Shinji: Those Who Don't Understand Delicious Food Don't Understand Life Either

Watching Bazett accept one spoonful after another, the wariness completely gone from her face, Shinji really wanted to shout in exasperation.

You believed it again?!

Could you be a little more cautious? A little more suspicious!

You can believe something this ridiculous?

No wonder Mapo managed to screw you over so badly.

"My name is Bazett Fraga McRemitz. I am an enforcer of the Mage's Association's Special Designation Bureau."

After finishing the porridge, Bazett voluntarily revealed her name.

"Then I'll call you Sister Bazett. How does that sound?"

"Sister Bazett..." Bazett softly repeated the playful Shinji's form of address. It was the first time anyone had called her that, and Bazett found the intimate nickname unusually novel.

"Then it's settled, Sister Bazett." As he spoke, Shinji cleared away the tray and stood up. "I still have to go to school. I'll come back tonight. It's a hassle to explain, but as long as you don't leave this house on your own, no one will be able to find you. I've set up another barrier outside, so rest and recover for now."

"But you don't have any magical energy..."

"It's just a tiny trick not worth mentioning. Maybe it has something to do with heredity." Shinji shrugged, then looked at Bazett's left arm. "As for that, while the injuries on the rest of your body will heal with time, there's really nothing I can do about your left arm. Even if I wanted to reattach it, I searched the entire house and couldn't find the severed arm..."

"Ah, it was taken." Bazett looked at the stump of her left arm, her eyes flashing with a complicated mixture of anger, helplessness, and self-reproach. "Along with my Command Spells and Lancer."

"I see. So Sister Bazett was a Master in the Holy Grail War."

"That's why getting involved with me is dangerous. Although the Matou family is one of the Three Great Families of the Holy Grail War, if you, now an ordinary person, get dragged into this because of me..."

"But hasn't Sister Bazett's Holy Grail War already ended?" Shinji replied as though it were only natural. "Now that you've lost your Command Spells, you shouldn't have anything to do with the Holy Grail War anymore, right?"

"No." Bazett shook her head, her eyes filled with complicated emotions. "...It isn't over yet. I still need revenge. I still need to get my Servant..."

"With your body in this condition? Even if you know who your enemy is, this body can't do anything except stay here and recover. You can't even leave to receive better treatment. If you leave and they realize you're still alive, they might come after you again, Sister Bazett."

Bazett remained silent, but the determination in her eyes answered for her.

"No helping it. In that case, I'll just do my best to help too."

"It has nothing to do with you, does it? And you're only an ordinary person..."

"I can't accept something like a person I worked so hard to save giving up the life someone else saved for them again." Shinji shrugged, then gave her another friendly smile. "And don't place too much hope in me. The help I can offer is very, very limited—just little things, like serving you another bowl of porridge."

"You..." Bazett's face showed a trace of disbelief.

"You haven't had enough, have you? There happens to be some left. Wait a moment."

"No, wait," Bazett called out to stop Shinji, who had just turned around. "Before that, I want to..."

Bazett was carried out of the bathroom in Shinji's arms and carried step by step toward the bedroom, her pretty face and even her ears flushed bright red.

"All right, keep resting."

After gently placing Bazett on the bed, Shinji spoke with a faint smile. "I can handle simple wound treatment, but I can't help with anything else. Recovery magecraft and the like."

"Ah, no... it's fine. I can do it myself. As long as I recover just a little more..."

Seeing Bazett avert her eyes for some reason, her pretty face lightly flushed, Shinji began to wonder: That doesn't seem right. I remember Sister Bazett wasn't interested in men at all, so why is she embarrassed?

What Shinji didn't know was that even a woman completely uninterested in men would still be embarrassed after a man had nearly seen all of her while wiping down her body during treatment, and had even carried her to the bathroom.

"Wait a bit for the rest of the porridge."

With that, Shinji turned and left the bedroom.

"Food only needs to meet nutritional and energy requirements."

Bazett, her face red as she was spoon-fed the porridge, made that statement.

"I see. So Sister Bazett is that kind of person." Shinji set the small bowl on the tray beside him and continued casually, "But I'm the exact opposite. Good food is also an indispensable part of life to me. How did that saying go? Something like, people who don't understand the deliciousness of food don't understand life either."

"My life only needs battle..."

Bazett had barely begun her rebuttal when Shinji cut her off.

"But you don't need to fight right now, do you?"

Seeing Shinji's smile once more, Bazett merely fell silent.

At that moment, Shinji stood up. "Anyway, I'll come back this afternoon. Before then, even if you recover enough for basic movement, it's best not to move around carelessly. I used a hemostatic, but the wounds could still split open if you move. Before I leave, I'll put some water and whatever food I found by your right hand..."

Before he knew it, dusk had arrived.

Shinji walked down the road with a casual expression, though he was quietly considering matters in his heart.

The Fifth Holy Grail War was about to begin. Shinji, whose mission was to completely destroy the Holy Grail System, had been preparing in secret all along.

Originally, Shinji had planned to operate alone in the shadows after the Holy Grail War began. Yet at such a crucial moment, he had unexpectedly encountered Bazett.

In fact, before entering the mansion yesterday, Shinji had already determined that the person inside was Bazett. Only after carefully weighing the pros and cons had he decisively stepped in to save her.

Yeah... it had absolutely nothing to do with craving a beautiful woman in a suit.

It was purely a matter of principles!

The moment Shinji returned to the Twin Mansion in Miyama Town and pushed open the second-floor bedroom door, he saw Bazett with her body stiffened, her right hand clenched tight, and her face flushed red.

Realizing what was happening, Shinji did not show much surprise. He simply hurried to the bed and scooped Bazett up in his arms.

She had probably been holding it in all day.

Sister Bazett was incredible!

"How is your recovery going?"

Shinji asked Bazett after she had returned to the bed, the flush on her face mostly faded.

But as soon as he finished asking, he heard her stomach rumble.

"I almost forgot. Wait for me a moment."

With a smile, Shinji got up and left the bedroom.