On the way home, Rin, walking beside Shinji, kept staring straight at his face.
"What?"
Rin did not answer. She continued to stare intently at Shinji's face, as though she wanted to uncover every side of him she had never known!
"Honestly, I give up on you." Shinji sighed, then waved a hand. "Well, whatever. I did practice martial arts for a while. I barely count as having gotten started. Baji Quan, Tai Chi Quan, Hung Ga, Xing Yi Quan, and Wing Chun."
"You got started in all of them?!"
Thinking of how she had practiced Baji Quan for ten years and still could not be considered a beginner, Rin felt rather bitter. This guy really was a monster!
"Then what did you give Lancer just now?"
"A nightclub VIP card."
Rin:...
"Being escorted home by a girl... This really is the first time in my life. It might become a dark chapter of my history that I'll never live down."
Standing outside his home, Shinji let out a long sigh and voiced that sentiment.
"Consider it repaying you once." Rin turned her face away haughtily, though she thought of a certain Christmas Eve...
"Oh, right. I almost forgot..."
Just as he was about to push open the gate, Shinji suddenly remembered something and reached into his pocket.
"Happy birthday."
"Huh? How did you know..." Rin froze for a moment, but then noticed the student handbook Shinji was holding out to her. "This is mine..."
"I picked it up on the way."
"Oh... Oh."
Unsure whether she should feel flattered or simply unable to believe it, Rin stared blankly at the student handbook she had not even realized she had lost.
"Good night, tonight's 'knight'."
As Shinji waved goodbye and was about to head inside, Rin suddenly muttered something