Sabre Don't Run Wild: "Hey, everyone~! Anyone up for grinding FGO together today?"
All the younger sisters in the world come from my treasury: "Pass tonight! I have a date with little sister Sora."
Dancing While Doing Laundry: "I'll pass too. I still need to draw tonight."
UMR: "I need to catch up on anime tonight."
Sabre Don't Run Wild: "Eh, eh? Is there really no one to play FGO with me?"
"Ah..." Come to think of it, this person seemed pretty familiar with Yuki-nyan. Hearing the name Sabre, Shirou remembered a clingy dachshund named after a biscuit brand. He seemed to know who it was.
Emiya: "Good evening. Have you finished studying for today? You'll fail your exams, you know."
Sabre Don't Run Wild: "Eh, eh? Why would you suddenly say something so discouraging?! That condescending tone of yours feels strangely familiar! Are you playing or not? Just say it!"
Emiya: "I'll play, but how exactly do we play together in this game?"
Sabre Don't Run Wild: "Hehe! Log into your account, then invite me as Support, and I'll invite you as Support too!"
Emiya: "I see, but my account seems pretty weak. I barely have any gold cards."
Sabre Don't Run Wild: "It's fine, just put your strongest characters in your Support lineup. It's more fun when everyone plays together!"
So Shirou switched back to the mobile game screen and found the Support settings. He put up his highest-level characters from every class, such as Teacher Qiao in the Rider class. For the Caster class, he put up Merlin, whom he had raised to over level eighty.
Sabre Don't Run Wild: "Don't you have Merlin?! That's already enough."
Emiya: "Is that so? That's good, then."
UMR: "Having Merlin and not having Merlin are basically two different games, you seal!"
Emiya: "I don't really get it. By the way, why doesn't this game have a chat function? Isn't it inconvenient to talk like this?"
Sabre Don't Run Wild: "No... If it had a chat function, all kinds of things would get worse. You know how people lose their inhibitions online and just let themselves go..."
Angel Who Saves the World With Pay-to-Win: "Tch... You'd see people showing off their pulls in different ways every day."
All the younger sisters in the world come from my treasury: "And annoying people would complain about your Support lineup."
Sabre Don't Run Wild: "Exactly! Like Emiya's account, a bunch of strangers who don't even know you would definitely come out and criticize you. Saying things like, 'Why would you feed the Holy Grail to Teacher Qiao of all things?'"
Angel Who Saves the World With Pay-to-Win: "And when people see your Merlin, they'll spam things like, 'Are you a seal? Everyone must die, but Europeans...'"
Dancing While Doing Laundry: "Like, 'Why are you using Herc without Castle of Snow? Don't you have any Herc in your heart?'"
Sabre Don't Run Wild: "Right, right! It's super annoying!"
Emiya: "Is that so..."
All the younger sisters in the world come from my treasury: "Exactly! Like people asking why your whole lineup is filled with little-sister-type characters. Is it wrong that I like them?! Saber Lily is super cute! Illya is the best! Medusa Lily's white stockings, prprpr!"
Dancing While Doing Laundry: "Exactly! What's wrong with liking panties!"
All the younger sisters in the world come from my treasury had been muted for one minute.
Dancing While Doing Laundry retracted a message.
Sparkling Rapier User: "Everyone, please mind your language. Don't get out of hand, okay? (lol)"
Dancing While Doing Laundry: "The group owner is so scary..."
Shirou checked that girl's Support lineup and found it full of alluring characters showing off their panties.
Sweat beaded on Shirou's head. Even playing a game was apparently not as simple as he had imagined. All kinds of people, with all kinds of purposes and preferences, were playing the same game.
Komachi Gets Tangled in Her Own Cocoon
After the chat group's topic came to an end, Shirou looked up and saw that Komachi had already finished eating and was lying on the table doing practice problems. Not wanting to continue disturbing her in the room, he gathered the cups and plates onto a tray and headed outside.
The school Komachi wanted to get into was the International High School Shirou attended, the most famous college-prep high school in the area. Besides offering all kinds of benefits to top students and students with special talents, its international classes also provided paths to study abroad. Even quite a few people from other cities came specifically to attend it.
That was why its entrance exam was a level harder than those of other schools. This girl really could not be considered smart when it came to studying. Sometimes, when he gave her a ride to school and helped carry her bag for a while on the way, she would end up rushing straight into school empty-handed like some adorable little fool.
Still, if she worked hard enough, she would find her way. As her Brother, he would always support her from behind.
After that, Shirou chatted on and off with the big shots in the group, mutually using Support with Sabre Don't Run Wild, and kept grinding the game until late at night. As a newcomer, he gradually came to understand the game through the explanations of several veterans.
Just as Da Vinci had said, he could only improve his strength little by little and make every preparation before facing the monsters.
Time passed quickly when he was playing games, and it was already nearly one in the morning.
Shirou yawned and stepped out of his room. At that moment, he saw that the light in Komachi's room had just gone out as well, so he prepared to log off and rest.
Inside her room, Komachi had just slipped beneath her covers. After rolling her eyes and listening to Shirou's departing footsteps, she covered her mouth and giggled as she turned on her phone. Now, no one in the world could stop her from playing FGO anymore!
Seriously, weren't middle school entrance exam candidates people too? Studying all day long meant they needed some entertainment to relax their brains, right? Playing FGO for a while would be perfect for easing her overworked mind.
A moment later, the chat group displayed:
Yuuki Aoi-chan had come online.
Yuuki Aoi-chan: "Wahahaha! How can such precious youth be wasted on sleeping? Come on, everyone, let's grind FGO!"
Komachi knew that plenty of people in the group were still awake at this hour. All she had to do was call out, and those night owls would surely come play with her.
Sure enough, someone responded immediately. Komachi smiled as she watched the new message pop up.
Emiya: "You're taking the entrance exams this year, right? Get to sleep!"
"Wah!" Komachi was so frightened inside her room that she nearly fell off the bed.
Not far outside the door, Shirou clearly heard the shriek of someone caught red-handed, followed by a dull thud from his younger sister's room. He looked at the chat group on his phone in annoyance.
Yuuki Aoi-chan: "Um... I actually stole this account. Bye."
Yuuki Aoi-chan had gone offline.
UMR: "Wah, caught in the act. Looks like I absolutely can't let my Brother know about this group."
Dancing While Doing Laundry: "Agreed..."
Emiya: "Then I'm logging off too. Everyone, please make sure to rest. Goodbye."
With that, Shirou turned off his phone and went to sleep as well.
That day, the Youth had joined forces with girls as an Ally of Justice to defeat the monsters invading this world. He had also pulled his younger sister back from the point of no return, where she would have become an internet-addicted girl cultivating immortality through endless grinding. It had been a perfect day.
The next day, after Shirou made breakfast,
he headed out for school. Yesterday's battle had taken place in a different dimension, minimizing the danger, but the mutated Chimera had displayed destructive power beyond imagination. The school gate had still been badly damaged, drawing amazed reactions from the students arriving at school.
However, this was no big problem for the well-funded International High School. Shirou did not linger and walked straight through the school gates. He had only taken a few steps when he suddenly sensed something approaching from behind.
"Hey!" A cute shout came from behind him.
Then Shirou felt something strike his back.
When he turned around, he found a playful girl carrying her bag in one hand.
Her tea-pink hair had been lightly permed and fell to her shoulders, with one side tied high into a bun. Her school jacket hung open, while her soft, generous chest pushed her white shirt up high beneath it. She looked at the Youth with an unguarded, somewhat childish smile.
"Morning, Shirou! Hehe."
"Oh, morning, Yuihama." Shirou nodded to her and continued walking forward.
"Are you coming to the club this afternoon?" The girl bounced along to catch up with him, and they headed toward the school building together.
"Yeah, I'll be there. I practiced archery yesterday too," Shirou replied.
The bun-haired girl was his companion in another club, not the Kyudo Club but the Service Club.
He had joined the Kyudo Club only because it was one of the conditions for his special admission to the school. As for the Service Club, Teacher Shizuka Hiratsuka had forcibly dragged him into it.
"You're always being asked to help people anyway, so this club is perfect for you. Objections are forbidden! It's decided!" Teacher Shizuka Hiratsuka had declared, then written his name on the club application form without permission.
In some ways, she was even more reckless than Sister Fuji.
The Service Club's activities mainly consisted of lending a hand to people in trouble. He and the two girls accepted requests from students and carried out their responsibilities as helpers under the belief that teaching someone to fish was better than giving them fish. Honestly, it really was a club that suited him.
Through those activities, Shirou, Yukino, and Yuihama had helped quite a few people. He had also learned some things there and grown to a certain extent.
"Good morning, Shirou-senpai, Yuihama-senpai!" A girl ran over at that moment and greeted them in her uniquely drawn-out, sweet, slightly coquettish tone.
The girl's name was Iroha Isshiki. Though she was a first-year student like Mash, she had already been elected as the school's new student council president.
"Hey, Iroha," Shirou said.
"Senpai, you came to school with Yuihama-senpai first thing in the morning. Don't tell me you two arranged to go to school together?" Iroha Isshiki deliberately asked in an exaggerated tone.
"No, Iroha-chan. We just happened to run into each other at the entrance," Yuihama denied, waving her hands repeatedly with a slight blush on her face.
"Don't you have student council work? Is it really okay for you to be standing around here?" Shirou reminded her.
"Ah! Oh no, it's this late already! Everyone's waiting for me! Senpai, senpai, I'm leaving first! Bye!" Iroha Isshiki hurried away.
The reason the girl had become student council president was actually connected to a request made to the Service Club. Various things had happened along the way, but in short, she was now like a somewhat mischievous and troublesome junior to Shirou.
After parting with that junior, Shirou and Yuihama entered their classroom and headed to their respective seats. Yuihama greeted her friends from her normie group.
Shirou, meanwhile, sat down and took out his phone, planning to use the time he had now to finish his daily missions.
In fact, aside from Iroha, Shirou had gotten to know quite a few people through the requests accepted by the Service Club, and he had become friends with some of them.
"Morning, Shirou." A cute figure in a tracksuit ran over with an innocent smile. His big, round eyes sparkled like they could speak, his skin was snow-white, and he was so adorable he looked like an angel who had wandered into the mortal world by mistake.
But he was a boy. It was important, so it bore repeating: he was a boy.
"Ah, morning, Saika."
"Shirou, you started playing FGO too? When did you start? Were you secretly playing it? I invited you before, but didn't you always refuse?" Saika leaned over, asking with some dissatisfaction.
"Well, I only started these past few days. A junior from my club gave me an account," Shirou explained.
"Is that so? Then let's add each other as Friends! What's your name?" Saika smiled in understanding, taking out his phone and opening the game.
"Sure. My name is Not a Eggplant," Shirou said.
"Eggplant? What a strange name. The girl who gave you the account must be that first-year transfer student from the Kyudo Club, right? How does she look anything like an eggplant?" Saika asked.
"Well, sometimes she really does..." Shirou recalled Mash after transforming, then asked, "By the way, Saika, do you know Mash?"
"Ah, she goes around the whole school inviting people to play FGO. She doesn't even spare the cafeteria ladies or the teachers, so she's pretty famous.
"Some members of my tennis club were talked into playing too, but after they downloaded the game, she abandoned them. Two of them were so upset that they didn't come to practice for two weeks. Apparently, she had said something before like, 'As long as you play FGO, I'll always be with you,' so they seemed deeply hurt," Saika complained.
"Ah... Sorry. She doesn't actually mean any harm," Shirou apologized on behalf of Mash, who could sometimes be rather airheaded.
According to Da Vinci, the game could be considered Mash's autobiography along with that of another girl.
That meant this girl was the kind of natural airhead who would speak English to soldiers from France during the Hundred Years' War, then hold up a shield and say she was striking with the flat of her blade; later, in Chapter Six, she would wear a cloak while still carrying a huge shield to infiltrate Camelot.
Shirou's friend list
During the Service Club's activities, Shirou had helped Saika practice tennis. After that, Saika had become captain of the tennis club through his own efforts. That was how they had become friends, and the Service Club's work was truly meaningful to Shirou.
"Eh? Shirou, you started playing this game too? What a surprise!" The short-haired girl with glasses walked over and said.
"Right! Tesla x Edison is great, Little Sun x Arjuna is amazing too! Also, between Hayama and Tobe, who's the top and who's the bottom? And can you add me as a friend too?" Ebina asked excitedly, blushing and breathing heavily.
"Sure..." Shirou agreed, ignoring everything she had said before that.
However, ever since Ebina had made a request to the Service Club, she seemed to have remembered some of the favor she owed him and had stopped making extreme remarks about using him as fantasy material. Perhaps that was one good thing that had come from Shirou joining the Service Club.
"Shirou-kun, if there are any male Servants you're interested in, be sure to tell me. The King of Heroes, the Child of Light, any Servant at all, four-star, five-star, even Angra Mainyu—I'll put them in my Support lineup for you." Ebina pushed up her glasses and smiled confidently. In order to gather all sorts of pairings, she had spent all the New Year's gift money she had saved up.
Once she had Young Emperor and Young Gil, she wanted to see the Great Emperor standing beside Gil. When Old Saber appeared, she wanted to gather the Knights of the Round Table for him. Wasn't that the basic duty of a fujoshi?
Even so, this game was still like a bottomless pit, drawing her in to keep spending money.
"..." Shirou turned his head away and thought, What exactly do you want me to say?
Meanwhile, the bun-haired girl, who had been talking with her friend Miura in the back, seemed rather concerned about what was happening here. When Shirou turned his head, his eyes met hers.
Yuihama smiled softly and waved at him, then turned her gaze away again.
Her small group included girls like Miura and Ebina, while the boys were a group of four led by Hayama. He was popular at school, helpful, trusted and well-liked by his classmates, and also the captain of the soccer team. His personality and character were both good. Though Shirou did not usually interact with them much, they got along reasonably well as classmates.
"Shirou, you started playing FGO too? Then add me as a friend as well." Yumiko Miura noticed them and spoke up.
"..." On the other side, a silver-haired girl with a single ponytail and a somewhat delinquent air silently took out her phone too, looking like she wanted to speak but hesitated.
Ebina noticed and pounced on the girl with a wicked grin. "What, what? Sashi Sashi, you want to add Shirou as a friend too? Were you too shy to say it?"
"Get off me! What's wrong with adding a friend?!" The silver-haired girl shook Ebina off. After saying that, she blushed shyly, secretly glanced at Shirou, then quickly looked away.
Before you continue