We Still Don't Know How Many People Saw the High-Jumping Boy on the Field That Day (New Book, Please Support!)

"Maybe." Shinji looked thoroughly unconcerned as he continued eating. "But principles really can change. And a lot of the time, changing them makes things easier."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"No, nothing. Just listen if you want. No need to take it to heart."

"You're a weird guy..."

After dinner, it was already nearly two in the morning.

The rain continued to pour. In the end, Shinji and Sakura gave up on going home and stayed the night at the Emiya residence.

The next morning.

When Shirou opened his door and stepped out, he found Sakura arriving in the living room at the same time.

"Where's Shinji?"

"Big Brother went out for morning training at four."

"Still as early as ever," Shirou said, picking up the sticky note Shinji had left on the table.

--No need to make breakfast. See you the day after tomorrow, Emiya. --Your destined one, Shinji Matou.

P.S. Tell Sakura she doesn't need to wait for me at the school gate lately.

"Is this guy planning to skip school again?" Shirou said helplessly. "And shouldn't he tell his own sister something like that himself...?"

"It... it concerns me too?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. He said you don't need to wait for him at the school gate lately. He's probably going to skip class again."

"I see..." A clear trace of disappointment flashed through Sakura's vacant eyes. After two seconds of silence, she finally spoke as though she had gathered her courage. "Um... Emiya-senpai, if you don't mind, could you tell me about my brother?"

"Shinji? Aren't you his sister? You should know plenty about him."

Sakura shook her head without answering, but her expression said it all.

As if he had realized something, Shirou slowly began to speak.

"Shinji... he's the type who gets along with anyone. He's easy to be around. When you're with him, it feels like you don't need to pretend to be someone else. And even though he skips class all the time and you barely ever see him studying, he's always ranked first in grades. His physical ability is also..."

Sakura listened with great interest as Shirou told her about Shinji's usual life at school.

Throughout breakfast, Sakura kept her ears perked, listening to everything Shirou said about her brother.

After breakfast, Sakura left with Shirou and bowed gratefully to him. "Thank you for telling me so much about Big Brother."

"It's nothing. It's not worth thanking me for. Let's get to school early. We're headed the same way, so I'll take you there."

"Emiya-senpai, I..." Sakura began, as though she had made up her mind once again. "I want to ask you for a favor!"

Looking at the girl bowing before him as she made her request, Shirou agreed without much thought.

Four months passed in the blink of an eye. Shinji kept up with his training, quests, studies, and daily life without letting any of them slip, grinding even harder than he had when he played games in his previous life.

He had never missed a single increasingly insane daily training quest, nor had he skipped a single Normal Quest. As for the main quest... it still had four years left on its deadline.

He currently had no interest in the conquest quests. Although Shinji had been an expert at raising-sim games in his previous life, he did not want to start that so early under these circumstances.

Besides, playing a conquest game in real life where he could see affection levels just felt strange to him.

Put simply--

That ain't love.

So Shinji had basically never opened the conquest quest tab again, nor had he paid attention to affection levels.

Good grandson, having wives and concubines in droves is the mark of an emperor. Raise your ideological awareness early.

Ignoring the Dog System's voice, Shinji lifted a leg and stepped out of the classroom. Yet the moment he exited, his homeroom teacher stopped him.

"Teacher Yuko!" Shinji looked behind Yuko and feigned surprise. "That handsome guy in the expensive suit, holding roses and walking this way, is..."

"Where?!" Yuko instantly turned around.

Taking advantage of the opening, Shinji nimbly slipped sideways through the gap at the classroom door, then turned and ran down the corridor toward the nearby stairwell without looking back.

At the same time, Teacher Yuko realized she had been fooled and chased after him in exasperation.

In truth, this was one of the most common scenes at the school. It played out almost every few days.

Against the setting sun, in the corridor dyed golden by its light, Shinji deliberately slowed down as he ran and bickered with his homeroom teacher. This easy, cheerful daily life was also something immensely precious to him.

"Matou! Stop--! And no running in the hallway! Even if no one's around!"

"Who would actually stop just because you tell them to?! And you're running in the hallway too, Teacher!"

Shinji shouted over his shoulder as he ran, but just as the words left his mouth, he caught sight of Shirou in the corner of his eye. Outside the corridor window, Shirou stood before the high-jump bar on the field, warming up.

Something suddenly occurred to him.

Hmm... Sakura applied to this middle school, and these past few days are when the admission results come out. She hasn't officially enrolled yet, but she's already considered a student here.

She'll come to school during this period to handle some paperwork and attend briefings about April enrollment and things like that.

Which means...

--Today is the true beginning of the FSN plot! The origin of that meme about how we never knew exactly how many people saw Shirou doing high jumps that day!

At that thought, Shinji quietly curled one corner of his mouth. The story was finally about to begin!

For some reason, Shinji felt a wave of relief, and his pace quickened as he soon dashed out of the school building.

Shinji did not know that his sister, who had just finished the briefing and should have been standing in the corridor watching Shirou do high jumps, had not paid much attention to it. She merely glanced over before looking away...

Elsewhere, seeing Shinji about to rush out through the school gate, Yuko panted as she shouted to the middle-aged man by the entrance, "Teacher Sato! Close the gate! Stop Matou!!"

The moment the middle-aged man saw Shinji, he understood everything. Though Shinji had only been enrolled for a year, their "friendship" went way back!

Director Sato, the physical education teacher and disciplinary director, had short hair, a muscular build, and wore nothing but a short-sleeved shirt even in this weather. Without the slightest hesitation, he pulled the school gate shut.

"Matou! Checkmate!" Director Sato snorted with a grin.

"Is that so?" Shinji replied with a light laugh, not slowing down in the slightest. The next moment, he ran straight toward the gate, bent his knees slightly, jumped, cleared the gate, and landed steadily outside it. The entire motion was smooth and decisive, without a single wasted movement.

"Matou!!" Yuko shouted furiously, but Shinji paid her no mind at all and fled as though his life depended on it.

Director Sato stared blankly at the two-meter-high school gate beside him and muttered, "That guy... he can clear something that high so easily?"

At that moment, a black-haired girl with twin tails who did not belong to this school had come to handle some student council documents for her own school. Having only just entered the middle school and passed Shinji moments ago, Tohsaka Rin suddenly stopped and turned to look outside the gate.

That guy just now...