Illya leaned in close to Fujimura Taiga with a mischievous challenge, "Taiga, you have to eat everything, okay? This is a feast to celebrate Shirou joining the 'archery club'. You're the main force, so you need to eat more."
"Heh heh," Fujimura Taiga gave a sinister laugh, "look who's talking. With such a tiny body, if you don't eat more, people will think my Shirou has been neglecting you."
"What does it matter," Illya spread her hands with her chopsticks, the mischievous, smug smile on her face almost sprouting moving devil horns.
She leaned close to Fujimura Taiga's ear and whispered secretly, "Let me tell you some big news, Shirou has already made a lifelong promise with me, the kind of 'never part for life' promise."
"What?", Fujimura Taiga almost slammed the bowl she was holding onto Illya's face.
But she did put down her chopsticks, and the little white-haired, red-eyed imp felt herself being strangled in the coils of a python.
"You brat, say that again?", Fujimura Taiga's terrifying eyes bore down on Illya's little head, unleashing her Poison Dragon Drill, "Did I give permission? How dare you act so cocky?"
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"
With tears in her eyes, Illya bit Taiga's arm, "You're the only thorn. Grandpa already agreed, who are you trying to represent?"
"Representing half of Shirou's mom!"
The two nearly came to blows.
"Illya!!"
Miyu's voice was panicked, "You two, stop fighting!!"
"Don't stop me, Miyu."
Fujimura Taiga launched her Hungry Tiger Pounce.
"That's right, today I'll let Taiga know who Shirou's real sister is!"
Illya refused to back down.
"No, that's not it!", Miyu looked like she was about to cry.
"I mean, if you keep fighting, all the food will be ruined?"
"Ah?", Both froze at once.
And then they saw something that almost blinded them.
"Wait, what's going on?", Fujimura Taiga shielded her eyes.
"So bright!", Illya covered her face, "Taiga, you washed the plates way too clean!"
"N-no, that's not it!"
Dumbfounded, Sella finally came to her senses. She pointed at the culprit who had caused this disaster, "The plates are shining because this guy licked them clean!"
Shirou, who had eaten countless portions and still wasn't satisfied, looked up in confusion.
He saw Illya and Taiga clinging to each other, Miyu about to cry, but in reality delighted, laughing inside. Then Sella in shock, and Liz clapping in surprise.
His brain was like an old computer that had been running for twenty years.
A bit laggy, unable to process the situation.
He asked in confusion, "Isn't it dinner time now? What are you all doing?"
The girls, staring at the blindingly shiny plates, all fell into deep thought.
———
The next morning at 4 a.m., Shirou got up on time.
After brushing his teeth and washing his face, instead of training in the dojo as usual, he put on the jacket Sella had prepared the night before and headed out.
Following the designated route, he began jogging.
According to the system, running outside in the fresh air, in a wide space, was much more refreshing for the mood than staying indoors.
Besides, with his body getting stronger and stronger, the small space of the dojo could no longer satisfy Shirou's training without equipment.
He planned to find time to finish writing a novel, make some money, and buy barbells and other training tools.
And most importantly, food.
No matter how big the lunchbox, the amount one person could carry was very limited.
The best solution was to eat at the cafeteria.
But Shirou had no money. His allowance had already sacrificed itself yesterday.
Really, he had no choice but to rely on free meals.
He wondered if Doctor Roman would be okay with it.
He felt Roman had a good impression of him.
'Next time, better eat a little less. Can't scare the guy off.'
After half an hour, warmed up, Shirou returned home and continued with high-intensity training.
After finishing—
["Training session completed under system guidance. Strength increased. Agility and Endurance increased slightly."]
Strength hadn't broken through, which left Shirou a little disappointed.
He thought he could reach rank B today.
Maybe he was being greedy.
Come to think of it, excluding the time spent in the Holy Grail War, it had only been three days since he got the system.
In just three days, a frail boy had set foot on the path of tearing apart Heroic Spirits with his bare hands, that kind of growth was simply unbelievable.
He really couldn't ask for more.
Steadying his mindset, Shirou helped Sella prepare breakfast.
As always, the portions were astonishing.
For this, Sella had now set her own wake-up time to 4:30 a.m.
That kind of care filled Shirou with endless gratitude.
To not waste her kindness, the only thing he could do was, eat more.
"Ahhh~", During breakfast, Illya looked like a normal student, drowsy after waking early.
Rubbing her tears with her soft little hands, she ate breakfast in small bites.
In contrast, Miyu acted more mature.
She didn't need Shirou to fuss over her to get up. She was efficient and decisive. Missing a lot of the girlish innocence.
She wanted to help Shirou, feeling guilty if she did nothing.
But Shirou actually hoped she could be like a normal girl, enjoying her youth.
Illya's arrival had improved that quite a bit.
Hopefully things would continue.
The Four Beasts really weren't reliable.
They hadn't become friends with Miyu at all. Only after Illya came had there been any real connection.
After breakfast, Shirou put on his school uniform.
Sella checked over the three of them carefully.
She smoothed out the wrinkles on Shirou and Illya's uniforms before finally letting them get into the car.
Fujimura-sensei had rushed through breakfast today. She didn't even have time for her usual mischief before leaving on her motorcycle.
Probably because, with the end of the month and Golden Week coming, there were more and more things to handle.
Like the physical check-up after the weekend, and then the end-of-month exams.
The check-up would take a day, the exams two days.
So around the 30th, Golden Week would officially start.
That was the schedule Shirou remembered for now, though he wasn't sure if it was right.
———
About forty minutes later, they arrived at school.
First stop, the archery club for morning practice.
It was clear Mitsuzuri Ayako was really working hard.
Every day at 6 a.m. she was already there training.
Compared to that, Shirou counted as lazy.
"Good morning, Mitsuzuri."
"Morning, Emiya."
Mitsuzuri Ayako, full of energy, greeted the two, "You came pretty early."
"Compared to you, still way behind."
"No helping it, when talent isn't enough, only diligence can make up for it," Mitsuzuri joked.
Shirou went into the changing room.
When he came out, he saw Sakura holding her bag.
'Right, yesterday Sakura didn't come to archery club. Was something going on?'
With doubt in his heart, Shirou walked out.
Sakura's eyes lit up when she saw him. She smiled in greeting, "Good morning, Senpai."
"Mm, morning."
"Did something come up yesterday, Sakura?"
"Why do you ask?", The girl didn't go to change immediately.
Shirou smiled a little, "Sorry if this sounds rude, but I only realized now that you weren't at practice yesterday. Guess this is making up for it late."
"I see," For some reason, the girl looked happy,n"Senpai caring about me makes me really glad. But rather than worrying about me, Senpai should worry more about your own body."
Everyone said the same thing, so maybe he really didn't take care of himself.
Shirou, already used to it, smiled and promised, "Got it. Since it's Sakura asking, I'll definitely do it."
Her eyes widened, and she smiled with relief.
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