't we discuss this?"
"…Fine," After holding out for a moment, Mitsuzuri Ayako gave in helplessly, "You can give it a try, but if it doesn't work, don't you dare push yourself."
"You'll see."
Shirou went into the men's changing room to change.
———
Thud!
The tail of the arrow quivered right in the center of the target.
No matter how many times she saw it, Mitsuzuri Ayako couldn't help but be drawn to that godlike skill.
She couldn't help but say, "Emiya, you really don't want to pursue archery further?"
"I'll pass," Coming out of the zanshin stance, Shirou rejected bluntly, "It doesn't suit me."
Sure, when it came to etiquette, if he wanted to he could manage it, but Shirou disliked things so fussy they could only be watched and not actually practiced.
"I really can't understand you talented types," Mitsuzuri Ayako sighed, "Clearly you have outstanding gifts, but why are you so indifferent to the things you could easily achieve?"
God knows what she thought in her heart when she saw Shirou draw a fifty-pound bow with ease.
'Was he hiding his true strength?'
Logically, that absolutely had to be the truth.
Strength isn't something you can suddenly improve in a short time.
Much less a leap from ten pounds to fifty pounds.
Aside from concealing his ability, no explanation made sense.
Yet Mitsuzuri Ayako really did believe Shirou when he said he had broken through yesterday.
After all, surpassing one's limits in the midst of hardship, it wasn't impossible.
To her sigh, Shirou couldn't explain.
He could only say, "Rather than not caring, it's more like… we don't need it."
Training at the archery club ended.
In front of the school building, Miyu waved, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Onii-chan, do you want to eat lunch together?"
"But I didn't bring a bento."
Shirou had been planning to eat with Issei at noon.
That guy had probably been driven mad by Merlin yesterday.
"I brought one."
That was the same as saying yes, so Miyu happily pulled out two bento boxes from her bag.
"Liz and I made these together."
"Then okay."
Faced with his little sister's big, blinking eyes, Shirou couldn't refuse.
He could only apologize to Issei.
———
"Good morning, high jump boy."
"High jump boy, good morning."
"High jump boy, the weather's nice today, how about a sunset high jump match?"
"…Mm, yeah, morning to you all."
Skipping over the final punchline of their jokes, Shirou answered perfunctorily.
Not really perfunctory, he was just tired of it.
At this hour, the place to change into indoor shoes was crowded with people.
Which meant classmates kept greeting him with that nickname.
At first, he could still patiently respond.
But later… there were simply too many. To reduce the hassle, he had no choice but to wait until a bunch had finished greeting him, then tack on one "morning to you all" at the end.
At the shoe lockers, just as he was about to open his, someone patted him on the back.
The force wasn't too light or too heavy, well within normal range.
Turning around, a girl lifted her left hand in greeting while carrying her bag in her right, "Good morning, Emiya."
"Mm, good morning, Rin," Shirou's expression softened.
After hearing "high jump boy" too many times, finally a normal greeting.
Tohsaka Rin had already changed into indoor shoes. She just happened to see Shirou while passing by and came over to say hello.
So her bright eyes scanned the boy a few times, "Really surprising, you're already fine?"
"Pretty much," Shirou replied, pulling hard on his locker handle, "Its strange."
A question mark popped above his head.
Tohsaka Rin watched and said, "Is your locker broken?"
"Not sure," He pulled again, uncertain, "Feels like it's stuck."
"Want some help?", Tohsaka Rin set down her schoolbag.
Shirou declined politely, "No need, it'll open soon."
Right now he was technically a normal person. A little shoe locker should be nothing.
Reinforcement magic, activate!
Crack!
When he yanked the locker door open, it wasn't a surprise. But what did surprise him was being buried under a pile of flowery, gaudy envelopes.
He collapsed to the ground wordlessly.
"Oh~", Tohsaka Rin exclaimed, picking up one lace-edged, carefully made love letter and teasing with a smile, "You really are popular, high jump boy."
Never mind anything else, Shirou knew Rin was jealous.
Proof? She called him "high jump boy."
"You think I want this?", Shirou was helpless too.
He'd already avoided the high jump, so why did this kind of thing still happen?
It took him ten minutes just to tidy up the love letters after getting up.
Tohsaka Rin tossed the letters aside and left.
She said she had class, though in reality there were still ten minutes before it started.
Saying "take them all, it's fine" was just a lie.
Or rather, the jealousy that should be there was still there.
Shirou summoned the system, like making study notes, to imprint this matter into his memory so he wouldn't repeat it next time.
He stuffed the love letters back into the locker, planning to deal with them after school.
That step also took quite a while.
So, cutting it close, he hurried to the classroom.
On the other side, Sakura, who had skipped morning archery practice with the excuse of being unwell, came to the infirmary.
But Romani, who hadn't slept all night, told her Shirou had already left.
Confusion appeared in her eyes.
She left the infirmary, gazed out the corridor window, through the sunlight filtering between the leaves.
Birds landed on branches, chirping.
Her hand unconsciously clenched tight.
"Senpai…"
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