Ancestral Craft Must Not Be Lost! (New Book, Please Support!)

"Shinji..."

Shirou still wanted to say something, but Shinji gave him no chance. He turned and headed toward the café entrance, not forgetting to wave goodbye to the people behind him.

"Anyway, see you at school. Bye."

"Wait! Matou!" Isshin pushed himself up from the table and raised a hand to stop him. "Your absentee rate next term is not allowed to exceed five percent! And you are not allowed to bring contraband into school again! Did you hear me? Hey! Matou!"

As Isshin continued shouting after Shinji, Mitsuzuri turned her head toward Shirou with a slight frown and asked, "Emiya, isn't Matou's personality a little strange? Come to think of it, you knew this would happen, didn't you?"

"More or less." Shirou shook his head helplessly, then frowned and continued as though talking to himself. "Rather than strange, I'd say it's bizarre. Shinji always gets sudden urges over all sorts of weird things and throws himself into them, but his enthusiasm comes quickly and fades just as fast. Like..."

Isshin interrupted Shirou and picked up where he left off. "For example, he suddenly wanted to experience the life of a monk, so he went to Ryuudou Temple and underwent three months of ascetic training with my father. Or he suddenly wanted to write a novel, so he locked himself in his room for two months and wrote one that won an international award. Or, wanting to know whether discounted bento boxes had the same number of rice grains as regularly priced ones, he bought both kinds and patiently counted them all night, ultimately concluding that there was a difference of fifteen grains. There have been many, many things like that."

Listening to Isshin, the corner of Mitsuzuri's eye twitched uncontrollably. "It feels like merely calling Matou strange isn't enough to describe him, is it?"

"Perhaps ordinary people would think so, but Matou is different." Isshin shook his head and continued. "The focus and seriousness he showed during that ascetic training made me think countless times that he truly intended to become a monk. Yet once the training ended, he quickly went back to normal, as though he had grown tired of it and could no longer muster any interest in matters concerning monks.

"And it isn't just that. Once he completes anything he does on a whim, he abandons it cleanly and decisively. He even refused to accept the award for that original novel, claiming that he had plagiarized it. There is no doubt that Matou, who can strive to do every passing whim perfectly, is a prodigy. It is simply regrettable that once he finishes something, he can never take an interest in it again."

"Now that you put it that way, it really is." Mitsuzuri nodded.

"To be honest, sometimes I can't tell whether he was ever truly interested in those things from beginning to end. I can neither fully confirm it nor completely deny it."

"Didn't Shinji say so himself? They were just passing whims." Shirou spoke up. "I think that's all there was to it."

"That's far too regrettable!" Isshin and Mitsuzuri said at the same time.

"Huh? Why are you saying that to me?" Shirou was startled as the two leaned toward him at once, but then he sighed softly. "Still, it would be nice if Shinji could develop even a passing interest in archery. My original expectation was only that perhaps such a possibility might exist..."

"Ahem. Actually, I suddenly developed a tiny bit of passing interest in archery just now. When is the tournament?"

Looking at Shinji, who had somehow returned and made that statement, Mitsuzuri could only stare blankly. Isshin held his forehead, shook his head helplessly, and sighed, while Shirou revealed a hint of gratitude.

As though remembering something, Shinji added, "Oh, right. Let's make this clear beforehand: only until that tournament is over."

Mitsuzuri finally could not resist commenting, "You really are a strange guy."

"Am I?" Shinji gave a soft laugh, then leaned forward with an intrigued expression. "Actually, I've just developed the tiniest, tiniest passing interest in you too, Ryougi."

Mitsuzuri gave him an exceptionally sweet smile and reminded him, "Matou, my name is Ayako Mitsuzuri. Please remember my name properly first."

Only after Shinji and the others left the café one after another did the twin-tailed girl sitting in a booth in a corner, hiding behind a newspaper, lower it.

"Hehe... So even that confession back then was just a passing whim..." Rin's face was terrifyingly gloomy. It was clear that she could barely keep her expression under control at the moment.

"Shinji Matou, just you wait!!"

And so, without realizing it, Shinji successfully "attracted" the hatred of a certain twin-tailed girl.

As for why he had just agreed to briefly join the Archery Club, it was only because the Dog System had suddenly issued a Normal Quest the moment Shinji stepped out of the café.

Random quest issued

Quest: Join the Archery Club and take first place in the upcoming rookie tournament.

Reward: 1,000 points. Additional failure penalty: Become a vegetable with a 90% probability.

The moment he saw the suddenly issued quest, Shinji cursed inwardly.

F**!*

Over the years, Shinji had no idea how many times he had been toyed with by these suddenly issued quests with failure penalties. Their contents came in all varieties: writing an award-winning novel, undergoing ascetic training at a temple, counting the rice grains in bento boxes, and so on.

In short, it kept finding new ways to make trouble for him. He really wanted to uninstall the damn thing!

My good grandson, as my bloodline, archery is an Ancestral Craft.

Ancestral Craft my ass! Shouldn't a man's ancestral craft be beep—?!

In the end, Shinji still yielded.

Inside the living room of the Emiya Residence.

"Come to think of it, does this mean I won't be able to eat Emiya's cooking for a long time?"

Sitting cross-legged before the low table, Shinji finally thought of something, and his expression gradually turned grave.

"It will probably take more than three months to recover." Shirou sat cross-legged at the table and replied.

"Damn it! I only just realized this cold, hard reality!"

"Why did you only think of that now?"

"Because I've been sitting in the living room for a full ten minutes, and you still haven't served me tea, so I thought of that possibility." Shinji answered honestly.

"So you were waiting for me to serve you tea..." Shirou was speechless. "Take a look at my condition. Anyway, if you want tea, make it yourself."

"On second thought, forget it. I'm not thirsty right now."

Shirou: ...

Rustle, rustle...

Hearing the rustling outside, Shirou turned toward the entrance and murmured, "Is it raining...?"

Knock, knock.

"Is Fuji-nee back?" Shirou stood up and slowly walked toward the entrance.

Meanwhile, Shinji refuted him inwardly: No, it's my little sister, whom the old man sent to keep an eye on you. But this time, your injury has nothing to do with me, and you didn't quit the club because of me either. What excuse will the old man have Sakura use to take care of Emiya? I'm a little curious...

At the entrance, Shirou was somewhat surprised to see Sakura outside the door, soaked from head to toe by the rain.

"Sakura..."