Everything Is Ready

In the Fushiguro family's small courtyard, Toji Fushiguro and Eiji stood facing each other. With nothing better to do, Eiji decided to spar with Toji Fushiguro. Equally bored, Toji Fushiguro agreed.

"Come on, kid. Let me see how much you've improved lately."

Toji Fushiguro beckoned to Eiji.

This was not their first sparring match, and both knew the other's level well.

Although Eiji had Suguru Geto, his Best Friend, to practice close combat with, they were close and both the type to consider their Best Friend, so neither of them hit too hard.

Later, Eiji remembered Toji Fushiguro, an early pinnacle of close-quarters combat, and came to seek his guidance.

The facts proved that Toji Fushiguro was truly strong—and truly merciless.

That had been in the past, though. After a long period of sparring, Toji Fushiguro could no longer defeat Eiji so easily.

Seeing Toji Fushiguro give him the first move, Eiji did not stand on ceremony. He took a running start, accelerated, then launched a flying kick at Toji Fushiguro's head.

Since he had the chance to strike first, he naturally had to seize the initiative with a fierce assault. As the saying went, prolonged defense would inevitably fail. If he could suppress his opponent from the outset and force an opening, victory would already be halfway secured.

Toji Fushiguro raised both arms, his right arm protecting his head and his left slightly lower to guard his chest, completely sealing off Eiji's attack route.

After blocking Eiji's flying kick, Toji Fushiguro moved with the force toward Eiji's rear flank.

Eiji turned his head to keep his eyes on Toji Fushiguro, preventing him from launching a surprise attack from behind.

Once his feet hit the ground, Eiji had originally intended to follow up with a spinning heavy punch. But seeing the curl of Toji Fushiguro's lips, he abandoned the punch his guarded right hand had been ready to throw. Instead, he crouched and kicked backward with all his strength.

Smack.

Because his defensive stance had been set too high, Toji Fushiguro failed to completely block the kick.

Glancing down at the abdomen that had been struck, Toji Fushiguro put away his casual attitude and began to get serious.

The two separated and faced each other once more.

Eiji attacked first again, throwing a straight right at Toji Fushiguro's head. Toji Fushiguro slapped Eiji's forearm with his left hand and knocked the punch aside.

Eiji threw punch after punch. Toji Fushiguro swayed left and right, occasionally using his arms to block and his palms to deflect Eiji's attacks.

Seeing that his attacks could not break through Toji Fushiguro's defense, Eiji began changing his approach, switching to more powerful leg attacks.

He threw a right punch, and Toji Fushiguro sidestepped just as Eiji had expected. Eiji then turned with the momentum and delivered a spinning back kick.

Because Toji Fushiguro had been maintaining a distance where he could attack or defend as needed, the strike did not land.

Eiji's successive high roundhouse kicks left Toji Fushiguro no longer at ease, forcing him into increasingly awkward evasions.

The relentless attacks also began to irritate Toji Fushiguro.

"Having fun kicking me just now, kid? My turn."

Seizing the moment, Toji Fushiguro caught Eiji's ankle and revealed a cruel smile.

Toji Fushiguro jerked upward with the right hand gripping Eiji's ankle, then viciously kicked at Eiji's head with his right leg.

Eiji's pupils contracted instantly, and he threw his head back with all his strength to evade.

Toji Fushiguro's attack swept past Eiji's face by a hair, leaving a scrape across his cheek.

After dodging the attack, Eiji leaped up and viciously kicked at Toji Fushiguro with his free left leg.

Toji Fushiguro released Eiji's right foot and stepped back. Eiji braced himself against the ground with one hand and adjusted his posture.

That kick was vicious. If it had landed, I probably would have lost consciousness on the spot.

Then again, I didn't hold back with those kicks either.

Wiping the wound on his face, Eiji revealed a faint smile.

"Oh? You're starting to enjoy fighting too, kid?"

This time, Toji Fushiguro launched the attack.

He whipped a kick at Eiji, who twisted aside to avoid it.

Toji Fushiguro's whip kick was immensely powerful, cracking the air with an explosive bang.

Unlike Eiji's chain kicks from earlier, a powerful whip kick required more time to wind up.

Eiji quickly found an opening to counterattack.

As he evaded Toji Fushiguro's attack, he spun and lashed his left arm at Toji Fushiguro like a whip. The instant that strike was dodged, he continued the turn and followed up with a heavy right punch.

Toji Fushiguro crossed his arms to block.

Seeing that his attack had failed, Eiji immediately pulled back his right hand and adjusted his stance.

The next moment, Toji Fushiguro's attacks descended like a raging storm.

Their battle lasted for a long time, only stopping after the commotion grew loud enough for Minako Fushiguro to notice.

"Kid, you've improved pretty fast."

Toji Fushiguro spoke with lingering dissatisfaction.

Although it had not been a life-or-death battle where they gave everything they had, Toji Fushiguro had still seriously focused during this fight, something rare for him.

"What, afraid I'll surpass you?"

"You? Go train for another hundred years."

After patting the dust off themselves, the two entered the house.

After tidying up his appearance, Eiji bade Minako Fushiguro farewell and left the Fushiguro home.

As he left, he could still faintly hear Minako Fushiguro complaining to Toji Fushiguro.

"Eiji is still a child. Toji, you didn't even go easy on him—you hit him so hard..."

Toji Fushiguro scratched his head helplessly. That kid didn't hold back either.

After returning home, Eiji entered the bathroom, changed out of his clothes, and took a refreshing shower.

Once everything was done, Eiji began his Cursed Energy training for the day.

Whether it was Cursed Energy or power systems such as battle aura and magic, a solid foundation was immensely important.

That was why Eiji spent some time training every night to reinforce his fundamentals.

After finishing his Cursed Energy training, it was time for his recent main focus: research into Heroic Spirit Summoning.

"Progress has been pretty good lately. At this pace, I should be able to summon a Heroic Spirit before entering Tokyo Jujutsu High."

Heroic Spirit Pictures was progressing quickly. On the anime side, the second part of Fate/stay night, the Sakura route, was about to finish airing. On the novel side, the revised Fate/Zero had already been released.

Eiji's revisions to Fate/Zero mainly focused on Artoria. Compared to the Artoria written by Kinoko Nasu, the original Artoria was not mature enough, so Eiji made certain changes to strengthen her.

As for games, Fate/stay night had already sold a great many copies and gained considerable influence. Riding on Fate/stay night's popularity, Fate/Extra had also achieved good sales.

Overall, Heroic Spirit Pictures was developing well.

He entered the basement specially prepared for Heroic Spirit Summoning.

Raising his right hand, the Command Spell on the back of it shone with a vivid crimson light. Cursed Energy continuously flowed into the Holy Grail, and an illusory figure before Eiji slowly solidified.

The person before him was petite. Her shoulder-length golden hair was tied up, and she wore a blue dress covered by white armor. Due to its ingenious design, the armor and blue dress appeared to be one, forming a set of Blue and White Skirt Armor.

Eiji began increasing his Cursed Energy output, and the girl's originally vacant pupils gradually regained their proper light.

A golden longsword appeared before the girl, and she naturally placed both hands upon it.

"Three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds... Success."

The summoning of the Spirit Origin Shadow had finally stabilized. The fusion of the second Chimera Beast had also been completed a few days ago. Now, all that remained was...