27 – Girls, Girls, Girls
When lunchtime came the next day, Shirou went straight to the Service Club room with Yuigahama. Yukinoshita was already there waiting.
"Yahallo~! Yukinon," Yuigahama waved cheerfully at the girl.
"Good afternoon," Yukinoshita replied, placing her book down and nodding. She then stood up to brew tea for the two of them.
After making the tea, she handed a hot cup to Shirou.
"Thanks," Shirou accepted the cup with both hands.
"Well then, why don't you explain what exactly happened yesterday?" Yukinoshita asked with a gentle smile.
"What happened?" Shirou was confused under her intense gaze.
A lot had happened yesterday. Was she referring to the battle with the Soul Eater?
Or was it about last night, when he caught Komachi slacking off on her studies and secretly playing on her phone — only to find the chat logs filled with messages like, "Onii-chan is so great. I'll definitely get into International High School so I can go to school with Onii-chan every day"?
Now, because he saw those embarrassing messages, Komachi had entered a full-on cold war with him under the banner of, "Onii-chan, you're not allowed in my room anymore!"
Ah! Could it be about him getting trapped inside the purikura booth yesterday?
Had that already been exposed?
But he clearly boosted his leg muscles with maximum magical reinforcement and dashed out of there faster than an Olympic sprinter!
"…Even if I don't know how much you're hiding from me, I don't really care. What I want to ask now is—" Yukinoshita's tone turned cold as she looked down at him. "Why didn't you summon me yesterday, and instead involved Yuigahama?"
"Oh, that," Shirou started sweating and explained, "I did try. But I couldn't find your spirit under the Saber class at all."
"You mean you really tried to summon me yesterday, but I didn't appear in the support roster?" Yukinoshita frowned.
"Yes. And the monster yesterday was really tough—like it had infinite evasion. It was terrifyingly fast.
If we had let it escape to the outside world, it would've been a disaster. I had no choice but to summon Yuigahama," Shirou explained.
Hearing her name, Yuigahama leaned in with a smile. "Yep, yep! Then I made my grand entrance! My Suzuka Gozen-chan was so cool!
She was totally different from how she looks in the mobile game—it was like watching a 3D movie! Yukino-chan, I really wish you could've seen it!"
"Calm down, Yuigahama. You're awfully cheerful considering what happened…" Yukinoshita motioned for the energetic girl to sit down.
"That's because Shirou and Yukino were there! As long as the three of us are together, I feel safe no matter where we are," Yuigahama said with a sweet smile, still waving her hands animatedly even after sitting.
"Yukino, listen! I waved my hand and hundreds of golden swords flew through the sky and rained down like whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
"…No, Yuigahama. With your way of explaining, I don't think I'll ever understand," Yukinoshita said with a soft chuckle.
"Ehh? That's so mean! If only I'd recorded it!" Yuigahama pouted regretfully.
"Still, Yuigahama," Yukinoshita warned gently, "even if you're excited, you shouldn't talk about this to others."
"She's right," Shirou added. "Be careful not to let anything slip when chatting with classmates. Otherwise, they'll think you're a total weirdo and laugh at you."
Judging by how easily she might be lured in by a red magic wand or a white alien mascot, this girl seemed a bit too easy to fool…
"Of course I know that! Who do you two think I am? I'm not a kid, you know!" Yuigahama huffed at the two of them.
"As for the summoning issue," Yukinoshita continued, pulling out a notebook, "I made some progress in my research last night."
She flipped it open and read her notes aloud.
"Based on data I received from a friend, this state of spirit possession we're in is similar to something seen in games—pseudo-servants.
But unlike those, we can freely undo the possession, so it's slightly different.
Still, the mechanics are worth referencing.
The key seems to be compatibility. For a Heroic Spirit to possess a person, they must resemble that person in various aspects—physique, age, personality, and even spiritual capacity.
If there's no suitable match, the spirit likely won't appear under that class's summon list.
So the reason I didn't show up in the Saber class support roster is probably because no Heroic Spirit of that class matched me well enough."
As Yukinoshita calmly explained her findings, the classroom fell into an eerie silence.
"…"
"…"
"…What is it?" Yukinoshita finally looked up, frowning at the two who had fallen completely silent, stunned in disbelief.
"Why are you both suddenly so quiet? And what's with those 'Wait—you actually have a friend?' expressions? Are you trying to provoke me? That's definitely provocation, isn't it?!" she asked with a chilling smile.
"No, uh—ahaha! I just didn't expect that you actually had other friends, Yukino," Yuigahama laughed nervously, trying to smooth things over.
"Hey, Yuigahama, that's a bit harsh. Anyone can have friends outside of school, right?" Shirou scolded her, then turned to Yukinoshita with a cautious expression. "Just to clarify—no offense—but when you say 'friend'… you're not talking about an 'imaginary friend' like air guitar, are you?"
Flushing red with anger, Yukinoshita snapped back, "They're online friends, okay?! From a game chat group! That counts, doesn't it?!"
"Oh, so that's what you meant. Hahaha!" Yuigahama sighed in relief and finally laughed wholeheartedly.
"Yukinoshita," Shirou warned, "the internet these days is complicated. You shouldn't trust online friends too easily. You don't even know if they're male or female… or even human, for that matter."
His little sister may be bad at studying, but her emotional intelligence was top-notch. In contrast, Yukinoshita was the one who really needed to be careful in this area.
"Heh… you two really want to pick a fight, don't you?" Yukinoshita gave them a bone-chilling smile.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. A pink-haired girl entered.
"Good afternoon, Yukinoshita-senpai! Yuigahama-senpai! And… Shirou-senpai," Mash opened the clubroom door and peeked in politely, though her gaze toward Shirou held a trace of reproach.
"Oh! Mash-chan, come on in!" Yuigahama's face lit up as she jumped from her seat and pulled the girl inside excitedly.
"…" Mash stared at the smiling Yuigahama.
The fierce woman from yesterday—who had coldly abandoned her and forbade her from following—now seemed like a completely different person.
Which version was the real one? Which one was fake? Mash was completely confused.
Having lived on a remote snowy mountain with nothing but nature around her, she felt like a simple village girl stepping into the big city for the first time.
Can't you city folks stop playing so many games and just be a bit more sincere? Please?
"Mash, have a seat first," Yukinoshita said gently, standing up to make tea for her.
"Thank you for having me," Mash replied obediently, finding a seat and sitting down.
"Mash, could you explain the situation on your end? Yuigahama still doesn't know much," Shirou asked.
"I understand. Then I'll start by explaining the background for Yuigahama-senpai," Mash nodded, adjusted her posture, and sat upright.
Facing Yuigahama's smiling face, she began to recount everything Leonardo da Vinci had told Shirou and Yukinoshita a few days ago.