...Shirou Is Still Doing High Jumps (Please Support the New Book!)

At dusk, beside that same extremely secluded, rushing little river, Shinji Matou was bare-chested and drenched in sweat as he did one-finger push-ups, with several weight blocks strapped to his back. By estimate, they weighed no less than fifty kilograms.

Perhaps because he was still growing, or for some other reason, Shinji's long-term, uninterrupted training had not turned him into some hulking muscleman.

From the outside, although his muscle definition was already quite clear, he still looked like a somewhat skinny adolescent boy who was much taller than other boys his age.

Holding some student council documents, Rin stood on the distant riverbank and looked at Shinji in the distance, her thoughts drifting back to three years ago.

By chance, she had happened to pass by this place and discovered Shinji carrying out physical training that was utterly unsuited to someone his age.

After doing three hundred one-handed push-ups, he would leap into the freezing, rushing river and swim against the current. Again and again, the swift water swept him far away, yet he had never given up...

The countless marks along the bank were perhaps signs of each successful challenge.

Having reached a new milestone, the exhausted boy crawled out of the river and lay on the bank, panting heavily with delight on his face, as though he had completed another goal.

That day, when the boy left, Rin learned his identity through the girl waiting on the riverbank—the eldest son of the Matou Family, whose Mage Circuits were said to be blocked beyond use: Shinji Matou.

And that girl was originally Rin's younger sister—Sakura Matou, formerly known as Sakura Tohsaka.

After that, Rin came here from time to time. Most of the time, she would see Shinji training as though he did not value his life, performing increasingly insane physical routines that did not suit his age.

Whenever she watched Shinji carry out training that seemed nearly impossible—or guaranteed to injure his body—Rin would always think, There's no way he can finish that, right?

Yet every time, Shinji persisted and completed an even more demanding training routine. One had to remember that he was not even a magus. Accomplishing such things was practically a miracle.

And it was one miracle after another.

Could hard work and persistence alone really create such miracles? Rin had once asked herself that from the bottom of her heart. She had tried a physical routine in her family's basement that was far less intense than Shinji's, but she had failed.

She had only managed half of the workload she set for herself before she could no longer continue.

When she was too exhausted to even get up, the first thing she thought of was giving up. But then Shinji's figure surfaced in her mind.

When he was swept away again and again by the rushing river, why could he keep going? What had he been thinking then...? No, that boy had not been thinking of anything. His gaze had never once strayed from his goal.

Perhaps that was all she lacked.

From that day on, Rin began imitating Shinji's training method. Though she could not match his intensity, she steadily and systematically increased her training load within the limits of her endurance.

Until one day, she accidentally raised the intensity of her physical training just a little too high. When there was only a tiny bit left to finish, she had no strength remaining in her entire body, and the barbell in her hands was about to fall to the floor because her strength had been completely spent.

Yet at the very last moment, as she looked at the day's training quota she had pasted on the wall beside her, strength surged from somewhere within her. It let Rin grip the barbell tightly once more and finish that final little bit.

Afterward, Rin lay motionless on the floor, too weak to move. Looking at the ceiling, she suddenly laughed for no reason.

So I can do it too. Come to think of it, did he feel like this every time? Was that why he smiled so happily after completing those insane workouts?

It really was the kind of happiness that could become addictive.

Rin did not know that Shinji was simply happy because he had completed a System mission. It was completely different from the joy she imagined!

Later on, she still occasionally came to watch his increasingly absurd physical training. Sometimes, she would still feel, This really won't work, will it? There's absolutely no way he can do this.

Yet there had still not been a single failure.

This person was a madman, a madman who was cruel to himself to the extreme. Rin had complained inwardly more than once, yet she continued watching Shinji.

Especially the heartfelt delight Shinji showed after every training session—it never grew tiresome to watch.

Because of one person, Rin began to believe in things she had never cared about before: persistence, perseverance, hard work, and...

Miracles.

Then there was that confession last year, which had caught her completely off guard.

It was April, when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, at the school gate where petals drifted endlessly down.

Rin, who had just entered middle school, looked at Shinji standing outside the school gate with his eyes closed in disbelief. Her first instinct was that he had enrolled in the same middle school as her.

However, when she noticed that his uniform was entirely different from those worn by the boys around her, Rin dismissed that thought. At the same time, for some reason, a faint sense of disappointment welled up in her heart.

Then came the climax—

"Hey, you. Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

The very first words he said to her after opening his eyes and turning around left her stunned.

Was there really someone in this world who confessed the first time they met? Was his brain made of muscles too?

Besides, weren't they way too young?

Rin stared blankly at Shinji for a long while before coming back to her senses. The instant she did, her entire face turned bright red.

"Y-Y-Y-You bastard, do you even know what you're saying?!"

"Is that a no?" Shinji asked curiously.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-You..." Rin was so embarrassed and indignant that she could not even speak properly.

"Ah, then forget it. Just treat it as an April Fools' joke. Goodbye, unknown girl."

Seeing Shinji leave those words behind and turn to walk away, Rin felt fury flare up in her heart and immediately kicked him.

"You did that on purpose, you bastard!!"

That was the first—and only—overly dramatic conversation and interaction the two had ever had.

Rin gradually pulled her wandering thoughts back and looked at Shinji in the distance again. By then, he had already finished his one-finger push-ups, sit-ups, on-the-spot push-ups, and high knees, and had taken off his pants.

Looking at the blue swim trunks Shinji wore, printed with cute anime girls, Rin sighed softly.

This guy's taste in swim trunks was still as uniquely distinctive as ever.

As she watched Shinji strap sandbags and weights onto his legs, arms, and body, Rin calculated silently. Those weights alone exceeded the combined body weight of at least two Shinjis.

This guy is getting more and more ruthless with himself. Isn't he afraid of damaging his body? Even if he wants to risk his life, he can't push himself this hard, can he?

Splash!

As she watched Shinji jump into the river, even Rin, who had witnessed so many "miracles," could not help worrying for him.

...Please don't let anything happen to him.