Stop Using "Gentleman" as a Fucking Excuse Like Nobody Else Is One! (New Book, Please Support!)

Shinji looked at the somewhat surprised Sakura and casually continued, "Come to think of it, Sakura, you didn't know this yet. Although the Matou Family is no longer a Magecraft family, we're the richest family in Japan in modern society. As my only little sister, you're a princess in a certain sense now—"

Before Shinji could finish, the overwhelmed Sakura crashed heavily into his arms.

Rubbing against the front of Shinji's shirt, Sakura softly said, "Big brother, I love you the most."

"What about the surprise?" Shinji asked with a smile, reaching out to ruffle Sakura's hair.

"I love it."

"That's good." As he spoke, Shinji lifted his head and gazed gently at the three signs. "The harsh winter has ended, and spring has arrived. Spring Sakura..."

"Spring Sakura..." Sakura turned to look at the sign above them and softly repeated the words.

Shinji smiled and held out his hand. "Let's go, Princess."

"I'm not a princess!" Sakura's face instantly turned scarlet. "Honestly, big brother! Calling me something so embarrassing..."

Of course, despite saying that, Sakura still placed her hand in Shinji's in the end.

Five in the evening.

Having just gotten off the bus, Shinji watched Sakura, who was still brimming with excitement as she flipped through the photos they had taken at the amusement park and the Ice-and-Snow Kingdom. He sighed inwardly and helplessly shook his head.

He had never expected to lose to a girl when it came to playing around.

Before two in the afternoon, they had barely stopped for even a moment, trying every attraction in the amusement park.

After eating the sandwiches and boxed lunch Sakura had prepared, they visited the ice sculpture exhibition and then went skiing. Aside from mealtime, they had barely rested all day.

Even when a strange girl had tried to strike up a conversation with him, Sakura had been too excited to contain herself and dragged him away to the next attraction before he could even give his name.

Perhaps that was what happened when someone had been repressed for too long, Shinji thought.

Walking alongside Sakura, Shinji suddenly thought of something.

"Come to think of it, Sakura, you can bring your friends along during future days off."

"Okay."

Sakura, wearing the tiny crown she had gotten at the amusement park and carrying a teddy bear with a balloon tied to it, gave a small reply.

Knowing that his little sister had no friends her age in class, Shinji continued, "Like Ryougi... no, Mitsuzuri, Emiya, or even Toh... your sister..."

At those words, Sakura lowered her head and fell completely silent.

Knowing that Sakura harbored many complicated feelings toward her sister, Shinji gently continued, "Listen, Sakura. Your sister... has actually always cared about you, even if she seems cold toward you at school. And there were several times when, in private, she asked me about how you were doing at home..."

Sakura interrupted him with her head lowered. "So big brother often meets Tohsaka-senpai in private..."

"We just happened to run into each other occasionally." Completely unaware of Sakura's thoughts, Shinji answered without concern. "Anyway, if I don't say things like this, that idiot definitely never will.

"If anyone had to be blamed, then no one was at fault. This is the fate of magi. Even if you hadn't been sent to our family back then, you would have been sent to some other Magecraft family.

"When two children with talent for Magecraft are born into a Magecraft family, but the Magic Crest can only be inherited by one person—usually the eldest child—then the remaining child will face a fate like yours.

"Your biological father was a magus. He made a reasonable choice for a magus, and not merely as a magus, but as a father within the world of Magecraft.

"The eldest daughter naturally inherited the Tohsaka Family's Magic Crest. So what about the younger daughter, who possessed the same talent?

"In order not to waste your Mage Circuits and aptitude, to protect you, with your special attribute, from catching the Mage's Association's attention, and to fulfill the alliance between the Matou and Tohsaka families, one year before the Fourth Holy Grail War, your father, Tokiomi Tohsaka, had you adopted into my family and made you my little sister.

"Do you understand now?"

Shinji's tone remained calm throughout, as though he were merely analyzing things objectively. Sakura only kept her head lowered and listened in silence.

Sakura was not stupid. She could understand these things with a little explanation. It was just that she still could not let go of why it had been her rather than her sister.

Of course, Shinji only said all this because he did not want Sakura to continue suffering under the complicated feelings of admiration mixed with jealousy she held toward Rin.

In Shinji's heart, he still felt that it was all Tokiomi's fault.

All that nonsense about her attribute being too rare, about her receiving a Sealing Designation from the Mage's Association, about not wasting Sakura's Magecraft talent... and so on and so forth.

Bullshit!

Couldn't you fucking have used... taken proper precautions back then?!

Would there have been so much bullshit afterward if you had?!

You came up with so many excuses, saying the odds of the first child having Magecraft talent and the second child having Magecraft talent were like winning the lottery...

Bullshit!

Didn't you have any fucking idea how likely it was for your second child to have Magecraft talent?

Did you not know that the foreign blood in your mother's lineage carried twin genes?

The official material might have kept adding settings to polish up your character, even using Flower Card Strategy to whitewash you, but as far as I'm concerned, there are only three words.

Can't be whitewashed!

And you call yourself a fucking gentleman? If you're a gentleman, then why didn't you use... uh... wait!

A gentleman?

...Could Tokiomi's "gentleman" mean the kind that all men are?

For some reason, Shinji suddenly felt as though a whole new line of thought had opened up...

Ahem... just kidding! I got off track, I got off track!

(Note: Tokiomi's mother, Rin's grandmother, was one of the two heirs of the Edelfelt Family during the Third Holy Grail War. She lost to Tokiomi's father in the Third Grail War. After the war ended, she remained in Fuyuki and married Tokiomi's father, who had also participated in the Third Holy Grail War, bringing her family's Magic Crest with her. That was effectively a direct betrayal of her family, and also the main reason Golden Drillhead and Rin did not get along—a true blood feud. The Edelfelt Family's Magecraft was based around twins—two heirs in every generation. In other words, Sakura's birth with Magecraft aptitude was not merely an accident, an unexpected coincidence, or due to Aoi being an excellent mother as Tokiomi claimed. There was a genetic basis for it.)

"It's only natural that you feel some resentment. After all, you suffered for eleven years. But..."

Forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart, Shinji spoke again, kindly soothing Sakura's emotions. He stopped walking, flashed a bright smile, and placed a hand on Sakura's head.

"If you can't properly let it go, you'll be unable to move forward. Just like I said before, the long, harsh winter has passed, and early spring has arrived.

"It may sound abrupt, but the hands of your painful life have broken free from their mechanical cycle and begun turning again. Your life has entered a new chapter, and you can now turn the pages yourself."

Watching Shinji smile beautifully with crescent-shaped eyes, Sakura could not help staring at him in a daze. She murmured, "Big... brother..."

"Alright, let's go home." With that, Shinji removed his hand and started walking again.

Sakura remained where she was for several seconds before jogging a few steps to catch up. Curiously, she asked, "By the way, big brother, is there a girl you like?"

"Huh?" Shinji exclaimed in surprise. "Wasn't that a pretty abrupt change of topic?"

"I'm just curious."

"Not right now." Shinji shrugged, then sighed. "I don't know if there ever will be."

"Then what kind of girl would big brother like?" Sakura pressed with a serious expression.

"Why are you asking this sort of question?"

"Please tell me, big brother!"

Seeing Sakura's utterly serious expression and the way her eyes stared straight at him, Shinji ultimately waved a hand and casually replied, "You can't really explain something like that before you actually fall for someone. Besides, liking someone and dating them afterward are two different things. At least, they are for me."

"Huh? Liking someone and dating them are two different things?" Sakura did not understand.

"Yeah." Shinji lightly shrugged and said in a careless tone something that would make anyone else think his views on love were seriously flawed. "For me, if I'm going to date someone, it has to begin with the premise that the two of us will end up in the same grave after we die."

Seeming to notice Sakura's confusion, Shinji gave a light smile and continued as though it were nothing. "You don't need to dwell on that. Just know that your big brother isn't the type who can selflessly sacrifice himself for someone else. Put simply, I'm the worst kind of guy for a girl who wants a pure romance."

"No, big brother is an incredibly outstanding person! I really admire you!"

"Of course I am." Shinji stopped again, lightly flicked Sakura's forehead, gave her a wink, and smiled once more. "Otherwise, how could I be your big brother?"

Covering her slightly reddened forehead, Sakura blankly gazed at the brother before her, who was both so familiar and so unfamiliar.

"Let's head home. Come to think of it, we should buy some ingredients before going back, right? Is there anything you want to eat?"

"The hands of your painful life have broken free from their mechanical cycle and begun turning again. Your life has entered a new chapter, and you can now turn the pages yourself."

Sakura stared blankly at Shinji's tall back and suddenly recalled those words he had just spoken. After pausing for a moment, she smiled again, hurried after him, and wrapped herself around his arm.

"Why are you clinging to me again? It feels kind of strange to do this outside..." Shinji said helplessly.

"It's fine. We're brother and sister, after all."